Mick Foley Hopes CM Punk Rises To The Occasion Now That He’s Back In WWE

WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley was a guest on today’s edition of Busted Open Radio, where the hardcore legend was asked to give his thoughts on CM Punk returning to WWE. Highlights from the interview can be found below.

On Punk’s ‘lackluster’ return promo on Raw:

Look, he’s a master of the mic. It was a really strong promo. One thing we do have to realize, and I tell some of the younger talent, ‘It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon.’ He’s laying the groundwork for what should be an incredible run.”

Recalls the advice he gave to Punk ahead of his WrestleMania 29 matchup with the Undertaker when he was feeling unmotivated:

Phil and I were pretty close at one time and he couldn’t get motivated for The Undertaker. He felt like they had taken that main event spot away from him. I’d say, ‘Phil, the main event is what the fans decide the main event is. You go out there and you decide what your own WrestleMania moments are.’ I don’t like to brag about much but I felt like Edge and I had the match of the night in 2006 and no one will be able to tell me differently. That was my WrestleMania moment. I didn’t need someone stamping the words main event on it to tell me how I felt when the match was done.

Talks Punk’s ugly end in AEW:

I just feel like if you can’t appreciate working with Undertaker at WrestleMania and if you win the AEW Title end your focus becomes, not on the joy of that title, but on airing your grievances, then you’ve done a disservice to the title. I’m going to say also when he had the interaction with Jungle Boy, if the feeling after drawing the largest non-WWE crowd in the history of the United Kingdom is not on that crowd but on a backstage fight, again, you’ve done a disservice to the company.

Says his hope is that Punk enjoys his final pro-wrestling run:

This is going to be Punk’s last run and I hope he finds a way to enjoy it. I believe he’ll do whatever he needs to do to be as good as he possibly can be… I know this guy has torn the house down over the course of a few decades now and I know he has the pride to tear it down again. I just hope, as a human being, that Phil will enjoy it and rise to the occasion of the big moments so that we as fans are talking about what we should be talking about when those matches are over and not some extracurricular activity.

Foley was not the first person to be asked about Punk’s shocking WWE return. Bronson Reed addressed it on today’s Busted Open Radio and Jon Moxley was asked his thoughts during an interview with Comicbook.com. You can read Reed’s response here and Moxley’s here.

(H/T and transcribed by Fightful)