CM Punk has opened up about how reaching the WrestleMania main event may have played a bigger role in his WWE return than fans realise.

After making his comeback at Survivor Series 2023 following nearly ten years away, Punk has continued to chase the one milestone that once eluded him. Speaking with WWE Now around the launch of WWE 2K26, Punk admitted that finally headlining WrestleMania could have changed everything about his career path.

“You know, satisfy, I don’t know if it’s the word, but it might be dangerous because, yeah, because if you think about this, if I main evented WrestleMania before I left, I don’t think I would have come back because I would have done it. What am I coming back for?” Punk said.

Looking back on WrestleMania 41, where he headlined night one against Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, Punk shared a personal moment that stuck with him long after the match ended.

“It’s just one of those things. I did it last year, and there’s that moment in Unreal where there’s always cameras on us, but I didn’t know they were shooting me at that moment. That moment was just me standing in the ring after the fact. I didn’t win, and it’s far beyond being about that, and I was just standing in the ring by myself, and I was just looking at like all four sides of the crowd and like people. I could tell there’s people from numerous different countries, and I’m just kind of like looking around all four sides, just like soaking it in. Well, if this is the last time I’m ever going to be in a ring. I did it,” Punk said.

Now, Punk is set to headline WrestleMania once again, this time defending the World Championship against Roman Reigns on night two, adding another chapter to a journey that almost never came full circle.