CM Punk is back for his second appearance on Colt Cabana’s Art of Wrestling podcast.
Here are the highlights:
* They started by saying fans will hate this episode, implying that it won’t be as controversial as the first episode with Punk. Colt said this episode will be how his podcasts usually are and Punk said it will probably be his favorite.
* Colt talked about receiving thousands of e-mails and having his site shut down. Punk said he didn’t think the first podcast would be a big deal. He said he just wanted to tell his story and get it out there because people were calling him a quitter and saying he walked out on the fans. Punk said the day he got his papers from WWE on his wedding day he wanted to do the podcast but Colt was in Japan.
* Punk said he felt awesome at the time and still feels awesome about doing the podcast. He was walking home from a massage today and someone yelled out that they loved the podcast. He then went to a tanning salon and received feedback from a guy there also.
* Regarding reaction to the podcast, Punk said positive feedback has been “through the roof.” Punk feels he covered everything in the first podcast. He feels that going back and giving more details or further examples of WWE’s awful communication is just beating a dead horse. He said then he would sound like the bitter wrestling guy.
* Colt brought up how it annoys him when fans call Punk by his real name, Phil. Punk says he doesn’t know what people refer to him as now. He said some fans tweet him to change his name because he’s no longer CM Punk but he sees them as fans who watch WWE and think that CM Punk was a WWE creation. Punk says that’s the farthest thing from the truth. He says the name has grown into a brand and talked about how the name will be used with his Marvel work.
* Punk said he hasn’t watched wrestling in three years. When he re-signed with WWE, he would re-watch the big shows but that’s it. He said he couldn’t stomach it anymore. He watches AJ Lee’s segments now because she’s his wife.
* Fans chanting his name still does not bother him. He says it’s weird because fans do it in two cases “when they see his wife AJ Lee or when something awful is going on in the ring”. Punk says he sees both sides of the argument people who say don’t chant his name and those who do. Punk says we shouldn’t chant at the guys busting their ass but added that he will be biased and say you bought a ticket so you can chant what you want, “just don’t chant it at my friends and just chant it at the guys that suck and wear lifts in their boots. That covers everybody.”
* Regarding fans asking if he would return for a big WrestleMania spot, Punk told a story about how the legendary band The Doors had an incident on The Ed Sullivan Show and were told they would never play there again. Jim Morrison of The Doors told Sullivan that they just played The Ed Sullivan Show, saying they didn’t need to play it again. Punk said he’s “been there, done that” in regards to coming back for WrestleMania. Punk says it’s become such a big deal with everyone about him not getting a WrestleMania main event and he tried to communicate that to WWE for so many years that he feels the door is closed now.
* Punk believes reaction to his comments is probably split throughout the business. He thinks there a lot of “yes men” in WWE who want to now come out and say “screw you pal” to him but there are also people in WWE who want to say what he said but they’re oppressed. Colt said he heard from a lot of people in WWE who loved Punk’s comments and were appreciative of them.
* Regarding people saying Punk will be back eventually and how could he turn down the money, Punk said it’s “way too f**king early and I have no interest in f**king going back.” He said the difference in his appearance, his mental stability and everything else is so drastically different than it was nine to ten months ago. He talked about how feuding with The Wyatt Family was supposed to be a learning & teaching experience but it wasn’t fun. He said being in the ring with The Shield is when he realized it wasn’t fun anymore. He took a bump off a tackle one night and looked up at the lights, wondering what he was doing with his life.
* Regarding getting fired on his wedding day, Punk said WWE maliciously tied to ruin a special day. He referenced Vince McMahon’s apology and said he doesn’t believe it was a coincidence or the lawyers didn’t talk to talent relations. Punk said if Vince’s apology was sincere, he would not have used it as a publicity stunt on Steve Austin’s podcast. Punk said: “You have my phone number, you have my address. You could text, you could call, you could show up when you’re a 10 minute f**king drive from my house and apologize to me like a man. That’s the f**king reality of it.” Punk called the apology a publicity stunt again and really got upset talking about it.
* Punk said WWE contracts aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on and if they were, WWE wouldn’t have settled and he wouldn’t be doing this podcast. He said he waited until all the “legal bullsh*t” was out of the way and never sued them. He said it was all about a settlement. He told them “you can’t do that, you can’t do this” and WWE’s lawyers came back asking how he wanted to proceed. Punk said lawyers didn’t jam anything up, they moved things along. He brought up Alberto Del Rio being able to wrestle elsewhere and said you can’t put a non-compete clause on an independent contractor.
* He received a text message from The Rock on Thanksgiving. Rock said all Punk’s fans were upset at him and asked what happened. Punk told Rock about the podcast explaining why he left. Punk told Rock he didn’t think he said anything negative about Rock but talked about working with him and continuing to work with him to get a WrestleMania main event. Punk told Rock he thought fans were upset because Punk dropped the title to Rock. He said Rock was super cool about everything.
* He talked about being scheduled for a Wizard World in Nashville but he got pulled at the last minute and replaced with Daniel Bryan. Punk actually learned about it on Wizard World’s Twitter and had to call the office for confirmation. He was to be paid $20,000 for four hours of work that weekend but WWE wanted him on the Mexico tour. He told them that his check for the tour needed to be $20,000 to match the Wizard World pay but it was just $5,000 and he was working hardcore main events against Curtis Axel & Paul Heyman all four nights of the tour. Punk said he brought the check to RAW and laid it on table, telling officials to fix it. They ended up giving him an extra check for $4,000.
* Punk wanted to wear shorts as gear at one point and Slim Jim wanted to be one of the sponsors featured on the shorts. He had meetings with the head of Slim Jim, meetings that were not set up by WWE. Punk said Slim Jim wanted him to be the face of Slim Jim like Randy Savage was. They had marketing campaigns and ideas laid out. Someone at WWE told Slim Jim that they didn’t want Punk and to use Rey Mysterio, Eve Torres and Big Show for the next campaign instead. Punk talked about seeing an e-mail exchange he wasn’t supposed to see where someone in the office kept trying to talk video game reps out of using Punk for a cover, telling them to use Sheamus instead. He also talked about being friends with people on the LA Ink reality show. He was supposed to be on the show and get a new tattoo but Randy Orton decided he wanted to get new sleeves done and the office put Orton on the show instead.
* Punk didn’t want the first podcast to turn into this huge deal but joked there would not have been anything to talk about last week if they didn’t do it. He’s not replying to any of the questions on Twitter and Colt talked about Punk moving on. Punk said people ask him if he accepts Vince’s apology. Punk said he appreciates the sentiment but it was not a sincere apology. Punk said Vince knew about the problem since June and if he really felt bad, he would have apologized then. Punk said Vince just wanted a camera on him and to do damage control. Punk said this chapter of his life is done and they’re closing it now.
* Punk doesn’t want to be that guy who says he’s working on all these different projects but he is working on his future outside of wrestling. He’s still doing a lot of work with Nerdist and other comic book projects. He plugged his Thor comic that comes out in February and the in-store appearance at Challengers Comics in Chicago that week.
* Punk said if anyone was ever a fan of his, wanted to see him wrestle or purchased any of his merchandise, he appreciates it and thanks you. Punk said he had to wait this long to tell the story due to legal reasons but it got out when it could. He said if he offended you then he’s sorry but there’s a chance you might need to lighten up and a chance he meant to offend you. If you support him, that’s awesome and if you don’t like him, don’t follow him on Twitter. If you don’t like KISS, don’t buy their albums. Punk said find something you love to do, do it and don’t worry about what everyone else is doing unless they’re trying to murder or rape you. They ended it on that note.