wrestling / Columns
The 8 Ball: Top 8 Takeaways from the Punk Interview
So we got the Pipebomb back in 2011. I guess CM Punk’s podcast with Colt Cabana qualifies as the Bombshell. He laid out his gripes with the WWE – shoddy treatment, no direction, pointless politics. We’ll probably spend another two decades putting flesh on the bones of the stories he talked about in his nearly two hour interview. Yet these are the top eight things that resonated with me after listening to what Punk had to say. Spoiler, I think there’s more questions than answers and that how the WWE reacts to what Punk said will dictate where this business goes in the next few years.
Also, since this is a CM Punk column, you get a Fugazi song for each section. So rejoice.
At least he’s not coming back to the WWE anytime soon. You get the feeling that Vince McMahon, who has been through his share of splits and reconciliations with star talents in the past, could move past the acrimony of this particular blow up. Yet it’s pretty clear the WWE isn’t what Punk wants out of wrestling. The subtext of what Punk said during his interview was that he wants to do great things. More than the Match of the Year, he wants the Match of the Century. That’s what the main event of WrestleMania represents, at least potentially. That’s why he’s always looking toward what’s next. What we heard was a CM Punk who no longer believes the WWE is a place where he can have that great match. I suspect he will recognize that opportunity exists elsewhere, specifically in New Japan against AJ, Okada and Tanahashi. However, his WWE chapter looks like it’s closed at least for a few years. Never say never in the wrestling business, especially because Punk would be red-hot if he returned and this were turned into a work, but I think we heard a guy who has closed a chapter of his life.
The fact that he worked for months with a staph infection festering in his lower back is alarming. The WWE may have the best doctors in the industry, but Punk’s tale makes it clear they answer to their corporate employer first. Add in that Punk, who was one of the better paid, higher profile guys in the company, gripes about getting lost in the shuffle. If you’re a WWE wrestler, you’re pretty much trying to survive through inevitable injuries and the inconsistent attention span of the creative side of the house. Punk ultimately did the right thing: he got over, made a bunch of money and left when he couldn’t stand it anymore. The WWE rides these guys hard and hangs them up wet. They wrestle largely at their own risk. Forget about loyalty. Get out with your health, your sanity and some money in your pocket.
All right, you’re a WWE wrestler and you’re constantly on the road and dealing with injuries. The months probably blend together. Your life revolves around WrestleMania, SummerSlam and the Royal Rumble. Playing in front of big crowds is awesome, but a lot of things about the gig sucks. Then you fall in love. Suddenly you’ve got something to live for outside of your ridiculous job. Broken down, dealing with the politics of a fake sport … well, that can make a man ask “What am I doing with my life?” Punk is a smart guy. He found something (someone really) that made him happy and he decided to invest more energy in that than the job which was making him miserable. A not-in-love Punk maybe keeps running on spite. Instead he found something more important than being the world’s greatest pro wrestler. That goal he’d built his whole life around turned out not to matter so much.
You know that whole star athlete thing where suddenly money equals respect? Yeah, Punk’s got that. I get where it comes from. You’re only on top so long and praise doesn’t pay the bills. Thing is, athletes can be a real pain in the ass when they get to that place. Punks admits he’s got a big ego and it definitely drove him to walk away from the WWE. Add in that Punk has plenty of folks he doesn’t like. Ryback has gotten a lot of attention because Punk called him a “steroids guy.” Is that even controversial? It seems obvious. Whenever crowds start chanting “Feed me more!” My daughter responds with “Steroids!” Punk and HHH sound like two guys who can’t stand each other. It’s got to be eating away at Trips that this bombshell has dropped just as he’s been written off of TV. Kayfabe prevents him from responding. He’s probably producing record amounts of cortisol. And Randy Orton was all over the interview. Guys getting wellness strikes erased? Cena and Punk being the only two guys in the locker room willing to speak up and who knows about Randy? Orton vs. Batista was going to be a garbage WrestleMania main event? That is not a healthy relationship. We’ll be hearing more about Punk’s beefs with various folks inside the WWE for years to come.
Apparently Punk and Alberto have no competition clauses that bar them from joining the UFC. He also mentioned the worry that he’d jump to TNA. Sounds like the WWE isn’t exactly comfortable with the new world order. WCW is gone and they’re looking for new enemies. Somebody surely hates them for their way of life and wants to bring the down, right? At least it sounds like that’s the mentality inside Titan Tower. The reality is that since WCW went supernova, the WWE hasn’t had meaningful competition. However, it may come during the next decade. New Japan is out there. Lucha Underground and GFW are springing up. Is the WWE’s hypervigilance keeping it sharp when the competition finally comes or will it be burned out from decades of fretting over every movement in the shadows?
To the WWE’s credit, it didn’t punish AJ for Punk walking away (until maybe Survivor Series). Rumors persist that she’s got one foot out the door. We’ll see if there’s any truth to those. Yet how many future pushes will get snuffed because Vince or HHH see too many Punks in that man? How is Punk’s interview going to affect Ryback? Will the fans or the WWE brass sour on him, or will HHH decide “Fuck it, we’re pushing Ryback to the moon just to shove it up Punk’s ass.” Daniel Bryan, Seth Rollins and Kevin Owens share Punk’s ROH DNA. Dolph Ziggler is cut from a similar give-me-the-ball-and-I-will-score-a-million-points cloth. You’ve got to wonder whether this will pull the WWE away from smaller ring technicians and push it toward behemoths. And will Punk’s insistence that Vince McMahon is (perhaps hopelessly) out of touch penetrate Vince’s noggin? Don’t rule that out. Vince McMahon is a remarkable fellow in many ways. He might be looking at his company’s negative balance sheets and admit, “that skinny fat S.O.B. has a point.”
If ever there was a doubt that the WWE runs on Vince McMahon’s whim, this interview answered that question. Punk’s storylines came from Vince and his backstage drama largely involved negotiating with Vince. During his Royal Rumble match, Punk was still trying to push his way into the WrestleMania event. One assumes that meant he was trying to convince the boss. In some ways it’s great that Vince is so hands-on with the company. It is his baby. Yet Punk is critical that the product is growing old with Vince. We’re not really getting ideas from Creative and the match bookers may be playing politics behind the scenes, but their ideas only go somewhere when Vince adopts them. Mostly we’re getting the brainchildren (or the brain farts) of Vince McMahon. No point in blaming/crediting anyone else for the WWE product. Vince probably should release his stranglehold over the direction of the company, but that’s not happening at this moment.
Two words from Punk’s interview resonated with me: what’s next? The entire notion that what’s happening this week should lead to something, which should lead to something else (and that these things should be mapped out) seems like an alien notion inside the WWE. This goes back to Vince, because apparently everything goes back to Vince, but Punk is voicing the same complaint we hear from fans all the time. It’s not just us. There really is no direction in the mid-card. Those guys are just marking time, hoping Vince calls their number. There is no meritocracy where a guy gets himself over and then they plan all sorts of cool stuff for him. What’s the plan for the Rumble and WrestleMania? I’ll tell you what it is … half-assed and subject to change.
I take requests.. The purpose of this column is to look forward. What could be? What should be? What is and what should never be? What would make more sense? 411 has plenty of columns that count down and rank things that happened in the past. This is not one of those columns. The Magic 8-Ball is here to gaze into the future. If there’s someone or something you think should be given the 8-Ball treatment, mention it in the comments section. I might pick it up for future weeks.
