CM Punk finally speaks on this week's AOW Podcast

I don't think that WWE could ever really trust Punk to be the top guy. Of course they could trust him to be a great wrestler, and have great matches, and be a good talker too. But I don't think they could trust him to be a safe top guy for them. By that I mean that they couldn't give him the ball and know that he'll be happy with whatever as long as he's a top guy and he'll stick around for 10 years. With Punk the feeling was always, even when he was happy, that he wasn't sticking around forever.

When WWE gave Cena the ball we all knew that he'd be around for 10+ years at least, barring a career ending injury. With Punk, had he been push to the moon, did anyone really think he'd still be working full time in 2016, let alone 2021? Did anyone think that he would happily have the brutal WWE schedule PLUS a massive media schedule and be happy about it for a large amount of time? Really, does anyone think that Punk would ever be happy? Even if he was given the world? I don't think so. I think if he was given everything he'd asked for he'd just do a couple more years and then retire. I think WWE thought that too, and decided that they weren't gonna give him the ball if he wasn't gonna run with it for more than a couple of years. Punk says he wants to be the #1 guy, but he never comes across as willing to deal with all the stuff that came with it - stuff that Hogan, Rock, Cena and even Austin embraced.

And before someone says that Rock and Austin (by the time he was at the top) weren't around very long, that was totally different. No one knew Rock would become a massive movie star at the start and by the time he did go he left with Vince's blessing because he wanted Rock to be the first star to successfully transition from wrestling into mainstream media. As for Austin, no one knew he would his neck up. Both guys looked like (on paper at least) that they would be top stars for years and years; it just didn't work out that way. Punk never looked like (IMO at least) he would stick around for more than a few years if he actually got everything he wanted.

Also, if he says he was convinced that he could force his way into the WM event, and then the next night he said to Vince that he was screwing up Bryan's time, was he convinced he could make the main event Bryan vs. Punk (I assume he would expect to turn heel again then) or a fatal four way for the title? Or did he only think Bryan should be in the main event once he accepted that he wasn't getting it? Not having a go, genuinely curious.