CM Punk Says WWE Made the Wrong Decision To Not Reschedule WrestleMania 36, Calls Wrestling ‘Unwatchable’ Without Live Crowd

In an interview with The No Sports Report, CM Punk discussed how he finds wrestling unwatchable without a live crowd, how WWE going ahead with WrestleMania 36 was the wrong decision, how they are risking their workers getting sick, and more. Highlights are below.

On how he finds wrestling unwatchable without a live crowd: “Pro-wrestling, I find it completely impossible to watch with no crowd, impossible. The audience is the 100%, and this is more evident than ever now, driving force behind what wrestlers do in the ring. When I wrestled, that was my boss.”

“The thing that separates the greatest wrestlers from the OK guys, when they’re in the ring, they’re the boss, they’re in charge, but the truth of that is the audience is in charge. The audience boos and cheers who they want, they tell you if they like the moves, if they’re emotionally invested in the match, that tells you where to take it. There’s a fork in the road, audience wants you to go a certain way, you can manipulate them, but they can also manipulate the match. Without all of that, fuck, I don’t know what we’re doing.”

On how wrestling without a crowd feels like watching a video game or pre-determined acrobatics: “It lends credence, in my opinion, to everyone who argues that wrestling is just this fake fight, it’s a simulation, it’s pre-determined acrobatics. Without the audience, without the emotion and the adrenaline, I mean, fuck, that’s what I feel like I’m watching. I feel like I’m watching a video game.”

On why WWE decided to ahead with WrestleMania: “It’s being stubborn. But what do I know? I personally, I’ve said this from jump, and I know for a fact that WWE brass, they get all bent out of shape when I talk about it, but I think there should be some sort of discourse, there needs to be a conversation about it. If this was happening in Major League Baseball, and it is, they talk about it. They talk about pushing Opening Day. So for this, my opinion was, even from just a business standpoint, from a fan standpoint, you gotta push the date, you gotta reschedule, have it in June, have it in July. What is the silver lining to that? Well, maybe you can have it in an open arena in the midwest where it’s normally freezing cold, so have it in an open arena when it’s warm, but it’s like they canceled but they’re still doing it.”

On how WWE is risking getting wrestlers sick by continuing with WrestleMania: “I think it’s completely strange. I hear all the rumors of who’s sick, and then you got all these guys, whether the culture there has changed or not, are gonna be job scared, so then they’re gonna show up and then they’re gonna get someone else sick, and obviously that’s how a virus works. It was just very strange. Instead of being a leader and taking charge and being like, ‘Hey, you know what, let’s reschedule this, let’s refund everybody’s money.’ I also think, as a performer, man that sucks, it’s gotta suck. It’s gotta totally be the worst thing ever.”

On how going on with WrestleMania was the wrong decision: “I just thought it was just so obtuse, just way the wrong decision. Just cancel it, reschedule it. Oh, you’re still going to do it. Oh, ok, well that’s not what I would have done. Oh, you’re making it two days instead of one. OK, well alright, that’s not what I would have done but OK. Then on top of that, they pre-taped stuff. So I’m sure they’re all kind of spoilers out there, so what’s the incentive of even watching it on Sunday.”

If using any of the above quotes, please credit The No Sports Report with an h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.