CM Punk on what is wrong with the WWE, is not to say "wrestling" & more
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CM Punk is on the cover of "WWE Magazine's" October issue, which features an "explosive, controversial" interview with the Second City Saint. The self-proclaimed "Voice of the Voiceless" was given another soapbox to voice his concerns with WWE's brain trust, his fellow wrestlers who deserve a better shot, and whether anything will change following his return to the sports entertainment organization. Highlights from the interview are as follows:
In your estimation, what do you feel is wrong with WWE right now, and what would you do to change it?
What's wrong with WWE right now is that there isn't enough youth. Most of the ideas are old. They worked in The Attitude Era or in the '80's—and I'm not necessarily saying that they're bad or they're wrong —but they need updating, they need tweaking. There needs to be some young minds spinning the webs, so to speak. I'm sick of seeing people who are excellent wrestlers get passed over for people who have abs or who were good second-string linemen in a European football league. I think there are a lot of people who, on their own terms, have made their own personas and perfected their craft simply out of love for what they do. They're not trying to be bodybuilders or footballs players who fail miserably and then call their uncle or their dad and say, "Hey, I'll give that wrestling thing a shot because I suck at everything else."
Why do you think it's such a strike against guys who—like yourself—are fans but aren't from a sports or bodybuilding background?
Now, this is complete speculation. I can't even tell you what somebody else is thinking. I can only say what I think works. And I'm not going to be right 100 percent of the time just like they're not going to be. Somewhere along the way I think we lost the Midas touch. This whole thing became uncool. I think the people who love it aren't going to go do something else if they get fired. Like Colt Cabana. He's a perfect example. He is a wrestler. If he gets hired and it doesn't work out, he's wrestling somewhere else the next day. He's not trying to shoehorn himself into an accounting job. He's a wrestler. He's always going to be there. So I just think if you love wrestling sometimes—maybe-you're punished. You're placed last in line. The attitude is: You're always going to be here, maybe we can use you later if we need you, but right now we're going to use this guy because he was good at college football, but he didn't quite make it in the NFL.
Another one of your gripes is about how the WWE Championship looks. How would you redesign the title? What is the definitive look of that particular championship for you?
Oh God. How long's this interview? Honestly, I think old Dwayne used to have a cute little blue cow on his title or something. Then, of course, Stone Cold had the Smoking Skull Title. I don't know. I think I could Straight Edge the hell out of that thing. A couple of "X"s might make it look good. Make it look like a title should look like, and not make it look like some sort of weird, rapper bling. I feel the definitive look, though, is what I like to call "Bret Hart's Title." I think everyone likes to call it the "Winged Eagle Title." That's a little redundant. I'm pretty sure most eagles have wings. That's the one that always sticks out in my mind.
This anger with your job has been festering for a while. Was there one moment backstage when you felt you'd had enough?
I can name one off the top of my head. How about main-eventing a pay-per-view as the World Heavyweight Champion against Undertaker and then, a few months later, being in a dark match against R-Truth at WWE TLC? That's pretty ignorant in my mind. This is the problem. We do this too many times to too many Superstars. It's a startstop kind of thing. The company likes to spotlight certain people. Like, "This week, Kofi's cool," and then, the next week, "We changed out minds we like Dolph this week." It flip-flops back and forth ad nauseam, and the next thing you know, the people couldn't give a crap about either guy.
When did the powers that be really begin to take your leaving WWE seriously?
I told them probably a year out. They would say, "Hey, how about we talk about your contract?" And I would just say, "No, I don't really feel like it." And they would say, "Okay, back off. Punk's crabby and temperamental. We'll get him next week." And the next week it would be, "Hey, let's talk about it." And then maybe eight or ten months out, it was, "Hey, I really want to sit down. We really need to sign you a new deal." And that's when I straight up said, "No, I'm not interested."
Take us back to your title match at WWE Money In The Bank. What did you do differently that day knowing that could have been your last day on the job?
