Cora Jade Reveals Powerful Advice CM Punk Gave Her After WWE Release

Cora Jade might be gone from WWE, but she hasn’t gone quiet—and she’s not letting the critics win. Now going by her original ring name Elayna Black, the former NXT star opened up during an interview with Chris Van Vliet about how CM Punk helped her mentally survive the fallout from her WWE exit.

Punk, who’s been her mentor long before and after her release, gave her advice that’s stuck with her through the hate, speculation, and pressure. And for someone who has seen both sides of internet obsession, that guidance couldn’t have come from a more qualified source.

“I feel like he’s told me a lot of things, in very different situations, but I feel like the number one thing is to just drown out what everyone else is saying, because I feel like he knows it better than anybody. Everyone has an opinion on him, whether you absolutely love him, or you absolutely hate him. Everyone has an opinion on CM Punk, and I’ve always wondered, how does he just continue to be himself and not give a sht when there’s a million different opinions from a million different places.”*

She said Punk taught her not to care what people think—whether fans love her, hate her, or twist her story to fit their narrative.

“He’s really, really always helped me just understand that it doesn’t matter. People are always going to say something. They’re going to love you or they’re going to hate you, and either way, it doesn’t matter, because you just have to be you and do what you feel is right and stay true to yourself and if people support you, great. That’s great motivation. But if they don’t, and they don’t like you, and they don’t want to watch what you do, or they want to watch what you do and criticize it, that’s still your name in their mouth, and someone’s talking about you and you’re doing something right.”

She also didn’t hold back when addressing those who try to dehumanize her online, especially with false claims about being injury-prone—when in reality, she says she came close to dying.

“I feel like my work is one thing, because everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. I grew up a wrestling fan. There were people I didn’t like and I didn’t know them as a person. I feel like you’re entitled to your opinion about my work. If you don’t like me as a wrestler, as a character, that’s fine. When you come for me as a person and you start saying things that aren’t true, like the injury prone thing when you had no idea that I literally almost died, that’s where it’s like fck you.”*

“You want to say all these things and expect me to be quiet because you don’t view me as a person. You view me as an object, online or on TV. But then when I snap back, it’s like, whoa, relax. No! You just thought you can poke and poke and poke and poke, but I am a human being. Am I going to sit there and respond to every comment? No. But there comes a point where it’s like, no, you need to understand that you’re wrong. And I just don’t think enough people do that.”

Whether Elayna Black ends up in AEW, joins OnlyFans, or explores other ventures, one thing’s clear—she’s got CM Punk in her corner and zero patience left for trolls who don’t see the human behind the persona.