So, CM Punk returned confirmed?
The former WWE Champion has continuously been heckled by fans regarding a potential return to the ring and Punk has repeatedly stated that he has no interest in returning to wrestling. However, 2019 has seen a change of heart from the “Straight Edge” star, as Punk made his return at a independent show in Wisconsin, though the former WWE Champion has never confirmed that he was truly the man under the mask.
Punk also confirmed that he's had talks with Fox Sports about a being a personality for WWE Backstage, thus fueling the speculation that Punk may actually re-enter a WWE ring someday. Speaking on
Barstool Sports' My Mom's Basement podcast, Punk was asked (again) if he was open to returning to wrestling in some capacity and the former World Heavyweight Champion says "absolutely" (transcript courtesy of fightful.com):
"Absolutely," stated Punk. "I also think that, for five years, I've always been asked that question. No matter what I say, it gets reduced to clickbait and warped. We've gone through I don't know how many iterations of 'Punk hates wrestling.' None of that was ever the case. Am I open to it? I've always been open to it. My attitude has always been, 'I don't see it happening.' I just think I've talked about it more recently. I don't think my attitude has changed. Just because I say things like, 'Oh it would take a really big bag (to get me to go back).' So people use their imaginations. Then there's the haters who are like, 'he's just doing that to try and stay relevant.' That's not the case at all. When you do interviews, people are gonna ask me about my past. I've never been one to be like, 'Don't ask me this.' I think that ruins the [frick]ing interview.'"
Punk also speaks about his Fox audition and states that he hasn't heard a thing. He then details the role that Fox laid out to him for the backstage show:
Punk later stated
, "I was told WWE was not involved. But who knows. It could be why I haven't heard anything yet. I made it clear to them that, if I landed this, I wouldn't be here just to shit on everything because nobody wants to watch that. The way they approached me with it was, 'We have [Alex Rodriguez] for baseball, Troy Aikman for [football]. And then you for wrestling. That would be your authority. We would like you to be the analyst.'"
It was reported recently by Fightful that while officials were impressed by Punk’s audition, they have reportedly moved on from the former WWE Champion:
“Punk’s tryout went well and he impressed the Backstage team, but it was left in the hands of higher ups at Fox that seemed like they’d “moved on” as recently as this week. Nothing is concrete in that regard, though.”