All Elite Wrestling (AEW) commentator Jim Ross recently discussed on his podcast, "Grilling JR" on WWE not being sold on CM Punk and him being treated unfairly in the company:
āYeah, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. He was a ā I donāt really want to ā Really, in the practical application in this matter, Punk was never really treated overly fair just as the personal interaction of a talent. He was not outgoing. He was certainly not an ass-kisser, and if youāre not a sycophant sometimes, and thatās the only thing thatās making you stand out and ingratiate yourself to all the decision makers, you can find yourself being dealt a tough hand.
āBut as he became more valuable as a commodity, and I can tell you this, the fans did that. The wrestling fans themselves started buying into Punkās persona. They started buying into his act, if you will, his presentation. And they loved what he brought to the table because he was so different and so unique. And it was very, very obvious that CM Punk was not a creation of the office.
āAnd sometimes, when you come into WWE already with your āgimmickā or your name or whatever, sometimes itās a rough start. Sometimes, you donāt get that running start that you like to have because if WWE did not create you in that respect, theyāre going to refine you and make you better. It comes down to communication and ego, and Punk was a quiet, introverted guy oftentimes in that environment. I didnāt find it ever to be sullen or moody to me because I understood him.
āAnd also, I was not in a position at that time to really influence much of his career other than calling a match here or there because [John] Laurinaitis had taken that role. And I donāt know how Laurinaitis and Punk got along. I know that sometimes if you got talent that you can say is āhigh maintenanceā ā you know,Ā Stone Cold Steve AustinĀ was high maintenance. He didnāt trust anybody. He had a very great sense what he was doing, what he could do well, what he couldnāt do well.
āHe also had a feeling about how he interacted with ā Austin was not the most social guy in the world. He became that more often because when you become more accepted, then itās easier to get more involved in this thing from an emotional standpoint. But Punk was a lot like Austin in that regard. You had to get to know him, but you wanted to get to know him once you saw that this son of a b*** was the real deal, and Punk was the real deal, much like Stone Cold.
āSo, thereās nothing wrong with being āhigh maintenance.ā Itās up to the administrator to figure out whatās it going to take to communicate with the high-maintenance talent. And as we did with Steve, and I donāt think that they quite got to that level with Punk. I donāt think that he was embraced because of who he was, how he looked, his lifestyle. All those things, for some reason, just didnāt appease or appeal to some of the higher-ups as you mentioned. And itās unfortunate because he was really never a bad guy.ā