CM Punk has explained his tribute to John Cena at Saturday Night's Main Event.
The Straight Edge Star and Cody Rhodes were the two names who joined the Cenation Leader in the ring after his retirement match at tonight's show. Both the WWE champions put their titles on the retiring star in the moment and prompted him to celebrate with the belt one last time before leaving the ring.
During his appearance on the SNME post show, Punk was asked about this unique tribute. He first discussed the start of his relationship with Cena when he arrived in WWE:
“Not deserved, but earned. I feel like me and Cody are two guys who came in when John was first getting on top, and you play follow the leader to an extent. There’s a lot of alpha personalities. There’s people who think they know what they’re doing, and I was always looked at as the indie guy. And maybe John even looked at me like that when I first got here,"
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He's Earned It: CM Punk
CM Punk then explained that he slowly earned his main event status in the company and John Cena was one of the guys who helped him get there. According to the former AEW star, the 17-time world champion earned his tribute tonight:
"But you know, you can be so good and so consistent for years that it turns heads, and me and John became soulmates. So, I think I’m in the position, currently, certainly not because of anything I did, or you know, maybe a fraction, but John’s definitely one of the guys that helped Punk get to his level, so to speak, so yeah, put the straps on his shoulders because he’s earned it.”