On the latest edition of “Something to Wrestle with Bruce Prichard”, podcast host Bruce Prichard spoke about CM Punk, and the following are some quote highlights:
On His Impression of His Straight Edge Lifestyle:
The biggest one, and it came from a discussion with everybody on the plane. We would travel from place to place and we would travel from Connecticut to TV and in between TV and so forth. People would ask, “I don’t get [CM] Punk. Who is he?” He’s ‘Straight Edge,’ well, what the hell is ‘Straight Edge?’ Nobody knew what CM Punk stood for, what he was about; or anything about him. I don’t think his promos were good at the time because they came out of nowhere, or have any real background. I took him up in the stands, took Bubba Dean to set up the camera and I sat off camera and just asked him questions. I found him fascinating because of his beliefs and that was where I found out about ‘Straight Edge.’ That was when I found out about his relationship with his parents. What drove him? The tattoos, and simply each one having a meaning. He told a story about his Pepsi tattoo. His answer for getting the tattoo was simply,” I like Pepsi. I thought it was cool and a way to express myself. If you want to know anything about me look at me and you can see exactly who I am.”
He has ‘Straight Edge” on his fingers because it’s a lifestyle that he believed in that not a lot of people participated in. They could say the words and talk the talk, but they didn’t want the walk and I have a sidebar on that as well. I looked at him and said, “So, you don’t drink, do drugs or anything like that?” He said no, but said he wasn’t a prune either. I asked him to elaborate and he explained that he didn’t want to judge other people that did do that lifestyle, and this is what got him over with me automatically. We were in Kansas City, Missouri, and it was Harley Race’s birthday; so he was at Harley Race’s Camp; they were all doing shots for Harley Race for his birthday. Punk doesn’t drink or do drugs but he took a shot out of respect for Harley Race. He said, “You know, Harley Race asked me to do it, one shot is not going to kill me. I’m not going to get hammered, I simply took a shot for Harley Race.” For whatever reason, I just thought that was cool and showed the love and passion he had for the business and for the old timers. He didn’t have to and that would have been fine.
On Being an Indie Sensation Working Against Him When Coming to WWE:
Now you want to be wow’d by this guy, and if you are not blown out of the water then your expectations are let down. With Punk in particular—not only was his hype ahead of him, but you also had Paul [Heyman] there shouting from the roof tops saying that this is the guy. Those who didn’t really care for Paul were on the other side almost rooting for Punk to fail. That philosophy always blew my mind because you have a guy you are investing in and here you are wanting him to fail; makes no sense, but there was some of that sentiment.
On What Vince McMahon Thought of His Straight Edge Gimmick:
He didn’t understand it, didn’t know what the hell it meant; didn’t get Punk’s look; didn’t get the Straight Edge deal; didn’t like all the tattoos; didn’t know what the hell Muay Thai was. He just didn’t get it. It was just a disconnect with Punk and how he relates with people at home? He is not every man. He is actually against the grain and doesn’t have a big bodybuilder body. Wonders what Muay Thai is. It was almost as if they picked apart the s*it. It’s almost as though, if you want to examine it, why wouldn’t you accentuate that the guy is drug and alcohol free? I could even go, and again, this was my thought, but you position him as a heel against all that stuff because a lot of our audience were beer drinkers among other things. Let him be ‘holier than thou’ because that was how he came across, or you go the other way with it and make him ‘holier than thou’ and say who he is, but either way to me, the message was good on both sides. It was good for him being a heel and Straight Edge and him being a heel and being Straight Edge. They didn’t get it and again the more he was pushed and shoved down people’s throats the more he was coughed back up.
On CM Punk Being Attacked By Randy Orton And Stripping Him of His World Title:
Vince [McMahon] wanted to get Randy Orton over and felt this was the way to do it. Taking the belt off of Punk without having him lose it in the ring and being able to come back after the fact with Punk and Orton, after the fact that Orton was the one that took him out.
