"Everyone is going to have their own perspective based on whatever, but I didn't think this was going to be a big deal, you know what I mean? I didn't know that this podcast, just me telling my story... It was literally... I just wanted to get it out there because people were like 'oh, you're a quitter; oh, you turned your back on the fans.' No, and to kind of loosely timeline it ... I was fired on my wedding day, I got my settlement -- signed papers and everything -- on my birthday, and I gave back to the fans on Thanksgiving. 'Thank you, fans, here's my story, this is what happened.' The only reason it didn't get done sooner is because you were in Japan and when you got home I was in L.A., I was doing stuff. So it was literally like... I was harping on you the day I got those papers. I was like 'let's do this podcast. Is there a way we can do it from Japan? Let's do this podcast.' I was really anxiety ridden and antsy just to tell my story, just to get it out so I can move on with the next chapter of my life. That's basically what it was. I didn't expect it to become this big thing. It was not meant to be like 'I'm going to bash the WWE, I'm going to say this and say that.' I just rolled with it."
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"To actually say it, by the way, super cathartic and therapeutic. I felt awesome. I still feel super awesome about it."
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"This kind of opens up a legitimate thing of what do people call me now, and I don't know the answer to that, I really don't. But I will get tweets that say 'change your Twitter handle, you're not CM Punk anymore.' And I just think those are kids who watch WWE and assume that CM Punk is this WWE creation when it couldn't be anything further from the truth. Since I have been CM Punk, probably longer now than I was just regular old Phil Brooks... it's just a fucking name now. I think it's grown into this thing where it's a brand. Marvel Comics was like 'hey, when we put your name on stuff...' I knew immediately where they were going. They were kind of like, I could hear it in their voice where they were kind of like 'eh, we don't...' I was like you don't have to call me. If you put Phil Brooks on the front of a comic, nobody is going to buy it. If you put CM Punk on the front of a comic, maybe somebody will get interested. So, guess what? That's my name, you know? There's still a huge part of me that feels people who know me are allowed to call me Phil. Like if I'm walking down the street and somebody's like 'yo, Phil!' chances are, unless I know you, I'm not going to respond to you."
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"Does it bother me just because people are randomly chanting 'CM Punk'? Would that bother anybody? I mean, it's weird because they do, I think they do it in two cases: They do it when they see Ape, who is my wife, AJ. ... They seem to chant my name at her. When I say, or I guess I just said earlier that I haven't watched wrestling in three years, it's true. After I re-signed, I didn't watch anything. I used to be that guy that watches everything and analyzes everything. I would watch all the live shows but I wouldn't go back and watch anything, especially anything I did. I ceased watching any of my stuff, I just didn't have the stomach for it anymore. But I will continue to, and it's not easy either, I will watch my wife's stuff. She'll tell me what segment she is and I'll watch her stuff. She's my wife, why wouldn't I, you know? It's not easy. It's not easy seeing and hearing... it makes me feel uncomfortable and I have this anxiety about it but that's neither here nor there. They seem to chant my name at her. I've had a couple people say they think it's a respect thing to me, but it's not me, it's her. Chant her name. ... There's a bunch of people that will chant when there's something that is just awful and I see both sides of the argument. I see the people who are like 'don't chant that guy's name' and obviously prior to us doing last week's podcast it was like 'he abandoned us, don't chant, he's a traitor' which is fucking weird. I don't get fucking mad at the kid at Whole Foods who I said 'hi' to every day and then he quit. I didn't chase him down at Jewel to be like 'you quit Whole Foods, you bastard, you traitor.' It's just bizarre to me.
...
"So, yeah, CM Punk chants. I see it, I get it. Don't chant it at guys that are busting their ass. I will be completely biased and be like 'you paid a ticket, fucking chant and do whatever you want. Just don't chant it at my friends, and just chant it at the guys that fucking suck and wear lifts in their boots. Covers everybody. We're done."
