Brian Gewirtz Gives Backstage Insight Into Vince McMahon's Involvement In CM Punk's Pipebomb
CM Punk's expert ability to blur the lines between kayfabe and reality gave adequate reason for fans and wrestlers alike to question the legitimacy of his pipebomb on the June 27, 2011 episode of "WWE Raw." Even though Punk himself has confirmed he gave a rough draft of his iconic promo to Vince McMahon, there's always been a question mark surrounding how much of much of the content of the promo WWE's creative team was aware of — especially Punk's tirades towards the McMahon family on live television.
In a recent interview with Ariel Helwani, former WWE head writer Brian Gewirtz tried his best to dispel some of those doubts.
"Well, I mean, the real element to that was CM Punk's contract was coming up," Gewirtz recalled. "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."
Gewirtz also confirmed that WWE muting Punk's microphone, the cameras cutting to John Cena selling a beatdown after a Tables Match against R-Truth, and Punk's posture at the top of the ramp were all planned in advance of the pipebomb.
"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," Gewirtz stressed. "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.'"
Gewirtz would ultimately laud both Punk and McMahon for creating magical television, crediting the former WWE boss for letting one of his performers shoot from the hip.
"There was real tension, it was palpable," Gewirtz admitted. "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."
Recently, when AEW visited Las Vegas for a taping of "Dynamite," there were ample references to Punk returning to the "scene of the crime" where he dropped the pipebomb more than 11 years ago. During his face-to-face confrontation with Hangman Page, Punk admitted that the "biggest moment of my career" happened in Sin City.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "The Ariel Helwani Show" and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.