A recurring theme of the interview is Punk's financial priorities. He repeatedly brings up things like royalties, payoffs and merchandise. He makes a point of saying he was ahead of Cena's merchandise sales. What seemed to have really bothered him was WrestleMania 29, when WWE paid more to Rock, Cena, Triple H, Lesnar and Undertaker. Here's Punk stealing the show and working every night of the week, but being paid less than the other talents who don't work as much. You can understand Punk's frustration. If you are the best at what you do, you deserve to be paid as such. When the pay cheques started getting less and less, he knew that he was allowing himself to be taken advantage of. He knew he had to walk away or he'd continue to be ripped off. Of course you have the flip side irony, that Punk was able to walk away because WWE made him rich. He even admits that he was looking more and more at his bank account and realising how little he needed WWE any more - he was loaded. When the WWE Network plans were revealed, Punk's financial concerns went into overdrive. He asked Vince McMahon how it would work with pay per view payoffs and the boss admitted he didn't know. That might even still be the case even now, with Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer saying "to this day I still don't know how that works" on Observer Radio. Punk says Shouldnt you figure that out before I work on that PPV, so you can pay me accordingly? And nobody is asking questions because youll get punished. You get left off the PPV."
