CM Punk Explains How His Exit From WWE Changed the Pro Wrestling Scenario

Published 12/13/2020, 1:19 PM EST

CM Punk is someone who immensely influenced professional wrestling. His gimmick as ‘Best in the World’ broke new ground for WWE. Fans relived the same aura as “Stone Cold” Steve Austin during the Attitude Era.

The one-man show dominated the arena for nearly 3 years; hence, he broke a lot of hearts when he left. To this day, many debate his impact on WWE’s course.

In a recent interview on Oral Sessions with Renee Paquette, the former WWE Champion himself spoke about his influence on the sport.

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“The more they change the more they stay the same. Just for ego purposes, because while I do have one it’s not as big as people like to imagine it is, I don’t take credit for anything that happened,” said Punk.

“I do think there’s probably a lot of people who wouldn’t currently have jobs if it wasn’t for me, but I’m more along the lines of like, you know, like if I ever helped you get a job, I was happy to do that and I always did stuff for the right reasons,” explained the former MMA star.

CM Punk played a major role in kick-starting many careers

CM Punk helped a lot of young Superstars backstage. This fact, however, was never brought to light. He played a major role in the rise of Sami Zayn and the entire Shield faction among others.

“If I’m no longer friends with certain people that I helped get there I’m not like, ‘Oh, I wish I never helped you.’ I’m just like, you know, whatever like I know what the truth is, they know what the truth is,” added Punk.

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“I don’t you know like for the Kevin Steens and like the Sami Zayns, I don’t take credit for any of their success,” admitted the former WWE Champion. “I don’t take credit for Daniel Bryan getting a main event of WrestleMania. But the truth is a lot of that sh** probably wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for me or at least for the vacuum that I created when I left.”

CM Punk’s sudden departure from WWE left a major vacuum that was very hard to fill. It was the major risk in having a one-man show and WWE had to pay the price.

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Even after he left, Punk helped the promotion of younger stars as WWE tried to fill the void. His return to WWE is talked about very often. Fans still hope the ‘Best in the World’ comes back one last time to the WWE ring.

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Written by:

Luke Dias is a senior WWE and AEW author at EssentiallySports, having published more than 1000 articles on professional wrestling. Having completed courses in Advanced Writing from the University of California and Media and Ethics from the University of Amsterdam, Luke is currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in Journalism from Xavier’s College. His tremendous knowledge of WWE history enables him to make past connections, adding depth to the articles.

CM Punk Explains How His Exit From WWE Changed the Pro Wrestling Scenario

CM Punk played a major role in kick-starting many careers

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