FOX Offered To Help WWE Sign CM Punk Before He Went To AEW - Here's Why Vince McMahon Declined
WWE may not have been too keen on bringing CM Punk back, but FOX wanted the Best in the World on Friday nights! Now, we have some interesting new details on the lengths FOX was willing to go to make it happen.
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We've already told you that FOX is unhappy WWE failed to make CM Punk a big offer to return to the company. However, more details have now been revealed by Dave Meltzer.
In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, he notes that Punk developed a good relationship with FOX executives when he signed on for WWE Backstage, but the problem was the lack of serious interest in signing the Best in the World from WWE. The network continued to push the company because they wanted Punk on SmackDown, but they responded by saying "the money figure he wanted was too high."
For FOX, it seems no figure was too high, and the network - keen to increase the blue brand's ratings - "responded by wanting to help out." It's then that Meltzer explains, "WWE officials then said there were other reasons they didn’t want him, the attitude issues and such."
Clearly, old grudges came into play here, but we think it's fair to say the former longest-reigning WWE Champion made the right decision for AEW (it's also benefited that company massively).
It turns out Punk was in tentative talks with WWE last December, but as he explained during a recent ESPN interview, they started messing him around. "I remember one of the first things I ever said to them was, 'Above all, don't play games,'" he recalled. "And they played games. Some things never change."
Do you think WWE made a mistake not bringing CM Punk to SmacKDown?