CM Punk Says WWE Never Would’ve Changed Under Vince McMahon

CM Punk has never been one to sugarcoat things, and during his appearance on No-Contest Wrestling with O’Shea Jackson Jr. and TJ Jefferson, he made it crystal clear why he stayed away from WWE for a full decade.

When asked whether he ever regretted the time off—or thought about what he might have missed—Punk didn’t hesitate to place the blame directly on Vince McMahon’s leadership.

“If Vince was still here, I don’t think anything was ever going to change. For me at least.”

That line hit hard. It wasn’t about injury, burnout, or bad luck. According to Punk, the system simply wasn’t going to evolve while McMahon was still running things—and he had no interest in returning to a situation where he felt creatively stifled. Punk acknowledged he could’ve worked with major names like AJ Styles and John Cena during that stretch, but didn’t dwell on it.

“Can I think about, man, that’s 10 years… I could’ve worked with AJ a whole bunch, I could’ve done more with Cena… I think I did pretty good.”

Punk then turned the narrative into a shot at Roman Reigns—comparing his decade-long absence to Reigns’ two-year lighter schedule.

“Tribal Chief says he graciously scaled back for two years… well, I graciously stepped back for 10. And it took him that long to become the superstar that he is, so I got no regrets.”

Still, Punk made one thing clear: even if he had never come back, he believed his career would’ve stood the test of time.

“If I never came back to wrestling, I still think I had a pretty solid career.”

Punk’s return wasn’t just about unfinished business—it was about returning to a WWE that had finally changed. But according to him, none of that change would’ve happened with Vince still in charge.

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