Cody finally talks about CM Punk's 'astronomical' demands and real reason why things didn't work out
CM Punk was one of Pro-Wrestling's hottest free agents after leaving WWE. After moving away from the WWE, CM Punk had a brief stint in the world of MMA. Punk's UFC record stands at 0 wins and 2 losses. Many promotions were looking to sign CM Punk, and Cody's AEW wasn't far behind. It has been reported that the reason behind CM Punk and Cody not agreeing to a deal was the former's 'astronomical' demands.
Cody's discussion with CM Punk
AEW's Cody was in an interview with talkSPORT earlier this week. During the interview, Cody shared the story of his conversation with CM Punk and shed light on Punk's 'astronomical' demands.
“As far as the CM Punk negotiations go, everyone heard the famous ‘he got a text from us’. Yeah, of course there were negotiations and he did ask for a great amount of money and Punk is worth a great deal of money. But you also have to – and this isn’t speaking to Punk specifically, this is speaking to recruitment and what we’ve learned in wrestling in general – a lot of people think ‘these wrestlers are running this wrestling company’. These wrestlers are doing everything they can to run the creative, the brand and the marketing and things, but there are some very smart and fiscally conservative people who surround us and flank us because this isn’t my money. At all. And I don’t want a situation that happened with WCW or Jim Crockett promotions where we think we’re flying so high that we can do anything. No – this is a business. And we have to turn a profit."
Cody went on to talk about his relationship with CM Punk and why things didn't work out.
"I think there is a good relationship there. I think I have a good relationship with Phil, I believe Tony does too and I’m not sure really when it comes to him, it’s not so much about the money. It’s about are you interested in doing this? Because the price tag becomes a lot more justifiable if you’re genuinely interested in what we’re doing at the high speed we’re doing it. And again, that’s not even specific to him, just in general, if the passion is not there, the money is not there.”