CM Punk Says WWE Absence After WrestleMania 42 Was To Reset And Process Losses

CM Punk discusses why he went missing from WWE TV WrestleMania 42.

On July 6, CM Punk made his first Monday Night RAW appearance since the night after WrestleMania 42, replacing Cody Rhodes to challenge Sami Zayn for the Undisputed WWE Championship. During his 11-week absence from our screens, the rumour mill ran wild, with speculation ranging from Punk being unhappy with his World Heavyweight Championship loss to discontent over the booking of AJ Lee. Now, ‘The Second City Saint’ himself had addressed his recent absence.

In a new interview with ESPN New York, CM Punk revealed his recent absence was to reset and process some of his recent losses.

“In my business, in this company, for me to be able to say that I had time off and it wasn’t due to injury or a surgery is remarkable. It was the first time in my career I had time off without having to go get a surgery or be injured. I just hung out with my wife.  I had a… I’m not gonna say a rough year. Suffering is relative. I was Heavyweight Champion over on RAW for quite some time, and during that entire time I was champion, I had at least three or four people that were very close to me pass away. Each time, I was at work the next day. I didn’t talk about it publicly. I showed up partially because it helped me. Being here amongst my road family and being able to connect with the fans on that level helped me get through it, but there was still some stuff I needed to process. So my time away was just to kind of reset. One day away from my wife is one day too many. I’ve been with her every single day, and now that I’m back, I’m champ, and I’m on the road. I’m as full-time as full-time gets.”

-CM Punk

After suggesting that an opportunity may ‘fall from the sky’ during his appearance on the RAW after WrestleMania 42, CM Punk now finds himself in the midst of his third reign as WWE Champion. His surprising title win marked his first time with the company’s top prize since his iconic 434-day run from November 2011 to January 2013.

Elsewhere in the interview, Punk touched on why he decided to leave Twitter, including the post he saw that convinced him to stop checking the social media platform. You can read more about that here.

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

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