A recent episode of the What’s Your Story? with Stephanie McMahon podcast featured Undisputed WWE Champion CM Punk as the guest. One of the topic discussed included his new physique change during his recent abscense from WWE.
“Six weeks before WrestleMania — and I can’t really tell you what set it in motion. I know I would always see Chad Gable posting his workouts and it’s programmed by Jay Ferruggia and all this other stuff. And [I] was just motivated to go into WrestleMania looking physically different, looking like, ‘Oh, wow, okay, he really busted his ass.’ That was my only goal. It wasn’t a weight. It wasn’t a, ‘I need [a] six pack. I need to do this, whatever.’ I called up Jay and he was like, ‘I wish you would have got to me sooner, man. We only got six weeks.’ He’s like, ‘But if you listen to me and you do what I say and you eat what I tell you to eat.’ He’s like, ‘I think we can do some damage.’
And we did some damage. I think I showed up in Mania — I didn’t say I was in the best shape of my career because I will always look back at like when I was 26 and I originally tried to get the job in the first place. Because my idea back then was, they’re going to say, ‘Look at his body.’ That’s the one negative they can say. So I really busted my ass so they couldn’t say no. Then I got a job, right? So I really kind of had that motivation to just look different showing up to WrestleMania.”
Punk also gave his thoughts about how he gained 20 pounds during a recent vacation to Hawaii with his wife and WWE talent AJ Lee but he was able to lock right back in and returned back to his normal weight within five days.
“I love it. Yeah, absolutely. I did tell Jay to start, I was like, ‘I will get obsessive with this, and I don’t want that to affect my relationship with my wife.’ Because I will get crabby and I would rather just eat a doughnut and shut the f*** up than not say something snippy that doesn’t mean anything just because I’m cranky.”
Punk also gave his thoughts about how he will eat whatever he wants instead of sticking to his diet plan when it comes to a special occasion for him such as his “pizza party” after he won the Undisputed WWE Championship last week.
“I was on my way home from the Allstate [Arena] Monday night and Ape texted me and she’s like, ‘I ordered you pizza.’ And I don’t argue with my wife. I said, ‘All right, cool. We’re having a pizza party.’ So I had a pizza party. And then the next day, dial back in.”
Punk also gave his thoughts about his recent victory over Sami Zayn to win the Undisputed WWE Championship.
“I’m flabbergasted at that. Just how we drew it up. Just how we planned it. Yeah, what a coincidence. People say that there’s no such thing as coincidence but, that’s pretty remarkable. That’s interesting.”
Punk also gave his thoughts about the online criticisms from fans who accused him of doing what he hates in regard to a veteran talent coming back and taking the title off a more deserving talent.
“Oh. I won the title. Clean. I beat that 41-year-old youngster fair and square in the middle of the ring. I’m guilty of doing what I — what was it? This is why I don’t f*ck with social media. This is like A.I. generated. These are fake quotes. Seth (Rollins) did not tweet this, Becky (Lynch) did not tweet this. This is a double-edged sword about most people in our business but especially me, and I do not say this lightly, these are mentally ill people. I couldn’t imagine making up fake tweets… But I think the problem — and it’s not just in our business — I think it’s a societal thing is people will instantly see that and they believe it, and I don’t know how to change people’s minds about that, which is why I lean into ‘I don’t care about changing anybody’s mind about that.’ I’m in a business of toying with people’s emotions so if somebody’s gonna read that and they’re gonna believe it, that helps me in a way. But, there’s also Phil who walks through parking lots with his wife who has his head on a swivel because those people are out there. It’s interesting.”
Punk also gave his thoughts about what would be the one thing he would want to change the most about WWE for the better.
“I’ll say the controversial answer now. I would like to see more people be a little more serious about things. And instead of happy to be here, I would like more feedback given to people coming through the curtain instead of just, ‘Yup, it’s fine.’ Because some people chase the hug and they come back and they’re just like, ‘How was it?’ They want to be told, you know?
