CM Punk Confirms Expiring Contract, Talks WWE Network, Daniel Bryan and More

Ariel Helwani of MMAFighting.com had a chance to speak with WWE Superstar CM Punk for more than a half-hour at his home in Chicago. Punk revealed information about his WWE future, his status in the company, Daniel Bryan and much more.

Punk confirmed that his contract expires this July, and said that he is unsure of whether he will re-sign or not.

“I don’t know. Everything’s up in the air. Plus if I say yes and I don’t, then I was lying. If I say no and then I re-sign, then I was full of sh*t. Three years ago I was out the door. I was 100 percent, ‘no, I’m not re-signing,’ and now this time, I think just to avoid a little bit of deja-vu, I’m just going to dance around that question. I don’t know.”

About his program with the New Age Outlaws:

“Anything that’s different I kind of like. In my opinion, everything could always be better. But it’s not my company.”

On Brock Lesnar potentially headed back to UFC:

“Brock’s a freak of nature. I don’t get the sense that he’s going to, but I see the possibility that he would want to.”

Whether WWE Network will be good for the wrestling industry:

“I don’t know. I’ll tell you when I get my pay-per-view checks. I still don’t know what’s happening with that. It’s considerably less money, which is great for fans and stuff but I’m a professional. I would have killed to have that thing in ’97. I think for the boys, and it’s just a question of we don’t know yet. I don’t know what happens to pay-per-view numbers. Do they go down because everyone is watching on the network? Does that affect my pay? Do I get paid less?

On whether Daniel Bryan is the most popular guy in WWE:

“Crowd reactions? Yes. Hands down. I think everyone likes to throw their hands in the air and scream ‘YES!’ it’s fun like kids and grandpa and stuff like that. It’s crazy and it’s great to see that happen. It’s interesting for me because I feel I get to watch it happen and it’s sort of what happened with me three years ago and I’m watching it happen with him now. It’s cool knowing where he came from and how good he is and I feel that he deserves all the accolades he gets, I think it’s great.”

Punk also goes on to talk about his incident with Michelle Beadle, a potential career in MMA and chats about UFC. The entire interview can be seen here.

Follow Jon Alba on Twitter!