In an interview with the 31 Thoughts Podcast on Sportsnet, former WWE Superstar CM Punk discussed whether there was a place for him in wrestling today. He also spoke about who his all-time dream match would be against.

When it comes to what he would consider his ultimate dream match, Punk pointed to ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin. He stressed that “for the sake of the big match” it would have to be Punk versus Attitude Era Austin. He confessed, however, that if he were to face any iteration of Austin without chasing that big match marquee, he would prefer to grapple against WCW’s ‘Stunning’ Steve.

“The opponent [I would choose] is probably more difficult,” Punk said. “Actually, if I were to pick an opponent, it would be [Steve] Austin. Obviously everyone knows him as ‘Stone Cold’ – I would probably rather wrestle ‘Stunning’ Steve. Yeah, he was the best wrestler at that time [in WCW], like ’94. There was nobody better. For the sake of the big match, I think CM Punk/Steve Austin from the Attitude Era. But I always felt like I was a man out of time and I was told that by a great many legends – Dusty Rhodes, Harley Race, Terry Funk, so many old school guys.”

With the landscape of wrestling having changed since his departure from WWE, Punk shared his thoughts on whether there was a place for him in modern pro wrestling. He confessed that the entire industry would be “completely alien” to him as it has evolved and changed so rapidly.

“Looking at it objectively and trying to put myself in someone else’s shoes, yeah, I think there absolutely could be [a place for me in pro wrestling]. Just knowing how many people they hire to micromanage everything, and they have agents, and producers, and this, this, that. Yeah, I think my greatest tool was my mind because I was never the most athletic, I certainly wasn’t the biggest. I imagine myself like in baseball terms, I was like a five-tool player but I always tried to tell the best stories and use my brain.”

Despite being recently tied to FOX’s planned WWE Backstage show, Punk recently shared that he never heard back regarding his audition.