But I always say, well — get off your f***ing phone. You’re looking at Twitter to see how your f***ing match was. Did you listen to the people? Because that’s your instant reaction. That’s your boss when you’re out there. I don’t give a sh*t what somebody on Twitter says about your match.”
Punk also gave his thoughts about his belief there is a dissonance between the social and live reaction in regards to wrestlers can receive a great response from fans in the crowd and then check their phones and see negativity from fans online over the same thing. Punk also gave his thoughts about if he believes the feedback problem is more an issue on the talent end or those behind the scenes.
“I think it can be both in some situations. I think sometimes some people don’t want to hurt people’s feelings. So I think they need to figure out a way to communicate things [in a positive way]. Because we’ve all been there. ‘Hey, do you got anything for me?’ ‘Yeah, man, your f***ing punches suck and you should f***ing quit the business and burn your boots.’ You know, like, okay, that might be a little much. But if you’re earnest in your seeking knowledge, like, ‘Oh, my punches suck. Okay, how do I get better?’ Because I was a 15-year-old kid working at a comic shop that made a ball of tape and hung it from the ceiling and sat there and punched it 10,000 times a day…
I want the producers or agents to really focus on helping and giving constructive, positive feedback and showing things instead of just saying things. And I also need the talent to be sincere in wanting to get better and grow and keep an open mind and different perspectives on how to receive that information and then apply it. A big problem obviously is we don’t do as many live events. So it’s harder, but I think the people who really want it will figure it out.”
Punk also gave his thoughts about his belief that WWE has become a more accommodating place under its new management regime and he is happy that younger talent are now able to make more money while working far fewer dates than he did when he was coming up in the pro wrestling industry.
“I think there’s people in positions of power that actually want to see people succeed. I want the next generation to work less and get paid more than I did — because that’s what you should want. That’s what you should want in any business. I talked to a lot of my friends in the NHL and they’re stoked that the young kids, they’re like, ‘Yeah, this is great. These young kids are making more money than we ever did. This is great.’ I want that for wrestlers.”
Punk also gave his thoughts about his belief that there are maybe three actual wrestling bookers left in the wrestling business.
“Man, TV time is an expensive commodity. I think taking chances — you know, it’s funny because historically throughout wrestling, I think wrestling bookers — there’s maybe like three bookers left on planet earth. You know what I mean? It’s not just I’m the owner and the booker and this is my territory. Historically, bookers would just kind of do what they liked. They would produce and tell guys to wrestle and they would come up with storylines — just sh*t they liked. Jerry Jarrett booked what he liked in Memphis. Don Owen in Portland, he booked what he liked. Vince (McMahon) booked what he liked, and sometimes it was great and sometimes just he liked it. But now I think there’s so many people in the room and there’s so many writers and there’s Board members and all this stuff. I tell your husband all the time, ‘I don’t envy your position whatsoever. Because if it’s good, it wasn’t your idea, and if it sucks, it’s all your f*cking fault.’”
Punk also gave his thoughts about his Summer of Punk storyline in 2011 and how he had originally considered taking a six-month break from WWE before it started.
“Fond memories. I remember, I think, feeling like I leveled up. I think that’s the big takeaway, was holy sh*t, now I’m here but also, be careful what you ask for because now the hard work really begins. I feel like I busted my ass in my career to get to that moment where I was finally recognized. But I knew… the rent’s due every day… I was slowing down. I wanted to take a bit of a break. I was on the road for a very, very long time. I was fortunate. I did every house show, every pay-per-view. I was running hard for a very long time, and looking back on it, like 2006 to 2011, it might not sound like a lot of time, but, I mean, the international tours we would do and everything, and because I think I wasn’t creatively or monetarily satisfied with where I was, I was like, okay, well, I can take six months off and then I can come back. ‘Let me take a break. Let me take a break,’ and then, lightning struck with The Pipebomb, and that whole situation, to me, was just magic, and we captured that and it was like, well, okay, I can either go home and squander this or I can ride this lightning bolt, and I rode the lightning bolt and it really made me feel like I had finally leveled up to — in management’s minds — I felt like I leveled up to the level that my ability was always at. I felt like I worked like this top guy and I was finally kind of recognized as that for the first time, and with that came all kinds of other challenges and problems. But, as you level up, you realize there’s more levels to go but that’s the main takeaway. That’s definitely how I felt.”
