CM Punk Reveals He Gave WWE A Fake Draft Of “Pipe Bomb” Promo
In a new interview with Sport1, AEW's CM Punk took the time to clarify his stance on the run he had in WWE. Punk explained that he does have fond memories of his time there, but he thought it was a poor decision to not have him in more main event matches.
"It's not true that I don't cherish my time as WWE Champion, I have fond memories of it. Yes, I criticized the fact that I wasn't in many main events at the time even though I was champion," Punk said (translation via Google Translate). "It wasn't that I was personally offended, I just thought it was a stupid decision from a business point of view. But it's not something that I will lose sleep over. "
Something that has become somewhat of a signature of Punk's is sitting with his legs crossed and delivering a passionate promo. This character staple began during his time in WWE, most notably when he delivered the popular "pipe bomb" promo that got him over with fans more than ever at the time.
"Everything was real. I had to write a draft for Vince and I didn't say anything about what was in that draft. I knew what I was going to say and I knew that I wasn't going beyond certain limits. But what was also clear to me is live TV is a business in which it is easier to get forgiveness afterwards than a permit beforehand," Punk noted. I couldn't have told Vince that I would mention Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman, who were undesirable people at WWE at the time.
"Vince would also have said, 'Don't mention New Japan – and what the hell is 'Ring of Honor'? ' But I wanted to create some kind of work of art that I had say in, that's why I did it. So I gave him a wrong draft and had it approved, said "Yes, okay" when he was still suggesting that I should make fun of his daughter Stephanie, and then I did something else. But because what I did was good, he wasn't mad. "
Punk believes the quality of WWE's shows have dwindled because of the number of pro wrestling programs they are producing each week. He remembers when he was still a part of the roster and was included on 8 segments in the same show.
"I think certain people in management just wanted it that way. You have to consider, WWE is a widespread company that serves many business partners. They do three hours of RAW, two hours of SmackDown, and now even more on many major channels and platforms – for the USA Network, and the Peacock platform of the NBC group, for Fox, and many others. I think when you produce so much, the quality inevitably suffers. I noticed that even back then. I remember one RAW output where I ended up appearing in eight segments. Incidentally, considering how much they relied on me back then at WWE, it's a bit ridiculous when they claim today that I wasn't that good after all. But that's just the history revisionism that they are practicing now. At AEW, we try to find a happy medium. Not every star should always be a star at every show, we have numerous main-event-worthy talents who can fill the gaps."