I don't think I did anything different that day. I'm a man of my word. I wasn't going to skip out on my contract earlier. I was going to let it run out. These are the terms I agreed to and the dates I agreed to do, and I was definitely going to finish up. But I think I talked so much about everything and everybody that all eyes were on me and it created a high pressure situation. Thankfully, I thrive very well in those situations. I'd say I pulled it off. All this stuff I talk about, about being the best in the world, I certainly proved it that night. The match went near the 35-minute mark. But I wrestled for 93-minutes one time back in 2002 or 2003 in a Two-Out-Of-Three-Falls Match.
You mentioned on the Bill Simmons BS Report podcast that you had made the decision to come back and resign at WWE Money In The Bank. Do you think your decision was at all clouded a little bit too much by all the emotion going on that day?
I can definitely put it aside. I can be a robot if I need to be. Resigning was something that was on my mind day in and day out whether I was at the gym or sleeping. I was dreaming about it, I was really trying to figure out what the best decision was for me and my future. Call me crazy, but I was also trying to figure out what was the best decision for the company as a whole. I love what we do. I'm not going to get along with everybody I work with. I'm certainly not going to agree with everything all the time, but at the end of the day, I want everybody voice to be heard. I want this place to succeed. So I had to weigh my options.
Another thing we noticed is that you used the "W" word a lot in your tirades these last weeks. how much do you dislike saying "sports-entertainment"?
I don't hate it as much as you would think, but I really do think It's ridiculous when you're not allowed to say "wrestling." At the end of the day, that's what goes on in that ring. That ring is our stage. What we do on that stage is we wrestle. I'm not playing grab-ass. I'm out there fighting to win. Wins and losses mean something. Wrestling happens to be damn entertaining.
So is it weird to call yourself a "Superstar" as opposed to a wrestler?
I don't think it's weird. I think we're all Superstars. Absolutely. I don't think there's anybody else who can be called that. Would you call Brad Pitt a Superstar? Do I think Brad Pitt can do what we do? Absolutely not! Brad Pitt gets scripts and lines to study months ahead of time and he has a very controlled setting in which he looks the best he possible can. He has makeup on, there's lighting, there's people doing the sound and everything. We go out there on live TV every Monday night and kill it. That's where the entertainment part comes in. It's more entertaining then a Brad Pitt movie. There are no retakes, you know? There's no Take 1, Take 2—"I screwed that up, let me do it again." If we screw up, we screw up. That's the entertaining part.
One thing you did change is your entrance music, to Living Colour's "Cult Of Personality." Did you consider anything else?
No, that was the one. It was a throwback to my Indie days, but it also just fit. I have tremendous guts, I'd like to say, and it was just a gut feeling that this was the right thing to do, to change my music now. Did I like my old song? Absolutely. Was it recognizable? Sure, I had it for five years. Was it time for a change? Was it a risky thing? Yes and yes. But ultimately, I think it was the right move. I haven't been able to get the song out of my head since last Monday. It's a song that came out in 1989, when I was on my little league team, and now it just jumped into the iTunes Top 200. That's powerful. That should speak volumes to the WWE management. They should say, "Holy crap, this kid has the power to do something like that. Let's see what else he can do."
What's really different now that you're back? What are we really going to see that's not status quo?
I don't want to ruin any surprises, but I will tell you that when the Ramones were voted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, there was one surviving member of the original lineup left alive, and it was Marky. Marky originally was completely being in the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. This is, after all, the establishment that shunned the entire band for it's entire career, and he wanted nothing to do with it. He was extremely adamant that, "No, you don't get the privilege of having the Ramones in your little club." My good friend, Lars Frederickson [of the band Rancid], got on the phone and said, "Marky listen to me. You almost have a responsibility to the underground to accept this award and be in the Hall of Fame to show that you are as big as the Rolling Stones, you are as big as the Beatles, you're as good as Led Zeppelin, all these mainstream bands that the Ramones maybe never got credit on the same level as." And that's kind of how I feel about WWE right now. I'm the guy who, for all intents and purposes, never should have even made it to WWE. Then I had roadblock after roadblock thrown in my way. Not only did I get past those roadblocks, It did it while flipping off the people who put up those roadblocks. I feel I have a responsibility to the younger wrestlers on the roster, the ones that aren't signed yet, and the future of wrestling as a whole, to help make this place better, and to change this place. I certainly can't change it by sitting on my couch in Chicago.
