Fellow promotion made major offer to CM Punk, reveals former president
WWE Superstar CM Punk is one of the most talked-about performers in professional wrestling. The Second City Saint returned to the Stamford-based company after a decade away at Survivor Series: Wargames 2023. However, former TNA President Scott D'Amore revealed that the wrestling promotion offered a deal to Punk before the latter's blockbuster return.
The Best in the World left WWE in 2014 while highlighting several issues he had with the global juggernaut. Punk returned to professional wrestling in 2021 when he signed with AEW. He had a successful run with the company, which saw him win the World Championship twice, however, it ended abruptly in 2023 following a backstage incident.
WWE grabbed the opportunity and inked a deal with the veteran performer within three months of his AEW release. However, during his recent appearance on Talk Is Jericho, Scott D'Amore revealed that during his tenure as the TNA President, the wrestling promotion made offers to CM Punk and current AEW star Will Ospreay. He hinted that significant financial offers were offered to the two.
"It's documented. We made an offer to [CM] Punk, we made an offer to Will Ospreay. There's your budget, and then there's budget busters that there's revenue attached to this. Like, here's your budget that you're running with, your revenue envelope, and then on a senior level at the very top, you go, 'Okay, if we make this move, all this revenue model changes,'" he said. [H/T: Wrestling Inc]
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Former WWE Champion reveals why he left the arena when CM Punk returned at Survivor Series.
CM Punk showed up at Survivor Series after the main event, which saw the team led by Cody Rhodes defeat the team of The Judgment Day and Drew McIntyre. After losing the contest, The Scottish Warrior stormed out of the arena.
During his appearance on the Insight podcast with Chris Van Vliet, McIntyre stated that he had left the building as he wasn't amused with CM Punk's return. The former World Heavyweight Champion added that if he had been there, he would have punched the latter in the face.
"Yeah, I was pissed off, and I chose to leave the arena because I'm not going to cause an incident that's going to affect everybody's mood afterwards and the guys in the match that worked so hard. People asked me about Seth's and my reaction; maybe that was Seth’s legit reaction, but to me, I couldn't have stood out there if somebody's that close to me that I don't like that much. I wouldn't stand and swear and have people hold me back. I would have walked right up to him and punched him in the face, so I chose to leave the building," said Drew McIntyre. [From 33:35 - 34:07]
CM Punk and Drew McIntyre are currently involved in a heated rivalry. The two have faced each other twice, with the stars securing one win each. They might lock horns at Bad Blood for the third time following McIntyre's brutal attack on Punk on last week's edition of Monday Night RAW.