Shawn Michaels Explains Why He'd Welcome CM Punk In WWE NXT

During the media call for "WWE NXT" No Mercy, Senior Vice President of Talent Development Creative Shawn Michaels spoke about someone that he wouldn't mind seeing in "NXT" — former AEW and WWE star CM Punk.

"Well, of course, we'd love him here in 'NXT,'" Michaels said. "My guess is he probably would want, you know, to go to the main roster, [which] would be my guess. I always enjoyed working with Phil. Again, didn't get to do it much, but I don't ... I'll say this, I understood him."

Michaels shared a story about Punk pulling out an autograph that the WWE Hall of Famer had signed for him in a hotel, which was one of the reasons why he always liked him. The Hall of Famer spoke about how even with his "challenges," Punk would still make money and can still draw a crowd. 

"He's a different kind of cat and, you know, could sometimes be challenging, to get along with people. But, again, I think that's probably why I like him because I suffer from the same thing. That's for people to decide that are higher up on the food chain than I am. He's a guy that does numbers and makes money, I think that would be a risk-reward ratio. I'm sure from a company standpoint they've had to consider. When it comes to, if we would take him in 'NXT' and have him on our television, are you kidding me? Of course, I would. I just don't think anybody would let me."

Punk was fired from AEW on September 2, following his backstage altercation with Jack Perry at All In. Before that, Punk had a backstage brawl with The Elite after the 2022 All Out PPV and was later suspended.