CM Punk Rates the Current Quality of WWE's Product

CM Punk hasn't needed to follow the WWE ever since Fox Sports 1 shuttered WWE Backstage, which he occasionally appeared on as an analyst. In a new interview with Sunday Night's Main Event this week he freely admitted he doesn't follow week-to-week, and what he has seen he's not impressed with.

"No, I had to watch it a little bit when I was an analyst for FOX," Punk said (h/t Wrestling Inc.). "But I mean, how do I say this diplomatically? Um, no, I think they've got some people who are super awesome and great in the ring, but you know, nothing grabs me to get me to want to watch."

"I'm getting 'a little long in the tooth' now," he later added. "And I would much rather uplift and show love to things I like than to tear anything down. You know, you can't say that what they're doing is wrong. They are the most profitable they've ever been since their inception, so who am I to say... you know what I mean? Like... it's ice cream, there's 31,000 flavors, everybody gets their favorite, I just don't like vanilla."

During the same interview, Punk talked about the big rumors that he'll be arriving in All Elite Wrestling when AEW Rampage takes place at Chicago's United Center on Aug. 20.

"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, followed by a deflection that Darby Allin's recent "Best in the World" line was likely directed at Daniel Bryan (who is also rumored to be on his way to AEW).

He also talked about conversations he had with AEW president Tony Khan when the promotion first launched in 2019 — "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."