CM Punk chat

[The King of Old School]

I think he's great and find it genuinely amusing how he gets everyone so rattled.

Get him back in this company ASAP.

[Keith Houchen]

53 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

Still think it's funny that he got voted Biggest Disappointment in the UKFF Awards because of a press conference

People win negative awards on here for any old reason, like pointing out a billionaire isn’t one of them. 

 

55 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

People are almost waiting to be wound up by him, it's bizarre.

It sure is  

[LaGoosh]

13 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

But he did cover this ground in the short time he was there, didn't he? Granted it didn't deliver everything fans might have wanted but he squeezed in a hell of a lot in the space of, what, a year?

He had a great year. But there were still loads of potential dream matches and stories that people wanted to see. Punk had barely even scraped the possibilities of what could have been in the year he was there. There was a lot of criticism at the time that he was wrestling too many mid-carders and wasn't interacting with the top stars. Everyone knows how good Punk can be which is why everyone gets so disappointed and infuriated when he ruins it by being an absolute toxic bitch. If people thought he was rubbish no one would care that he throws tantrums at the smallest perceived thing at the quickest opportuinity.

[air_raid]

I enjoyed meeting Punk. He was only slightly miserable.

raid (spots Punk holding an icepack to his elbow which he hadn't favoured during the match) : "What's up with the arm?"
Punk : "It hurts."
raid (motions over to Samoa Joe) : "Don't worry, you'll beat him one day."
Punk (laughs) : "That's the dream!"
Joe (overhears) : "Not bloody likely."

So, in summary, I asked a stupid question and got the blunt, belittling answer it deserved. Then I made him laugh and he loosened up. He laughed, Joe laughed, Mick Foley laughed.

Needless to say, I had the last laugh.

 

[CavemanLynn]

I can't say what he is a product of that makes him the way he is, but he seems to be the victim of a desire to be respected and lead conflicting with a lack of self-awareness and empathy. Being a locker room leader would come with a lot of power, but also a lot of pressure and responsibility, and he seems to equate acting like one to being one, but cracks under the pressure of what it actually means. I'm reminded of RVD's anecdote about coming back to WWECW after a suspension and Punk calling locker room meetings having been on the main roster for just weeks. RVD's likely embellishing, but he'd be telling the story differently if there was an idea that Punk had introduced himself to and befriended a couple of the respected roster members before trying to calling shots.

He simply doesn't seem to know how he comes across. Having made a career on "real life" gimmicks based on speaking "truth to power", he doesn't have the ability to make cryptic or tongue-in-cheek comments without them being construed as the serious thoughts of an angry man. His AEW was great guns, but it can't have been coincidence that his press conference meltdown came after a run of incidents of his aging body failing him. His demeanour being way more relaxed in that setting further added to the feeling that THIS was the real CM Punk.

Promo'ing is a skill, that Punk undoubtedly has in spades, but the press conference suddenly cast his whole run up to that point in shade. As far as I was concerned, the measured but impassioned, hook-filled promos were just that - promos, designed to draw me in - and as soon as the facade dropped, I felt an idiot for believing him and that he was a man of his word. He wasn't interested in working with the young up-and-comers, or testing himself, or whatever. He worked with two of the pillars, then went into the title picture, then couldn't handle the fact he wasn't his old self and dealt with that by lashing out at everyone else. He was Eddie Kingston without the fat lad charm.

[The Gaffer]

He's been a bigger target of fan range that actual rapists and racists which is just pro 'rasslin out the door. I guess I can understand why though since in a sense his general realism and interests make him much more relatable than some other bigger stars down through the years. 

In hindsight like to just pretend his AEW run was only going to last that long anyway, and that it was a pretty incredible run. The press conference was totally the kind of thing people pretended to get angry about but was actually a fascinating bit of popcorn pro wrestling drama. 

He's one of those guys who is a moody arsehole but again on a bigger picture level almost certainly a decent bloke. I hope he spends the next few years as happy as possible, whatever he chooses to do. It seems hard earned for him, but usually well deserved. 

[BomberPat]

3 minutes ago, Gay as FOOK said:

He's one of those guys who is a moody arsehole but again on a bigger picture level almost certainly a decent bloke. I hope he spends the next few years as happy as possible, whatever he chooses to do.

It just seems like wrestling makes him miserable, and that the best way to keep happy is to stay away from it. 

[air_raid]

4 minutes ago, Gay as FOOK said:

almost certainly a decent bloke

((insert Joey Matthews' mortgage story))

Unfortunately Punk is one of those guys that takes the hump massively when he perceives promises to be broken. So....

4 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

It just seems like wrestling makes him miserable, and that the best way to keep happy is to stay away from it. 

.... definitely chose the wrong industry to make a living in. The whole business is such a work, the workers all end up getting worked.

[RedRooster]

I like CM Punk. He may be petty, paranoid and perhaps even a bit of an arsehole; but politically, he seems to be on the right side of most things, and, to be honest, as far as problematic people to have in the AEW (or WWE) locker room goes, he's probably on the lower end of the scale, given the number of wrestlers who have allegations of serious sexual misconduct to their name. 

