New WWE Vice President of Live Events and Hall of Famer “Road Dogg” Brian James recently talked about the WWE locker room reputation that current AEW star CM Punk had years ago.
Speaking on his “Oh… You Didn’t Know” podcast, James clarified that he wasn’t a part of WWE’s inner circle at the time and didn’t have all the details about Punk’s decision to quit WWE before WrestleMania 30 in 2014, but he was aware of Punk’s standing in the locker room.
“Look, I just remember he was kind of difficult to work with. And I didn’t know what was going on behind the scenes. I hadn’t been there that long, and I wasn’t in the inner circle. If this had happened three years later, I would have probably known a lot more of what was going on behind the scenes. So, I didn’t really know what was going on with him, but I know he was hard to deal with,” James said.
James and current AEW star Billy Gunn, as legendary tag team The New Age Outlaws, worked a few six-man tag team matches with Punk on their team in 2014. James noted that they didn’t have any issues in the ring with Punk as they got their spots off, but he added that Punk’s departure may have happened due to professional disagreements, not a personal agenda.
“Maybe that, and I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that that’s why it was. It wasn’t personal issues, but there were professional issues. Compared to how I and his relationship, he wouldn’t have talked to me about it. So, and it was just, me and Billy just kind of looked at each other, like, Woah, what do we do here? So, we did the best we could to do our stuff around him and let him be him, and we’ll be us, and you know how that worked out,” James continued.
Punk lost the Undisputed AEW World Title match to Jon Moxley on AEW Dynamite last night, but the rematch is rumored for AEW All Out on September 4. Punk recently addressed rumors of unhappiness in AEW, on the same day AEW President Tony Khan addressed the reports on Punk’s heat with Adam Page.
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(H/T to Sportskeeda for the quotes)
