First off, Punk starts the interview by saying that it is not a shoot and admitted that he was bitter. He went on to defend his feelings of bitterness, by saying that he was still working through them. With everything that he did in his career, Punk was clearly bitter about how things were handled in his career backstage. As I listened to the interview, I chose to stay in the neutral corner because I knew that since Punk was telling his side, there would be some things that you would have to question. He also says that the interview was not a bash WWE campaign like so many other interviews by former wrestlers. Punk is known to have a short fuse, and as you listen to the interview you can find where he blows that fuse. This episode is also filled with "F Bombs" and other expletives, because Punk and Cabana knew that they were not muted or filtered by the WWE emphistructure. Now, I will present the following points that Punk makes and how I feel about them.
- Sponsorships: CM Punk originally approached Vince McMahon about sponsorships with the idea of wearing shorts with advertisements on them. McMahon shoots them down right before he turns around to give the green light to Brock Lesnar to do the same thing. Punk vents about part-timers like Brock Lesnar and The Rock who receive major deals and promotions to boost ratings for one big PPV here and there (Royal Rumble, WrestleMania) and then they never show up the next night. The ratings drop or stagnate soon after. Punk vents about guys like part timers and the Golden Boy John Cena always get the major deals.
- Hypocrisy/Double Standards: I appreciate how Punk opens up about how bipolar and hypocritical the wrestling business can be. He tells Vince about how he wanted to walk to the UFC Octagon with his friend Chael Sonnen for his PPV fight. McMahon denies him as he would later let Triple H go to the ring with Floyd Mayweather Jr. (Favoritism strikes again) Vince claims that UFC is too violent and people could die. Punk responds by bringing up how Owen Hart died in a WWF/E ring from an accident. (Hard hitting, but Punk felt it had to be said) Vincent K. also does not like the idea of women fighting in UFC/MMA, but yet women have competed in his promotion and the industry as a whole for decades.
- WrestleMania Pay: Punk vents about how he was underpaid during WrestleManias 28-29. Guys like The Rock, John Cena, Undertaker, Triple H and Brock Lesnar were all paid much more than him. Later, Vince and others tell him that his match with Taker was the "Match of the Night" yet do not pay him enough to support that. He claims that he should have gotten paid just as much as everyone INCLUDING The Rock. This is where I would have to respectfully disagree, because The Rock is a Megastar who does miracles business wise. The Rock makes millions upon millions of dollars and his net worth is tremendous. He deserves to be the highest paid out of everyone else. As far as John Cena and others, I agree that he deserves equal pay with them.
- Movie Deals: Punk tells Colt that he was approached about doing movies for WWE Studios. The movie that he points out was the sequel to "12 Rounds". During this time, Punk was heavily on tour as WWE Champion and he desperately needed some knid of break. CM Punk claims that Triple H told him that he would do his best to get Punk the role (which he clearly didn't even try to do). It turns out that the role eventually went to Randy Orton instead. The worse part about this story is that Punk found out about it on the Internet. Triple H did not even have the decency to text him about what happened. Trips claimed that there was little he could do about it which was clear fabrication and lies. Like the Lesnar advertisement and the Triple H appearance at Floyd's fight, this was another example of the shameless favoritism by WWE.
- Conflict with Ryback: This was the most hilarious segment of the podcast, as CM Punk blasted Ryback for how clumsy he is and how he is prone to injure others. Punk says that Ryback took 20 years off of his life after kicking him in the ribs (Ouch!). CM Punk outright called him "Steroid Guy". With no punches held back at all, Punk admits that he believes that Ryback uses 'roids. Honestly, I would not be surprised at all (More on the whack WWE Wellness Program later). I have never been impressed with Ryback myself and I don't blame him for feeling that way. I wish nothing bad upon him, but that is just the way it is. Ryback responded with multiple tweets. There is no problem in responding as long as you can put your money where your mouth is. So far, Ryback has yet to do that.
- The Shield: Originally, CM Punk came up with the idea of the highly popular faction The Shield. He says that the original plan was for him to be the architect of the group with the original lineup being Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and fellow former ROH star Chris Hero (Kassius Ohno). However, WWE rejected Hero from the group in favor of Roman Reigns because of his image along with family connections to the company. WWE felt that Roman would fit in as long as he can be coached through so that he could improve. At first, CM Punk's name was linked with The Shield whenever they made their run-ins to attack stars like Cena, The Rock and Ryback. As things went on, CM Punk's name would be disconnected with The Shield as WWE took his idea and remixed it in their favor. As we all know, Seth Rollins received the credit as the "Architect of the Shield" which is far from reality.
- Creative Directions: Punk also talks about the lack of creative direction in his career at this point. He also brings up how he had an elbow injury from WrestleMania 26 and having surgery after the European Tour. After four days, he was back on the road as Vince wanted him to cut promos. Punk goes on to say that he had laser eye surgery and then had to work on RAW when the Nexus debut. He says that he got poked in the eye, and they had nothing left for him during that time. Colt questions Punk as a friend, by saying maybe it was because he was such an A-hole to everyone backstage. This is another point where I would have to slightly favor the company because Punk went on to berate the 60+ members of the WWE writing staff. Remember, this is the same guy that has said on his documentary that when writers give him ideas, he would rip them apart right in their face. They may not be the best, but at least respect the fact they are simply doing a job. With the way that he disrespected people who could make or break his career, I could understand why someone would reach a point where they would no longer put up with it.
