CM Punk has revealed that working with the Wyatt Family was “not fun”, harkening back to their 2013 feud in the WWE.
The Straight-Edge Superstar left the WWE in early 2014, following a torrid time in the WWE that affected his physical and mental health.
However, in late-2013, CM Punk teamed up with Daniel Bryan in the short-lived Best & the Beard tag team and took on The Wyatt Family in multiple matches.
Their biggest battle came at Survivor Series 2013, when CM Punk and Daniel Bryan took on Erick Rowan and Luke Harper, with their leader Bray Wyatt at ringside.
However, while CM Punk claimed working with The Wyatt’s in the matches was “awesome”, it made him come to the realisation that wrestling for the WWE simple “wasn’t fun”.
He realised that working for so long in the company that didn’t care about him had wrecked his mind and body, which went a long way to him walking out of the company in January 2014.
Speaking to Colt Cabana on the Art of Wrestling podcast, CM Punk said;
I was working the Wyatt’s – it was awesome working with them., because It was fun and it was easy, because I could teach and have fun, and learn at the time same.
[imitating Vince McMahon) It’s what the business is about, it’s supposed to be fun!
But this shit wasn’t fun. I was so beat up, that i couldn’t.
Somebody in the tower has all the footage of those house shows. When I know Daniel Bryan is getting beat up and getting heat, while I have time to rest, watch me down in the corner and physcially try to will myself, because I know I have to take the hot tag.
And watch me physically try to be like “Okay, you can get through it” and dry heaving – it’s insane.
CM Punk then revealed it was during a house show match with The Shield that he finally made the decision to quit WWE.
He mentioned how he took a bump from a shoulder tackle from one of The Shield members (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns), and while he was laying in the ring, pondered what he was doing with his life.
It was when I was working the Shield on house shows that it dawned on me – this just isn’t fun.
I took a bump one night off a tackle, and I was looking up at the lights and thinking “what am I doing with my life”.
Just a few months later, CM Punk would walk out on the WWE, never to be seen again.
It’s been nine years since CM Punk left WWE. In 2021, he joined their rivals AEW, becoming a two-time AEW Champion before a fight and injury cost him 9 months of his career, before returning at the first ever AEW Collision show.
If you use any quotes from this article, credit Art of Wrestling, with a H/T from Atletifo for the transcription.