CM Punk finally breaks his silence.

[Navi]

Well one thing for sure, people are interested in this story. When I listened to the podcast yesterday morning, from the link the OP gave, there was only about 2,200 views so far.

Just checked and it's closing in on 224,000. So fans are listening, and the WWE should have a response coming up, because questions will be asked. This is something they would probably have had not happen.

 

[Navi]

Another thing from the podcast that struck me was the make-a-wish thing. I know Cena does a lot of those, but others must be doing them as well. How would you know how many wishes does an Orton or Bryan grant? Punk talked about being promoted and that comes down to perspective. An Orton or Ambrose or Rollins would never make those charity headlines because their WWE characters are different. That's another thing to it.

I found that interesting as well that the only person you really hear about is Cena. You would have to figure that kids want to meet other WWE superstars. Maybe by publicizing all of them, would somehow take away from the fact that Cena is seen as some sort of hero. Or worse yet the only one who does it.

One thing that did come from that podcast was just how much they care about Cena, and the fact that it will take a herculean effort to displace him from the top.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I found that interesting as well that the only person you really hear about is Cena. You would have to figure that kids want to meet other WWE superstars. Maybe by publicizing all of them, would somehow take away from the fact that Cena is seen as some sort of hero. Or worse yet the only one who does it.

One thing that did come from that podcast was just how much they care about Cena, and the fact that it will take a herculean effort to displace him from the top.

MAYBE WWE sort of looks at the Make A Wish thing as sort of "Cena's thing." It might've been his idea and/or since he was the first one who began doing it, it's forged a strong partnership with the organization. WWE does more to promote and protect Cena than any other wrestler on the roster, sometimes that's good and sometimes it isn't as it depends on the situation. Every so often, there'll be a release on other stars granting a wish. I've read a couple of articles on Orton granting wishes, a few here & there on Bryan and, maybe a few weeks back, I even read an article about Kane granting a wish.

The idea of Kane granting a wish, based just on what we've gotten used to as far as his on screen persona goes, does seem pretty weird. Of course, he doesn't show up in character or anything like that, but maybe we don't read about certain wrestlers often doing it because it conflicts with their characters. Like CM Yes alluded to, the idea of Ambrose or Rollins granting wishes doesn't jive with their on screen characters. John Cena, on the other hand, comes off as the morally upright, kid friendly all American hero.

 

[Navi]

MAYBE WWE sort of looks at the Make A Wish thing as sort of "Cena's thing." It might've been his idea and/or since he was the first one who began doing it, it's forged a strong partnership with the organization. WWE does more to promote and protect Cena than any other wrestler on the roster, sometimes that's good and sometimes it isn't as it depends on the situation. Every so often, there'll be a release on other stars granting a wish. I've read a couple of articles on Orton granting wishes, a few here & there on Bryan and, maybe a few weeks back, I even read an article about Kane granting a wish.

The idea of Kane granting a wish, based just on what we've gotten used to as far as his on screen persona goes, does seem pretty weird. Of course, he doesn't show up in character or anything like that, but maybe we don't read about certain wrestlers often doing it because it conflicts with their characters. Like CM Yes alluded to, the idea of Ambrose or Rollins granting wishes doesn't jive with their on screen characters. John Cena, on the other hand, comes off as the morally upright, kid friendly all American hero.

Oh I completely understand but it paints a picture that isn't quite correct if you think about it. It's nice to think that others do that as well, and brings them down to earth a little more and makes them a little more human. And you're right sometimes it's a good thing but in this case by only showcasing Cena, it makes it look like the others really don't give a shit, and we know that's not the truth.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

MAYBE WWE sort of looks at the Make A Wish thing as sort of "Cena's thing." It might've been his idea and/or since he was the first one who began doing it, it's forged a strong partnership with the organization. WWE does more to promote and protect Cena than any other wrestler on the roster, sometimes that's good and sometimes it isn't as it depends on the situation. Every so often, there'll be a release on other stars granting a wish. I've read a couple of articles on Orton granting wishes, a few here & there on Bryan and, maybe a few weeks back, I even read an article about Kane granting a wish.

The idea of Kane granting a wish, based just on what we've gotten used to as far as his on screen persona goes, does seem pretty weird. Of course, he doesn't show up in character or anything like that, but maybe we don't read about certain wrestlers often doing it because it conflicts with their characters. Like CM Yes alluded to, the idea of Ambrose or Rollins granting wishes doesn't jive with their on screen characters. John Cena, on the other hand, comes off as the morally upright, kid friendly all American hero.