- WWE Network: Punk addresses his concerns over the launch of the WWE Network. He questioned the idea of going from a $70 WrestleMania for example to selling it at $9.99. He desperately wanted to know how it would impact his pay, as he asked everyone to ultimately Vince McMahon, Jr. himself. Even Vince had no clue, which is what drove CM Punk crazy. Punk could not believe that the Chairman and CEO of the largest Wrestling Promotion in the World did not know how the Network would affect the paychecks of his employees. A serious red flag on WWE's part.
- Management: This is where things really get interesting. Punk tells all about how the WWE only protects themselves and not their employees. He compares how the NFL does everything to monitor concussions for their players with one of the best concussion staffs that one could ask for. Meanwhile, Vince wants nothing to do with that at all.
- Wellness Policy (Staph Infection): This was the breaking point for me when it comes to WWE and their "Wellness Policy". Punk talks about his issues with Concussions and how they cleared him to wrestle even with such a serious injury. He says that WWE cleared him while he had his headphones on, then told him to run the ropes. Pretty shady way of evaluation. He also complained about how WWE wanted to take him out of the Rumble early by having Kane eliminate him. In that case, I have no problem. However, this all pales in comparison to the alarming news when CM Punk finds out that he had a lingering Staph Infection. He tells Colt that for three months he wrestled with a strange bump that proceeded to turn colors as time went on. No matter how much he complained about it to the WWE Medical Staff, they continued to give him antibiotics. Punk then goes to AJ Lee's Doctor to get another opinion. The Doctor tells him about how severe his infection was. So much so that he could have died. This is a massive indictment on how piss poor the WWE Wellness Policy is. They have become the punchline of Social Media, as it should be expected with countless Memes laughing at how idiotic they are. How could they possibly let this linger on for as long as they did without further examination? That is inexcusable. Staph Infections are so severe that they could spread to the bone and cause amputation. It is surprising that the Federal Government hasn't been breathing down their neck about this issue, especially with the other black clouds hanging over them with the wrestling body count of deaths (Eddie Guerrero, Mr. Perfect, etc. do those names ring a bell?). What a terrible environment to work in. Of course as we know, the WWE Wellness Policy has been curved to protect some more than others. The fact that Vince would not provide Health Insurance for his employees is distasteful and deplorable to say the least.
- Departure: This is where the story takes an even bigger turn for the worst. After the Royal Rumble, Punk went to Vince's Office to have a word with him. Triple H was there as well, and Punk made sure that Trips stayed to listen. CM Punk called out both Vince and Hunter on how they mishandled things in his career, and how he was mistreated. Punk made sure to point out how he still resented Triple H for not putting him over three years ago at Night Of Champions. He vented about his anger over part timers like The Rock, Brock Lesnar and Batista getting promoted to title shots, etc without having to work hard like the people on the active roster like himself. He held nothing back and ended by simply saying "I'm done". Vince gives him a hug, while Punk gives a half-hearted pat on the back before he shakes Triple H's hand as he walks out. This is where things become muddy, because Punk claims that he was an "Independent Contractor" and he left money on the table. He claims that money didn't matter at that point. He then says that WWE put him on suspension because of his actions. He then gets texts from Vince and Triple H asking him how he was doing. Punk was so bitter and burnt out that apparently he responded in a very rude way to Hunter's text.
- Termination: Once again, things go from bad to the absolute worst. On the day of CM Punk's Wedding to AJ Lee, he receives termination papers in the mail. The termination papers were similar to Alberto Del Rio's, where he could not make any UFC/MMA appearances whatsoever. This was the straw that broke the camel's back in so many ways. WWE REALLY hit a completely new low. This was without question planned by them to humiliate him on his wedding day. The thing that I did not get was how in his contract it says he was free to leave at anytime, yet they fire him on his wedding day.
- Royalties: First, Punk says that money did not matter to him anymore. Then, after he finds out that he was fired, he hires a very tough shark lawyer to go after WWE for royalties from the game and other WWE outlets. It turns out, Punk won the settlement and will not discuss the details of how much he won.
- Thoughts on Chris Jericho: I was very surprised about what CM Punk had to say about Chris Jericho. He suspected Y2J as someone who had an agenda. Punk felt that Jericho really did not care about him, but wanted to do an interview to get exposure for his Podcast. (As if he really needs it)
Conclusion: Overall, I was glad to hear this, because of his strange silence for so long. At first, I was disappointed because he was same man that called himself the "Voice of the Voiceless", and three years later he was silent. Now, his side of the story has finally been cleared up for the whole world to hear. This interview did substantial numbers and set records for Cabana's Podcast. I also find it ironic that the Interview was sponsored by WWE 2k15 with all of the profanity involved. The news also came during the time that I am covering CM Punk's career in my greatest wrestlers list. I will go into more detail about WWE's latest response when I finish listening to Stone Cold's Interview with Vince McMahon.
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