10 Fascinating WWE Royal Rumble 2012 Facts
7. CM Punk Was Supposed To Appear At A UFC Event The Night Before
It's about an hour's flight from Chicago to the Royal Rumble's location of St. Louis, MO. If WWE Champion CM Punk had his way, he would have been in both cities, attending major spectacles, on concurrent nights, but it wasn't to be.
Punk had agreed to appear at the UFC on FOX special that aired the night before the Rumble. He was to walk out with charismatic middleweight Chael Sonnen for his fight with the equally-caustic Michael Bisping. The event would've put Punk, and the WWE Championship, in the spotlight, as an average of 4.7 million viewers tuned in for the fights.
But Vince McMahon nixed those plans, reportedly calling UFC "barbaric". According to Punk, McMahon's apparent perception of UFC could not be reasoned with. Punk did note, however, that several months later, Triple H would escort Floyd Mayweather to the ring for a boxing match (which has its own barbaric qualities) against Miguel Cotto.