CM Punk says he doesn’t root against AEW, comments on All In footage being shown

Though his time with the promotion came to an ugly end, CM Punk isn’t rooting for AEW to fail.

Punk made an appearance on the SI Media podcast this week to promote his upcoming match against Drew McIntyre at WWE SummerSlam. During the conversation, Punk was asked if he roots against his former employer AEW. Punk said he still has friends in AEW and isn’t rooting for anyone to lose their job. He looks at it like AEW is not the same business that he’s in.

“I don’t root against them. I think it’s easy to be able to say like, ‘Oh, can’t wait until something bad happens to them.’ But the reality is, there’s a lot of people backstage that earn a paycheck. I still have friends that work there, so it’s not like I’m hoping somebody loses their job or everybody loses their job or something like that,” Punk said. “It’s just — I look at it like it’s just not the same business that I’m in. And if you’re trying to get paid and you can go there, go get paid. Congratulations.”

Last September, Punk’s AEW contract was terminated with cause following a backstage incident with Jack Perry that took place at All In.

AEW aired footage of the Punk/Perry altercation on Dynamite this April. Punk told the SI Media podcast that he doesn’t believe showing the footage benefitted AEW or hurt him. It made him feel like the top draw in two different companies.

Playing up his current storyline with McIntyre, Punk said it will have a payoff when they face off against each other this Saturday. He doesn’t believe AEW showing the All In incident had that same type of payoff.

“It’s kind of like — I have to wrestle Drew McIntyre, right? Just this garbage person that I don’t want in my life. But this is the fight game, it’s the sh*t talk business,” Punk said. “It’s just like fighting in the UFC. You see these guys ripping at each other, ugly press conferences, getting personal. And it’s just like, I don’t necessarily enjoy that energy. But the payoff is, I get to go in a ring and I get to blacken eyes and chip teeth and make Drew sob and do whatever else in my head that I hope to do to him.

“So it felt really ugly. But then I was just like — why? Showing that footage isn’t going to help them or hurt me, so I was just like whatever. Being the top draw in two different companies is pretty wild. Like, thanks guys.”

Punk returned to WWE last November but has been out of action since suffering a torn triceps in the Royal Rumble this January. SummerSlam will be his first televised one-on-one match for WWE in more than a decade. Seth Rollins will be the special guest referee for the Punk vs. McIntyre match.