WWE CEO and Chairman Vince McMahon appeared on Hall of Famer "Stone Cold" Steve Austin's podcast on the WWE Network Monday night and addressed CM Punk's departure for the first time since the former WWE Superstar walked out on the company in January.

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McMahon responded to Punk, who appeared on his good friend Colt Cabana's Art of Wrestling podcast and revealed why he left the WWE. During the candid interview, Punk ripped the WWE for its steroid policy, concussion protocol and many other things.

Punk, who also blasted Ryback, has set the internet wrestling world abuzz with his nearly two-hour interview and has garnered many responses from around the web while the WWE has stayed mostly silent about it other than a statement issued by a company doctor defending their practices.

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There were a lot of people wondering when the WWE would issue a response to Punk leaving the company, and McMahon obliged on Austin's show. McMahon started off by apologizing to Punk for his termination papers reaching him on the same day he married WWE Diva AJ Lee.

"I would like to apologize," McMahon said on the podcast. "Sometimes in a big corporation, the legal people don't necessarily know what talent relations are doing and conversely Punk got his severance papers on the day he got married. And that was a coincidence. So, I want to personally apologize for that."

Punk has done many outside projects after walking out on the WWE last January and even said he will "never ever" return to the squared circle. Still, McMahon was hopeful the two sides can work something out some day down the line, but Punk gave the impression on the podcast the two would never be working partners again.

"Other than that, the only thing I want to say about Punk is there have been a number of individuals in the past that have been disgruntled, said a lot of things about the organization and I'm not going to wash the dirty laundry in public," McMahon said. "I don't think there's any reason for that. I think there are a lot of things he may say that he may regret one day in terms of looking back at it. But nonetheless, I hope that one day we will be able to get back together again."

It took 10 months for Punk to break his silence about what happened while it also took that long for McMahon to publicly address Punk being gone from the company, but it appears the two are on different wavelengths when it comes to working together again.

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