Finn Balor Says CM Punk Was The Opposite Of The “Horror Stories” He Had Heard

Finn Balor says his experience working with CM Punk was nothing like the reputation he had heard about before Punk returned to WWE.

Speaking on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, Balor reflected on facing Punk in Belfast and later in Chicago.

Balor said the Belfast match stands out as one of the most meaningful moments of his career.

There’s so many ups and downs in this business and sometimes you think like you’ve done it all and it’s never going to get better and then it somehow did, you know?

Punk is someone like I’d never really interacted with much. I’d actually only met him one time in my life at Samoa Joe’s wedding, like this is back in like 2002, 2003 maybe.

He had left WWE when I had signed with NXT. So we never really had any interactions.

Balor said he had heard negative stories about Punk before finally working with him.

I’ll go on the record as saying like I’d heard horror stories about Punk being this [expletive], being difficult to deal with, being, you know, big-headed guy that no one wants to work with.

Balor said his own experience was the opposite.

When he came back to WWE, it could not have been the opposite.

Balor described Punk as easy to work with.

I met this guy who was humble, polite, wanted to work with people.

Balor said he believes Punk may have personally requested their match.

I’m pretty sure he went to the office and he said he wanted this match. Like I don’t think it came from the office. I think it came from Punk.

That match could have been anywhere. I could have been in any random city in the United States, but it was in Belfast, like my home country.

Balor said the timing made it even more special for his family.

It was my mom’s birthday the day before, so like she was there and we done the match, the crowd reaction was unbelievable. That crowd was so loud.

We brought back the old music. It was so fun. I was like enjoying it. I wasn’t like thinking about the match, was just like living. It was easy to work with Phil. It was like we’re just having fun.

Balor said Punk called him back to the ring after the match.

I hear him like, “Hey, where’s Finn?” I can hear him on the mic. And then like the producers are running because I’m like off and taking my tape off and stuff going, “That was so cool. I’m going to get to see my family now.” And then they say, “Punk’s calling you out in the ring.”

Balor said Punk gave him the chance to share the moment with his mother.

He gave me the microphone, left the ring. I got to sing my mom happy birthday in front of everybody. It’s the coolest thing, man.

Getting like the couple weeks later to do it again in Chicago with him, it was like tit for tat, you know?

Balor said the Chicago match likely meant the same thing to Punk that Belfast meant to him.

I think it meant as much to him in Chicago as it did to me in Belfast.

I think we’ll share that bond for a long time.

If you use any portion of the quotes from this article, please credit Insight with Chris Van Vliet, with a h/t to Wrestling Headlines for the transcription.