I don't know about that. WWE(F) was partnered with Make A Wish before Cena was even making paper championship belts for himself as a kid.

I could be wrong, but I think it all started with Hogan. But pretty much every WWE star over the years has done them. I haven't got to that part of the podcast yet, but it does seem to me that the WWE does want to have Make A Wish be known as Cena's thing these days, whereas before it was just a thing that they all did.

 

[ColeMc]

He is a sociopath. I truly believes he believes everything he said, however his perception of the truth isn't quite all there.

He asks who he is working after WM and he is told they have this idea to run him with a stable, they name some names including Rollins from FCW, CM Punk says how about bringing up three guys from FCW, adds a couple of names to go along with Rollins, they say yes to one, no to the other, then of course they use it in another way.

So, contributing to someone else's idea, picking only one out of the three guys somehow equates to him "invented the SHIELD".

 

[laodaron]

I'm not reading this entire thread of marks, smarks, and spin doctors, but I thought this was a really educational interview.

The truth is, I never gave Punk enough credit for rolling over and putting the part timers over the way that he did. I don't think that he belonged in the WWE, he never really had the skill to be there. He would have been a great fit in TNA. But, he was someone that was willing to completely sacrifice himself for the product.

I also assume that in a massive disagreement like this, each side is telling about 60% truth, but in their eyes, it's 100%. There's no point in debating the nuances, the point is that WWE creative makes dumb decisions, people like CM Punk never fit into the story that is WWE, and he elevated above his station, but they were never going to actually let him get the accolades he deserved.

The take away is that he's done wrestling, which is great for him. He's happy, and he's married to a beautiful talented woman.

 

[bioshock]

If you like or hate Punk, give him credit for one thing, he stood up the machine like no one before him has done, and he did it while still in the prime of his career. Because of their being no WCW to run to, Vince has put the fear of god in the wrestlers to put up and shut up if you want this dream job, or ever want to work here again. Punt stood up to it, give him credit for doing that.

And the whole injury related thing, with WWE not worrying about his injuries and wanting him to wrestle instead, remember these:

- Benoit wrestling with brain of a 80 year old
- Eddie wrestling with a heart condition
- Edge wrestling with a serious back injury
- Undertaker wrestling after being seriously burned
- Austin wrestling with a bad neck
- Jerry Lawler being put in matches leading up to his heart attack on Raw
- Kurt Angle....
- Mick Foley.....
- Injury prone wrestlers like: Christian constantly put in ladder matches upon return
- Punk still recovering from injury put in TLC match vs Ryback

WWE has a track record. And its not pretty. I would say its worse than Punk said it was. Imagine what guys like Christian put up with.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

The whole thing seem like it'S both their faults, Listening to this, some of the stuff that happenned seems like it could have been avoided if Punk didn't have an attitude about it and listen to other peoples from time to time. Like some of the stuff about his health felt a little bit ridiculous to me, if he really wanted to take time off, the company would have found a way to change their plan and found somebody to replace him but the fact was that he was to stubborn to stop. When he talk about never saying no to anything when he was champion even if he knew he was hurt, that his fault no the company fault, he had the option of not doing that much, he said it himself that he could have drop the title to daniel bryan instead of turning heel and facing the rock at the royal rumble. The guy could have drop the title to bryan and could have took a vacation to heel himself instead of running himself down like he did, that on him not the company.

Yes, the company was in the wrong on several point especially not saying that punk was in breach of contract right away like they should have done or firing punk on his wedding day but the fact of the matter is simple Punk is as responsible for what happenned as the WWE. He made some mistakes, they made some mistake, but all that is in the past and i'm happy that punk told his side of the story even if he did it the way he did by bashing some peoples that didn't deserve to be bashed on.

 

[FarFromFine]

I'm not reading this entire thread of marks, smarks, and spin doctors, but I thought this was a really educational interview.

The truth is, I never gave Punk enough credit for rolling over and putting the part timers over the way that he did. I don't think that he belonged in the WWE, he never really had the skill to be there. He would have been a great fit in TNA. But, he was someone that was willing to completely sacrifice himself for the product.

I also assume that in a massive disagreement like this, each side is telling about 60% truth, but in their eyes, it's 100%. There's no point in debating the nuances, the point is that WWE creative makes dumb decisions, people like CM Punk never fit into the story that is WWE, and he elevated above his station, but they were never going to actually let him get the accolades he deserved.

