CM Punk Planned to Leave WWE before Legendary Championship Reign

On the Oral Sessions podcast, CM Punk revealed some truly shocking news. He told host Renee Paquette that he almost quit WWE in 2011 to pursue a career in MMA. Punk did eventually debut in the UFC, but it is still quite surprising, considering he nearly quit before his historic title reign.

CM Punk wanted to quit the WWE in 2011

“I always wanted to do it and being on the road for how long WWE people are on the road for, I could never train consistently. I had planned on leaving when my deal was up at the end of 2010 or 2011.”

In 2011, CM Punk became the hottest superstar in WWE. He faced Randy Orton at WrestleMania, and once his new Nexus initiative failed, Punk moved in a WWE Championship program with John Cena. Every single self acclaimed wrestling fan knows about the infamous ‘pipebomb’ and the Summer of Punk that followed.

“I was going to leave, I needed time off anyway, and I would devote full-time to training. I wasn’t a big enough name to where I thought everyone would be like, ‘it’s a spectacle and everyone wants to watch you fight.’ So, I was going to do it ‘the right way’ (where I would) train and do amateur fights.”

Punk added, “The way I did everything was 100% backward. It’s easy for someone to say, ‘this bum went right to UFC, he didn’t deserve it,’ but they often don’t understand the business, let alone the fight business. People say, ‘Oh, I’ll get beat up for $1 million.’ My retort to that is ‘do the work I did to get to the point where someone would offer you that money to see you fight.”

Age caught up to Punk; played a factor in failed MMA career

Punk even claimed that it was an age factor that prevented him from pursuing a career in MMA. The former WWE Champion made his debut for WWE when he was 28. He walked out of the company eight years later at the age of 36.

“73 Twitter followers doesn’t equate to a million-dollar payday. I got hot at the end of my WWE run and was faced with an opportunity; re-sign for three more years even though I was already shot and mentally and physically exhausted. I obviously re-signed and had to wait another three years. The idea was to do it before I got too old. Turns out, I was too old.” (H/T Fightful Wrestling)

CM Punk’s UFC career did not go as planned. In his debut match, Punk was humiliated by Mickey Gall, losing via submission in 2:41. His second match was an absolute travesty. Mike Jackson and CM Punk put on a very unsportsmanlike fight, which even upset Dana White.

White confirmed that after that match, neither Punk nor Johnson would ever fight in the UFC again. Punk is now a commentator for Cage Fury Fighting Championships. At 42, his fighting days are behind him.