Corey Graves Calls Out CM Punk For ‘Abandoning’ His Friends; Claims Punk Cut Off All Communication Post-WWE

Shortly after CM Punk lost his second professional fight at Saturday night’s UFC 225 pay-per-view, WWE announcer Corey Graves sent out an indirect series of Tweets that seemed to address the former wrestling world champion.

“Maybe abandoning everybody who stood by your side, even when we weren’t supposed to, only to have you turn your back on us wasn’t the right move after all,” Graves said, later adding that “the first rule of ‘punk rock’ is loyalty, and this guy betrayed it all.”

Before the internet spun things completely out of control, the Raw and Smackdown Live color commentator spoke with Fightful.com to set the record straight. Graves revealed that at one time he considered CM Punk as “a big brother-type” mentor, but their relationship fell apart when the Second City Saint walked out of WWE in 2013, cutting all ties to the company and anyone who works for it.

“I texted [Punk] about grabbing dinner because we were in Chicago,” Graves told Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp, “and he told me he no longer had any interest in being friends with me or anybody related to WWE.” Despite being blown off, he said he still didn’t hold anything against his friend, assuming he was just focused on his first professional fight in the UFC.

A big part of Graves’ current frustration actually comes from comments made by Punk this week, as he spoke with members of the media ahead of his fight at UFC 225. “What really set me off was this week when he essentially disowned the business that made him,” said Graves, likely referring to interviews where Punk compared pro wrestling to a “bad television show” and emphatically stated that he was completely done with wrestling.

“I’m simply hurt/pissed off that a guy that I looked like as a big brother-type has turned his back on me and everyone that loved and supported him only because of the name on my paycheck. I’m definitely not the only one. I won’t name names, but there is a large group of us to this day that inexplicably lost a solid friend because of where we work.”

Maybe abandoning everybody who stood by your side, even when we weren’t supposed to, only to have you turn your back on us wasn’t the right move after all? No anger. Only sadness.