Earlier this summer, Phil “CM Punk” Brooks told Ariel Helwani he didn’t plan on ever being a pro wrestler again, but also that no company or promoter had formally asked him to return. Not that it would have made a difference, but the aspiring mixed martial artist said he hadn’t heard “an offer... ‘here’s the deal. We’re having a show, we’re gonna pay you x amount, you’re working this guy - what do you say? Yes or no?’”
Now, Cody Rhodes told Wrestling Inc’s Raj Giri that Matt Jackson of The Young Bucks went to Punk with exactly that kind of proposal. And Punk’s answer was “no”.
“Yes, I mean I talked to [Punk] just vaguely. He even at one point said ‘nobody’s asked me -- hey here’s how much we’ll pay you and here’s who you’ll wrestle.’
Matt actually made a full offer or full pitch for his services and I think Punk is focused on the Mixed Martial Arts element of his career. One of the reasons we didn’t first come out and say, ‘here’s who we want you to wrestle,’ because I think we just wanted him to be a part of the event for a lot of fans, he’s captured their imagination even with the amount of time he’s been gone. He has a mythical presence to them. I thought it would be good for him to connect with them, but that’s me, you know?
Nobody owns Punk but Punk, so if he wants to do Mixed Martial Arts, go for it. He was always very nice to me and helpful to me in OVW. I always looked at All In with the perspective that it’s about the present and future of the industry and not really about cheap pops, even though I’m sure they’ll be plenty of those on the show. Matt had reached out to him and made him a real offer. I think Punk is set on not being part of it.”
Love him or hate him, Punk seems dead set on being well and truly done with the business. Can we stop chanting his name at WWE shows now?