CM Punk Reveals the Main Reason He Returned to WWE

After almost a decade away, why did CM Punk decide to return to WWE after his very public departure in 2014?

Following the Royal Rumble premium live event in 2014, CM Punk walked out of WWE the following day before that night's episode of Monday Night Raw. This led to a very ugly breakup between the two sides, and Punk was very vocal in saying bad things about the company and insisting he'd never return.

Despite that, months after a fallout with AEW in 2023, Punk would make his shocking return to WWE at Survivor Series in his hometown of Chicago. But now Punk has revealed that if he accomplished a certain thing during his last run with WWE, he probably wouldn't have returned.

CM Punk admits he returned to WWE so he could main event WrestleMania

World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk was a recent guest on WWE Now. While discussing potential opponents to headline WrestleMania with, Punk admitted that had he main-evented it during his first run with the company, he probably wouldn't have returned.

"If you think about this, if I main evented WrestleMania before I left, I don't think I would have come back because I would have done it," CM Punk admitted. "What am I coming back for? I mean, it's a little weird, like everything happens for a reason.

"It's just one of those things. I did it last year, and there's that moment in Unreal where there's always cameras on us, but I didn't know they were shooting me at that moment. That moment was just me standing in the ring after the fact. I didn't win, and it's far beyond being about that.

"I was just standing in the ring by myself, and I was just looking at all four sides of the crowd, and I could tell there's people from numerous different countries, and I'm just kind of looking around all four sides, just like soaking it in. Well, if this is the last time I'm ever going to be in a ring, I did it."

CM Punk will get his night two WrestleMania main event this year with Roman Reigns

Many jokes were made at CM Punk's expense last year when he main-evented night one of WrestleMania 41, recalling Punk burying the idea of main-eventing night one of a buy one, get one free extravaganza during his time in AEW.

With Punk now scheduled to go one-on-one with Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight Championship on night two later this month, those people attempting to put an asterisk on Punk's accomplishment can be put to rest.

Win or lose, after this year's event, Punk can claim he's main evented both nights of a WrestleMania event, something he was never able to do during his first run with the company.

The Takedown on SI will have live coverage of WWE WrestleMania 42 later this month.