ESPN personality Michelle Beadle discusses incident with CM Punk, AJ Lee

There are some great backstage stories that come from the world of professional wrestling, but none may be better than what supposedly went down last year between ESPN personality Michelle Beadle, former WWE superstar CM Punk and his bride-to-be AJ Lee.

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Backstage at the Tribute to the Troops taping, Beadle was supposedly flirting with Punk, whom she says she considers a friend, which allegedly sent Lee into a rage against Beadle, yelling in her face and everything.

Recently Beadle just happened to be a guest on former WWE announce Jim Ross’ podcast where she addressed the incident.

First of all, she denies that any “flirting” took place.

"“Look, first of all, when I’m flirting people will know I’m flirting. I’ve also known Phil for a few years at this point and I had, at that time, considered him a friend. We texted on a regular basis, we’ve had dinner numerous times. You know, It’s just one of those things where he’s not my friend, whatever. It was what it was. I thought it was a friendship, I guess I was wrong.”"

Next, she explained exactly what went down behind the curtain.

"“I show up at Tribute to the Troops,” said Beadle, “I see him in the hallway, I say ‘what up, f–kface’, which is my very loving way of referring to my friends. I don’t call my friends… I just… I’m an idiot. I call them all kinds of names, that’s how you know I like you. He was alone in a hallway, he didn’t really say anything. I was with P.R. from WWE and my assistant and we walked by. The next thing I know, she’s in my face yelling at me and I honestly, I swear to you, thought it was a joke.”"

Finally, and sadly, she revealed that the two are no longer friends since that fateful night.

"“Phil and I stopped being friends that day and I wish him the best of luck and that’s it,” said Beadle. “It’s a bummer because I always respected him. I thought he was one of those cool guys that kind of didn’t fall into a certain role and kind of did what he wanted but to watch all that happen and to have somebody tattle on me and have their girlfriend get in my face is a little pathetic. But it’s okay, I’ve moved on.”"

Of course, as with any tall tale that we hear backstage from the WWE world, we’ll never know what the truth actually is, but it’s still interesting to hear Beadle’s side of the story from start to finish; a finish which unfortunately resulted in her losing a friend who doesn’t even actually wrestle anymore.