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"This doesn't exactly correlate but I love this story and I think the intelligent folk out there will get it. The Doors did the Ed Sullivan Show one time, and the funny thing is I said this to Heyman and he immediately knew exactly what I was talking about. But The Doors, they didn't break yet and if you were a young band and you were on the Ed Sullivan Show you were made. ... So The Doors are fixing to play the Ed Sullivan Show and one of the producers, or whoever, comes up to them and he's like 'we've got a problem, guys. You're doing...' They were supposed to perform 'Light My Fire' and there's a lyric... what was it? 'Come on baby, light my fire... higher and higher...' They told them 'you can't say that.' Because they thought it was overly sexual. And the guy was like 'don't say it, change the lyrics.' And The Doors were like 'oh my god, what are we going to do? What are we going to do?' So they just told them 'yeah, okay, we'll change the lyrics.' And then they got together and were like 'we don't know what we're going to do, we've gotta... it's The Ed Sullivan Show.' I guess Jim Morrison was like 'don't sweat it, we'll figure it out. I'll change the lyrics.' They go out there, it's live, he just does it. He just fucking does it, sings it the way it's supposed to be. They're livid. Fucking Sullivan busts in their dressing room at the end of their performance and he's like motherfucking them and all that, and he was like 'you'll never play The Ed Sullivan Show ever again.' And Jim Morrison looks at him and goes 'We just did play the Ed Sullivan Show.' I been there, I done that. I don't need to... It's become such this big thing to where I'm synonymous with it. It's like 'oh, shucks, he should have got his WrestleMania main event.' And I feel very much like I was communicating that to them for a great many years and the window is closed."
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"I think whether you work for the WWE or you don't, or you did, or you never did, I think if you're in the business I think it's pretty split. I'm not going to be like this 'I'm the fucking awesome guy and everybody loves what I said.' I think there's a lot of 'yes' men in the WWE that want to come out and be like 'pfft, Punk. Screw you, pal.' And try to curry favor as they see someone walking down the hallway and all that. I think there's people that work there that can't say the things that I said and they would like to, and they feel depressed. So, whatever."
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"I get a lot of 'you're going to go back when you go broke because we know you have $20 million and that's not going to last forever.' Motherfucker, if you can't fucking let... $20 million!! And you're going to fucking blow through that in a lifetime? You should be fucking beat up."
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"Let's play it safe and let's just definitely say it's way too fucking early. I have no interest in fucking going back. The difference in my appearance, my mental stability, like everything across the board from now to nine, 10 months ago is so drastically different. It's very much like after the WrestleMania 'Taker match and I left, and that was the first break I ever got -- two months. Eight weeks, if that. And I had a strained ACL, a torn PCL, strained MCL, and a torn meniscus. So I couldn't walk for the first week and a half, so my 'time off' was spent rehabbing. And then I got the call and he was like 'I need you back. Payback in Rosemont Horizon.' And I was like 'I do not want to come back. I do not want to come back until at least SummerSlam.' I was still trying to decompress from that. So compound that by another fucking year of bullshit, and lies, and miscommunication, and you get where I'm at now.
...
"That's when I knew I had to leave. I was... we all know I didn't like working with Ryback, I've detailed that. I was told I would never have to work with him again, and then I got begged to work with him again and then I got hurt again. Then shortly after that I was working the Wyatts. And what should have been, and it was, it was awesome working with them, because it was fun and it was easy and I felt like I could kind of teach and have fun and learn at the same time, which is what the business is about, it's supposed to be fun. But this shit wasn't fun. I was so beat up that I couldn't. And, hell, somebody at the towers has got footage of all those house shows; Watch those house shows, man. Watch me when I know Daniel Bryan is getting beat up, and he's taking some heat, and I know I've got time to fucking rest. Watch me fucking crouch down in the corner and physically try to will myself because I know I have to take a hot tag. And watch my physically try to be like 'okay, you can get through it.' And I'm dry heaving, and it's insane. And then I had to work The Shield and it's when I was working The Shield at house shows is when it dawned on me that I was like 'this just isn't fun.' I took like a hard bump one night off of something dumb, like a tackle, you know what I mean? There's three young, hungry guys and like I took a bump off a tackle and I was looking up at the lights and just like 'I don't know what I'm doing. What am I doing with my life? Right now, I don't know what I'm doing.'
