"He (CM Punk) has my respect" - Ex-AEW star proclaims admiration for multi-time champion's MMA career (Exclusive)

Ever since CM Punk demonstrated his impressive mic skills during his early WWE career, the wrestling fraternity was captivated. As it is not uncommon for many talents from the industry to add MMA to their resumes, Punk soon followed suit and had a brief tenure in the sport. Recently, Dan Lambert lavished praise on the multi-time AEW World Champion, venturing out into cage-fighting.

Following his departure from WWE in 2014, the 44-year-old announced his multi-fight contract with UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship). He lost his first fight was against Mickey Gall at UFC 203. Punk was also unsuccessful in his second match against Mike Jackson at UFC 225.

A couple of years later, he cited his retirement from the sport to focus on a return to the squared circle and shortly after made his debut on All Elite Wrestling in August 2021.

During a recent exclusive interaction with Sportskeeda Wrestling, Lambert cited his admiration for CM Punk's ability to take on a stint in MMA despite his age and his crucial impact of hits in the ring:

"I think that was pretty cool. You take a guy that was Punk's age, beat up over the years of wrestling, because nobody can deny the toll physically that professional wrestling takes on somebody's body. It's actually even far greater than it is in the sport of MMA. So, for him to take on a new challenge in a new sport at that advanced age considering, he probably wasn't in his peak, physical performance days. It's pretty impressive that he would go step into the cage and fight high level guys at that point. So, in a win, lose or draw, he has my respect for that." (5:04 - 5:40)

Check out the entire interaction below:

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Eric Bischoff is convinced CM Punk wrestled his last match on AEW

Former RAW General Manager Eric Bischoff is known for not holding anything back when it comes to voicing his opinions on the wrestling industry. He was also involved in a back-and-forth with Tony Khan for criticizing his booking methods and comparing AEW to WCW.

Recently, on an episode of the Strictly Business podcast, Bischoff stated that he would now refer to CM Punk by his real name 'Philip Brooks' and believed that he was done with the wrestling industry.

The other members who were involved in the controversial brawl out and The Elite returned to the promotion a couple of months later. However, CM Punk's return seems nowhere near in sight. There were reports of a potential contract buyout, but nothing was confirmed.

The Second City Saint also suffered an injury at All Out, which seemingly worsened in the backstage fight.

Do you think CM Punk should return to AEW or consider retiring from the wrestling industry? Sound off in the comments.

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