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Triple H Explains Why He's Very Proud Of CM Punk Following WWE Night Of Champions

Paul Levesque said he saw tremendous growth in both CM Punk and John Cena in the run up to WWE Night of Champions.
Rick Ucchino|
CM Punk
CM Punk | WWE.com

CM Punk has wrestled John Cena for the final time in his professional wrestling career.

The Never Seen 17-Time World Champion successfully defended the WWE Title Saturday afternoon at Night of Champions against the self-proclaimed 'Best in the World', thanks to a bunch of outside inference from Mr. Money in the Bank Seth Rollins and his crew.

WWE Chief Content Officer Paul 'Triple H' Levesque spoke about the match during Night of Champions Post Show, and despite the controversial finish, said he was very happy to be able to book these two storied rivals against each other one last time. Levesque said he felt privileged to be able to watch it, especially considering the match's unlikelihood just a few years ago.

"If you'd have told me 10 years ago that CM Punk would be here in Saudi for the WWE, I would have thought you're out of your mind. But people grow, people change, people evolve, and they learn, and they learn a lot in life."

Being able to watch both Superstars prepare for this bout, Levesque said he saw something different in each of them that wasn't there for their past encounters.

"Not only was I privileged to watch them this week as they prepared for this fight, I was privileged to watch two men grow as people, especially CM Punk. I was privileged to watch him grow as a human being, to step out here and apologize to the people of Saudi Arabia, to just cherish where he is at in life and his career and the things he gets to do and the opportunities that he has. I was incredibly proud of him." h/t Fightful

Punk made headlines during the Night of Champions kickoff event on Friday when he apologized to the crowd for his now infamous Tweet toward The Miz a few years ago. You can read more about that story here.

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Rick Ucchino
RICK UCCHINO

Rick Ucchino is the Assistant Editor & Content Coordinator for The Takedown on SI. He also works full-time for 700WLW Radio in Cincinnati, Ohio as a local news and sports anchor, in addition to his time covering the Cincinnati Bengals for Sirius XM. Rick has been on the professional wrestling beat since 2019, having provided coverage for a number of outlets, including Fightful, SB Nation’s Cageside Seats and the Bleav Podcast Network. With an educational background in theater, creative writing and journalism, Rick focuses primarily on the storytelling aspect of pro wrestling, but he’s no stranger to the squared circle himself. He had the privilege of training with former WWE & WCW cruiserweight Jimmy Wang Yang for nearly two years and retired early due to back issues with a perfect 1-0 record in singles competition. Rick is a married father of two incredibly adorable children, who are budding pro wrestling fans themselves. Much to the chagrin of their mother. You can reach Rick at rwucchino@gmail.com

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