There are multiple stories in the interview where Punk calls Vince McMahon “out of touch”, and gave some great examples of how the company would take his creative ideas and give them away to other top stars. Prior to the Royal Rumble he wanted to walk UFC star Chael Sonnen to the ring for his fight in Chicago, but McMahon nixed the idea because he thought the sport was “barbaric”. Then several weeks later, Triple H ended up walking Floyd Mayweather to the ring for his fight.
“I’m talking to Vince, and I tell him that since I cut that promo, we got more mainstream attention. Everyone wanted to interview me, whether it was GQ Magazine, the cover of USA Today … I had legitimate companies approaching me, just wanting to give me money to sponsor me. I had a big money deal on the table, and I went to Vince … I told him my idea, said I wanted to do this sponsorship thing. I deserved it. I got all these new eyes on the product, and he says ‘nope, you can’t do that. Sponsors for Raw would get mad, the other wrestlers would get mad.’ A year later, Brock Lesnar comes back, and the mother-f***** has sponsors.”
Regarding the WWE Network launch and how it effected the wrestlers’ bottom line, Punk stated that Vince had no clue how it would work for months in advance, and would laugh off questions from the roster.
“Shouldn’t you figure that out before I work on that PPV, so you can pay me accordingly? And nobody is asking questions because you’ll get punished. You get left off the PPV, they’ll take you off of Raw and they’ll take you off the house shows, and now you’re not making any money. WWE doesn’t do anything to protect the wrestlers, they do things to protect themselves. They do it so that it looks good to the public.”
Interestingly, Punk noted that he sustained multiple injuries including a concussion, but continued to work hurt because he was the champion, and was “actively trying to convince” McMahon that dropping the title to The Rock was a terrible idea. He said that he began hoping for injury, and being excited about the idea of surgery because it would finally give him some time off. However, when he finally took off to get a surgery done, the company brought him back to the road a few days later to cut promos. Even then, an official called his doctor to clear him, and he was booked to wrestle on Raw with no notice, without ever seeing a doctor.
KILLAM: Please check out the complete interview with CM Punk and Colt Cabana, as it has probably double or triple as much content as I transcribed here. Punk talks about the “26 writers” in creative, how they intentionally go after guys they don’t like, more terrible business decisions from Triple H and/or Vince McMahon, and a ton more.