*PHOTOS* - The Kevin Nash Fan Club Dinner->
Column: What's wrong with rings: WWE TV
Last Friday, July updated 15 on Friday, 15 July, 2011 written by Jeremiah Allan 2011
"What is wrong wrestling?" is an ongoing series of articles, where I, longtime fan and sometimes author trying a wrestling web comics, to keep always disqualified sports entertainment from. This week: five programming proposals for the fabled WWE channel.
5. In a treacherous move of my own five points format to defeat, the first entry in today's countdown is a broad block of programming I call imaginatively "all the old things."
People want to see the AWA, WCW and ECW tape libraries. (As already mentioned everything that you need, to do a single plaster sad "about the pandas and Chris Benoit" stickers on everything and say it is "Archival" is when she would go unedited old recordings, air, and most people are would not to say, the move unchallenged but one is worth fighting for complete historical presentation).
Not to mention a deep well of syndication: guest appearances on late into the night shows such as JAY LENO or SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, game shows, how are you smarter than a fifth GRADER?, and certain other episodes (such as PSYCH and NASH BRIDGES). And don't think that I over the last fifty seasons of hard enough forgot!
4. WWE needed an own talk show network. My Suggestion…? THE HIGHLIGHT REEL WITH CHRIS JERICHO. His band backup such as Paul Schaffer and David Letterman could the guys in FOZZY, and it could air on Tuesdays to Thursdays (a limited schedule so that the band still tour it could produce cheaper and would not be in conflict with RAW or SMACKDOWN). Ralfus could come back and be his Andy Richter.
3. Four words: WWE must go global. I would like on my TV WWE English commentary of NEW JAPAN PRO WRESTLING NOAH, AAA and CMLL. I'm not, where the comment of comes, as long as it is inspired but could foreign rings cheap one, to produce endless and popular alternative to a ton of new content. (And think FMW of the back catalogue - at midnight, people!)
Foreign product is another animal as native actions such as effects and RING OF HONOR, because they take not in direct competition with WWE for a domestic. There is a special series for TV partnerships: Vince to know Hiroshi Tanahashi or Dr. Wagner Jr. who are, if they subscribe to a hypothetical WWE contract by an American audience would benefit.
2. New episodes of confidential would be welcome.
A success with segments as could the show where they are now a FOOD NETWORK-based topic segment called THE BEST _ MATCH I EVER SAW, 10 minutes "greatest hits" segments SUPERSTAR spotlights and some legitimate messages called journalism at WWE actually does something value hearing about (anti-bullying campaign, make-A-wish, their military work, etc.).
1. WWE must play his largest on free TV in about two weeks after the live show. This practice would be to support the product and an olive branch, people, when and where they can, but cannot afford "almost ten hours of the minimum wage every month, if they have to take care of a family, waste".
Wait two weeks to ensure that diehards are still the live show buy, there is an incentive fans to write their cable or satellite provider and require the network and WWE would be spent promoting of the pay-per month still fresh in people's memories.
Add a marathon of the lead in RAW and SMACKDOWN episodes before (or a strong set of a la underlines watch RAW) and WWE could create an unforgettable Saturday evening with the added benefit of catch everyone up, which may not be able to follow regularly (as all these little children, that before the RAW on bed go). I say because children can stay on weekends usually until late Saturday, and it not with SMACKDOWN conflict.
THE NEXT TIME ON 4W: AS TO THE FIRE UNDER KANE IGNITE.
