In an interview with Instinct Culture’s Denise Salcedo at San Diego Comic-Con, CM Punk credited the removal of Vince McMahon from WWE as a big reason why he returned to the company late last year.

He admitted that there were several things that had to fall into place for him to return, with all the stars aligning and a lot of dominoes falling in order.

But as luck would have it, everything Punk wanted to clear his way to return, happened.

“Vince being out of picture, I think, probably illuminated the way. I think that might have been one of the biggest things,” Punk told Salcedo. “And that was both ways. It wasn’t me, it wasn’t him, it was…there’s a lot of history there. All of a sudden, one of us got removed from the equation and it changed a lot of things.”

Punk said that while they all thought his return would be a big deal for a variety of reasons, no one ever thought it would exceed all expectations and then some.

“If WWE was the place it is today back then, I never would have left,” Punk said. “All the things that happened and the arguments and the butting of heads, the feeling of being injured and burnt out, and feeling like those in a managerial role weren’t listening, that doesn’t exist in the current atmosphere.”

Punk is set for his first televised one-on-one match since his return at the upcoming SummerSlam against Drew McIntyre.