CM Punk On If He's Concerned About Upsetting WWE With New FS1 Role

Former WWE Champion CM Punk appeared on The Herd with Colin Cowherd this afternoon to discuss his new role on FS1's WWE Backstage.

Early in the interview Cowherd asked Punk about being back with WWE. Punk made it clear that, like Cowherd, he is working for FOX and noted that it would be like saying that Cowherd works for the NFL. Cowherd pointed out that while he doesn't work for the NFL, he does work in conjunction with the league, and Punk admitted that his situation was similar.

"So I guess I'm in conjunction (with WWE)," Punk said. "I'm WWE adjacent."

On his first episode of WWE Backstage as an analyst this past Tuesday, Punk made it clear that he was not going to just going to toe the company line. Punk referred to the Baron Corbin segment on SmackDown last Friday as "garbage", and also took some shots at Seth Rollins. Punk admitted that he was not worried about his comments upsetting WWE.

"I'm not concerned about it, I think honestly that's the appeal of the job," Punk stated. "We're (FOX) going to pay you and come here and be an analyst, and you get to critique the old place you work at. I'm not here to play a spoiler, and I'm not here to pour gasoline or anything and set everything on fire.

"I think deep down I loved pro wrestling as a kid and I think it can be better. I always voiced my concerns and criticisms while I worked there, and now I don't work there and now I can't get in trouble for it."

Punk was also gave this thoughts on the current product. Punk once again noted that today's product is too over produced, and that he would like to see the wrestlers be themselves and develop their characters.

"Let people breathe, let people be themselves, let people be less scripted," Punk said. "If everyone is speaking from one voice and one person's writing the script and the dialogue's all the same from one person, then it's one voice. Imagine every quarterback in the NFL running the same play every Sunday and every Thursday."

You can watch the interview in the video above. If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Herd with Colin Cowherd with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.