Jeremiah Allan is an American comic book (KS-comics) and radio show (WERMUT: A SERIALIZED MYSTERY) writer with a BA in English and an unhealthy dependence on DRAGON AGE and strawberry yogurt. Comment below or shoot me an email to jeremiahvedder@yahoo.com with the subject "what's wrong with wrestling?"
4W-ARCHIVE: 9 JULY 2011: EMDEN MASSES | 5 JULY 2011: UNDERCARD OVERHAULING | July 1, 2011: Growing games | 30 JUNE 2011: IMPROVE THE IMPACT
Column: What's wrong with rings: conspiracy victim
"What is wrong wrestling?" is an ongoing series of articles, where I, longtime fan and sometimes author trying a wrestling web comics, to keep always disqualified sports entertainment from. This week: an angle with five storyline steps to help to revive the Undercard.
5. R-truth and Alberto del Rio do a super villain team up to to take down the establishment. They are two victims of the conspiracy, after all. Truth can get number one candidate more than once traction on the show and del Rio, despite earning potential and is with a Briefcase MITB never match its title (or perhaps the games, he receives are corrupted by the management).
So truth and del Rio together and start sabotaged both shows, general manager in particular, and begin to position themselves as men with vision, men of change. R truth must go full-tilt hardcore heel TNA Ron killings and expressly WWE hammer for racism. He must say the words "WWE [and Triple H, as on-screen COO] not like me because I'm black." Del Rio keep doing what he does, but truth has the media access to bring hard edge.
(4) After a month of this starts del Rio, campaigns for universal GM SMACKDOWN and RAW with truth as his enforcer, called the law. "I am the law... and that's the truth,... the whole truth and nothing but the truth!" You hand out buttons, confront Teddy long as an Uncle Tom, stage protests (sit-downs, Fuß-Outs, etc.), and basically the Jive a politician all all talk, elbow rubbing and baby kissing during their goal create a WWE equal opportunities would advocate doing that.
(3) In order to help to keep the peace, Triple H brings in his own Sheriff: Kevin Nash (or X-PAC), seems to work for a while, but del Rio and truth the antics continue to up the gears gum. The best way to do that, the creation is likely stable, heat, a nation domination-like how a conspiracy to share support network (CVSN or support network short) victims. Maybe you call them even the subway.
(2) Thus, the angle culminated in a tag team match: del Rio and R-truth vs. Triple H and Kevin Nash, where the fate of Chief Operating Officer decides the winner. Triple WINS H, he keeps his job. When del Rio WINS, gets it choose a new COO. (In Kafabe, the Board on these provisions would agree, if it meant that del Rio and the truth would stop attack on public perception of the company.)
1. Del Rio is transferred immediately cuts a promo does not have the underground introduces always COO, because none of them would then be able to compete for championships (which would be the man, what he wanted), and their new choice for COO: his beautiful Latina Lady, Vickie Guerrero (or Farooq, if we for business guys with championship level skills).
THE NEXT TIME ON 4W: FIVE THINGS, THE WE WANT IN THE WWE ' 12 (VOL. 2).
Jeremiah Allan is an American comic book (KS-comics) and radio show (WERMUT: A SERIALIZED MYSTERY) writer with a BA in English and an unhealthy looks sweet ham and Pearl Jam comment below or shoot me an email to jeremiahvedder@yahoo.com with the subject line "what's wrong with wrestling?"
