CM Punk Was Glad WWE Didn’t Purchase ROH: “I Didn’t Want Vince To Own My Footage”

As noted earlier, WWE reportedly had interest in purchasing Ring of Honor (ROH), before AEW acquired the indie wrestling promotion last week.

During the post-AEW Revolution media scrum, CM Punk was asked his initial reaction to the news of Tony Khan acquiring AEW. Punk made it clear he didn't want Vince McMahon to own his ROH footage.

"Let's talk facts here, either Tony or Vince were going to buy ROH," Punk said. "I didn't want Vince to own any of my [ROH] footage. He owns enough of it already that I don't get paid for. People need to understand that when I left [WWE], I was asking questions about the WWE Network, which had not been launched yet. I was saying, 'how am I going to get paid from this?'

"We didn't even understand what the pay scale is. I didn't know if I get paid for the date of a pay-per-view or buy rate for a pay-per-view. You guys [WWE] already throw darts at an imaginary board, and you pay me whatever you want. I still get royalties for DVD sets, but once everything went on the Network, I'm not getting paid. Or am I? Tell me, let's talk about it. They never gave me the answers."

Punk added, "And now, I still get my royalty checks doing little to nothing, because they just put everything on the Network. But the boys don't get paid, that's just not me, that's everybody. That's criminal."

Earlier in the scrum, Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman asked CM Punk about Esquire profiling his fall and rise in the world of pro wrestling. The article went in-depth into Punk's unceremonious WWE exit, the lawsuits that followed, his failure to succeed in UFC, and his eventual return to wrestling.

"That was not really the full story [of my career]. All that stuff is really hard to talk about," Punk admitted. "I don't like talking about myself, especially about all that stuff. Again, I think it's pretty important to illustrate that I came out on the other side [of the WWE lawsuit] still being me. All that s**t could have destroyed me.

"A lot of people [in WWE] could have stood up and helped out, but they didn't. Because, you know, they cared about their jobs or whatever. A lot of them are fired now, and some work here [in AEW] too. It's just important for people to recognize that you should be grateful for second chances."

Punk concluded, "It was important to tell those painful stories."

Punk defeated MJF in a Dog Collar Match at Sunday's pay-per-view. You can click here for full results from the show.

You can see the full video of the AEW Revolution media scrum below. CM Punk joins the press conference at the 27-minute mark.