When CM Punk told Vince McMahon he was leaving after Royal Rumble, his attitude toward his profession was apparently one of the driving forces for the reason he turned his back on the WWE.
In a related report by The Inquisitr , rumors claim that AJ Lee may quit the WWE to focus on having children. Mick Foley believes if that CM Punk’s WWE return does occur , then it would have to be under circumstances where he would not be forced to make himself look bad or become a jobber for Vince McMahon simply to promote the rise of another WWE superstar.
It could be said that Randy Orton is facing a similar conundrum in his own career since his recent feud with Roman Reigns seems designed only to build up the Samoan Superman to the point that Brock Lesnar Vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 31 is believable.
A little bit of how CM Punk views the WWE and the industry as a whole was revealed when Hornswoggle discussed how Phil Brooks influenced him personally.
“When it comes to wrestling, I use that word instead of sports entertainment, I use wrestling all the time, because I am a wrestling fan,” said Hornswoggle. “CM Punk once said this is still wrestling to us, this isn’t sports entertainment to us, because we grew up on wrestling.”
Hornswoggle also gave us insight into the personality of Vince, saying, “He is this billionaire, but still just loves this business.” Of course, Vince McMahon’s net worth has taken quite a dive lately since his money is largely tied up into WWE stock, making him “only” a multi-millionaire, but it’s long been noted that Vince is first and always focused on whatever is “good for business.” This attitude reveals itself in the way the cost cutting measures has cheapened the quality of the shows and how the WWE layoffs continue through this week. Vince also seems to consider other major sports entertainment like the NFL to be their major competition, not necessarily other wrestling outfits like TNA, Ring of Honor, or New Japan Pro Wrestling.
But CM Punk and AJ Lee are just trying to put all that stress behind them, for the most part. Lee is facing Paige again at Night Of Champions 2014, but otherwise they are just enjoying time as a married couple. Based upon their Twitter accounts, it seems like they’re just catching up on watching movies. They’ve also been discussing the events of The Walking Dead.
“Are you supposed to hate Lori? Because I hate her” — @WWEAJLee
— Coach (@CMPunk) August 21, 2014
AJ Lee has also been retweeting photos of her fans wearing her clothing as well as other merchandise.
Otherwise, if Phil is planning a CM Punk WWE return, he certainly isn’t telling anyone. Punk is referring to himself simply as his given name, Phil Brooks, when he does make the rare public appearance.
What do you think about the differing viewpoints of CM Punk and Vince McMahon?