CM Punk Offers Advice to WWE Wrestlers Recently Released

WWE has released more than 50 Superstars in 2021, most of which have come since early April as part of large waves of budget cuts. CM Punk spoke with Sunday Night's Main Event this week and was asked if he had any advice for the stars recently let go, given how he was able to succeed after he and WWE parted ways in 2014. Punk said, "I don't know a lot of the people who got fired, but I know that it's probably more of a blessing than anything. If you want to be a pro wrestler, you can be. You don't have to work for WWE. I think it sucks, I think anybody getting fired sucks. But I do think, for a lot of people, it could be the best thing that ever happens to them. If that's where you want to be and you got fired, well your job is to prove them wrong and try to get your job back.

"But if you're job is just to be the best pro wrestler you can be, put food on your table, have money in your pocket, I think there's a world now in 2021 where more so than in recent times you can be a pro wrestler," he continued.

Elsewhere in the same interview, Punk dodged the question about appearing at AEW Rampage when it comes to Chicago's United Center on Aug. 20. Rumors of him making his debut for AEW have been swirling for weeks.

"I think I might be doing a screening, this isn't confirmed yet so I probably shouldn't blast this out everywhere, but we're talking about doing a screening of episode three of Heels at AMC in Chicago. That's one of the dates that has been proposed. I hope to see everybody there," Punk said.

The former WWE Champion also confirmed previous conversations he had with AEW president Tony Khan — "Yeah, I talked with Tony. My perspective on this, and I've said this to his face, I am a guy who has constantly heard, 'Hey, I've got a money guy!' or 'Hey, I've got TV!' at least one or twice a year for 15-20 years of my wrestling career... it always seems like somebody [says], 'Oh, we're going to start up and compete with Vince [McMahon].' I always think that came from a bad spot, because I think if you start up a wrestling company, I think you should always focus on yourself. So I, more or less, took a wait-and-see approach. I wasn't and I am not interested in pro wrestling in that respect."