10 Superstars Who Burned WWE Bridges… But Still Returned

2. CM Punk

Another great example of burning bridges is CM Punk. Never one to take BS or to keep quiet, Punk dramatically quit WWE back in 2014 after growing increasingly unhappy with how the company was using him.

Supping a Pepsi and then deciding to burn the entire WWE bridge to cinders, Punk went extremely public with the exact problems he had with WWE. Whether that was creative, whether that was Triple H, whether that was alleged medical negligence, whether it was receiving his termination papers on the day of his wedding, The Second City Saint held nothing back in his astonishing appearance on Colt Cabana’s The Art of Wrestling podcast.

The issues between Punk and WWE were only further amplified when WWE doctor Chris Amann filed a legal case against the multiple-time World Champion.

In wrestling, there’s always a case of ‘never say never’ amongst those in the business. And while CM Punk isn’t under a WWE contract right now, he is back within the WWE family due to having now signed a deal to analyse the WWE product alongside WWE talent on FS1’s WWE Backstage show.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

Posted On: 2nd Dec 2019

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