How badly did Paul Heyman want to keep CM Punk in WWE? Badly enough to lobby for him to end one of the most reliable and legendary occurrences in pro wrestling.
Following his appearance on the WWE Network broadcast of the Stone Cold Podcast, Heyman joined Chael Sonnen on You’re Welcome! and explained just how far he was willing to go to keep Punk around:
I actually pitched it for Punk, because I thought it was the only thing that was going to keep Punk from eventually leaving WWE. Even before that match, he was itching to get out.
I figured if they gave him this victory, he needed to stay a while and capitalize on it. That idea never came to fruition. Then, of course, the stars were just aligned for it to be Brock.
No one could argue against how perfectly the ending of the streak went down at WrestleMania XXX, and Punk seems pretty happy writing comic books and training to get his face punched in for real. Heyman and Lesnar are set to return to Raw next Monday when WWE heads into Cleveland. You can listen to the rest of the podcast, as well as Heyman shoot down the idea of Brock vs. Stone Cold here.
