WWE News: CM Punk Gives Away WWE Championship Belt To Former WWE Tag Team Wrestler

CM Punk was once a WWE Champion, one who held the title for 434 days as the longest-reigning champ in the modern era. But with almost three years having passed since his acrimonious departure from the company, the “Straight Edge Superstar” is seemingly still busy burning his bridges with WWE, as reports claim Punk gave away his WWE Championship belt to friend and former co-worker Cliff Compton.

The saga of CM Punk’s departure from WWE began right after Royal Rumble 2014, when it was reported that the wrestler had walked out of the company for reasons that were then undetermined. PWMania said at the time that Punk quietly failed to show up at the Monday Night RAW following Royal Rumble and that his apparent decision to walk out would have potentially cancelled his rumored match against Triple H at WrestleMania XXX.

“CM Punk reportedly told Vince McMahon personally at Monday’s Raw that he was going home, and then got on a plane for Chicago. WWE.com has since removed Punk from all upcoming live events and house shows over the next few weeks including Monday Night Raw.”

While this unexpected turn of events had allowed WWE to get the wheels turning on Daniel Bryan’s tremendously-received WWE World Heavyweight Championship win at WrestleMania XXX, fans were mystified by Punk’s walkout and had held out hope for his eventual return. But that would never come for CM Punk, as the former WWE Champion spilled all the beans on the circumstances of his walkout when he appeared on Colt Cabana’s Art of Wrestling podcast in November.

CM Punk Gives Away His WWE Title #WWE #CMPunk https://t.co/lWrXdEx5QF pic.twitter.com/PJI6o4tvTb

— 411 Wrestling (@411wrestling) December 22, 2016

On that now-notorious podcast episode, CM Punk explained that health was the main factor behind his decision to quit. He did, however, also blame WWE doctor Chris Amann for misdiagnosing what had turned out to be a life-threatening MRSA infection and expressed a lot of gripes over WWE’s booking, particularly how he had failed to main event WrestleMania despite his historic status as the longest-reigning modern-day WWE Champion. And in what appeared to be adding insult to injury, Punk alleged that WWE fired him on the day of his wedding to AJ Lee, who had retired from wrestling several months after her own record-breaking reign as WWE Divas Champion.

Since that podcast, CM Punk has focused mainly on his MMA career and other endeavors, while also being very critical of the business he once was involved in. According to a July 2016 report from Wrestling Inc., Punk criticized wrestling as being too scripted in terms of the promos cranked out by performers, as he spoke to Matt Serra and Jim Norton on UFC Unfiltered. He also trolled WWE by joking about making a comeback to the company on the year’s final episode of SmackDown Live in his hometown of Chicago, as the Inquisitr reported.

On a more serious note, however, it looks like the disdain for pro wrestling is so strong within CM Punk that he’s given away his genuine WWE Championship belt, according to a new report from WrestlingNews.co. The report cites a tweet from wrestler Cliff Compton, who worked in WWE as the latter half of the tag team Deuce ‘n’ Domino, who said that he was recently helping Punk “look for Christmas stuff” in a storage unit.

While Compton and Punk were going through the items, they found Punk’s WWE Championship belt in a box that contained other wrestling titles inside, and in Compton’s words, it was a “legit” belt and a very heavy one with the “CM Punk” ring name on it. He adds that Punk freely gave the belt away as a Christmas present to him after he remarked that it looked “cool.”

It’s not every day that you hear of wrestlers giving legitimate title belts away to people, especially close friends. But with CM Punk giving his WWE Championship away to Cliff Compton, it appears that the 38-year-old mixed martial artist and former pro wrestler isn’t quite done distancing himself from WWE.

[Featured Image by WWE]