8 Things We Learned From CM Punk's Sports Illustrated Appearance

6. Punk Was Both Burned Out, And Satisfied With What He Accomplished

A lot has been said about pro wrestlers burning out due to a travel intense schedule, and that has been brought up over and over with CM Punk having left the WWE. And he does touch on it with Sports Illustrated, but he goes a little further, claiming he had pretty much achieved all he wanted to;

"I'd accomplished pretty much all I wanted. I was getting tired of being on the road, tired of getting beat up. Most of the big reasons had to do with my health. Like getting knee surgery and then being told, €˜You need to be in the ring in three weeks.€™ I€™m like, €˜That€™s great. I can suck it up and be the tough guy. But wouldn€™t it be smarter to give me six weeks?€™"

The injury point is key. If you're talking about long term investment, why wouldn't you give a worker time to heal properly? Think of it like this: treating injuries properly in a high risk business like wrestling or MMA is much like brushing your teeth. Sure, if you don't brush, you'll save money on toothpaste, a toothbrush, even water! The long term effects? You're teeth are going to rot. Allowing proper healing time is a lot like that. If you don't allow the worker to heal up, long term, your investment will be shot when he winds up re-injured, and out possibly longer than with the original ailment. What's surprising? The fact that he felt he accomplished everything he wanted to. Well, he was champ...