Comments tags: Alberto del Rio, Jeremiah Allan, Kevin Nash, R truth, raw, SmackDown, Triple H, what's wrong with wrestling, WWE, X-PACOther latest news - column: what's wrong with rings: conspiracy victim
Reported by Jeremiah Allan on Thursday, July 28 2011 - where is Mike Adamle?, HHH heel turn?, raw GM
Reported July TNA character big brother Star detailsof Ryan Clark on Thursday 28 2011-
Reported July CM Punk Vince McMahon backstage news, NXT newsof Ryan Clark on Thursday 28 2011-
Reported by Ryan Clark on Thursday, July 2011 - backstage Alberto del Rio-WWE main update28
Reported by Ryan Clark on Thursday, July 28 2011 - stage behind the curtain WWE management news + Reks update
Reported by Ryan Clark on Thursday, July 28 2011 - confirmed impact! & superstars matches & more
Reported by Ryan Clark on Thursday, July 28 2011 - raw main changes - six different scripts
Reported by Ryan Clark on Wednesday, July 27 2011 - report: WWE holds punk & Ross is A secret
Reported 27 by Ryan Clark on Wednesday, July 2011 - John Laurinaitis added to WWE.com, CM Punk, more
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Column: What's wrong with rings: Undercard overhaul
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 6 July, 2011 Written by Jeremiah Allan Tuesday, July 5 2011
“What’s Wrong With Wrestling?” is an ongoing series of articles in which I, long-time fan and sometimes author of a wrestling web comic, attempt to keep sports entertainment from getting disqualified. This week: five storyline ideas to spice up the WWE undercard.
5. To generate some interest in the undercard and get main event talent out of the picture while individual title feuds heat up, Smackdown would host the first annual International Kings of the Ring tag team tournament. The brackets and results would look like this, with Teddy Long announcing (and naming) each of the teams:
Smackdown, Week 1: Round 1, Match #1: the Celtic Connection (Sheamus & Drew McIntyre) v. the African Embassy (Kofi Kingston & Justin Gabriel) with the Celtic Connection advancing after some miscommunication from Kofi and Gabriel, who were reluctant partners to begin with.
Smackdown, Week 1: Round 1, Match #2: the New Blue Bloods (William Regal & Wade Barrett, representing England) v. the Usos (Jimmy and Jey, representing the isle of Samoa) with the team of Regal and Barrett advancing after a “clean” win.
Smackdown, Week 2: Round 1, Match #3: Punjabi Princes (Khali & Jinder Mahal) v. the Legacy (DiBiase & Rhodes, representing the United States) with the Legacy advancing after Rhodes outsmarts his opponents and gets a count out victory against Khali.
Smackdown, Week 2: Round 1, Match #4: Mucha Lucha (Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara) v. the Japanese Buzzsaws (Yoshi Tatsu & special guest Tajiri) with Rey and Sin Cara advancing after a suitably crazy cruiserweight spot-fest against Tatsu and the one-night-only Tajiri.
Smackdown, Week 3: Round 2, Match #1: Celtic Connection d. the Legacy after a High Cross to DiBiase, and Rhodes complains endlessly to GM Long about the extra week Sheamus and McIntyre had to rest.
Smackdown, Week 3: Round 2, Match #2: Mucha Lucha d. the Blue Bloods when Sin Cara surprises Regal with a roll-up. Plus, Rey and Regal are great together.
Smackdown, Week 4: Finals: Celtic Connection d. Mucha Lucha, establishing Sheamus and McIntyre as “the greatest tag team in the world” and granting them a tag team title shot at the pay-per-view that weekend, not to mention the awesome trophy presentation ceremony immediately after the match (where they hammer or get hammered by the tag team champs).
4. Tyson Kidd, angry that Canada was excluded from the tag team tournament, goes on an anti-“everywhere but Canada” tirade and is going to make WWE pay for its snub. “You might have noticed, I’ve been looking for a manager the last several months and I think I’ve found my guy. I mean, who better to show me how America sucks than Lance freakin’ Storm!”
(The next week, Christian would politely decline Kidd’s request to join he and Storm because he doesn’t want “another Edge” or people thinking he can’t do it on his own. Kidd respects that. Kidd starts using the “if I can be serious for a moment” catchphrase while Storm watches and nods approvingly. When Jericho’s ready, he can come back and feud with Kidd, saying he’s giving Canadians a bad name. Maybe we can even get Storm v. Jericho, one more time?)
3. Tyler Reks and Brodus Clay (and Mark Henry, if he’s not busy) begin lending out their services to heels as bodyguards for hire as S.O.B. Inc. They don’t take the bookings themselves, however. They’re just the help. You’ll have to go through their anonymous boss for that, a mystery that runs for weeks of teasing.
