CM Punk on WWE Fans Speculating He Would Appear at Royal Rumble 2022
CM Punk spent the last few weeks trolling fans over the idea that he might be popping up in the 2022 Men's Royal Rumble. Rumors of more wrestlers joining Mickie James in going through the "Forbidden Door" spread in the weeks leading up to last Saturday's event, with most of the speculation surrounding Cody Rhodes (currently operating under a handshake deal with AEW), Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley. Punk spoke with Chicago radio personality Abe Kanan this week and was asked about that speculation.
"This is the first year they had the Royal Rumble that I have been back in wrestling, but I work somewhere else, and people were still making s— up and saying I was going to be in the Rumble or Cody (Rhodes) was going to be in the Rumble or (Jon) Moxley was going to be in the Rumble. Lik I get it, people want to be excited about it," Punk said. "But if you want to watch us, watch AEW. That's what Twitter is for. Twittter is a cesspool and it's garbage and I want to delete it off my phone, but every once in a while it's a ray of sunshine and fun stuff."
He then joked WWE "wish" he could've been in the match. The 30-man bout wound up being won by Brock Lesnar, entering at No. 30 and eliminating the final five competitors.
Rhodes shed some light on his contract status in a backstage interview last week after dropping the TNT Championship to Sammy Guevara — "There's so many elephants in the room. This is an insane week in wrestling. People think that the Sean Ross [Sapp] story is bs — it's not. I am working here without a contract. I'm not even on payroll anymore. I'm working here on a handshake deal. That is 100% legitimate, I swear on Pharaoh's life [his dog] if you want to know how serious things got.
"But I can tell you this," he added. "I have never felt more at home, then under those lights, wrestling for the TNT title. A title that will never, ever, ever be secondary because of matches like that. Old school promoters will tell you, the title could make the man or the man can make the title. At this moment we don't know which is which. I'm very proud of Sammy Guevara. I absolutely wish I could go home to my baby girl, to my other — my family, and say, 'Hey, the TNT champ once again.' A belt that was synonymous with my name, doesn't look like it's gonna be just about me. Brodie [Lee}, Miro, Darby [Allin], Sammy, myself. I'm slow when it comes to rematches, but maybe I won't be so slow getting my rematch for this one. But for now, gonna take a beat, get with Arn — Arn's been there for my whole career. I'mma think about it. Again, an insane week, where I have heard the most wonderful, crazy things from all walks of the wrestling world on what it is that I do next. But like I said, I've never felt more at home than wrestling for that title in front of a crowd like that."