CM Punk Opens Up About WWE Departure Being ‘The Right Time’ To Marry AJ Lee, Wrestling Is ‘Remarkably Hard’ On Relationships

Published: 1 hour ago by Dave Adamson | Last Updated: 1 hour ago by Dave Adamson

Dave has been a website writer for WrestleTalk since October 2022, having previously written for Den of Geek, among a number of wrestling, movie and television-related sites. Dave has been around the independent wrestling scene for more than a decade, including behind-the-scenes.

CM Punk Opens Up About WWE Departure Being ‘The Right Time’ To Marry AJ Lee, Wrestling Is ‘Remarkably Hard’ On Relationships

CM Punk has revealed that leaving WWE in 2014 was “the right time” to marry AJ Lee, noting the challenges of relationships in wrestling.

Married in June 2014, CM Punk and AJ Lee would both part ways with WWE under different circumstances, returning in recent years.

Having first started dating each other the year before, CM Punk would reflect on their relationship during a WrestleMania 42 media row appearance on Nightcap, saying:

“I got married in 2014 after I left. It was and it wasn’t (by design) – whether I stayed or I went, I was getting married. But I did always think this life is remarkably hard, especially for people who were married or had kids.

“I did the bulk of my career single, not a care in the world, no responsibility to anybody else but the wrestlers on the crew, and I devoted my life to it. I didn’t have to split time or split focus, and the fruits of my labor were the success I got from that focus. But I left at the right time, I got married at the right time, now my wife’s back, and we get to enjoy working together, and it’s really been amazing.”

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CM Punk and AJ Lee have interacted a number of times on WWE television, including a tag team match at Wrestlepalooza last year that saw them face another real-life married couple, in the form of Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch.

At WrestleMania 42, all four of those names will be in action, with AJ Lee defending her WWE Women’s Intercontinental Championship against Becky Lynch on April 18, with GUNTHER facing Seth Rollins on the same night. CM Punk defends the World Heavyweight Championship against Roman Reigns the following night.

Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder

As a proverb, “absence makes the heart grow fonder” pretty much suggests that not being around someone all the time leads to more appreciation.

For any relationship, working and travelling with that person, along with going back home with them, presents challenges that can quickly become apparent beyond the whole “I love being around them every minute of the waking day” period. After all, they get to see each other through all the challenges of the shared working space, bringing that mindset back home. It doesn’t give a chance for the “how was your day?” conversations that many of us use to decompress after a day of work.

Workplace relationships are nothing new, and WWE is far from an exception, with a recent feature on this very website listing sixty-seven couples. Many of these relationships have been long ones, some have led to marital union, and there is a joy to be had by seeing photos of these real-life couples on social media, away from the entertainment factor that their television work provides.

One can only imagine the number of loving relationships that have ended because of the challenges that CM Punk suggests and hope that their fellow WWE stars look upon the successful couplings and hope to emulate that balance between the personal and professional.

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