Triple H goes in-depth about his past with CM Punk and working with him now.
WWE Chief Content Officer Triple H was a recent guest on High Performance. When asked about his past issues with CM Punk and if that came into play when bringing him back to the company, Hunter said he believes their issues in the past came down to bad communication and tells a story of a backstage discussion since his return where the two men finally found common ground in their relationship.
“Like, as far as him as a performer and disagreements in the past, I don’t think about it,” Triple H said. “When he came back, he and I had a phone call, and I meant when I said it to him on the phone, because there had been moments and times where we tried to reconnect or whatever. And I think a lot of times our disagreements over the years came down to just bad communication with each other.
“And I was the in-between guy of what the creative team wanted and what he wanted, but I was trying to smooth it all over. So to his point of view, I was seen as the enemy. Then he didn’t trust me, so I couldn’t get him to open up. I can’t collaborate with you if you’re not open, so he would be closed down. So then I couldn’t collaborate with him, and there was probably a dislike of each other, but based on bad communication.
“So when this return here that he’s in now, sort of came about. We got on the phone together, and one of the things that I said to him is because I sort of felt like there was still this underlying mistrust. And I said, look to me, if this is going to work, we have to lose everything else. I am a different person than I was 10 years ago when you were here. If I wasn’t, I wasted 10 years of my life. I’m hoping you’re a different person. If you aren’t different. You wasted 10 years of your life.
“I feel like I’m different. I think you feel like you’re different. So let’s forget all that shit that happened before, that was bad communication. Let’s be open to each other. If you don’t like something, tell me, and if I don’t like something, I will tell you. If you like it, tell me; if I like it, I will tell you. Let’s work together.
CM Punk claims he has post-traumatic stress disorder from his previous WWE run
“We’ve had a couple of moments since his return, like there was one moment where he’d return, and they had told him something creatively, and they told me, he does not like this. I was like, okay, I’ll talk to him. Went to talk to him, and I was like, what’s going on? I told him the creative. And he was like, that’s good, whatever.
“And I was like, I know you don’t like it. Everybody told me, so let’s be open. So then he complained about what it was. And I said, okay, let’s go talk about it, come up with something good. I’m not married to that, so it’s just a thought and an idea. And he was angry, and he walked away from me, and a couple of minutes later, he came back. He’s like, I’m sorry. I have post-traumatic stress disorder still from before. I forget that it’s — I’m not used to this process; I would love to sit down with you and be creative.
Triple H loves collaborating with CM Punk now
“And that sort of changed that paradigm shift for us, relationship-wise. And now, part of like, it’s a funny thing for me to even say, sitting down and being collaborative with CM Punk is one of my favorite things at TV. Because he shares a very similar view at the end of the day of the business as I do. So it’s like fun now for me.
“If 10, 12 years ago, you’d been like, hey, I need you to sit in a room for an hour and collaborate with Punk, I would have been like, oof. I’d rather pull my own teeth out, right? Now I’m like, oh, that would be awesome. He’s going to be here tomorrow? Like, he’s going to sit with us for an hour and do creative? Love it! Phenomenal! Because now riffing ideas is like — it’s the best.”
What do you make of Triple H’s comments? Have you enjoyed CM Punk’s WWE return overall so far? Let us know your thoughts by sounding off in the comments section below.
If you use any of these quotes, please credit High Performance with a link to this article for the transcription.
