CM Punk Explains Why His Perspective Has Changed On The Rock Returning To WWE

CM Punk feels a little differently about The Rock’s return to WWE than he did 13 years ago, and he explained why in a new interview. Punk spoke with Alex McCarthy for the Daily Mail and talked about how, compared to when he criticized Rock for taking a WrestleMania spot back in 2011, he has changed his perspective on the Final Boss and others making part-time returns to the company. You can see the highlights below:

On the Rock’s return potentially impacting him: “I’m sure it will. I’m sure it’s going to trickle down and impact everybody. I think one of the difficult parts of this being so big, there’s so many moving parts. You’re seeing it with [John] Cena now. Definitely, I have a different perspective on it now than I did 10 years ago when I was working with The Rock. It’s easy for everybody to say, “You’re not here, we’re grinding, we’re doing this”. The schedule now is so much more limited than it was 10 years ago. I can’t point a finger at anybody else and say, ‘Well, you’re not here.'”

On Cena’s retirement tour: “A guy like John Cena, he’s a busy dude. He’s earned that right. He’s stated that he’s retiring, this is going to be his final run, so I’m less inclined to say, ‘You should be here doing this, doing that.’ Sometimes the tickets sell themselves when we’re in these international markets and you hear John Cena retirement tour, that’s going to put butts on seats… John Cena doesn’t necessarily need to show up every week. He’s busy, he’s filming a movie. I understand that, but there is a flip side to that coin. There is still a locker room full of pro wrestlers. They are the people that will get a chip on their shoulder and there will be resentment because there are people that feel, ‘Oh, I’m here every week. I’m doing this, I’m doing this.’

“But at the end of the day, I think everybody just constantly wants to rise to the level. So along the way, yeah, we’re going to poke, we’re going to prod, we’re going to say, “Hey, Rock, you showed up here, how come you’re not here? Why aren’t you doing this?” I think the fans do that too, and I think they enjoy it when they see us do it.”

On Rock’s value to the company: “There’s no denying what a giant box office star The Rock is. I think peeling back a little bit and being Final Boss instead of happy go lucky Rock, I think that is a character that can say, ‘Yeah, I’m not here all the time. So what? I’ll show up for eight minutes every six months and it’ll still be the biggest thing.’ I think there’s freedom and there’s an air to play with that a little bit, and it makes it better and more real and more exciting for everybody.”