CM Punk Confirms Meeting With FOX Sports for WWE Backstage, Says He’s Not Interested in Getting Back in the Ring, No One at WWE Has Reached Out to Him Because He’s the ‘Boogeyman’

– Former WWE Superstar CM Punk appeared on today’s edition of Collider Live. During the show, CM Punk confirmed the rumors that he did indeed go to FOX Sports for a meeting on possibly joining the new studio news show, WWE Backstage.

When asked about meeting the FOX Sports meeting rumors regarding him possibly joining WWE Backstage, Punk stated, “Yeah, I did it. I did do it.” Later on, Punk said if someone came and asked him to wrestle, he would reply, “No. I’m not interested.”

Later on, during the interview, when Punk was asked if anyone from WWE reached out to him after his meeting with FOX Sports, Punk stated, “No. I’m the boogeyman.” He stated that he’s not been dealing with any officials at WWE on potentially joining the show, and all of his talks have been through FOX or FOX Sports. Below are some highlights and a video of his appearance on today’s show.

CM Punk on a possible deal to join WWE Backstage for FOX Sports: “This goes back to me being the position in my life where I’m like, ‘Oh, you know, what what do you got?’ I’m very much in a position where I’m like, ‘Well, talk to me?’ I’m open to anything, you know? And if they come at me and they’re like, ‘Hey. We want you to wrestle,’ I’m gonna be like, ‘No. I’m not interested.’ I’ve grown so much as a person, and I look back at all the stuff, and I don’t need it. I don’t need the confrontation, and I don’t need the drama. But if — I’m a businessman, but I also put my morals and my integrity above business deals. You know what I mean. But it is very much, ‘Oh well, OK.’ [Kristian Harloff says, ‘It’s gotta be the right deal,’ Yeah, exactly. If you want me to do anything, well OK, then talk to me. But don’t waste my time.”

CM Punk on what the deal would have to include and how the meeting came together: “It would be all of it. I’m realizing now that this is live, and I’m probably dooming myself. But the board’s having a conversation, right? And I don’t know because it’s nothing I’m actively chasing. I don’t have numbers or specifics or details or anything like that. It’s just my agents got me on the phone, and they’re like, ‘Hey. FOX wants to present,’ — Like FOX spent a lot of money getting the rights, for what I understand, just Smackdown. I thought it was the whole thing. I thought they were getting the TV rights for WWE. So, it’s insane that — what did they spend? Four-and-a-half [billion dollars]? Is that like four-and-a-half billion? That’s a lot of money. That’s a lot of money, you know? So, to get that, I guess they’re looking at that, and ratings are still dipping, and you know that’s been happening for 20+ years. Trust me, I’m not saying that it’s because I’m not there or anything like that. It’s always been that way. When I was there and I was on top, RAW was doing 3.8’s and I’m getting blamed for it. Like that’s a bad rating. Now, they would f***ing kill to have a 3.8!”

“So if — My agents just called me, and they’re like, ‘FOX is throwing everything at this because they spent a lot of money on this, and they’re all in and they have to make it work. They [FOX] reached out and want to know if you’re [interested],’ — I think originally, I thought it was like a WWE thing, so I was just like, ‘Well, no.’ But then they said, ‘This is FOX.'”

CM Punk on how he’s not dealing with WWE on this: “I’m not dealing with anybody in WWE. You know, it’s legit — they’re just like, ‘It’s FOX.’ And I was just like, ‘OK.’ And they explained to me what it was. And I love Renee Young. Renee Young’s a great person. She’s Canadian, so obviously, she’s just like super, over-the-top nice and friendly. And it’s along the lines of what I do for CFFC. But I prefaced it with, ‘Guys, I’m not going to come in and just dump all over stuff to dump on it.’ Like I said, that’s old Phil. But if it’s bad, I can’t pretend — I’m not going to be able to pretend that it’s not anything but bad. So, they want to present it like it’s a real sport and just have a show that recaps stuff. Just like they do with NFL. Just like NHL would do with hockey games and stuff like that. And that’s where we are with that.”

CM Punk on if anyone at WWE has reached out to him: “No. I’m the boogeyman.”

WWE Backstage is slated to debut on November 5 on FOX Sports 1. Renee Young and WWE Hall of Famer Booker T will host the show.

If using any of the above quotes, please credit Collider Live, with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.