51-year-old star allegedly did "everything in his power to protect" CM Punk

A superstar seemingly wanted to protect CM Punk in a match after the latter received backstage heat.

Punk wrestled his first-ever televised WWE match on the April 11, 2005 taping of Sunday Night Heat. He teamed up with Russell Simpson, and the duo took on Maven and Simon Dean. In the end, Maven and Dean won the match after pinning Simpson.

As per Maven, CM Punk had already garnered backstage heat before his first televised match in WWE. Officials wanted him to be on the receiving end of a pinfall in that particular match. Maven stated that Simon Dean, however, had other plans and wanted to protect Punk. This led to Simpson getting pinned instead of Punk. Check out Maven's full comment below:

"Nova [Dean] saw it differently. Nova wanted to give the guy a chance, and Nova made the decision. Earlier on, when we were discussing the match backstage he said 'When I come in, I'm going to knock you out. Punk, you roll to the floor.' That way we can get the slam on Simpson. I don't know why Simon wanted to protect Punk. He might have seen in Punk what the entire world would come to see years later. Simon was always a good gauge of talent. He might have known that Punk, for whatever reason, might have had heat backstage and he was doing everything in his power to protect him." [H/T SEScoops]

---

CM Punk went on to become one of the most controversial stars in the business

By 2013, Punk had become WWE's biggest heel. He held the WWE Championship for 434 days during 2011-13. In 2014, Punk left WWE due to creative differences and other factors.

Punk had a stint in AEW in 2021-23 that again ended under controversial circumstances at AEW All In: London. He is now back in WWE after nine long years, and fans are hoping things don't go awry this time around.

Are you happy that Punk is back in WWE after almost a decade? Let us know in the comments section below.