CM Punk made his long-awaited return to WWE at Survivor Series 2023, months after being fired by AEW.
In a new video on WWE’s YouTube channel, Punk and Randy Orton watched their match at WWE WrestleMania 27 together. At the end of it, Orton recalled talking to Punk about returning last year.
You can check out some highlights from the video below:
CM Punk: “I put it like this to people because I’m a huge hockey guy. There’s guys you play against, and it’s always gonna be chippy. You might fight with them, you hate them, shit disturber, but then they get traded in free agency, and you’re going to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and all of a sudden he’s on your team, and it’s just like, I’m glad you’re on my team. That’s what that felt like to me.”
Randy Orton: “We’re good. Well, sh*t, I feel like I reached out. I forget what had happened, but I might have seen something online or whatever, maybe I knew you were leaving, and I think that minute I saw that, I reached out right away. This was before, I don’t know if you had already talked to people and were coming back or what, but this would have been last summer or last fall, I think when I knew for sure that you were leaving. I legitimately was like, He needs to come back, he needs to come back. This is where you belong. I think you reiterated that. You are like, ‘Yeah, you’re right, I need to come home. I’m glad you did, dude.”
Punk: I am, too. 100%.”
Orton: “Hell yeah, man. Love you, man. Give me a hug. [They hug] We’re buddies. We’re buddies.”
Punk: “Now we’re the old buddies.”
Orton: “Yeah, we’re the old buddies, we’re the old-timers. Let’s go lead this locker room.”
Punk: “Let’s f**king do it.”
