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Helwani: Regarding your time in AEW, is there anything that you're proud of?
Punk: Yeah, because I think people expect me to be like, Yeah, burn it all down, blah, blah, blah. But, I made a lot of great friends there. Which is ironic because I'm the guy that's just I'm not here to make friends, I'm here to make money. But again, the people you work with, you wind up and I did cool stuff. I got to work with Sting, let's talk about a weird thing. Like it's not even on the bucket list because it's just something you don't consider that as a possibility. I worked with Sting in the Greensboro Coliseum. It's fucking wild. Yeah. It's pretty crazy. I think the positives definitely outweigh, the negatives.
Helwani: Really?
Punk: Yeah. I just I look at it more like I was, I thought I was, I thought I was coming in to, to help business if I could teach something, great and I think I was just brought in for other reasons. Like the their business. And I know a lot of people are going to be upset. It's just not predicated. It's not a real business. It's not about what do you mean by that? It's not about selling tickets. It's not about drawing money. It's not about making money. It's just not. What's it about? I don't know. Really? I think having good matches, maybe? And there's nothing wrong with that. I was recently at an indie show, and somebody came up to me and they asked me, oh, do you watch my match? And I said, yeah. They're like, oh, can you give me anything? And I almost really faced like this dilemma, because where I was just like, and I looked at her and I said, what do you think I'm going to say? You're going to tell me I need to sell more and not do as many moves. And Okay, because it's a preference, right? Like it's a flavor of ice cream. But then I asked her, I said, What's the house here tonight? And she said, It's sold out. It's an arcade bar in Chicago. And I said, What can I tell you? You sold the place out. So at this level, and this wasn't like a, I'm on this level and I'm talking down to you. But I said, At this level, you're doing everything you can. I said, But that sh** does not fly. National television. I think that's being proven right now. Maybe sometimes. Maybe little bites here and there. It's not a sustainable business.
Helwani: What about your time with MJF. Selfishly, you didn't ask me, but my favorite stuff that you did there was, yeah. The stuff with MJF. I think it's I think it head and shoulders above everything else. Did you enjoy the feud with him?
Punk: I did.
Helwani: Do you think that he could be one of the big stars, one of the faces of the business? He's relatively young still. Do you feel like he could be one of those guys?
Punk: Yeah, I think there's a lot. The talent there is unbelievable. You know what I mean? I just think it's it's presentation and environment. This is, I'm going to get in so much f**king trouble for all this, but.
Helwani: By who?
Punk: Yeah, you're right. Yeah, the internet. The basement.
Helwani: You haven't tweeted since 2022.
Punk: Oh, I got rid of that shit. Yeah.
Helwani: So who do, who cares? Goddamn cesspool. I know. It's awful. I wish I could do the same.
Punk: Like that's the thing too, is just do I really care? I, I don't know. Like there, there's just really small niche audience that seems to be just like constantly like rooting for my downfall. And the "LOL, he got hurt again." But, they don't talk about all the great things that I've done. It's always just oh, "LOL, he lost in the UFC." Yeah, okay, this is the sh** that happens when you're an ambitious person. I would much rather choke to death on greatness than, starve on mediocrity. Nobody Punches up, nobody punches down. They punch up and I get it. Like I say what's on my mind. I'm abrasive. I'm honest. A lot of people don't like honesty I think you know, I know time is on my side and I legitimately do wish everybody there. I'm just recounting the past.
Helwani: Sure, and I'm asking you.
Punk: Yeah, no I think MJF is great and I think where he wasn't great is when he catered to that small niche internet audience. But, again, there's levels, so if that's their audience, then go for it.
Helwani: Do you think they'll be around given the fact that you say it's Will they be around in...
Punk: This is a loaded question. I think
Helwani: Do you think the company?
Punk: As a whole? Yeah. I think it, it's always gonna exist as long as Tony wants to put money into it.
Helwani: Okay.
Punk: But can they be as successful? Do you feel like they're trending? Do you watch them even? What's successful though? What's the definition? See, this is, and this is what I'm talking about, like levels, because I started on the indies and to me, successful was I can eat tonight. I have gas money to get to wherever I was going. And man, I, golly, I had a good match. And then, you get to television, and as somebody coming in who doesn't know jack sh** about doing television, I have to lean on people, and ask questions, and watch, and learn, and grow, and a lot of people, I think, are still just stuck in that indie mindset, and again, that's where I came from. There's nothing wrong with it. If you're more happy with some goof saying that you had a five star match and the building's quarter full, we're not in the same business.
Helwani: So speaking of that, when you came back in August of 2021, you said when you left Ring of Honor, you left pro wrestling in 2005. Now you were coming back to pro wrestling. Obviously, the whole chunk in WWE you were excluding. Do you regret saying that?
Punk: I don't regret saying that. I think I was catering. I was probably maybe leaning a little bit too much towards that niche audience, because they're like, yeah! I was sold on AEW being very much an alternative to what WWE was and, like that's the biggest shame to me is this is the last chance. Like I like competitors. I like guys being able to be like, Oh, I can go over here and make X amount of money. That's good for the business. It's good for the boys, but when you're there, I like guaranteed money almost ruined pro wrestling, you had to get paid based off the house, the place would be drastically different because it would drive you push you, you would think, yeah, you would think, oh, sh**, this isn't working. It's live. Okay, so pivot, do something else. What? Is going to get people into the building. That's the short time I had where I was In charge of collision, That's the way I did things. What did we draw here last time? Okay, my goal is to get one more ticket sold. And I did that. What were the ratings last time? Okay, we're going to, And you work incrementally....
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