CM Punk says there was a time when getting called up to WWE’s main roster wasn’t something wrestlers celebrated—it was something they feared.
While speaking with Stephanie McMahon on What’s Your Story?, Punk explained why today’s NXT call-ups sometimes panic after making a mistake on Raw or SmackDown. According to him, that mindset didn’t come out of nowhere—it was left over from an era where one bad performance could cost someone their job.
Punk said he’s always telling younger wrestlers not to let one mistake consume them because, most of the time, it isn’t nearly as disastrous as they think. Then he admitted that wasn’t always true.
“But there are NXT talents who come up, and they get thrown on Raw, and it’s sink or swim.”
When Stephanie jumped in and said a lot of young talent probably think one mistake means, “It’s the end of the world, and I’m never going to make it,” Punk agreed that fear used to be justified.
“It’s often not, right? I think it used to be. I think a lot of that is left over from the old regime.”
That’s when Punk revealed what developmental was like during WWE’s old system. He remembered wrestlers in Ohio Valley Wrestling actually being nervous about getting promoted because they’d seen too many talented people disappear almost as quickly as they arrived. According to Punk, some careers ended over something as basic as throwing punches that didn’t look convincing enough.
“Because I remember people getting fired because their punches sucked. We would all be down there in Kentucky like, ‘Oh my God.’ You almost didn’t want to get called up. You were just like, ‘Oh God, what happened?’ This was a great talent. They got sent up, and then they were gone two weeks later. We thought for sure they were going to make it.”
Punk believes he was better prepared than most because he’d already spent years on the independent scene before signing with WWE. By the time he reached developmental, he already had experience that many younger wrestlers simply didn’t.
“I mean, I was in the business… before I got signed. Then I was in developmental for a year, so I had tricks up my sleeve that a lot of people coming in didn’t.”
Looking back now, Punk thinks that’s one area where WWE has genuinely improved. Instead of feeling like every match is an audition for survival, he believes today’s wrestlers have people backstage who actually want them to succeed instead of looking for reasons to cut them loose.
“The turnover was a lot worse. I think it’s a lot better now. The system is a lot more accommodating, and I think there are people in positions of power who actually want to see people succeed.”
Punk didn’t name the wrestlers he was referring to, but his point was clear. In his eyes, the fear many young wrestlers still carry didn’t appear overnight—it came from an era where getting called up could be just as frightening as it was exciting because one mistake might be the last thing you ever did in WWE.
Do you think WWE’s current system does a better job developing talent than it did under the previous regime? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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