Ryback Says He’s Let Go Of CM Punk Bad Blood

Ryback says he’s finally ready to move past his long-simmering issues with CM Punk, more than a decade after their feud first spilled into public view.

The roots of the dispute go back to 2014, shortly after Punk’s abrupt exit from WWE. During his now-famous appearance on Colt Cabana’s podcast, Punk aired a long list of grievances about his WWE run, including pointed criticism of working with Ryback, whom he accused of being unsafe in the ring. Those comments set off years of sniping between the two men, with both sides periodically revisiting the issue in interviews and on social media.

In a video posted to X, Ryback made clear he’s done carrying that weight. “With CM Punk, is there any bad blood? No, I don’t hold on to any hate with that anymore. I’ve said what I needed to say on it. He said what he said on it. And it doesn’t make sense to hold on to that forever,” he said, while noting that letting go of the anger doesn’t mean the two will ever be friends or cross paths professionally.

Ryback added that he has no desire to keep rehashing a chapter of his career that he considers closed. “It doesn’t serve me to hold on to that hate with any of that, and that anger or whatever… It’s all over with. People will rehash the past over and over. It doesn’t serve me to keep rehashing something that doesn’t serve me or benefit me,” he continued.

Perhaps the more notable part of Ryback’s comments was his willingness to speak positively about Punk’s current run. With Punk back in WWE and firmly back in the spotlight, Ryback said he’s genuinely happy to see it. “I’m happy for him on everything. I’m happy he’s back with it… I think he looks great. I’m happy for him that he’s gotten in better shape. And whatever he’s doing is working,” he said, framing his outlook as a broader life philosophy that holding onto anger only hurts the person doing the holding.

For longtime fans, the Ryback-Punk saga has been one of the more enduring subplots of the post-2014 WWE walkout era, a dispute that outlived multiple regimes, brands, and career arcs on both sides. Punk’s Cabana podcast appearance became a landmark moment in wrestling media, reshaping how talent spoke publicly about the business, and the Ryback fallout was one of its most visible ripple effects.

With Punk now a featured act in WWE and Ryback years removed from the company, there’s little practical reason for the two to interact again, professionally or otherwise. But Ryback’s comments suggest he’s no longer interested in keeping the storyline alive through interviews or social media jabs, choosing instead to close the book on a feud that has followed him for more than ten years. Whether Punk ever responds publicly remains to be seen, but for now, it appears the animosity is, at least on Ryback’s end, a thing of the past.

I’ve found in life, and you’ll hear me repeat this all the time, happiness is a choice, and hating is a choice.

We live in a world where far too many people choose to hate over things that don’t even involve them. And even when something does involve us and we feel we’ve been… pic.twitter.com/QJspqdngP4

— RYBACK (@Ryback) August 12, 2026