CM Punk Recalls Incident With Chris Jericho and Brazilian Flag at a WWE Live Event in Sao Paulo

During a recent interview with The Late Run, WWE Superstar and former World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk recalled an incident that took place at a WWE live event involving himself and Chris Jericho. According to Punk, Chris Jericho playing up his heel character and disrespecting the Brazilian flag caused problems with the authorities at the event.

Punk said he had had machine guns pointed at him, and WWE officials came out to end the match, with Punk saying he had to roll up Jericho for real. Additionally, Jericho was sent home from the tour as a result.

CM Punk on the Incident at a WWE Event in Brazil

“I had machine guns pointed at me. Oh, yeah. Serious? You mentioned Brazil. The company went and did a show in Brazil one time. We haven’t been back. Brazil, I love you. I would like to come back. Let’s try to work on that. My opponent that night rolled out of the ring and snatched a Brazilian flag from somebody. You know where this is going. Brazil don’t play. In America, you get people who get bent out of shape, right? But there’s no law against it. People burning flags, doing whatever, right? Freedom of speech. He rolled in the ring. I’m down looking at him going, ‘Hm, maybe no.’ And I can’t remember exactly if he just threw it down and stepped on it, or if he maybe like wiped his butt with it. Shawn Michaels did this to the Canadian flag, too. Very famous. And it was palpable, but still a little bit different than doing it in Brazil. The instant this happened, all of a sudden, there’s a second referee in the ring, and I’m going, ‘Oh, what’s going on?’ One referee’s talking to him. The other referee’s talking to me, trying to relay the information. And then our head of talent relations is in the ring. This all happens lickety split. I’m looking around like, ‘Okay,’ and then I turn and I look, and the ring is surrounded by men in fatigues, and one has his gun pointed directly at me.”

On Having to Stop the Match Over the Flag

“And they tell me — No, but you know, they were offended. Oh, you know, and they said, you know, I had my extra referee and my head of talent relations like, ‘This match is this match is over. Like, we got to wrap this up. You know, homeboy who did the thing was like, ‘Absolutely not. I refuse to do this!’ So I had to roll him up for real, stack them up, and the ref counted to three. I grabbed that [belt]. Yay! Crowd pops. I grab the flag, jump up on the turnbuckle. I’m showing I’m kissing the flag, you know. Hey everybody, sorry, I love you. And then I got out of there, and then they just, they tried to snatch the dude up, grab his passport, and we knew if he handed his passport over he was he wasn’t coming home. So, we, by the cover of night, got him out of there, and then we continued on the tour. He went home.”

You can read a fan’s account of the incident at a WWE live event event in Sao Paulo, Brazil in May 2012 RIGHT HERE.

If using any of the above quotes, please credit The Late Run, with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.