Brian Gewirtz Comments On Vince McMahon’s Awareness Of CM Punk Pipebomb Promo

Appearing on The Ariel Helwani Show, Brian Gewirtz explained a few background production details on the famous CM Punk “Pipebomb” promo on WWE Raw in June 2011 (via Wrestling Inc). You can listen to the full episode and read a few highlights below.

On the actual vs. storyline-based elements of the promo: “Well, I mean, the real element to that was CM Punk’s contract was coming up. And there were backstage tensions, you know, in terms in of performer and management, and not knowing whether Punk was going to re-sign or not. But in terms of the actual segment itself, whether you want to call it a worked shoot or what have you, that was something Vince and the company knew that we had it scheduled in segment 11 for CM Punk to come out and cut a promo.”

On the pre-planned nature of certain beats: “Punk brought so many elements of that to himself, in terms of sitting down as opposed to standing –  I know he worked with [WWE writer] Ed Koskey on it but the vast majority of it [was] coming from Punk’s heart and his brain. But at the same time, I know going into it there wasn’t anything he said or was going to say that was [unexpected]; I know he improvised a little on the spot, but Vince and everyone had a version of it in front of them. They knew when to cut the mic, knew to cut to Cena in the ring selling. It was part of a television show, but there were real life overtones to it, and real life passion into it. This wasn’t like Punk cut the promo, the mic went out, and then he’s giving everyone hugs backstage going, ‘Oh this is great, I can’t wait until next year.'”

On the genuine emotion from Punk’s performance: “There was real tension, it was palpable. It’s a testament to Punk to pull that off so well, and to have people questioning to this day what they saw. And it’s a testament to Vince, too, to say, ‘Yeah, go ahead and say it. I don’t care. Call me an imbecile, whatever.’ I’m sure there are plenty of lines within that, that Punk kind of improvised on the spot, but at the same time, we knew going in what to expect. That was a great example of something coming together, and it couldn’t have been executed any better.”