10 Times Wrestlers Blatantly Lied To Your Face
3. CM Punk Will “Never” Return To Wrestling
Speaking of awkward, even CM Punk must have a right good belly laugh at his own hyperbole shortly after leaving WWE in 2014. Granted, the dude surely believed he'd never be back when he told Chris Van Vliet that he was done with wrestling forever that July. After all, fallout from his nasty WWE departure was still fresh on the mind, and Punk had other irons in the fire to concentrate on.
He fancied doing some acting and had started to dabble in MMA training. Pro wrestling was also a much different place in the summer of 2014 than it is now. Besides the fading TNA/IMPACT Wrestling or a stint in New Japan, there weren't too many options for workers expelled from the WWE system. So, Punk was probably right to cut down any suggestions he'd ever be back.
However, he did start dipping a toe back into wrestling long before AEW came along as a viable WWE competitor. Punk showed up under a cloak and then a mask for select indy bookings in 2015. Then, in 2019, he signed on to become part of the WWE Backstage crew; technically, being fair, his contract was with FOX rather than Vince McMahon.
Still...
AEW came calling in 2021, and Punk was all in on wrestling again. Once the proverbial hit the fan there, he made his WWE comeback in 2023. That's a long way from claiming he'd never ever work in the biz again, eh? Punk, like many, had unfinished business and wanted to put things right deep down.
It just took him a while to digest and process everything that had gone on with WWE.