CM Punk Says WWE ‘Manipulated Him’ With WrestleMania Main Event During First Run: ‘I Almost Think They Used It Against Me’

World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk says he believes WWE ‘dangled’ a WrestleMania main event in front of him during his first run.

CM Punk finally got his WrestleMania main event last year, when he main evented WrestleMania 41 Saturday against Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins in a three-way.

Punk is set to main event WrestleMania again this year, and he has now opened up on not main eventing WrestleMania during his first run with the company.

CM Punk Says He Was ‘Manipulated’ By Potential WrestleMania Main Event

Speaking to All The Smoke: Unplugged, Punk says that he believes the company ‘dangled’ the WrestleMania main event in front of him during his first run to ‘manipulate’ him.

He said:

“I think that’s just about being a goal oriented person. I made such a big deal about it before, and everyone knew that was my target. I almost think it was used against me in a way, it was dangled like a carrot because they knew this was something I wanted, so they knew they could manipulate me based on that.

“If I did it before, because there was so much bad blood and not the greatest exit, if I had already done it, I don’t think I would have bothered to look back. It would have been a closed book, a been there done that, experienced it, don’t need to do it again.

“To me it’s all about the experiences, I want to be the best I can be, and you have to surround yourself with better people, better wrestlers, better players, smarter, coach is a coach for a reason.

“I’m always in pursuit of trying to be, even if it’s just that 1% better, every single day, so I need those new experiences and I need to operate and perform at the highest level, under the brightest lights, with the most pressure, so that’s why I always chased that Mania main event.

“I really do think if I had it prior to me coming back, I would have been less inclined to come back.”

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CM Punk’s Future In WWE

With Punk now in the twilight years of his career, there has been a lot of speculation about his future role in the company.

While Punk’s in-ring career may not last too much longer, there are almost certainly roles waiting for him behind the scenes, whether in a creative capacity or in training upcoming stars in NXT.

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