C.M. Punk Discusses Eddie Guerrero, His Now-Infamous Promo & More
WWE champion C.M. Punk was interviewed by IGN in promotion of WWE '13. During the interview, Punk discussed learning from Eddie Guerrero, the promo he cut in the summer of 2011 and more. Here are some of the highlights:
On the differences between a smaller and a larger venue: "The difference between wrestling in front of 80,000 fans in a world famous football stadium and wrestling in front of 2 people in a barn in Charlestown, Indiana? Sure, — more adrenaline in front of a higher group of people. The stakes are higher. But, there's something romantic about wrestling in front of friends and family in the middle of nowhere in VFW halls."
On a lesson he learned from former WWE champion, Eddie Guerrero: "Eddie Guerrero gave me the best advice: It's not about moves. It's not what you do, it's when you do it. He got me listening to the people. He taught me the invaluable lesson of before the show starts and when they drop the lights, that's the first time the crowd's going to erupt. They always erupt. They drop the lights and, 'Oh! Good. The shows starting.'
"You get that little smatter of applause and cheers and excitement and electricity in the air. I do that every night and I listen. If it's a loud, shrieking kind of noise, it's predominantly women and little kids. If it's a little bit of a roar, I know I'm working for guys my age — that 18-35 demographic."
On the now career-defining promo that C.M. Punk cut on Raw, June 27th, 2011: "When I cut the now-infamous promo in Las Vegas, I sat Indian-style wearing a 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin t-shirt. The only thing that was going through my mind was that I had about two to three weeks to be employed. Then, after that, my life was a clean slate. It was just blank, I didn't know what I was going to do. I didn't have plans. I was leaving, though — 100%.
"What you saw, what you heard, was 100% me just being pissed off. That was a chip that had been growing on my shoulder for years. It was almost therapeutic to get it all out. Great experience, but that was 100% real.
"Did I think my life would change after that? Yeah. I thought that maybe I might get fired. I didn't think that it would happen the way it did, though. I thought that I might just be sitting on my couch, relaxing and regrouping, waiting for the next thing to come. Just having time off for the first time in my professional career. But, like Al Pacino in The Godfather III. 'Thought I was out but they pulled me back in.'"
You can check out the entire video by watching it below: