WWE’s Intention Behind CM Punk’s Apology in Saudi Arabia Revealed

CM Punk’s public apology during WWE Night of Champions for his infamous “blood money” tweet wasn’t some off-the-cuff moment—and now the real story behind it has come to light.

On Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer revealed that Punk’s apology in Saudi Arabia was premeditated, with WWE, TKO, and Saudi officials all agreeing that it needed to happen. Despite fans calling the moment forced and hypocritical, insiders saw it as a strategic move to clean up Punk’s image.

“I did talk to some people in, you know, in WWE about the whole thing, and it’s like—the deal, you know, I—I—you know, again, it was, you know, it obviously was not this impromptu thing where all of a sudden somebody out of nowhere asked him a question and then he just thinks to react and apologize and all that. I mean, it was like he was going there to apologize.”

Meltzer made it clear that only Punk knows how genuine the moment really was, but everyone behind the scenes had the same understanding—it was simply good business.

“What he thinks, he’s the only one who can say. And probably, you know, the impression that they had, that I was given, is that everyone—Saudi Arabia, TKO, CM Punk—they’re all on board, and this is just what we gotta do. You know, I mean, you could argue that maybe they shouldn’t have done it, maybe it makes him look bad by doing it—they thought it makes him look good. They thought that was the right thing to do. If he had any qualms, nobody knows, you know.”

According to Meltzer, this is simply how business works in modern wrestling, especially when dealing with government partnerships.

“I mean, the way it was said to me is that everybody just thought this was the right thing to do, and they did it. And, you know, kind of the thing of—when you’re dealing with governments in this day and age, it was kind of like, you know, everyone’s bad, you know what I mean? It’s just the nature of the business.”

WWE also wanted to push the message that Punk has changed, moving away from his reputation as an unpredictable hothead.

“That’s the message they want—that he has grown up and he’s not a hothead anymore. And his message was, well, he was just, you know, mad at The Miz over something and he didn’t really mean it about Saudi Arabia.”

Jim Ross also chimed in, saying the entire controversy around Punk’s apology was being overthought. In WWE’s eyes, it was a calculated move to show Punk in a more mature light—how fans feel about it clearly wasn’t their concern.

Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.