CM Punk Inspired Cora Jade to Prioritize Mental Health and Step Away

While speaking with TMZ, Jade said Punk’s break from wrestling and falling back in love with it gave her the courage to do the same. Back in July, Jade announced an indefinite break from wrestling to work on her mental health. Punk explained to her that she needed to think about herself and her health first. She said:

“But I like broke down one day and we had a conversation, me and [Punk] on the phone. Because I was like, hey, I need your advice — because he’s been through it all. He left WWE for 10 years and hated WWE, said crazy things, and nobody ever thought he was coming back. He’s found his love for wrestling again. He’s helped me with everything. So I always know that I can come to him. But specifically this thing, I was like, I know he’s going to have good insight for me and give me a good outlook on it — and he did. And he sat there and listened to me. And he’ll always listen to me, which I’m very grateful for because I’m someone who sometimes acts — I get very passionate, so sometimes I want to act on emotion. But he is very good at helping me see things from like a different side without the emotional aspect of it. And from experience, obviously, like I just said, he left WWE forever. So I was just asking him if he found his love for it again after the break and stuff like that. And so many things that he said to me in that conversation really helped me. And he told me, like, I don’t owe anybody anything and I don’t have to stick in something that’s no longer serving me. And that really stuck with me.” (h/t: F4Wonline)

Punk notably left WWE and wrestling in January 2014. He wouldn't return to the ring until September 2021, though it wasn’t a WWE ring just yet. It was for AEW. His return match was in September 2021 against Darby Allin at AEW All Out after signing with the company in August. His years at AEW were rocky to say the least. He was fired from the company in August 2023, and two months later, returned to WWE at Survivor Series: WarGames. His first WWE match back since 2014 was in December 2023, and it was against Dominik Mysterio at Madison Square Garden.

WWE Released Cora Jade This Past May

Jade signed with WWE in 2021 and was released this past May. During her WWE career, she held the NXT Women’s Tag Team Titles with current Judgment Day member Roxanne Perez. Her last match was at the Stand & Deliver 2025 NXT PLE.

The 24-year-old has since gone back to her indie wrestling name, Elayna Black. Jade also spoke about how it was weird to step away from wrestling, seeing that she’s been doing it since she was 15. She made it clear that she wasn’t retiring, though the break was beyond necessary because she was dealing with panic attacks before every match.