CM Punk almost returned to WWE several years before he ultimately came back. WWE.com

CM Punk Reveals How Vince McMahon Ruined Potential WWE Return In 2019

Originally posted on Wrestling on SI | By Jon Alba | Last updated Jul 16, 2025 3:50 PM ET

CM Punk's return to WWE at Survivor Series in 2023 rocked the wrestling world, but per "The Voice of the Voiceless" himself, he was supposed to come back to the company much earlier.

Punk made an indirect return to WWE when he was part of FS1's "WWE Backstage" program, serving as a panelist for the program. While that was under Fox's employment, technically, he was somewhat back under the WWE umbrella. He would not appear on WWE programming though, and would go on to spend a few years in AEW before a tumultuous departure.

Speaking with Robbie Fox on "My Mom's Basement," Punk revealed he was set to return to WWE before that.

“I think the Twitter and the internet perception is I tried to go back to WWE and they didn’t want me so I went and did the FOX show. That’s not what happened at all. I had a hilarious, clandestine meeting in the Borgata in Atlantic City with Vince [McMahon] and Triple H. I don’t even know now. What is it? It’s 2025. This has to be 2018 or ‘19, and it’s just because Vince just started (calling)," Punk revealed.

That's when Punk explained he and McMahon would ultimately come to terms on an agreement that would see him come back to the company, but McMahon would essentially disappear afterward.

"I had agents, they were telling me, ‘Hey, they wanna talk to you’ and I was like, ‘Whatever, I’m not interested,’ and then Vince just started calling me. He was like, ‘Hey! I’m eliminating the middleman,’ and I was just like, ‘This is insane,’ and it just so happened that, ‘Oh, well, I’m gonna be here.’ ‘Alright, we can get there.’ You know, ‘Okay, alright’ and we had a meeting and we had a handshake agreement and then he ghosted me. So, that’s why it didn’t happen. Unbelievable. I’m gonna write a book someday," he said.

Even though it all fell through, Punk did note that it was the beginning of the mending of fences between him and Triple H, which would lead to his WWE return in 2023.

"It’s a great story. It’s a fantastic story. Yeah, that would have been probably the first time that me and Triple H probably started chipping it away at any problems or drama that we had in the past. That was the first instance… Yeah, [I was open to a return at the time]. I was very much just like, yeah, okay," he said. "Pay me, whatever. I took some stuff personally. Like, years have gone by. Alright, I’m over it, recognized that it’s a business. You don’t want me to take it personally? Just pay me.”

Punk is set to challenge Gunther at SummerSlam for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Should he win, it will be his first world title in WWE since 2013.

H/T Fightful for partial transcript assistance.

This article first appeared on Wrestling on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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