CM Punk made his surprise return to WWE at Survivor Series: WarGames last year but has since been sidelined with a tricep injury. Original plans called for the Second City Saint to challenge World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins in the WrestleMania main event, but the idea has now been scrapped.
Punk isn't going to let this setback stop him, though, and during a recent interview, he described the injury as simply a "bump in the road."
"Yeah, I was gonna headline WrestleMania," he acknowledged. "Obviously, now I'm not, but it's sports. It's what happens to athletes. Mentally, I think it's harder because the physical pain is whatever, but I look at it just like a bump in the road. You know, this is an occupational hazard. It happens. And I'll be back bigger and better."
"I'm a clumsy idiot. I tore my left tricep about two years ago. So, the right one was jealous. I'm like, I'm like an old car. I'm like a 72 Nova, you know what I mean?" Punk continued. "We have to, we have to change some parts every now and again. So once we fix up all the parts, the engine is still strong. We'll still be good to go."
As for how long he expects to be away from WWE, the Best in the World added, "We're thinking maybe six to eight months, but I'm not really in a rush to get back to compete. I'm in a rush to get healthy. I'm in a rush to get better. And the sooner I do that, the better. I'll be when I come back."
Despite the unfortunate timing of Punk's injury, he'd go on to say he hopes to remain active on the microphone, using the recent WrestleMania Kickoff as an example while sharing his take on The Rock's WWE return.
"I think it's fantastic," he stated. "Ten years ago, I was the guy that was wrestling The Rock when he came back, and now ten years later, he's coming back, and I think the landscape has completely changed, right? WrestleMania is two nights now. It's even bigger. Him coming back only helps. I always say high tide raises all ships."
"So I'm just happy that even though I'm hurt, I'm still gonna kinda be in the mix. My mouth still works, so I'm gonna still be able to talk some trash. I don't know if you saw the kickoff we did in Vegas with Rock and Roman and Seth and Cody. It was a lot of fun and I hope to just continue to do that while I'm recuperating because I can always just talk trash with the best of them," Punk teased. "It's the best part. It's what I do."
Check out the full interview in the player below.