The news of Vince McMahon’s WWE retirement and Triple H’s ascension to Head of Creative
has fans and wrestlers alike excited, with many convinced that the drastic company restructuring will facilitate changes to both WWE’s work culture and the creative direction of their programming. However, AEW World Champion CM Punk remains as pessimistic as ever.
In a recent interview with the
“Absolute Geek” podcast, Punk scoffed at the idea of McMahon surrendering control of WWE, insinuating that his former boss will continue to run the promotion from the shadows.
“You think because he [McMahon] tweeted that ‘I’m retired’ that he’s not going to be hands-on, and he’s not gonna [run the show]?” Punk asked in response to a question on McMahon’s retirement. “Sure, we all are [hopeful of a change], but I don’t think the structure there…what’s the word I’m looking for… I don’t think the culture there changes. At all. I think it is what it is.”
Punk then compared the manner in which WWE handled the recent walkouts of Sasha Banks and Naomi to that of Brock Lesnar.
“I’ll put it to you like this – people are going to be real fu—g mad about this, but f–k it,” Punk said. “Mercedes [Sasha Banks] and Trinity [Naomi] leave, and they announce on SmackDown that ‘Gosh darn, we’re so disappointed in them, they really let our fans down.’
Brock [Lesnar] splits, comes back obviously, I think he worked the show [SmackDown], but where was Michael Cole saying ‘Man, Brock Lesnar really let these fans down?'”
“I walked out, they went on TV and they called me a quitter. What’s changed?” Punk asked. “What’s the difference? You’re gonna attack these two poor f—-ing women because they kinda had enough and walked? They got bigger balls than everybody there. So what’s changed, you know? There’s nothing much that’s changed.”
Punk continued, “There’s people that talk about it and there’s people that do it. The people who lick the boots and have the audacity to go on live television and say that about those two women? They’re f—-ng cowards and bootlickers. That s–t is ridiculous. Why didn’t they do it for Brock? They did it for me, you know?”
“I don’t know, it’s none of my business,” Punk concluded.