The identity of that partner…? Who better to organize a group of body guards than Kevin Nash, who made a name for himself as Shawn Michaels’ right hand man. Del Rio could hire the group to take out Kane (or Show, if Kane is busy) and we could have a battle of the big men between Kane and Kevin Nash at Wrestlemania. Street fight, anyone?
2. Jack Swagger comes and complains about being lost in the shuffle. He lists his credentials and promises his millions of fans that he’s going to turn it around. A heel champion, preferably Christian or the Miz, interrupts by saying that he’s “heard enough. TV time is valuable and it belongs to a champion, not some has-been, never-will-be-again.”
The All-American American keeps praising himself, though, so Christian agrees to put the title on the line if Swagger will agree to Christian’s mystery stipulation, which he’ll reveal when he beats Swagger in the main event. Swagger agrees because there’s no way Christian can beat him.
Throughout the night, announcers wonder what Christian’s mystery stipulation is and whether it matters, if Swagger can win another world championship. Will he make Swagger retire? Will he force Swagger to face Kane, the Big Show and Big Zeke in a handicap cage match? Swagger’s taken a tremendous risk for another shot at the title.
The champion beats Swagger in a lengthy, competitive match so Christian reveals his stipulation: for the rest of his life, if Jack Swagger loses a match, he’ll have to suffer a humiliating stipulation voted on each week by the WWE Universe.
So, from that point forward, fans can log on to WWE.com and vote for what they want to happen to Jack Swagger if he loses – everything from spend the rest of the night dressed as Doink, fight his next match with one hand tied behind his back, streak through the arena, etc. The possibilities are endless and fans will tune in (and log on) every week to see if Swagger must once again suffer “Christian’s Curse.”
1. Some of the most successful wrestling storylines are the ones where Creative takes real life situations and cranks them up to full volume. Evan Bourne’s already one of the most likeable guys on TV so, with that in mind, here’s how to get him over on a character level: Evan’s sister has a baby and her deadbeat boyfriend walks away. Big brother has to earn some extra cash so he goes into business as the Problem Solver, working odds-and-ends jobs for other Superstars to help his sister.
One week, Evan will play love guru/matchmaker for an uncharismatic coworker. The next he’d be a fetch or a gopher – on a beer run for Austin! In-character Vince “hires” Evan to fill in at commentary when one of the announcers gets attacked. Del Rio needs his car worked on; Evan conveniently has mechanical know-how to get the job done. The gimmick is flexible, the audience never has to see the same thing twice, people will always feel good about it because he’s trying to do a good thing, and Creative could literally insert it into other ongoing angles or feuds for an upper card rub.
Near the end of the gimmick’s lifespan, Creative could set him up with a manager, someone to take jobs, who tries to team Evan up with a bunch of bad guys and low-lifes, which Evan will refuse (making the bad guys mad). The manager promises to go back to taking “good” jobs but ends up sabotaging Bourne’s face customers so he eventually has to battle a string of really angry clients.
Bourne will have to fire the manager and simultaneously deal with the following: his sister’s deadbeat baby daddy is none other than a heel worker on the opposite show, someone Evan’s never faced or did a job for or even ran into on-screen, so Evan must fight him to defend the honor of his sister (whom the heel will constantly disparage) in a feud WWE could cat-and-mouse for months before a blow-off pay-per-view match with child support on the line.
NEXT TIME ON 4W: FIVE NEW THINGS WWE COULD DO TO BETTER PROMOTE THEIR PRODUCT.
Jeremiah Allan is an American comic book (www.wowio.com/kscomics) and radio show (www.wormwoodshow.com) writer with a BA in English and an unhealthy addiction to popcorn and building houses out of Popsicle sticks. Comment below or shoot me an e-mail at jeremiahvedder@yahoo.com with the subject line “What’s Wrong With Wrestling?”
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