Renee Young On When She Knew CM Punk Would Join WWE Backstage, Sasha Banks Becoming A Top Star

When CM Punk abruptly retired from professional wrestling and left the WWE in 2014 due to his problems with the company, many people thought that Punk might never get involved with pro wrestling again. While Punk has not officially wrestled since his WWE departure, he returned as a pro wrestling analyst last November for the WWE Backstage show on FS1. Punk's contract is with FOX Sports and not FS1.

Fast forward to November 12th, 2019 on a episode of WWE Backstage on Fox and after 5 years, Punk returned to be a part of the pro wrestling business again.

During a recent interview with Outkick the Coverage, Renee Young discussed the night Punk surprised the wrestling world and joined the WWE Backstage team. Young revealed what she knew about his return that others in the company did not.

"I heard some rumblings a couple weeks before," Young said. "In the world of WWE, you're always waiting to see if this is actually happening and are we really doing this. I had not actually seen him until his music hit and he walked through. I'm getting texts throughout the show and I'm making sure to check my phone saying okay cool, he is in the building we're actually doing this. He did not miss his flight, he showed up and wanted to make sure he was there to be a part of the show. It was really the day of when it all felt so real to me like 'Oh my god, CM Punk is coming back'.

"To have that moment of counting down, Booker T didn't know, Samoa Joe didn't know, Paige didn't know, Adam Cole was there, even people in the control room did not know. We had people from WWE in the control room and they were like 'What the hell?'. They had no idea that he was going to be there. Those moments are so far and few between in WWE where sometimes the cat gets out of the bag early or stuff can hit the dirt sheets, so it was really special to have that contained and be a special moment."

While doing the interview, Young was asked a question about Sasha Banks and what she thinks about her as an in-ring talent.

"I think Sasha Banks is still immensely talented and she has that superstar draw about her," Young said. "People really want to love her and support her whether she's a heel or a baby face, people love her either way.

"The interesting thing about Bayley and Sasha is you are always waiting for Sasha to turn on Bayley again. That's always going to be there dynamic. Whenever that next time is going to be, hopefully they can really take it and run with it and really lean into that. I think there's so much depth to Sasha's character that we really haven't got to see her tap into. There's so much there and her being an absolute top star in the company will be inevitable. It will happen at some point."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Outkick the Coverage with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.