CM Punk Says He'd Like to Wrestle Will Ospreay, Who Challenges Him to a Wrestle Kingdom 15 Match

WWE fans have been waiting to see CM Punk step back inside the ring for a wrestling match ever [...]

By Connor Casey

WWE fans have been waiting to see CM Punk step back inside the ring for a wrestling match ever since he walked out of the company in 2014. And while he's dipped his toe back inside the wrestling world with his appearances on WWE Backstage, he still hasn't shown any indication of coming out of retirement. However in a new interview on the Swing & Mrs. podcast, Punk was asked who he'd like to step back inside the ring with if he felt compelled to do so. The former WWE Champion listed wrestlers that he's worked with in the past — John Cena, Daniel Bryan and Rey Mysterio — as guys he would work with if the conditions were right. But then named one person from outside the company, Will Ospreay.

"For people I haven't ever wrestled before, I think Will Ospreay, I would listen to your idea," Punk said. There's a lot of moving parts. I'm busy doing other stuff and nobody has found the right combination of ways to approach me."

The New Japan Pro Wrestling star decided to cut out the middleman and deliver his own pitch to Punk.

The British wrestling star is regarded as one of the best high-flyers in the world. Since joining New Japan he's won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship three times, held the NEVER Openweight Championship once and won the Best of the Super Juniors tournament twice. Back in February he won the RevPro British Heavyweight Championship (a title often defended in New Japan) by beating Zack Sabre Jr.

While Punk is on WWE Backstage every now and then, he's still only a Fox Sports employee — meaning he could wrestle in New Japan if he felt compelled to do so. When Punk gave his first sit-down interview on Backstage in November, he said all the things that angered him about the company back in 2014 were still a problem.

"I think the product is the same as when I left it," Punk said. "Wrestling could be so much better, it could be so much more. Obviously there's a reason myself, yourself, everybody who puts on a pair of boots fell in love with professional wrestling. And regardless of what I think of the product now, the opinion is the same as when I was there.

"Stuff is overproduced, stuff's micromanaged. I think the best characters, the people that fans love the most throughout all of wrestling are the characters that they get to figure stuff out themselves instead of being told what to do by somebody who've never done anything, never been anywhere. 'never drew money, brother.' So I think there's a lot wrong with it, but I see a lot of bright spots."

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