:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/50402107/CM_Punk.0.0.jpg)
Leave it to CM Punk, former professional wrestler turned mixed martial artist, to state the obvious on this whole Conor McGregor/WWE “feud,” if you can even call it that. As he told Hot 97 FM (HT: Pro Wrestling Sheet):
“I think the thing that shocked me the most about what Conor said was the number of people who work there who responded to him who should know better … I don’t feel they got worked, they got worked. ... Ric Flair, c’mon. Just stop. Just knock it off.”
He would go on to say that it’s not just WWE guys who got worked, it’s all across the board in pro wrestling. He’s exactly right too. McGregor made comments he knew would get play in headlines while also eliciting a response from those he was attacking, which would also get headlines.
And this all came as he was promoting an upcoming fight at UFC 202 on Aug. 20, the same night as NXT Takeover: Brooklyn II. Whether or not his big talk will translate to pay-per-view (PPV) buys is a question that won’t be answered anytime soon, and maybe ever, but he also gave himself an in-road to WWE should his MMA career fall apart anytime soon.
How easy it was to work the workers.