Summary

CM Punk says a real-life moment involving Hulk Hogan and Ultimate Warrior helped change the way he looked at long-running grudges in wrestling, and it played a role in how he reconnected with Triple H before returning to WWE.

Punk came back to WWE at Survivor Series 2023 after years of public friction with the company. In discussing how that return became possible, he said the biggest relationship to repair was the one with Triple H, a figure he had clashed with heavily during his first run.

While appearing on *All The Smoke* with Matt Barnes, Punk explained that seeing footage of Hogan apologizing to Warrior shortly before Warrior's death made him rethink whether holding onto old issues was worth it.

Quote from CM Punk

"My favorite thing is when Triple H isn't at Raw. It's not because 'the boss is away,' it's because I know he's at a daddy-daughter dance or at his daughter's football game. It's wholesome. We've had the conversations. It's how we got to a point where, 'What's it look like? Can we get you to come back?' After a while, I reached out to Triple H, and I knew he had this heart condition thing, and I had seen a clip of Hogan and Warrior, and everything we do is filmed. What's real, what's not, and it's Hogan, so you don't know what's the truth. They're just having this conversation and apologizing. A couple of days later, Ultimate Warrior dies. It made me realize, this shit ain't worth it."

What it changed for Punk and WWE

Punk tied that change in perspective directly to reaching back out after Triple H's 2021 cardiac event, which helped open the door to the talks that eventually led to his WWE comeback. That matters because it frames Punk's return less as a sudden business decision and more as the result of a personal reset with one of WWE's top decision-makers.

It also adds more context to Punk's current place in the company. WWE is presenting him as a central star again, and that has already shown up in stories around Triple H's recent comments on Punk's tension with Roman Reigns before WrestleMania 42. If that relationship with Triple H had never been repaired, Punk likely does not end up back in that position at all.

Sources

As reported by Fightful.