As the world awaits CM Punk's MMA debut that is likely to occur in six or seven months, the former WWE Superstar has said he "absolutely" no longer wants a main event match at WrestleMania in the future and he also discussed his impending first appearance in the promotion.
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One of the key factors that led to Punk's WWE departure was the fact that he had always wanted a main event match at WrestleMania, but was constantly stifled creatively even at the peak of his popularity.
Punk spoke to Rolling Stone about his UFC debut and was asked if a small part of him still wants to main event the WWE's biggest show of the year sometime down the line.
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"No, absolutely not," Punk told the publication.
Punk was also asked what made him so sure that the UFC will be better to him than the WWE was after he went on Colt Cabana's Art of Wrestling podcast to blast the sports entertainment company by revealing what led to his departure.
"I'm not sure I did know. If I can maybe throw out an example of how things are different - the lack of communication from the WWE office was astounding," Punk said. "They said they suspended me and never contacted me. They were in my town, about an eight-minute drive from my house multiple times, and didn't feel like it was necessary to come try and talk to me, so I assumed that they didn't want to talk to me."
He added: "Then, you've got Dana [White, UFC president] and [UFC CEO] Lorenzo Fertitta wanting to talk to me, and they get on a jet and fly to Chicago to talk to me. So that pretty much told me exactly how Dana and Lorenzo do business. I'm sure there are other people out there who have different situations with them, but they're playing straight with me. And being backstage [at last Saturday's UFC 181] and introducing everybody to my wife, it was such a great experience. And I'm sure part of that is the name value and who I am, but everyone seemed to be happy, which is different and odd for me."
Punk, who is married to WWE Diva AJ Lee, also talked about how he convinced her to be on board with him joining a more physical promotion. Lee was by Punk's side at UFC 181 when he announced that he joined the organization.
"After I spoke with Dana and Lorenzo, that's when it got serious and that's when I brought it to her attention," he said. "Trust me, whatever nerves I'm gonna have stepping into the Octagon will pale in comparison to the nerves I had when I had to bring this up to my wife. I was honestly terrified. I was like, 'She's gonna shut it down, and I'm gonna have to figure out a way to smooth it over so I can do this, because I don't take no for an answer, she doesn't take no for an answer, and this is something I really wanna do.' Right off the bat she recognized that. She's been around me long enough to know that, ever since the first day I met her, this is something I talked about doing, and she's not somebody that's gonna step in front of her husband trying to accomplish something that he dreamed about."
Lastly, Punk, who said he's not sure where he will be training, was asked if he's looking to build the brand of Phil Brooks, which is his real name.
"Sure, but that's not the sole purpose of doing it," he said. "Obviously, because it's such a high-profile move and all eyes are on me right now, yeah, why wouldn't you classify that as the building of a brand or a business? That's what it is. I could easily just not be doing interviews and telling people, 'No, I'm gonna hole up here and train, and you're never gonna see me until I fight,' but that's unrealistic. I think somewhere along the lines after I disappeared from WWE, people got this idea that I hate being famous. And if anybody is famous, they know that fame isn't really a thing. Fame is an apparition. Fame is a side effect of success. I did not wake up one day and say, 'I wanna be famous.' I did not wake up and say, 'I wanna be a UFC fighte.r' I woke up and said, 'I want to be successful at something I want to do. I want to fight.'"
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