CM Punk admits that he was ‘worried’ and ‘concerned’ about returning to WWE ahead of his shock appearance at Survivor Series following his controversial AEW release

CM Punk has revealed that he had ‘worries’ and ‘concerns’ over returning to WWE ahead of his shock appearance at Survivor Series in November. 

The 45-year-old has been one of the biggest stars in pro wrestling for the past 15 years but had been in the midst of a nine-year exile from WWE when he came out on stage in his hometown of Chicago. 

Punk had a couple of years with the second biggest wrestling promotion in the world, AEW after spending seven years out of wrestling altogether. He was released in September following a week-long investigation into backstage incident at Wembley.

He admitted that the time away had raised concerns of a reunion and revealed the lengths he had to go to in order to keep the secret. 

‘Everything that day just happened so fast.’ He told Wrestletalk. ‘You should never text and drive ladies and gentlemen.

The Allstate Arena went crazy for CM Punk’s WWE comeback, a return nine years in the making

‘So I was trying to drive to the Allstate Arena and let everybody that deserved to know, that was in my orbit know what was about to happen so I’m texting my sisters, because nobody knew.

‘This is how you get things done in this business. You keep things close to the vest, you don’t leak stuff and that’s when the magic happens and it was a magical moment and it was so many things going through my head.

‘The nerves, people I haven’t seen in 10 years. I had questions, worries, maybe even concerns and that all dissolved when that song hit, ‘Cult of Personality’ and I walked out in front of my hometown.

‘I couldn’t hear the song anymore. I didn’t know my cues. As a performer, (you) try to hit your cues based on the song. Like where we’re at, where’s Corey Glover at? Okay, I’m gonna do this.

‘This is when I say, ‘It’s clobbering time.’ All of it went out the window. I couldn’t hear the song, I just heard the people and it was a very magical moment.’

WWE legend and Chief Content Officer Triple H also confirmed, in his post-show press conference, that the former five-time champion’s return materalised very quickly.

‘This was one of those lightning in a bottle moments that came together very quickly, but we are incredibly excited about it.’ he said.

Punk posed with WWE legend and CCO Triple H backstage, doing H’s iconic pointing pose

‘It’s been a long time and in some ways been a long time coming. You know, you can say this about CM Punk. Love him, hate him, positive, negative, whatever you want to say, people talk about him all the time.

Punk originally left WWE the night after the Royal Rumble in 2014 citing creative frustrations, but also anger at the lack of medical care taken with him at the time. 

In December, he stepped into the ring to face off against Dominik Mysterio during a WWE live house show taking place at Madison Square Garden in New York City in front of a packed crowd for the company’s traditional day after Christmas show. 

Punk went on to win his first contest before defeating Mysterio for a second time in four days on December 30.