Randy Orton Reveals He Made Contact With CM Punk Prior to His WWE Return

CM Punk took the world by storm when he re-signed with WWE back in November and appeared at Survivor Series, just months after the altercation at AEW All In. Unfortunately, Punk's run was cut short because of a torn tricep that he got in the Royal Rumble match. He's been out of in-ring action since, but he's made appearances on television to further stories with World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre. 

Punk recently sat down with Randy Orton for an episode of WWE Playback. The two of them watched their match from WrestleMania 27 and Punk stated that he felt like he earned the second-generation wrestling star's respect that night. Not that Orton necessaily hadn't prior, but it was a stepping stone in Punk's career and Orton agreed. "I put it like this to people because I'm a huge hockey guy," Punk started. "There's guys you play against, and it's always gonna be chippy. You might fight with them, you hate them, shit disturber, but then they get traded in free agency, and you're going to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and all of a sudden he's on your team, and it's just like, I'm glad you're on my team. That's what that felt like to me."

They also discussed Punk's polarizing return to WWE where Orton revealed he initially reached out to Punk when the reports surfaced last summer. "We're good. Well, sh-t, I feel like I reached out. I forget what had happened, but I might have seen something online or whatever, maybe I knew you were leaving, and I think that minute I saw that, I reached out right away," Orton said. "This was before, I don't know if you had already talked to people and were coming back or what, but this would have been last summer or last fall, I think when I knew for sure that you were leaving. I legitimately was like, f--k, He needs to come back, he needs to come back. This is where you belong. I think you reiterated that. You were like, 'Yeah, you're right, I need to come home.' I'm glad you did, dude."

At WrestleMania 40, though Punk won't be able to wrestle, he will still be part of the festivities for WWE World where he has a sold out meet and greet and WrestleMania itself when he steps behind the commentary desk once again for the match between Rollins and McIntyre.