Why Was CM Punk at ‘Dancing With the Stars’? His Season 34 Connection Revealed

Dancing With the Stars fans saw an unexpected face in the audience during the show’s Tuesday, September 30, episode. Cameras panned to actor and WWE star CM Punk cheering from the front row, prompting many to wonder: What the heck is he doing here?

Well, it turns out CM Punk has a connection to one of the Season 34 contestants: Danielle Fishel! After she and Pasha Pashkov performed, he wrote on his Instagram Story, “@DanielleFishel crushed it! With a bad hammy! Tough as nails!!!!”

Fishel has been battling a torn hamstring since Week 2, although she assured viewers this week that she was doing much better. In a photo posted to her own Instagram Story, Fishel revealed her cheering section from the third week of competition, and CM Punk was front and center.

“MY PEOPLE!!!” she wrote, along with a photo of everyone who was rooting her on from the audience, including George Lopez and his daughter, Mayan Lopez.

The Boy Meets World star is connected to CM Punk through her husband, Jensen Karp, who is longtime friends with the wrestler. In June, CM Punk released a freestyle rap called “Doctor of Punkanomics,” which targeted John Cena, during an episode of WWE Smackdown, and later revealed that Karp was the one who helped him pen the track.

“I have a good friend of mine by the name of Jensen Karp who is, to me, like, battle rap master,” CM Punk explained afterwards. “Master’s kind of what he does. So it was his lane. So I definitely leaned on him. He helped me greatly, along with another friend of ours, Ron.”

After the rap came out, Karp took to Instagram to write, “When @cmpunk calls, you pick up. Shouts to @adamferrone for always being the guy I text lines with and as always, love to Punk & @johncena for full commitment.”

Fishel has supported CM Punk at wrestling events in the past, as well. In January, she wrote on Instagram, “Went to the premiere of @wwe Raw on Netflix tonight to see a few of my favs (@cmpunk for life!) and had a truly epic time.”

In 2023, wrestler Lio Rush revealed that CM Punk once pitched having Fishel get involved in All Elite Wrestling (AEW). “I remember he came up with an idea where he wanted Danielle Fishel to come into AEW to be my manager because we had that mutual friend in Danielle,” Rush told MuscleManMalcolm. “So, yeah, that was an idea that came up that he wanted to talk to me about that never really came to fruition. But yeah, that’s my CM Punk story.”

This week, Fishel earned a score of 21/30 for her foxtrot and was voted through to Week 4.

Dancing With the Stars, Season 34, Tuesdays, 8/7c, ABC and Disney+ (Streaming Next Day on Hulu)