'Wrestling Soulmates' CM Punk & John Cena Look Back On 'Basic Punkanomics' Promo

At Night of Champions last year, CM Punk and John Cena battled in their final match together with the 17-time World Champion retiring that December, but arguably just as memorable is the segment they shared together on "WWE SmackDown" the day before. While Cena was cutting a promo, Punk interrupted him and walked out to the ring dressed as the "Doctor of Thuganomics," which was the Hollywood actor's gimmick 20 years ago. In addition to impersonating Cena, Punk even created his own rap, and during the newest season of "WWE Unreal," "The Best In The World" reflected on embracing "Word Life" for one night only.

"I'm a creative and I love collaborating and I love John and I love working with John ... Him and I, from my perspective, are wrestling soulmates. Anytime you get me and him on the screen together, it's magic," Punk said. "The word "Punkanomics" popped in my head and I just thought, 'Me doing you, to you' ... this was myself holding a mirror up to John." 

Cena also commented on Punk's iconic promo, explaining that he initially didn't think the "Second City Saint" would be able to deliver, but was thoroughly impressed during the segment. "He gave himself way too many lines ... going out there, I was like 'Man, he looks great. I think he's going to forget some of this stuff.' He crushed. And in the middle of his crushing, I got a genuine message from Phil," he shared. "Right in the middle of his moment, he gave me a very real and authentic moment and it was very special."

The message that Punk quietly delivered during the segment was saying "I'm going to miss you," and later explained that he wanted to center Cena and bring him into the moment, because it was an emotional promo for him, and wanted his "wrestling soulmate" to feel that way too.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Netflix" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.