By James Caldwell, PWTorch assistant editor

When the wrestling ring no longer was C.M. Punk's escape from behind-the-scenes frustration in WWE, "That's when I knew I had to leave," Punk firmly stated on the second part of his podcast interview with Colt Cabana released Thursday.

"We all know I didn't like working with Ryback. We've detailed that," Punk said. "Shortly after that, I was working the Wyatts - and it was awesome working with them because it was fun and easy, and I felt like I could kind of teach and have fun and learn at the same time."

Punk then slipped in a dig at Vince McMahon's comment on Steve Austin's podcast that wrestling is supposed to be about having fun. Punk continued: "'Which is what the business is about - it's supposed to be fun,'" he mockingly said in McMahon's voice. "But the s--- wasn't fun. I was so beat up that I couldn't.

"I was working The Shield on house shows when it donned on me: 'This just isn't fun.' I took like a hard bump one night off something dumb, like a tackle. And then I was looking up at the lights thinking, 'I don't know what I'm doing - what am I doing with my life right now?'"

This brought Punk to a "funny story" about "how things worked for me at the tail-end" of his WWE run in December 2013 leading into when he walked away from the company the day after the 2014 Royal Rumble.

"I had that PPV, TLC in December. My buddy C.J. is getting married. I give them the date months out," Punk begins telling the story. Punk recalls WWE coming to him a month before the TLC PPV saying they needed him in a three-on-one match against The Shield. But, Punk noted the wedding was in California and the PPV was in Texas. "'Well, I need you,'" Punk recalled McMahon telling him. So, they came up with a plan for Punk's match to go on early, A.J. Lee to go on next, and they jetted from the PPV in Houston to the wedding in Long Beach, Calif. "The wedding was over, but we got there at the end," Punk recalled.

The story ties in with Roman Reigns being protected as WWE's guy. Punk said it got to the point where he grew frustrated with agents reminding him during every conversation to make sure Reigns looked strong in Shield's three-on-one loss against Punk.

"This is the most pushed three guys since like Bobby Lashley," Punk recalled. "They said, 'You're going over.' I said, 'Okay, if that's what you want.' Then they grabbed me and stressed, 'But you gotta make Roman look really, really strong.' I was like, 'I get it, okay.' While we're putting the match together, someone is coming up to me saying, 'Hey, you gotta make him look really strong.' Finally I said, 'You know what would make him look really strong? If they beat me.' Because three guys can't beat one guy. That's dumb. 'But no, Vince wants you to go over.' 'Okay.' 'But, you gotta make him look---' 'Dammit! I get it. I know how to do the f------- job.' It's just a mentality."

Punk equated it to the baseball manager, third base coach, and first base coach all having different agendas, then getting upset when the hitter listens to one of the three coaches, and the other two holding a grudge for the next at-bat.

"Everything is micro-managed to the point where there is no creativity anymore," Punk said. "Why bother going to the job and having this great idea when every time you do that, someone says, 'Nah, do it this way.' And another person comes by and goes, 'Nah, do it this way.'"

Cabana brought up Steve Austin looking like he just wanted to just shake Vince McMahon during their live podcast on WWE Network: "I think Steve was getting to that on his podcast. The wheels were turning like, 'Just let them go out there and do it.'"

[ LINK: Part 2 of Punk's podcast HERE ]

[Torch art credit Travis Beaven (c) PWTorch.com]

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