At WrestleMania 42, it was a mighty defeat for CM Punk, who lost his then WWE World Heavyweight Championship to “The OTC” Roman Reigns. Up until two weeks ago, “The Best in the World” was absent from WWE programming. That absence propelled the floodgates of rumors to widen that he was unhappy in WWE and was venturing back to AEW. Now debunked, the new Undisputed WWE Champion addresses why he took some time off from the company.
“I was heavyweight champion over on ‘[WWE] Raw’ for quite some time. And during that entire time I was champion, I had at least three or four people that were very close to me pass away. And each time, I was at work the next day,” the champion said in his interview with ESPN. “I didn’t talk about it publicly. I showed up, partially, because it helped me, being here amongst my road family and being able to connect with the fans on that level, helped me get through it. But there was still some stuff I needed to process.”
Coming back from his reset, Punk tore the roof off the Allstate Arena in Chicago, when he knocked Sami Zayn off from his nine day reign and took home the Undisputed Championship. Now, a former three-time Undisputed Champion wants it back. In less than a week and a half, Punk will defend his championship at SummerSlam against “The American Nightmare” Cody Rhodes at the U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “ESPN” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
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