Vince McMahon grabbed the headlines when he announced his retirement at 77. He announced that he is retiring from his roles as Chairman and CEO of WWE. It was later clarified that he was also done with his work on creative. As of now Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan are Co-CEOs of WWE, while Triple H is EVP of Talent Relations and Head of Creative. It turns out WWE Hall of Famer Ric Flair was not happy to hear about it and recently AEW star CM Punk reacted to the news as well.
CM Punk comments on Vince McMahon retirement
CM Punk spoke with the Absolute Geek Podcast during San Diego Comic-Con last weekend and was asked about the news regarding Vince McMahon’s sudden departure from WWE. Punk shares a contentious relationship with WWE and it is not unknown. It seems that he was skeptical about McMahon truly being separated from the company. Vince had sent out a Tweet to announce his retirement that shocked the pro wrestling world.
“You think because he tweeted that ‘I’m retired’ that he’s not going to be hands-on?” Punk sarcastically asked. When the interviewer pointed out that someday McMahon will truly be gone (i.e. when he passes away), Punk said, “Sure, we all are. I don’t think the structure there, the….what’s the word I’m looking for…I don’t think the culture there changes at all. It is what it is.
Punk then talked about Sasha Banks and Naomi’s decision to walk out on an episode of RAW several months ago and how WWE handled Brock Lesnar’s rumored walk out ahead of SmackDown last week after he learned of McMahon’s announcement. “The Beast” was convinced to come back before the show ended, while Banks and Naomi were publicly blasted by the commentary team for several weeks after their suspensions were announced.
“I’ll put it to you like this,” Punk said. “Oh boy, people are going to be real f—ing mad about this, but f— it. Mercedes [Sasha Banks] and Trinity [Naomi] leave and they announce on SmackDown that, ‘gosh darn, we are so disappointed in them, they really let our fans down.’ Brock splits. [He] comes back, obviously, I think he worked the show. But where is Michael Cole saying, ‘Brock Lesnar really let these fans down.’ I walked out. They went on TV and called me a quitter. What’s changed? What’s the difference? You’re going to attack these two f—ing poor women who had enough and walked? They have bigger balls than everybody there. So what’s changed? There’s nothing much that has changed. And there’s people that talk about it and people who do it. The people who lick the boots and have the audacity to go on live television and say that about those two women. F—ing cowards and bootlickers. This s— is ridiculous. Why didn’t they do it to Brock? They did it for me. It’s none of my business.”
