Backstage News On CM Punk & Shawn Michaels' Friendship

Of all the details surrounding CM Punk's shock WWE return, one of the more unexpected could be his involvement with NXT. Punk opened the show in a promo segment alongside general manager Shawn Michaels, and it has since been reported that the Chicago native has been keenly working with Performance Center recruits behind the scenes.

A recent Fightful Select report could shed some light on a reason for this. A source close to Punk is said to have told Fightful that HBK's public endorsement of him was greatly appreciated. Michaels was one of few WWE figures to consistently speak highly of Punk in his long absence from the promotion.

Sean Ross Sapp states: "When Shawn Michaels publicly endorsed CM Punk, a lot of people rolled their eyes, and said, ‘yeah, I bet.’ Well, look at where CM Punk has been multiple times as of late. Going to NXT. Going there when he doesn’t have to, and working to help out. Maybe it’s just the honeymoon period, but it seems like that endorsement - whether or not that had anything to do with Punk going to NXT - couldn’t have hurt."

H/T to PWMania.