Eric Bischoff Reveals That He Recently Made Amends With CM Punk

CM Punk has a huge fan base, but at the same time, he has a lot of haters. Some fans just don’t like him due to his general attitude. Others feel betrayed by Punk for leaving WWE/AEW, think he’s not a good influence for the locker room, or even see him as a hypocrite. Many of these reasons, from a fan’s perspective, make sense.

Punk has also had public feuds with many other wrestlers in the business, such as The Miz and Triple H before. But ever since returning to WWE (who recently bagged a whopping $1.6 billion deal with ESPN), he’s made amends with most of them, and now this list also includes Eric Bischoff.

Eric Bischoff & CM Punk Had A Public Rivalry With Each Other

Why were these two even beefing in the first place? It all started when CM Punk first joined AEW. Now, this would be enough context for many fans who follow Bischoff’s podcast. He has a general hatred for AEW and its workers for some reason. So, back when Punk was still working for Tony Khan, he made several comments.

For instance, Punk compared Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole’s AEW debut at All Out 2021 with Kevin Nash and Scott Hall’s WCW debut in 1996. The Cult of Personality said that Danielson and Cole’s debut was “bigger.” Bischoff was offended with this statement.

Both exchanged jabs with each other, and things soon turned personal. Punk called Bischoff “an old head bad faith bad take carny dipsh*t,” whereas the latter called him “the biggest financial flop in the history of wrestling.”

Wrestling twitter needs to stop amplifying all the old head bad faith bad take carny dipshits. They had their moment in the sun. Let them die in the dark with their ego podcasts. Quote me. pic.twitter.com/ryMcGSW10u

— player/coach (@CMPunk) May 10, 2022

Eric Bischoff Has Buried His Hatchet With Punk

But in recent months, Eric Bischoff has grown a likeness towards CM Punk. In March, on his 83 Weeks podcast, Bischoff said he now considers himself a CM Punk fan. His current WWE run changed Bischoff’s mind, who used to think Punk was in worse shape than Bischoff, and that he didn’t look like a great wrestler in the ring.

“I think I’m becoming a Punk fan. In fact no, it’s not ‘I think I’m becoming a Punk fan.’ I have become a Punk fan. No, it really hasn’t [hell frozen over]. Because when I explain why and how I arrived here and why I wasn’t a Punk fan, it’ll make perfect sense. At least to me, and it’s really all I care about. It’s not true, just sounded good.” (H/T 411 Mania)

Punk’s Elimination Chamber 2025 performance changed Bischoff’s opinion of him. Up until the Raw on July 28, 2025 where WWE paid tribute to Hulk Hogan, both hadn’t even met each other in real life. But they talked, and Bischoff liked how Punk responded when he greeted him.

“I’ll just tell you what I said. I said, ‘Man, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve said some pretty stupid sht. Just want you to know I’m glad to have an opportunity to meet you in person.’ I’ll give you my half of the conversation, and he can do with that what he wants.”*

“His reaction, the approach, the honesty is, is what made me a CM Punk fan. He’s a very honest guy.”

“I got a pretty good feel for him and what he’s about and I think when you actually get to know the person behind the character, you’d be surprised at just how solid some of these athletes are. They’re solid human beings.” (H/T RingSideNews)

While Bischoff and Punk may not be “best friends,” they no longer hate each other. The former WCW executive respects what Punk brings to the table in WWE and appreciates him as a human.

Main image credit: IMAGO / Icon Sportswire