"Which brings me to a funny story. I wrote it down. I'm going to explain to everybody the way it works, I guess, in WWE. This is how things were for me at the tail end. I had that pay-per-view, I can't remember what it was, it might have been TLC, which I think is the one coming up, right? So it was in December. Yeah, that makes sense, because then it was the Rumble. So I give them... my buddy CJ is getting married. I give them the date like eight months out and I say 'my friend is getting married on this day. I am not missing it.' Michael Hayes says 'that's a pay-per-view.' And I said 'yep.' He says 'well, you're going to have to talk to Vince. And I said 'I'm letting you know now; I'm going to go tell him. You guys don't need me for this.' And it might have been less than eight months, because I think I had a valid reason. Like, I don't know, I had a valid reason. Like, 'you guys don't really need me. I'm not champ anymore, I'm not doing this, I'm not doing that.' Anyway, I tell Vince, I tell Hunter, I tell Michael Hayes. He books the house shows. Why? I don't know. I tell them all I need that off. I remind them once a month. I remind Mark Carranno once a month. I get a new calendar every week and I go 'nope, that's still on there. I need that day off. My friend CJ is getting married. I'm not going to miss it, I'm not going to miss it.' So, you know, like a month before they're like 'oh, you're wrestling The Shield 3-on-1 at the pay-per-view' and I'm like 'no, I'm not. I told you guys. I told you guys I don't know how many times. I've missed I don't know how many people's fucking weddings, graduations, funerals, bar mitzvahs, everything.' And I was just like 'I'm not missing my buddy's wedding. This is ridiculous.' 'Well, where's it at?' 'It's in California.' 'Well, the pay-per-view is in Texas!' I was like 'I don't care where the pay-per-view is, I'm going to be in California, Long Beach.' So then Vince, you know, 'well, I really need you.' 'Do you? Do you REALLY need me? All right, here's what we're going to do. I'll go on first, Ape goes on second, and we're going to get on a jet and we're going to fly from ... Houston to Long Beach, we're going to get off, there will be a car waiting for us that's going to take us to the wedding. I'm going to say hello to everybody.' We did this and we barely made it, it was the tail end of the wedding. CJ was blown away that I was there. Said hi to everybody. ... The wedding was over. I was like 'I said I was going to fucking be here and here I am.' And then on the way back, me and Ape had this badass picture in front of a jet holding up like In-N-Out Burger. Like we just flew to California to get In-N-Out Burger. And that's essentially what we did. Then we flew back. But that's just an aside. That's how my brain works. I just talk and I tell stories.
"But the pay-per-view itself. It's me vs. The Shield, 3-on-1. But the pay-per-view itself. It's me vs. The Shield, 3-on-1. This is the most pushed three guys since like Bobby Lashley. They've pushed and protected all three guys. And they're like 'you're going over.' And I was like 'okay, if that's what you want.' And then they grabbed me and they stressed 'but you gotta make Roman look really, really strong.' And I was like 'no, I was just going to fucking shit on 'em and beat 'em. I was just going to tear through them and fucking Superman the shit out of them and GTS all three of them at the same time.' I was like 'yeah, I get it, okay.' So while we're putting the match together, every two minutes somebody new is coming up to me. 'Hey, you've gotta make him look really strong.' So I got so sick of Michael Hayes, and everybody else coming up to me, people who weren't even involved in the match 'hey, you're making him look really strong, right?' And I finally said 'you know what? You know what would make them look really strong? If they beat me.' Because three guys can't beat one guy. That's fucking dumb. 'But no, Vince wants you to go over.' 'Okay.' 'But you gotta make 'em look...' 'God damn it! I fucking get it! I know how to do the job, shut the fuck up. But if one more... I'm just going to fucking put 'em over. That's it. I'm going to put them over, and then they're going to look really strong, and then you're going to be happy, right?' 'Well, no, because they want you to go over. But you have to make them look strong.' It's just a mentality."
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"Everything is micromanaged to the point where there's no creativity anymore. Why bother going to the job and being like 'oh, I have this great idea' when every time you do that somebody goes 'no, do it this way' and another person comes by and goes 'no, do it this way.' You just have to do what they say. ... It's like you get bottom of the ninth, World Series, the tying run is on third. Skipper goes 'swing away, get that guy home.' And then you get up there and the third base coach is yelling at you to 'bunt' and the first base coach is telling you to 'lean into the pitch and get hit.' You're just like 'wait, what?!? But the Skipper said...' And everybody has their own fucking agenda. And then if you don't do what the first base coach wants he fucking hates you and the third base coach is like 'ha ha, he did what I wanted' but then the next time the first base coach gives you a suggestion you're like 'this motherfucker is trying to sabotage me because I didn't use his idea from last time.' That's the way that fucking shit works."
