CM Punk Gives Update on Possible Return to WWE

Will WWE fans see CM Punk return to the company? The former WWE Champion spoke to Sports Illustrated about a number of topics, including a return to WWE. He said he would make a comeback under the right circumstances.

"I don't know," Punk said. "I've said no before in interviews. I'm not fishing for a deal. I get offered to do a lot of stuff, and I say no to 90% of it just because my thing is I need to work with quality human beings. It just seems like maybe in pro wrestling there is a lack of quality human beings. I don't know. I like doing fun, quality projects. If there is a fun, quality wrestling project that gets sent my way, I will listen to it." Punk also said he would emerge as the top star in WWE if he did return. He also said the rise of AEW could bring him out of pro wrestling retirement, but a return is not in the foreseeable future.

"I don't need the money," Punk says. "And the way the wrestling business is now, it's wacky. You've got WWE, who has multiple billion-dollar television deals, and the television's awful. I go back there, I'm just another guy. And it's not even that—I'd be just another guy that's doing not-good television. I want to do stuff that's good. I want my name attached to quality projects, where it's fun and it makes people laugh, smile, think and people don't hate watching it. I want to do fun stuff."

Punk, 42, was one of the most popular WWE Superstars in the early part of the late 2000s and early 2010s. His ability to perform in the ring and on the mic led to him being a two-time WWE Champion, a three-time World Heavyweight Champion and a two-time Money in the Bank Ladder Match winner. He's also the 19th Triple Crown Champion in WWE history.

While Punk won't return to WWE soon, fans can see him in action as a pro wrestler in the upcoming TV series Heels. "We just wrapped on season one," Punk said. "I'm going to wait for the producers to release the name of my character, but I play a wrestler—and they gave me the parameters, then I was able to mold the character into my own. This is a guy that I've shared locker rooms with. I'm sure wrestling fans will watch this show and they'll, at various points, be able to point at me and go, 'He's doing this guy now.'