CM Punk was on the road to WrestleMania 40, where he was going to have a match against Seth Rollins. However, he went out of action because of his triceps injury.
Punk attended UFC 298 on February 17 at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. There, he spoke to ESPN about a number of topics, such as his arm’s recovery process.
“I’m only about two weeks post-op. It’s more mental than anything. Pain is, whatever, you know? Like, we all deal with it. I’m just more heartbroken. Was kinda on a roll, was looking forward to a lot of cool opportunities coming up and for that to get paused while I had just returned to the WWE sucks. But I know those same opportunities will be there, and it’s just life. It’s an occupational hazard, you get knocked down, you get back up. Wash, rinse, repeat.”
Punk revealed that he has to have an attitude like that about his injury, otherwise he would go crazy. He admitted that he did have a “good cry about it” the night it happened.
How Punk looks at The Rock’s return and Roman Reigns-Cody Rhodes storyline
Punk talked about the return of the Rock and the Roman Reigns and Cody Rhodes storyline, talking about how the talent react when an “old timer” comes back.
“I’m the guy that ten years ago was across the ring from Rock. So there’s very much a line drawn in the sand when the ‘old timers’ come back. You have a whole crew of young guys that have been carrying the burden, carrying the shows, carrying the company on their back 365 days a year and man, who do these guys think they are?”
However, he admitted that his attitude regarding this has changed.
“It’s kinda funny now my perspective is obviously a little bit different. I am now one of those guys. But obviously, The Rock is next level. Biggest box office movie star in the world. So I understand that. But I also understand where Cody’s coming from. So it’s interesting to be on the outside looking in on that.
I just wish I was still in the mix because I know I was gonna be. I’ll still be around, cus the wing’s broken, [but] the mouth still works. I’ll still get to talk a bunch of trash. No one’s going to pick on the one-armed guy, right?”
On his expectations about the comeback
CM Punk vowed to have the greatest comeback of all time after his triceps surgery. Speaking about his expectations and progress, he said:
“I take a lot of inspiration from a lot of UFC fighters. Tonight we saw Ilia Topuria who very much put into the world that he was going to be undefeated and become champion. So when I say that my comeback will be the greatest of all time I’m doing that for the explicit purpose of putting my money where my mouth is. I’m saying it, I’m letting everybody know, and I have to live up to that. I won’t come short of anything but the greatest comeback of all time.”
Punk said it’s important to listen to people who know more than he does, such as doctors, and giving his time enough rest to recover so that he can start pushing it again.
“It’s exciting being my age, back in the WWE and being able to not only prove people wrong but prove myself right. I’m gonna have fun doing it and it’s going to be the best comeback of all time.”