Behind the scenes of CM Punk’s almost shocking TNA signing

CM Punk could have been signed by TNA instead of WWE. Second City Saint was let go by AEW in September 2023 after getting involved in a backstage fight with several wrestlers from the company that turned physical. After two months, he surprisingly reappeared at his former workplace in his native city, Chicago, during the Survivor Series: WarGames event.

TNA seeks CM Punk signing, Steve McLin seen as first opponent

In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, TNA Superstar Steve Macklin revealed that the company had talked to Punk following his departure from All Elite Wrestling. He also said that he would have been an early rival of Punk. This was told to him by then company president Scott D’Amore.

Steve Macklin shares the unseen story of CM Punk almost joining TNA

“If you want some behind-the-scenes dirt that no one knows about, CM Punk was probably coming in before he signed with TNA and I was going to be his first challenger, which I found out right because Scott D’Amore was being let go or had been let go.

We were having dinner one night and he told me, ‘Yeah, Punk was almost going to sign there and then you were going to be his first challenger.’ I was like, ‘Sh*t!’ It would have been nice.

You look at his time back in wrestling, what happened in AEW and even WWE, it shows the star he is now and he’s always been that way… that culture. He literally has a cult of personality, if you want to play cliché, but, he just shows the magnitude of why he is one of the last surviving superstars.

The backstage honor that left a lasting impression on Steve Macklin

“He was backstage a couple of times in Chicago (for TNA). It was cool to see him… I was like, ‘Oh, CM Punk, what’s going on, man?’ He says, ‘Oh, how are you, Mr. Macklin?’ I was like, ‘Cool. Nice to see you.’

Because when I was an extra in WWE he was really nice to me and you always hear horror stories – being an extra – when you say hello to people, like, people turn away from you and stuff, but he was very respectful and I never forgot that. There’s always something in wrestling that I’ll never forget, those guys who were good to me growing up.

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