In an interview on the Swerve City Podcast, Kofi spoke on his friendship with CM Punk.

"Punk is one of the guys in the industry who I consider to be my brother," he said. "He helped me out when he didn't need to help me out. People were more about keeping other people down and their spots being taken. I remember, I'm about to go out for my debut and I'm doing push-ups. I see a set of wrestling shoes, I look up, and there's Punk. He goes, 'Just remember, they're out here to see you.' That eased my nerves going out there. He didn't have to say that to me. We became Tag Team Champions and I learned so much. At the time, he was [ECW] Champion and a lot of gripes that you have on the undercard, sometimes you have at the top. I'm like, 'He's going through a lot of the same stuff that I'm going through.' Fast forward to being WWE Champion, I was already prepared to go through whatever it is that I needed to go through and fight."

Thanks to Fightful.com for the transcription.