WWE Allegedly Planted Fan for CM Punk’s Saudi Arabian Apology

It turns out CM Punk’s public apology for his infamous 2020 tweet wasn’t as spontaneous as it looked on WWE television—according to insiders, the whole moment was likely a setup.

During the Night of Champions kickoff show, a fan in the crowd asked Punk to apologize for his old tweet aimed at The Miz and Saudi Arabia. Punk, who’s never exactly been known for walking back his words, surprisingly issued a full apology on the spot.

“This guy wants me to apologize for a mean tweet I wrote six years ago. Hey, listen, legitimately had nothing to do with Saudi Arabia,” Punk said. “I woke up and I was crabby. I wrote a mean tweet to The Miz. I apologized to The Miz. And sir, what’s your name? Muhammad. Muhammad, I sincerely apologize to you. And I love Saudi Arabia.”

The moment had fans talking, but Dave Meltzer wasn’t buying the authenticity of the exchange. On Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer pointed out that the fan was almost certainly a plant and the entire thing was orchestrated to smooth over Punk’s reputation with the Saudi audience.

“That obviously, you know, that obviously was planted… I mean that never, you know what I mean? It was, it’s, it’s really interesting how, you know, they, whatever it was, you know, obviously somebody wanted him to apologize and he did because he’s, he’s not exactly the apologetic type for one thing.”

Meltzer also took aim at how bad the whole thing made Punk look, adding that the situation felt forced and completely out of character for the outspoken WWE star.

“I thought he came off just horrible… They made him apologize. Triple H was like, oh, you know, it’s so grown up of him to apologize and it’s like, you know, perfect, it, it… But you know, whatever. I just thought, you know, it couldn’t be worse, but it’s wrestling and it’s to be expected.”

With Triple H publicly praising Punk’s apology after the fact and WWE leaning into the moment on TV, it’s clear the company wanted to put this controversy to bed—whether fans believe it was genuine or not.

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