wrestling / TV Reports

411’s WWE Backstage Report: CM Punk, Booker T & More on Racial Injustice, Punk on Jeff Hardy’s Storyline

June 3, 2020 | Posted by Robert Leighty Jr.
WWE Backstage 6-2-20

-Welcome to another edition of WWE Backstage Coverage. We are back to our normal 11 PM time slot and this should be a fun one as CM Punk is back. Daniel Bryan will also be joining the show and him being with Renee Young is giving Talking Smack flashbacks which means it should be awesome.

-Renee Young welcomes us to the show and we get a somber opening as she talks about the tense times in our world. She thanks everyone for joining them during these times.

-Show opening!

-Renee is along with her co-host Booker T, and on the panel this week: Christian and CM Punk. They discuss if Mania 33 had the best ending to a Mania ever. Booker says it was good and a great night for Seth Rollins. Punk says it was probably Top 10 and mentions WrestleMania X and Bret’s story. Christian goes with Mania XXX and Daniel Bryan and it symbolized the organic nature of Bryan getting over and getting what he deserved. Booker thinks Christian is lying and just saying the right thing. Christian says just for what it symbolized and Booker seems to have lost the plot as he is focusing on greatest match of all time. Christian talks about seeing a guy like Daniel get that spot and break through the glass ceiling.

-Week in Review: Nia plays mind games with Asuka, The GRONK loses the 24/7 Title as he is Tampa bound, and The Mysterio family vows vengeance on Seth. Over on SmackDown Jeff Hardy is apparently involved in a drunken hit and run on Elias. That leads to Daniel Bryan beating Sheamus to set up the IC Title Tournament Finals.

-The panel goes right to the Jeff Hardy storyline and Renee mentions Jeff is fully on board with the direction of the story. Punk mentions he worked a lot with Jeff and they worked in some things during their feud. Punk says someone’s sobriety is serious and he thinks even if Jeff okayed it and even had the idea for it, someone should have stepped in front of the story and stopped it. Christian has similar feelings and assumes Jeff has signed off on it. It Jeff was dead set on it he understands, but he doesn’t know if this is the best way to get heat on whoever set Jeff up. Booker talks about feeling something inside watching it and how he has seen a lot of his friends deal with substance abuse problems. He hopes everything turns out right in the end. Punk brings up how these stories don’t usually work and brings up Scott Hall in WCW and Hawk in the WWE.

-To RAW as they play Rey and Dominick vowing revenge on Seth Rollins and this is a feud we can get behind as vengeance is always great. Christian brings up that we saw this already with the Brock/Rey feud and he is going to wait and see. He talks about Dominick having a lot to live up to and he thinks we can get Seth influencing Dominick down the line. Booker mentions the kid has a lot of baby fat on him and is wet behind the ears so needs some training and wants him sent to his territory to train. Punk thinks this a good use of a real life situation. He mentions there is nothing better than a horrible bad guy tormenting someone’s family and brings up his “Happy Birthday” promo on Rey’s daughter. He also likes the idea of Dominick eventually turning on Rey and joining Seth.

-Commercials!

-Back with Renee and Punk being joined by Daniel Bryan. They all immediately dump on TOUT and Daniel mentions this is his first ever Zoom meeting. Daniel talks about his early career and meeting people like Punk and 20 years later he is still running into them. For him and AJ Styles they both still want to be the best and it is fun. We take a trip down memory lane as we go back to RAW July 2012 with the AJ Lee/Daniel Bryan wedding. Punk remembers that night and found it ridiculous that April was wearing that dress so long because that is not her. He took a picture with her because it wasn’t her, and yet from those moments it blossomed into them getting married. Bryan points out that Kane was involved in all of that as well. He brings up he and Punk were fighting over the WWE Title in the midcard of a PPV while John Cena was in the Main Event against Johnny L, who is now his father-in-law. Punk and Bryan laugh about how weird it has all gotten. They had 3 matches and were never the Main Event. They had the attitude to go out there and steal the show. It also started his friendship with Kane and it was all just a fun time for him. It was right after he lost the World Title in 18 seconds and the crowd was behind him. That storyline with Punk, AJ, and Kane kept his momentum moving forward. Bryan brings up the first time he met Punk was at a show where it was a 16 man tournament in Garfield, NJ and Punk had to leave because he fractured his skull.

