CM Punk On If He Can Wrestle For AEW While Working On WWE Backstage
CM Punk has made occasionally appearances on WWE Backstage, drawing interest to the show whenever he is on. Host of the show, Renee Young, has previously talked about bringing Punk back up to speed on WWE.
While making an appearance on "Kevin in the Mornings with Allie & Jensen" to promote his movie Girl On The Third Floor premiering on Netflix this week, Punk gave credit to Young for bringing him on WWE Backstage.
"All wrestling fans, if they're stoked that I'm in this capacity on this show, they owe a debt of gratitude to [Renee]," Punk said. "I don't think it would have happened if it wasn't for her. I was talking to Fox for a very long time. They immediately got Renee on board. Renee and I were having conversations every day."
Punk noted that Young was "100%" having ring fatigue doing commentary on RAW. Punk said that WWE Backstage was a much better fit for her than doing WWE commentary.
"[Backstage] is a loose show where she gets to still be in the wrestling space. Nobody is in her ear yelling at her, and we are still working on trying to make the show what we envisioned it to be," Punk said. "I think she's a great voice for the whole space of wrestling. She gets it, and that's what she excels at. Hosting, man she's great at it. She can control me."
Before WWE Backstage, Punk had been out of wrestling for a long time. He made a surprise appearance at an indie show last year, but he has not made an in-ring return since leaving WWE. His new deal with WWE Backstage is with Fox and not WWE, which had the radio hosts wonder if Punk would wrestle for AEW. It was reported before that Punk had turned down a big money offer from AEW. Punk admitted that he could work for AEW, although executives at Fox would likely let him go if that happened.
"I think if I was wrestling for AEW, I'm sure Fox would be like, 'well, it was fun while it lasted.' I guess technically [I could]," Punk said. "Technically I could do that yeah, but I'm sure Fox would be like, 'well?'"
Punk also noted in the interview that he can still do commentary on MMA shows despite working on WWE Backstage. He made it clear that he is employed by Fox and not WWE.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Kevin in the Mornings with Allie & Jensen with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.