[Factotum]

I enjoy Punk and think he's genuinely interesting as a wrestler and a character. But he's clearly got issues he needs to address, The constant self whining and victim complex is ridiculous given he's one of the biggest names out there. Yeah WWE sucked at times for him, but he also got himself massively over and became a huge star. And they ran with it. He wrestled The Rock and Undertaker within 3 months for heaven's sake He has an absolute blind spot when it comes to looking at the positives.

That Instagram post yesterday was just again, dumb and unnecessary. I started getting excited about him perhaps coming back and the many options that were open for big feuds and matches, but fuck me he just cannot help himself.

I really like Punk and I hope we do see him back at some point somewhere, but the guy needs to chill the fuck out.

Edited March 24, 2023 by Factotum

[LaGoosh]

44 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

The "Voice of the Voiceless" punk rock icon thing is the biggest gimmick going, and I'm sure he believes it. For every legitimate gripe he had about how he was treated by WWE, there was a "I didn't get to beat The Rock at the Royal Rumble" and "I didn't get to main event Wrestlemania", or an "I'm being held down by the man", after the longest World title reign in decades. His gripes have always, often, come down to a progressive lick of paint on "it doesn't work for me, brother" politicking. If WWE during his run there had been as leaky as AEW was during his stint there, I'm sure we'd have heard all kinds of stories about what a nightmare he was to work with there, but because he was working opposite Triple H and John Cena, he was obviously always the good guy and the aggrieved party.

Spot on.

There's a great John Cena promo where he basically called out Punk in saying that for all his talk of wanting to change the industry and make it better what he really meant was that he wanted to be the top star and focus of the company and that's all he actually wanted. I reckon that's probably pretty true. Punk is a fascinating guy to discuss, just a mess of contradiction. I'm glad I'm not his mate though, you probably have to be walking on egg shells around him all the time.

Edited March 24, 2023 by LaGoosh

[Carbomb]

I'd venture to guess that a lot of people thought this at the time, but I remember when I first heard about his work (both on-screen and off) in TNA and ROH, back in the early 2000s, and I thought "he sounds like Raven: The Next Generation" - counterculture-based outsider whose obnoxiousness stems from thinking that just because he's smart he must be automatically smarter than everyone else around him, magnetic personality that gets him far but also burns bridges, a sharp insight into human folly that gives him an intelligence for the creative side of wrestling, and, consequently, an extremely inflated sense of his own worth in the grand scheme of things.

As it is, I enjoyed his work when he joined WWECW/WWE, but his stuff prior to that just struck me as typical ROH spot-monkey fare.

Edited March 24, 2023 by Carbomb

[Supremo]

My frustration with his AEW run is that the Kingston and MJF feuds were so fucking great, and the potential for him to work similar magic with the rest of the top stars was right there, but then the whole thing turned to shit as both his brain and body quickly broke down.

What’s extra sad is that the feuds he did have with top guys, first Hangman and then Moxley, had this weird, awkward, tense undercurrent. It makes sense now we know what was happening backstage, but at the time everything just felt off. Imagine the feuds he could have had with them if he wasn’t losing his mind.

I understand you have to take the rough with the smooth, but man. Imagine if Punk had all that talent but wasn’t a complete headcase? He’d actually be as good and as valuable as he thinks he is.

On the topic of Punk being a twat, I’ve always adored that straight after Brawl Out Kevin Owens thought it the perfect time to post a photograph of himself wrestling Stone Cold Steve Austin in the main event of Wrestlemania. Top trolling.

 

[organizedkaos]

1 hour ago, Supremo said:

He’s a genuinely fascinating man. The week he’s supposedly sniffing around to come back, looking to build bridges, and he can’t help himself but flip out again, likely ruining whatever chance he had. It’s me. Hi. I’m the problem. It’s me.

To be fair it does appear that he was sniffing around to come back, someone leaked the fact he'd sent a legal letter to Tony Kahn to avoid jobbing and Punk set the record straight in his tone deaf grumpy way and immediately nuked any goodwill he'd built up in fans (and AEW staff I'd guess?)

I can't say I'm that fussed if he comes back or not and this feels a little tin foily but yeah... there's one perspective on this where's he's getting a bit played

[Loki]

He's the Trevor Morgan of wrestling, and his fans are all Little Mo.

He's undoubtedly talented - there have been times in his career when he's been a legit draw and working fascinating feuds and good matches.  But his character in wrestling is just an extension of who he is in real life, and he's an incredibly egotistical-yet-insecure guy with absolutely no real understanding of his genuine place in the industry.  This leads him to sabotage his own career time after time.  It also leads him into insane and humiliating situations like his UFC run (for which, to be fair, I'm sure he was very well paid!)

You'll get exactly what you should expect from Punk whenever he turns up - some edgy shoot style promos, some decent matches, a huge dollop of unhappiness in your locker room, and a disappointing end to the run where he stomps off in a huff.  Is it entertaining in a car crash way?  Sure.  Does it long-term help your company or brand?  Absolutely not.

I would be very happy to never read his name again to be honest in connection with either AEW or WWE.  There are people who can do what he does but much better, and they're younger and fitter with more upside.