-Renee asks about their start and if they ever thought about getting to WWE. Punk says that he was convinced how good he was and then he started meeting other guys and he always heard about American Dragon, Spanky, and Low-Ki and Homicide from NY. All these guys formed a nucleus and realized they could make a living being a pro-wrestler. The challenge then became what’s next and that was the WWE. Punk feels they always knew they were good enough to be there, but there were always hurdles. He feels they both knew they could to WWE, but they were happy to be where they were. Bryan says he agrees with that and he actively avoided going to the WWE as he liked making his own schedule. He remembers when Punk signed with WWE and he knew if they gave him a shot he would blow them away. He didn’t think he was good enough because he couldn’t cut a promo like Punk and that was a big part of WWE. His interest has always been in his love of wrestling and he never wanted to be famous and only wanted to make enough money to survive. It was when he started getting injuries that he needed to either sign with WWE and make money or find another path and wrestle on weekends. When he saw Punk and his interviews and how he carried himself like a star he knew he would be awesome in the WWE. Daniel says that it’s even harder with no fans and Punk says he can’t imagine. Daniel laughs as he didn’t know what to do with his entrance as he always felt awkward and that’s where the Yes motion came from and it’s weird with no fans. They want him to keep doing it and he knows it seems weird, but if he doesn’t then he is back to “what do I do with my hands.” Man, I can listen to these guys talk all day and there was a note on screen saying the full interview will be dropped on FOX YouTube later this week. Fantastic!

-Commercials

-Back with a replay of Rollins cashing in at WrestleMania and that leads to Seth taking us through that day. I will say watching the show again, it’s a damn fine WrestleMania and the setting/stadium looked great. Seth remembers sitting in Gorilla and it all seemed too good to be true. Seth says his first thought was don’t trip as he made the run down the ramp. He knew they were on a time crunch and didn’t want the show going off the air before he got his moment with the title and fireworks going off above him.

-The panel is back to discuss the importance of The Money in The Bank Cash in. Christian feels it is the top way they propel a star now and has taken the place of the IC Title as being the next guy in line. Of course Punk got to cash in twice and he credits Edge for that first time as he was taking something from him. Everyone loved when he cashed in on Edge, but when he did it a year later everyone was confused and a bit angry when he cashed in on Jeff. He feels the MITB briefcase can help people find who they are and give interesting storylines.

-Commercials!

-Back to NXT last week and The Pit Fight. It was great and brutal and different in a fantastic way. Punk says that he liked it and he hated it. When he hears Fight Pit he doesn’t think of a wrestling cage match. He wasn’t a fan of the platform and talks about how a worked shoot is a hard style. It is a difficult thing to do and he appreciates Riddle giving the rub to Thatcher. Christian likes the concept of something new and something fresh. He doesn’t think we should see it all the time as it needs to be the right 2 people. Booker says he has 4 words for Riddle: A Pair of Boots. He isn’t a fan of the MMA world coming into the wrestling world unless it is done right. He also feels that Riddle has a lot more to prove to him and wants to see him perform on the level of himself, Christian and CM Punk.

-Commercials and word that the panel will be discussing the protests happening around the world.

-We get video from Mark Henry’s Facebook as he marched in Texas.

-Mark joins the panel by phone and Renee is giving the floor to everyone (Punk, Booker and Mark). Mark says he is not a complaining guy and is a solutions guy. He went with his family and they walked peacefully. It was a melting pot of people and he was very happy. Punk brings up that people talk about having a conversation. He is a white guy and it’s not his place to tell black people how to react. He knows this country has a problem and he can tell white people they need to listen to their black brothers and sisters. He says there are two Americas as when he gets pulled over he is worried about a ticket and he is afraid that when Mark’s son gets pulled over he may get murdered. He wants to tell white people they need to shut up more and listen and use their privilege to help their black brothers and sisters. He does what he can to help stop hatred and hopes he is using his voice for good. Facism and racism can’t win. Punk gets emotional as he nearly breaks down talking about the first tattoo he saw was a number on his grandather’s arm. He rode a horseback at Nazi tanks and in 2020 we have a President that mentioned Nazis were fine people and he can’t walk that back. He wants white people to use their voice more and support their black brothers and sisters. Booker brings up that it comes down to leadership. We as humans need to stand up and be leaders and not followers. He has been in that position as he has been in a business where he was the 1% most of the time. His message is don’t be a follower and be a leader. Renee thanks FOX and FS1 for giving them the time to speak about this.

-Commercials!

-RAW: June 9, 2003: Christian does his version of the Spin-a-roni and as we come back Booker says it sucked. Christian announces that he will at RAW this Monday with a special edition of The Peep Show.

-That ends the show for this week.

-Obviously this was the most important episode of this show ever as they addressed the current state of the world and weren’t shy about it. The ending speaks for itself and I commend Punk for coming out so strongly with his thoughts. Outside of the ending this was another fun show and I loved the Punk/Bryan conversation and as mentioned I could listen to them talk wrestling all day. I also enjoyed that they touched on the Hardy storyline and gave their thoughts. This was a great episode and again I commend all involved. Thanks for reading!

article topics :

WWE Backstage, Robert Leighty Jr.