Before SummerSlam officially kicked off in Cleveland, Ohio, Michael Cole took it upon himself to sit down with the “Best in the World,” CM Punk, to ask him about his return to WWE, his injuries, and his feud with Drew McIntyre, which finally gets to go physical at Cleveland Browns Arena.
While Punk tried his best to present a more mature front in this special 10-minute interview with the voice of WWE, when the topic of wrestling McIntyre came up, the “Second City Saint” couldn't help but to get a little petty, as his goal largely remains the same: keep McIntyre out of the championship picture.
“There's consequences and repercussions to things people do and say. I'm not the bad guy for returning fire. It's not being injured that's upsetting, but it's just the disrespect. The disrespect, the gloating. Drew prayed for me to get injured,” Drew McIntyre told Michael Cole. “It's a pretty rotten thing to do when I know him himself has been fired from this company, has been sidelined with injuries. I don't wish injury on any professional athlete. I think it's a pretty low thing to do, but Drew's dream is to be a champion; my goal is to make sure Drew is not a champion. Who's got gold around their waist right now? Not Drew. So who wins?”
Asked about the prospects of Seth Rollins serving as the match's official guest referee, a wrinkle that even the “Visionary” doesn't seem to fully understand, Punk noted that, in his opinion, all that really matters is McIntyre, as he plans to take care of business against the “Revolutionary” once he's done with the “Scottish Warrior.”
“If I told you I didn't care, that wouldn't be truthful, but I'm really doing all I can to focus on Drew because the fact is, I don't know if I can beat Drew,” Punk noted. “You know? I know I can get my hands on him, and I know I can hurt him; I've already done that, and that's my full attention. Seth is an unwelcomed distraction; he saw Money in the Bank, he saw Glasgow, he saw all of these things, and he saw me, referee shirt in Glasgow, screwing Drew, and he probably thought, ‘Oh, that's a good idea, I'm glad I thought of it' when the truth is CM Punk thought of it, you know? So Seth is still just the jealous brat following in my footsteps, and when I beat Drew, Seth can be next in line.”
Remember, folks; Punk is somehow the babyface in this angle, even if it really doesn't feel like it at times.
Will Punk's declaration to Cole ultimately serve as the deciding factor in the match, with Rollins deciding to give the nod to McIntyre if things are close? Potentially so, as when Punk returned at Survivor Series last fall, it was the “Monday Night Messiah,” not the “Scottish Warrior,” who was really angry about the development.
CM Punk loves how Triple H handles WWE's business
Appearing on the SI Media podcast with Jimmy Traina, CM Punk was asked how it's been to work alongside Paul “Triple H” Levesque now that he's in charge of WWE's creative output.
While Punker has had some issues with authority – and The Authority – in the past, he actually really likes how Levesque handles business, as it's head and shoulders better than how Vince McMahon handled things.
“It's been great. Vince would make people wait outside his office. There would be like a line, and people would be intimidated by that. I don't get that read off Triple H at all,” Punk explained via 411 Mania. “I don't see people waiting outside his office, ‘How long have you been here?' ‘I've been here for three hours.' I never had that with Vince, I would always just go in and ask him a question if I needed to. Never trying to waste his time. Never trying to waste Triple H's time. I see him being a lot more hands on with people and approachable and accessible. He wants everybody to be their best because he wants the show to be the best. There is no leftover 80s macho weird energy going on.”
Widely considered one of the biggest Mr. McMahon haters in the game, with the former Chairman of the Board a big reason why Punk was away from the promotion for a full decade. If Punk likes and respects Levesque for how he handles business, then it's the best thing for everyone's business moving forward.
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