CM Punk is not as big The Rock hater anymore.
The Straight Edge star was one of the harshest critics of The Great One when he returned to WWE back in 2012-2013. Punk who was the WWE Champion at the time took shots at the Hollywood star for being part-timer and stealing the main event spot away from hard-working full-time talents.
During a recent interview with The Daily Mail, however, Punk expressed a much softer opinion on part-time talents. He noted how Rock’s return will affect everybody in the company but also discussed how the WWE schedule is much lighter now with house shows almost completely eliminated from the lineup:
“I’m sure it’s going to trickle down and impact everybody. I think one of the difficult parts of this being so big and there’s so many moving parts, and you’re seeing it with [John] Cena now. Definitely, I have a different perspective now than I did ten years ago, when I was working with The Rock.
It was easy for everybody to say, ‘You’re not here. We’re grinding, we’re doing this.’ The schedule now is so much more limited than it was ten years ago. I can’t point a finger at somebody else now and say, ‘Well, you’re not here.’ Plus, a guy like John Cena, to me, he’s a busy dude. He’s earned that right.”
More Exciting For Everybody: CM Punk
CM Punk noted that he is less inclined to call out someone like John Cena for not showing up while he is on his path to retirement. He added that there’s a flip side of the coin with many talents in the locker room who may be thinking that they’re grinding every week.
According to Punk, however, at the end of the day everyone just wants to rise to that level despite being inclined to poke fun at it at the same time:
“There’s no denying what a giant box office star The Rock is. I think peeling back a little bit and him being ‘Final Boss’ instead of being happy-go-lucky Rock, I think that is a character that can say, ‘Yeah, I’m not here all the time. Yeah, so what? I’ll show up for eight minutes every six months, and it’ll still be the biggest.’
I think there’s freedom and there’s an air to play with that a little bit, and it makes it better and more real and more exciting for everybody.”
There is a possibility that CM Punk will come face to face with The Great One this Saturday at the Elimination Chamber PPV. The former AEW star will be competing in the cage match at the event and speculation is that Rock could get involved if Cody Rhodes ends up refusing his offer.
