CM Punk Says Vince McMahon's Removal Helped Bring About His WWE Return

CM Punk’s return to WWE at the 2023 Survivor Series premium live event shocked the world, ending a hiatus of nearly a decade with the company. The unthinkable comeback happened under WWE’s new regime, led by the likes of Triple H and Nick Khan, and without the influence of Vince McMahon.

Speaking to Denise Salcedo at San Diego Comic Con, Punk revealed how the path to his return came clear only because McMahon was not in the picture.

“Returning was never a thing I was yearning to do. There were a lot of things that had to happen for that pathway to kind of clear. The stars had to align, there had to be a full moon. A lot of dominos fell in order for us to get here… Vince being out of the picture… I think probably illuminated the way. I think that might have been one of the biggest things. And that was both ways. It wasn’t me, it wasn’t him, it was…there’s a lot of history there. All of a sudden, one of us got removed from the equation and it changed a lot of things.”

Moving on to the return itself at Chicago, he noted that everything had to happen exactly how it happened. For instance, he explained that if WWE was like it is now back then, then he wouldn’t have left in the first place. He explained that his return felt so special because of all their history and all the time that passed in between. It was reported earlier this week that Punk was looking to restructure his WWE deal following a successful return to the promotion. It was later revealed that WWE were very happy with Punk's comeback, and were more than happy to give him a bigger deal.

H/T F4WOnline