The take away is that he's done wrestling, which is great for him. He's happy, and he's married to a beautiful talented woman.

He never had the skill to be in WWE? Even though WWE was basically begging him to stay after the "Pipebomb"? Even though WWE thought he was good enough for them that he got to face the 5 biggest names in wrestling at the time so that he could make them look good? You must live in your own little delusional dream world.

 

[laodaron]

He never had the skill to be in WWE? Even though WWE was basically begging him to stay after the "Pipebomb"? Even though WWE thought he was good enough for them that he got to face the 5 biggest names in wrestling at the time so that he could make them look good? You must live in your own little delusional dream world.

He's a sloppy in-ring technician that relies on Indy tactics to get pops during matches. He did get very successful and the WWE did want him, but not because of his abilities in the ring, but rather for his counter culture attitude that never crossed the PG line while cutting worked shoot promos.

Like I said, I have no interest in reading the marks and smarks in this thread, so if you're going to continue, please feel free to not do that. He elevated above his station because of his work ethic and his style, not his in ring ability.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

What a cunt. I feel horrible for his wife. She still works there. He couldn't just keep his mouth shut. Now she has to be in an environment where:

a) she gets abused or
b) she doesn't get abused but has to always question the motivations of every decision surrounding her

All so he can be charitable and give his little buddy some clicks.

My favorite part was when he said he created The Shield. Maybe he can get an account on WZ with that cache. No one has ever come up with a faction before. Ridiculous.

 

[bioshock]

I don't know how people say this could of been avoided and put blame on Punk, have to know in WWE they punish you if you set out due to injury, unless your names HHH and your returning, you usually get buried. Its like that in most major sports, your forced to play with injuries because if you don't the next man might step up and take your place.

Again look at how many wrestlers have come back so quickly after a serious injury. Cena was back at least 3-6 months before he was suppose to be back, Punk was back at least 2 weeks before he was suppose to be cleared. It seems like in WWE if its a arm injury then you end up back in the ring weeks to months ahead of time. So the whole part about WWE not giving a crap about his injuries, and Vince wanting him wrestling sounds 100% legit.

 

[Sega]

Yesterday I have listened to the entire interview and it was very insightful. Punk himself cleared up a couple of misconceptions. For example he got fired and didn't quit. After processing his story I was quite in shock about a lot of things. The politics, Triple H's attitude, Vince firing Punk on his wedding day, The doctor refusing to help Punk!

If you think about it it's quite mind boggling for such things to happen in a billion dollar publicly traded company. You would think that in 2014 Vince would get his stuff right, but all he seems to care about is profiting at the expense of the wrestlers. And for the record if you are a Punk hater you HAVE to admit that him not being paid the same amount of money as Cena, Lesnar, Triple H, Taker is a load of garbage.

Punk himself said that he would never wrestle again. Part of me finds that sad but another part of me completely understands him. I hope the guy is happy with what he's doing and you never know in wrestling.

Never say never.

 

[Terry Silver]

I dont get him being a jerk off about not facing triple h at mania knowing he was going over.
He lost at a throwaway ppv like night of champions...ok be mad...but now u get to main event wrestlemania and beat that guy u hate at the biggest show. And its not like triple h is washed up. I still wanna see hhh vs the rock at mania. Cm punk made a mistake on that situation. Everything else he mentioned I agree with, especially being sick and injured.

 

[Kodo Sawaki]

My favorite part was when he said he created The Shield. Maybe he can get an account on WZ with that cache. No one has ever come up with a faction before. Ridiculous.

Can believe in that story considering they wanted to give him Show, Bryan and Rollins(from what we see right now, we can deduct that they think highly on him) and that Punk wanted Ambrose and that WWE pitched Reigns too. And that they changed plans at the end and decided for them to go as solo faction. Its not to much ridiculous to imagine that scenario did happen for real.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

Can believe in that story considering they wanted to give him Show, Bryan and Rollins(from what we see right now, we can deduct that they think highly on him) and that Punk wanted Ambrose and that WWE pitched Reigns too. And that they changed plans at the end and decided for them to go as solo faction. Its not to much ridiculous to imagine that scenario did happen for real.

I'm not doubting his truthfulness, I'm criticizing his gall. If he's being sarcastic or hyperbolic well then I didn't pick up on it but for a guy to spend an hour and a half marking out for himself to take away credit from WWE, creative, booking, and the talent themselves is fucking obnoxious. The Shield didn't get huge because someone put two names together and then WWE added a third, they got huge because they were talented and fans dug their strong booking, their surprise tactics, coming from the crowd, and their hand held cam promos.

