3 WWE Superstars CM Punk requested to work with and 2 he did not
The longest-reigning WWE Champion of the last three decades, CM Punk was one of the most popular and controversial WWE Superstars of his era.
According to wrestling stats database Cagematch.net, “The Best in the World” competed in 1,176 matches in WWE between April 2005 and January 2014, meaning he averaged over 100 matches per year during his nine years with the company.
CM Punk has spoken in media interviews about how he enjoyed working with Superstars including Daniel Bryan and John Cena. However, with so many matches in a nine-year spell, it is only natural that he did not always want to face certain opponents that he was booked against.
In this article, let’s take a look at three WWE Superstars that CM Punk requested to work with, as well as two that he did not request to work with.
#5 CM Punk requested to work with Big E
In October 2013, Big E became a babyface singles Superstar for the first time on WWE’s main roster when he aligned with CM Punk to attack Curtis Axel and Ryback on an episode of SmackDown.
Big E said on Talk Is Jericho in 2015 that he thought he might get sent back to NXT after his storyline with Dolph Ziggler and AJ Lee came to an end, but he ended up having a career resurgence after CM Punk asked to work with him.
“I talked to AJ, and she told me that Punk asked to work with me, and I got the opportunity later to thank him. He said some really positive things. For a guy who had no real allegiance to me and was in a much better spot than me, to stick his neck out and asked Vince [McMahon] to work with me, it meant a lot.” [H/T Wrestling Inc.]
Before working with CM Punk, Big E had mostly been competing in meaningless matches on Main Event and Superstars. Then, following his brief association with CM Punk, the future New Day member won the Intercontinental Championship from Axel and he went on to hold the title for 167 days.