Finn Bálor Says CM Punk Is The Opposite Of The Horror Stories He’d Heard About Him

Finn Bálor opens up on working with CM Punk in WWE earlier this year.

At the start of the year, Finn Bálor surprised many fans by directly calling out the then World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk. The pair first clashed in Belfast, with the Irishman coming out on the losing end on the January 19 episode of RAW before they met again at the Elimination Chamber event. While the former Judgment Day member wasn’t able to capture the gold, he’s now reflected on his short rivalry with CM Punk.

Speaking with Chris Van Vliet on Insight, Finn Bálor noted he found CM Punk to be the opposite of the horror stories about him. Here, he revealed his belief that Punk personally went to the office to request they work together.

“Punk is someone I’ve never really interacted with much. I’d actually only met him one time in my life at Samoa Joe’s wedding. This is back in like 2002, 2003, maybe. And then he had left WWE when I had signed with NXT. We’d never really had any interactions, and I’ll go on the record as saying I’d heard horror stories about Punk being this asshole, being difficult to deal with, being big headed, this guy that no one wants to work with. And when he came back to WWE, it could not have been the opposite. I met this guy who was humble, polite, wanted to work with people. And I’m pretty sure he went to the office and he said he wanted this match. I don’t think it came from the office. I think it came from Punk. And the way it unfolded, that match could have been anywhere. It could have been in any random city in the United States, but it was in Belfast, my home country.”

-Finn Bálor

As mentioned by Bálor, he and Punk narrowly avoided each other in WWE, with the Irishman arriving just months after the ‘Second City Saint’ walked out of the company. At present, their two matches earlier this year remain their only singles matches together, although, with many having enjoyed their feud, whether the pair share the ring again before the curtain falls on their respective careers remains to be seen.

Prior to signing with WWE, Bálor was a top name over in New Japan Pro Wrestling, competing as ‘Prince Devitt’. Elsewhere in the interview, he disclosed that he once tried to get NJPW to offer him a 10-year contract before he left for WWE. You can read more about that here.

As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on Finn Bálor as soon as we hear more.

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