It is no wonder he doesn't get what he wants, he is clearly tremendously difficult to communicate with and he is hard to trust.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

And the corporate sponsorship is another one where I ask myself if this guy has a clue. Like he's the first one to come up with the idea of monetizing his ring gear and body. Is he so caught up in himself to realize that WWE isn't just going to do that for anyone? Is he too stupid to recognize how little sense it would make for a wrestler with an anti-corporation, anti-authority, anti-money gimmick to come out with Chico's Bail Bonds on his ass?

But his rant and departure were nothing about money. And while we're at it, do the bosses at your company tell you what other people make? So much talent, such little understanding about how to deal with people and stress.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

It looks like The Rock's putting his two cents worth in on this whole thing:

"CM Punk: it's simple business -. The Rock is the main event at WrestleMania cause it draws more money in one night, then u will in a lifetime."

Like some people, I wasn't especially thrilled to see The Rock come back and ultimately push CM Punk aside to main event WrestleMania 28 & 29. From the perspective of a guy that enjoyed Punk's work, I agreed. I'm a realistic person, however, and I know that WWE's in the business of making money and they're gonna do what they believe will ultimately make them the most money.

The more I read or listen back over the podcast, the more it seems, to me at least, that Punk's basically all about Punk and to hell with everything else. He certainly wouldn't be the first wrestler with that sort of mind set, but, again to me, he comes off as thinking WWE was idiotic for not agreeing with him and ultimately giving him exactly what he wanted in the way he wanted it despite having a highly confrontational personality and being difficult to work with. I kept getting the impression of, essentially, he feels justified in behaving like an ass towards management but it's not okay for management to treat him with the same level of disrespect.

 

[MrMojoRisin]

That Rock tweet was from 2011... and most definitely the Rock kayfabing.

 

[LuckyLouie]

I havent listen to the interview yet, but I read some stuff people posted. Im not going to go into full detail just yet.
But I just wanted to say for the people who say he is playing seconds to Triple H, Brock, The Rock and Cena.
While I dont fully agree how their comebacks were done, CM Punk is not the Rock, he is not John Cena, he is even close to Brock, and he might be the closest to Triple H.
The four guys who he didnt want to play seconds too, 2 are legends in this industry who still choose to work. And the other are future legends.
Kinda hard to be the best in the world and have to explain to Kenta why he cant use his finisher anymore.
While Punk is great in ring and on the mic, but he isnt as big as the people he refused to work under. He may be a legend in the indies, he doesnt match up to them in status. So there should have never been a problem about "playing seconds" he could have learned so much more from veterans....and Brock.
While I liked Punk, his ego took a wrong turn and is waaayyyyy out of control. He is not anyone in the wrestling world who can behave like that. Undertaker doesnt do that, Triple H doesnt do that, HBK doesnt do that, Stone Cold doesnt whine. WHy...or who is Punk to complain. But the more and more I read it makes it seem like he thinks he is the god of wrestling, and people didnt listen to him to they are all beneath him.
Oh well, sorry for the little rant.
I dont hate Punk, just his attitude.

 

[mkw1962]

This is very surprising I do not know what to say accept I hope it is not true about how the wrestlers are treated behind the scenes. I love wrestling and have been watching it for my whole life going back to the Dick the bruiser and Crusher days. If this is true thank you C.M. Punk for bringing it to our attention I would not come back if I were you and time will only tell how much longer WWE will last. Just like any job if you are treated unfairly than quit and to the WWE look into this and fix it before it becomes your downfall.

 

[Psykohurricane55]

If you think about it it's quite mind boggling for such things to happen in a billion dollar publicly traded company. You would think that in 2014 Vince would get his stuff right, but all he seems to care about is profiting at the expense of the wrestlers. And for the record if you are a Punk hater you HAVE to admit that him not being paid the same amount of money as Cena, Lesnar, Triple H, Taker is a load of garbage.

i'm not a punk hater but i have to say that him getting paid the same amount of money as cena, lesnar, HHH and Taker is a load of garbage. The guy while been super over wasn't even in their league as far as a draw was concern especially during that period. Cena for all the crap that people give him is the hardest working man in the company, he never complain and he earn is place as the biggest name in the company. The guys a future hall of famer and deserve everything thing he'S getting. Taker and HHH are legends in wrestling and are probably the biggest special attractions out there today outside of brock. These deserve respect and they deserve to get the huge pay check everytime they wrestles because they are the reason people buy the ppv's every year. While i'm not a huge lesnar fan he did prove himself has being a smart business man an a huge draw everywhere he went. Everytime he shows up on a WWE ppv, the buyrate goes up, everytime he shows up on a ufc ppv, the buyrate goes up so for punk to compare himself to lesnar is ridiculous.

