I think a lot of it boils down to the industry / realm this happened in. If you take Punk's circumstances and apply them to any other corporate / office setting: overworked, underpaid, underappreciated despite bringing in profits and publicity for your company, constantly passed over for promotions, not allowed to take sick days... then wouldn't you walk away from that environment, too? Anybody who stays in that kind of a situation is a) an idiot, and b) bringing it on themselves.
There's this (oftentimes) misplaced sense of entitlement we feel as wrestling / celebrity / sports fans: you have to cater to our needs, in a way we prefer or choose. And now that Punk's not out there pandering to our desires a large portion of people are butthurt about it and calling him a "quieter" (whatever that is). It might be tough for some to wrap their heads around this but he doesn't owe us anything; like he pointed out we didn't buy his house, he bought his house. He didn't even owe us an explanation but gave us one anyway through this podcast, and I certainly appreciate it, both as a longtime fan of Punk's and of wrestling.