"See Ashley instead of Charlotte" - CM Punk publicly defends WWE amid growing criticism

WWE has received plenty of criticism following the release of WWE: Unreal on Netflix, with CM Punk defending the company. The Second City Saint was part of the documentary series, which highlighted his return en route to main eventing Night 1 of WrestleMania 41.

One of the biggest critics of WWE: Unreal was former pro wrestler and MMA legend Josh Barnett. The GCW Bloodsport creator went off on the five-part docuseries, calling out the exposure of the secrets of the business.

Speaking on the Good Guy / Bad Guy podcast with former UFC fighters Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen, CM Punk reacted to Barnett's remarks. While the "old school" part of The Second City Saint agreed with him, he loves how WWE: Unreal humanized the pro wrestlers, pointing to Charlotte Flair's part in the series.

"Josh isn't wrong. I'm old school, maybe I'm just old, I don't know. But you're taught to protect the business. You're taught to not give away your secrets. And I'm very big on there's a lot of things that are just for us… I would like to protect all of that as much as I can," Punk said.

The former WWE Champion added:

"My takeaway was, this was fantastic because you get to see somebody like Charlotte, and it humanizes her... (Fans) think they know us. I think this can kind of peel back the curtain a little bit to show you that like, 'No, man, like we have real human emotions. We're human beings just like everybody else. You probably don't know us the way you think you do.' And for somebody like Charlotte, I think who's a lot of the times grossly misunderstood, I think this kind of makes it softens her a little bit. You get to see Ashley instead of Charlotte." [23:12 - 24:46]

Charlotte Flair had an emotional roller coaster on WWE: Unreal, from her return from a knee injury to winning the Royal Rumble to her segment with Tiffany Stratton getting personal.

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CM Punk to face Gunther in the main event of Night 1 of SummerSlam

In the same appearance on the Good Guy / Bad Guy podcast, CM Punk seemingly confirmed that his World Heavyweight Championship match against Gunther at SummerSlam will be the main event of Night 1 of SummerSlam. Punk even commented that having the world title end an event should happen more frequently.

CM Punk vs. Gunther for the first time on WWE television deserves a main event slot at SummerSlam 2025, which will be this weekend at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

75 year old legend has challenged Cody Rhodes HERE

Edited by Arsh Das