Punk also gave his thoughts about his iconic pipe bomb promo in 2011 and the backstage process that led to it.
“When I was out of the business, I was obviously persona non grata, right? I mean, I don’t think the other place existed yet and you’ll did, think a top 100 moments of Raw or something like that? And you guys put the pipe bomb is No. 1.And I remember, I remember being like I am flabbergasted at that. To be so good, to make that moment what it was, to have him sign off on that and to make that the number one Raw moment is, to me, it speaks volumes. That’s insane!”
Punk also gave his thoughts about how he is hopeful that an NXT talent can outdo his promo someday.
“Well, somebody will top it. I hope somebody does. I hope there’s somebody in NXT.”
When asked about the possibility of a wrestler taking away the moment, Punk dismissed it and talked about the wave of NXT talents.
“They can try, but again, that’s just noise, you know? I trust my instincts. I mean I was in the business, I don’t even know how long before I got signed. And then I was in developmental for a year and so I had tricks up my sleeve that a lot of people coming in didn’t, that a lot of people from developmental at the time didn’t. So I was able to navigate things a little bit better. But there’s NXT talent that come up and they get thrown on Raw and it’s sink or swim but then they think one little mistake it’s like the end of the world.”
Punk also gave his thoughts about WWE Survivor Series 2006 event being one of the greatest days in his wrestling career and praised Pat Patterson for being his advocate behind-the-scenes at the time.
“Pat’s there and Pat’s like, ‘Okay guys, this what we do. We get the heat on Jeff, we get the heat on Jeff, we get the heat on Jeff’ and that little f*cking voice in my head was just like, should get the heat on me, and Edge, to his credit was like, ‘Ah, I really think we give it the kid,’ or it’s either get the heat on him or give him the comeback. I can’t really remember. There’s some mechanical device in the match where I was like, I can’t just stand here in this group of f*cking people and raise my hand (and) be like, I think it should be me. So I just kind of sat there… and Pat, ‘Ah, no. It’s Jeff Hardy. They go crazy for Hardy. They don’t know who this kid is,’ blah, blah, blah, and I was just like, from his perspective, he’s not wrong. I had no ill will towards Pat. I was just like, ‘Well, no, he’s f*cking right. It’s Jeff. They’ll go f*cking banana for Jeff,’ and I think they eventually agreed and they gave me the moment or whatever like that, and then, after the match, he came up to me, he was like, ‘I am so sorry. I had no idea they know who you are! Oh my God, they love you!’ From that point on, I was Pat’s guy, and I was like, ‘F*ck.’ I really earned my money that day. A super cool f*cking moment and yeah, I wasn’t mad at Pat but it was just one of those instincts in my head that always just, like, I don’t know, I’m feeling something. Pat knew me for four months, and he looked at me, he was like, ‘No. Jeff. Jeff’s the babyface,’ and so, that was one of those days. One of the greatest days of my career honestly because it’s like, I felt like I earned Pat’s f*cking love, you know?” Punk continued, “Yes, it was (hard to earn Patterson’s love)… But then I would start asking him questions about Ray Stevens and sh*t and he’d be like, ‘You know Ray Stevens!?’ And I’d be like, ‘Yeah.’ Then I get to nerd out with Pat, and I’d be like, ‘Oh, Harley said one time –’ ‘You know Harley!?’”
Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com 1, 2, & 3, Fightful.com 1, 2, 3, & 4
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