CM Punk Looks Back At Feud With Jeff Hardy, Says It Leveled Him Up

CM Punk had a memorable feud with Jeff Hardy during his first run in WWE, which he says helped level him up in terms of his standing on the card. The two feuded in 2009, a rivalry that only came to an end when Hardy exited WWE and lost a cage match against Punk to write him off TV. Punk would even mock Hardy on the next episode of Smackdown, coming out in his facepaint with his entrance before cutting a promo on Hardy.

Punk looked back on the rivalry during a recent episode of WWE Break It Down. You can see the highlights below:

On His Win over Jeff At SummerSlam 2009:

“This is a big moment for me. Sold out the Staples Center, and for that time in my career that was a bit of a feather in my cap. Me versus Jeff. Jeff being a superstar in a position above me, helped elevate me.

“And I got to talk, which was obviously my bread and butter, but if nobody knows, nobody knows. So this was my real first exercise in being able to show people that I can captivate and draw you in emotionally with just my words, and this I think kinda leveled me up a little bit.”

On His Confidence Level At That Point:

“[laughs] My confidence level, at any point in my career, it was always way too high, 100%. You couldn’t — in the best, most respectful way possible, you couldn’t tell me s**t. I was given the chip and I ran with it, and I did some of the best work at that point of my career.”

On Dressing As Hardy After Beating Him In a Loser Leaves WWE Match:

“A really great moment, I think maybe opened up a lot of people’s eyes backstage as to how my brain works, and that I really did have a mind for wrestling at the time. Because this is just pure — this is evil in a way. This is being able to manipulate and upset people in the audience.”

“I beat Jeff in a loser leaves WWE cage match, capping off the entire feud. And then I’m always looking for a way to just habitually step over the line, and this was that. I got to come out to Jeff’s music, dressed as Jeff, face paint on. And it was a real son of a bitch moment when people realized that it wasn’t Jeff and it was me.”

On His Jeff Hardy Impression:

“As far as impressions go, it’s a 10 outta 10. And the rib was on me, because I had to rehearse this constantly. And certain people thought it was really, really funny. ‘No, no, no, you gotta dance like Jeff,’ so I had to all-out dance like Jeff and do this during rehearsal ad nauseum, like 10 times over.”

“You can see right there, like you squint, and that looks like Jeff doing the little dance and I got the outfit on. Classic.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WWE with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.