Like Ric flair always says, it's not how good a wrestler you are that counts, it's how many butt in the seat you're able to bring in and while punk was a really good wrestlers and was very popular, he never was the reason why peoples showed up to the show (except in select market like new york and chicago) and for him to think that he deserved to be paid the same amount as guys that paved the way for him like taker and HHH or a guy like Cena that has the weight of the company on his shoulder and never complains about it or even somebody like lesnar that is a proven draw is ridiculous.

 

[THTRobtaylor]

MAYBE WWE sort of looks at the Make A Wish thing as sort of "Cena's thing." It might've been his idea and/or since he was the first one who began doing it, it's forged a strong partnership with the organization. WWE does more to promote and protect Cena than any other wrestler on the roster, sometimes that's good and sometimes it isn't as it depends on the situation. Every so often, there'll be a release on other stars granting a wish. I've read a couple of articles on Orton granting wishes, a few here & there on Bryan and, maybe a few weeks back, I even read an article about Kane granting a wish.

The idea of Kane granting a wish, based just on what we've gotten used to as far as his on screen persona goes, does seem pretty weird. Of course, he doesn't show up in character or anything like that, but maybe we don't read about certain wrestlers often doing it because it conflicts with their characters. Like CM Yes alluded to, the idea of Ambrose or Rollins granting wishes doesn't jive with their on screen characters. John Cena, on the other hand, comes off as the morally upright, kid friendly all American hero.

The best examples recently was the older fan who got a "Make A Wish" type meet with Vince himself. WWE put it on their corporate page and for all the "fakeness" of Mr. McMahon 's character... Vince genuinely seemed to enjoy it, of course a kid isn't gonna ask to meet Vince and them doing stuff for older fans is rarer... but it happened so it's not always just about Make A Wish and kids.

Likewise the Connor "The Crusher" stuff, the whole roster were there but the telling moments in the video were when Connor was yelling Wrestlemania and Show and Sheamus were beaming or Batista was talking to the kid outside of his heel role. Say what you want about Steph, but she was clearly touched by the kid, who would be a similar age to her oldest and they took it on to something bigger... no one ever HAD to know about Connors time with the WWE, or it could have been seen as cynical to show it... but that they set the charity up kind of shows that it's not always just for the image... Steph will moan and mock cry on TV for losing her power, it was pretty brave to be shown so emotional about one child...

Cena and Make A Wish fit well, it makes sense for WWE to focus on faces and as he is the biggest face it makes sense fro MAW too... Every WWE star will have done a wish at some point... there's gonna be a kid who wants to meet Rusev and Lana... of course they'll do it but it may not be publicised as much as it would not fit their characters... just as face and heel were around for the Connor stuff but they tended to focus on faces in the video... the only heel as such was Hunter and he "took the fall"...

I am sure Punk did some MAW's but again, WWE wouldn't publicise them in the same way as Cena... but his tale about getting his wife a hot-dog kinda tells me a bit about the guy... while not "unreasonable" to ignore that fan, you could equally imagine him being a "douche" if MAW called on a Stanley Cup game day...

 

[stingray11214]

Let us be clearly honest here: Punk was not liked by the office. Sure, he was printing money for them. Lots of it. However, his personality was not going to win over friends and influence people at Titan Towers. Granted, Cena was going to be protected as the top draw come hell or high water. But, Punk made it easier for them to do so with his attitude backstage.

Despite the "Big Guy's" protestations, I do believe that Ryback is dangerous. He works stiff, that much is known. I doubt the botches were deliberate, but I also believe that Punk counseled him on several occasions. He probably had to.

As for the staph infection: That could kill people. How WWE's doctors did not see that is mindboggling. After it was discovered that it was such, everyone should have been tested for MRSA, ESPECIALLY those who have young children (Trips). I DO believe that the WWE is too cavalier about the health of their workers. Maybe if they stopped using the same 15 people every blasted week, they could actually do something on that front.

In closing, the reason you can believe Punk got canned, and VKM and Trips lied about it is the HUGE settlement that Punk got. If that was not the case, Punk might not have gotten a dime.