While Khan and Punk continued to talk frequently during the next several days, things took a turn when Punk asked Khan if he could put him in contact with Paul “Triple H” Levesque, whom Punk had a tumultuous relationship with during his first WWE run.

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“It’s funny because everyone calls him Paul [now]…I always call him Triple H or Hunter,” Punk said. “When I spoke to him, that’s when the ball really got rolling, you know? Cause it was a very…I asked him if he wanted to talk on the phone, and he said ‘No. I would actually rather kind of like to face-time you, so I can see you.’ And I was like ‘Oh, that’s interesting.’  

“We just talked about a whole lot of stuff, and about stuff that was at one point serious to probably both of us…that is silly now. And we just kind of laughed and buried the hatchet. And then we started talking business.”

Among the more shocking revelations was that Punk confirmed there had been talks of him returning to WWE before, even before his stint on “WWE Backstage” in 2019, but that things only seriously moved forward during the recent talks. As good as his conversation with Triple H went, Punk ultimately believes that it was Khan who helped steer things towards a WWE return, something that host Ariel Helwani, Khan’s former client, seemed to agree with.

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“He was the difference maker,” Helwani said.

“I think so,” Punk said.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “The MMA Hour” with Ariel Helwani and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription