CM Punk had his "pre-existing relationships and projects" written into his WWE contract.

The 46-year-old wrestler - whose acting career has included roles in 'Heels', 'Girl On The Third Floor' and 'Rabid' - is glad he's in a position where he can balance his in-ring work with his other ambitions.

He told Deadline: "It's a lot easier now. It was harder back in the day because wrestling was the lion's share of what I did, and I wasn't allowed to do other stuff.

"I have pre-existing relationships and projects I work on that are grandfathered into my contract.

"I typically do 'Monday Night Raw' live on Netflix every week. But if I need to dip out for two weeks to shoot an independent film, I can always do that."

Punk - whose real name is Phil Brooks - admitted there are efforts to get Netflix to commission a new season of 'Heels' after the first two series found a new home on the streaming platform.

Discussing his future projects, he teased: "We're trying to petition Netflix to do a third season of 'Heels'.

"I have two projects coming down the line that I'm very excited about. One is the TV show 'Revival' that will air on Syfy, and a really, really fun movie called 'Night Patrol', written and directed by Ryan Prows.

"I don't want to give away too much but it's night patrol, LAPD, Bloods, Crips, vampires."

Earlier this year, WWE content shifted to Netflix for much of the world as part of a $5 billion deal, and Punk is excited for the opportities the partnership could present.

He recently stressed that he wants to do "fulfilling" jobs - including working with fellow wrestler John Cena.

Punk told the Metro newspaper's 60 Seconds column: "I would love to do stuff with Cena and with anybody, really ... I want to do stuff that's fulfilling.

"I don't necessarily just want to say, 'Oh, yeah, give me a billion dollars, and I'm going to fly on this jet, and I'm going to do this script that I'm not feeling."