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"Me? I'll go work the fucking Young Bucks at PWG. I don't give a fuck. See, the thing (is) if I say it's not off the table you're going to have these people that are holding on to hope that I'm coming back. I understand (you're getting bombarded with it) and it makes interesting conversation, right? I think there's plenty of guys out there that think they know. Jericho, I think, is one of them. Jericho thinks that I feel exactly how he felt in 2005 and he left for two, two-and-a-half years or something like that. So from his perspective, he felt in 2005 that he was never going to come back. And now he sees me saying that and he's probably like 'ah, just wait three years, you'll feel like it will come back.' I can see his point of view but then in turn I go 'motherfucker, they didn't fire you on your wedding day. They didn't purposely and maliciously try to ruin a day that is supposed to be special to everybody. It's your wedding day.' I don't want to hear 'oh, it was a coincidence. I don't want to hear 'oh, the lawyers didn't talk to talent relations.' I talked to Hunter on the 11th, on the 13th Fed Exed overnight I got a document that was dated the 12th. My wife asked for that time off so she could A) get married, B) go on her honeymoon. The weekend after her honeymoon she was back on TV. They knew. I don't want to hear 'oh, it was a coincidence.'
"And you know what, I'll address it: if the apology was sincere you wouldn't use it as a publicity stunt on Austin's podcast. You have my phone number, you have my address. You could text, you could call, you could show up when you're a 10 minute fucking drive from my house and apologize to me like a man. That's the fucking reality of it."
"That's the fucking timeline, ladies and gentlemen. I was sick and fucking hurt, and sick and tired, and I walked out. And I can do that because I'm an independent fucking contractor. And then I was suspended and then nobody contacted me after my suspension to be like 'you're unsuspended, we need you at Raw.' I got those phone calls 'we need you at TV' a day after elbow surgery. I got that phone call a day after knee surgery. They weren't afraid to do it then. So where the fuck was my phone call. Oh, I'm suspended, fine, great, I'm suspended. You know what? Maybe in the two months I'm feeling better and I'm going to come to my senses. But nobody ever found out because nobody ever reached out, you know what I mean?
"Every six months, we had a new head of talent relations, whether it was Jane Geddes, whether it was Sean Cleary. They were all these people who had no business being the head of talent relations. Every six months, somebody new. And you're supposed to relate to the talent and nobody knew how to talk to these people. I'm a wrestler. I don't know... The head of the HR department doesn't know anything about taking bumps, he doesn't know what a payday is. If I said 'hey, I'm a blue eye' he wouldn't know what the fuck I'm talking about. So it's hard to relate to these people, you know? I don't want to hear it was a coincidence. I'm sorry. It was a publicity stunt. You're sorry. Great. Be a man and call me. I'm sorry. It's the fucking way it is, though, man. It's the fucking reality. And if anybody out there thinks it was a coincidence, come on. Come on."
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"I don't know why anybody's gotta be mad about it, you know what I mean? People who are like 'you signed a contract,' you have to understand the contracts are not fucking worth the paper they're printed on. If they were, they wouldn't have settled. They would have held me over a fucking barrell and I wouldn't be doing this fucking podcast. I waited until everything, all the legal bullshit was out of the way. I never sued them. It was all about a settlement. It was 'hey guys, guess what, you can't do that, you can't do this, and don't do this.' And they immediately fired back and were like 'okay, how do you want to proceed.' And that's what it was. Lawyers didn't jam anything up; lawyers expedited the process and now I'm a fucking free guy. Look at Del Rio, bless his fucking heart, love that guy, he's wrestling other places now. Know why? Because you can't put a fucking no compete clause on an independent contractor, period."
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"I guess there wouldn't have been any juicy details or anything to ask about if it wasn't for our podcast last week. And that's what I mean by saying like I didn't want it to turn into this fucking thing. I don't want people to think that 'oh, Vince, what do you say' like I'm not replying to any of that shit. This is it. Yes (this is the ultimate closure). People are asking me like 'do you accept Vince's apology?' And I'll say I appreciate the sentiment but that was not a sincere apology and he knew about it since June. Why didn't he apologize in June if he really felt bad about it? He just wanted to make sure a TV camera was on him so he could kind of damage control it and be like 'oh, I'm really sorry.' Well, if you were you would have apologized earlier, and if you were, if you really wanted to talk to me, you would have responded after I got a hold of everybody in the office. You would have said 'you're unsuspended.' You would have said 'we need you back on TV' like you did when I was walking out of the hospital still anesthetized. ... So, yeah, it's done. We're closing this chapter of my life."
