CM Punk Says He ‘Went With The Devil I Didn’t Know’ When He Signed With AEW

CM Punk recently spoke with the Masked Man Show (h/t Fightful) and discussed his decision to sign with AEW when he returned to wrestling in August 2021 instead of WWE.

On how a conversation with Triple H led to his WWE return: “I had a conversation with Triple H on Thanksgiving. Immediately, I was like, ‘This dude is taking time away from his daughters and wife and turkey to talk to me.’ It’s not a thing where they need this big superstar. They didn’t need to sign me. They were doing fine. I just think he, in a way, recognized that this is the right thing to do. Where prior administration would look at stuff and go, ‘Nope, this is the way we’re doing it because I said so.’ Yeah, but if you did it this way, it’s going to benefit this many more people and create…my big thing about part-timers back in the day was, they can come back and main event, I understand The Rock is box office compared to CM Punk in 2013. I understand that, but at some point, if you don’t hand the baton to somebody else, Rock is not going to come back, and now there is nobody at that level. That’s kind of how I always viewed the business and I think me and Triple H always butt heads because we were too similar back then.”

On how signing with AEW was going with the devil he didn’t know instead of the devil he did know: “We’ve grown and now I love working with the guy, it’s great. I don’t say for him, either, because I don’t feel like I work for this guy. I feel like I come to work and it’s more collaborative than anything it’s ever been and I couldn’t have seen that until I was actually in. I kind of took a gamble, whereas in 2021, when I came back, I went with the devil I didn’t know instead of the devil I knew.”

Punk left WWE in 2014 and became increasingly critical of the company after his departure. His AEW run ended after a backstage incident with Jack Perry at AEW All In in 2023. Punk then returned to WWE in 2023 at Survivor Series.

Punk will headline WrestleMania 41 tonight against Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns.