Based on e-mails and phone calls to the Observer as of Tuesday, 1/28.
The status of C.M. Punk has become a major talking point in WWE, as he told Vince McMahon about 30 minutes before the start of Raw on 1/27 in Cleveland that he was flying home, and did.
He wasnt on the show and didnt appear at the Smackdown tapings the next night. WWE has since pulled him off all shows, although at press time he was still being advertised for Elimination Chamber on 2/23 in Minneapolis. Were told that he will eventually be pulled off that show as well.
Its sketchy what happened. Over the last week, ever since Punks interview with Ariel Helwani before the Chicago UFC show where he openly brought up that his contract was up in July and didnt want to say what he was going to do next, several people who know him had noted not to be surprised if he leaves. Two different people said that he was as good as gone in July, and one said that they didnt expect him to even last until July.
There were frustrations with creative and with money, even though he has made great money the last several years. This was not a spur of the moment thing as much as something that had been building. The way we were told was that he couldnt take it any longer and told McMahon that he was going home. McMahon had been tied up all day since they were rewriting the show, based on what happened the prior night at the Royal Rumble to figure out a way to keep the show under control and not have the audience hijack it again. Punk had been scheduled for an interview on the show to presumably build up a match with Kane on the PPV, which would lead to his planned WrestleMania match with HHH.
Because McMahon was so busy, Punk didnt see him until 7:30 p.m., when he told him he was leaving. The reason the Kofi Kingston vs. Alberto Del Rio match on Raw went so long is because it came during the period laid out for Punks interview and had to go a second segment to cover the time, so the key money segments would be in their correct time slots.
The working assumption internally has been for several weeks that Punk was leaving in July and not going to sign a new deal. The belief was that he is not a spender, has saved his money and doesnt have to work. It was a weird dynamic because hes one of the few guys on the roster that the company and Vince McMahon knew believed he didnt need them, and financially, really doesnt. So they cant deal with him from the same level as all the other guys who are scared to lose their jobs and spots.
Within the company, the reason was that he came to the realization that he would never be positioned higher than he was. His goal was to main event WrestleMania, as in be in the real main event. He felt that because he didnt fit the mold of what they think the top star in the company should look like, he would never be the guy and the centerpiece.
Its not known at press time what caused the situation to get to where it did and what was the straw that broke the camels back.
Another person close to the situation who was aware it was coming, just didnt know when, said it was a classic case of being burned out, and noted the dichotomy that hes never had a job where hes made anywhere close to the same amount of money, nor ever been as famous, and gotten more out of wrestling than this one. But, he has been miserable at the job for some time, and he was a guy who loved working in pro wrestling when he made nothing or very little. It was noted that he never had the personal connection with Vince McMahon that most of the big stars had, and always knew he was not their kind of guy, didnt have the look they thought a star should have, and felt he got over in spite of how he was used and not because of how he was used. The feeling was that there was a communication issue and lingering unresolved issues that dated back some time, probably most of the last year, combined with frustration regarding creative going forward and of late.
Sheamus will be replacing Punk at all the Smackdown tapings where he was largely advertised as the main star. It is a brave new world and you can never rule out the possibility its a work, and you wont know for sure unless Mania comes and goes without a return. Daniel Bryan will be advertised as the main star on Smackdown going forward since John Cena is not booked often on the Tuesday tapings.
Punk was at the Wizard World Comic Con in Portland, OR, on 1/25, as he flew form Chicago to Portland, then back to Chicago for UFC that night, and then to Pittsburgh for Rumble before leaving from Cleveland. During the Q&A, he seemed very lackluster about WWE. He basically said that he used to argue the creative but now he just shows up and does what hes told. He pushed the idea that he felt this was Daniel Bryans year and knocked the short-term booking and planning several times. In many ways, this was similar to when Steve Austin left in 2002, when he publicly started complaining about creative, and a week later he was gone (of course that was precipitated by them wanting him to job to Lesnar clean with no build-up on Raw as opposed to Lesnar going through everyone to set up their first match on a major PPV).
Punk did a long interview with MMAFighting.com reporter Ariel Helwani from his home, since UFC was in Chicago. He said at the time that his contract was up in July and said theres no point in saying anything about it. He said if he doesnt sign, he wouldnt say so now, and if he says he is looking at not signing, and then he does, people will think he was working an angle. Plus, he said in 2011, when he started that angle where he was leaving, he was in his mind, 100%, out the door at that time.
The circumstances that ended up taking place led to him signing a three-year deal. Hes always said that he wont be around as long as people think. Many in WWE have noted to us that Punk has not been happy with his creative.
At the same time, of the full-timers with the company, Punk, Batista, John Cena, Daniel Bryan and Randy Orton are the top tier. Batista is scheduled full-time but he is 45 and has had a lot of injuries in the past, although to his credit his body held up for an MMA camp, which is more intense than a wrestling schedule. The difference is the MMA camp is two months and a wrestling schedule never ends. While WWE doesnt need anyone, even Cena, Punk does have significant value given the lack of depth on top and injury rate.
You can also see with Batista and others that if you do really leave for a while, your value can increase greatly by not being there if you want to rest for a few years and then come back. Theres the legends role of a few big shows a year, the Jericho role of half the year or so full-time (although as weve seen with Jericho and RVD, that role does limit greatly how much theyll push you), or leave, rest up injuries and come back full-time, waiting long enough for a Batista level return.
The one thing with Punk is he is a big enough star that if he does leave for several years, his return would be a big deal. Still, very few walk away at 35. Batista and Jericho left, but they both did so for other entertainment ventures. Punk hasnt seemed like hes interested in that direction.
He said some days hes hurting really bad and other days hes not, noting hes taken very little time off over the last ten years. He said when he took the two months off last year, that he probably should have taken more time. He wasnt fully healed but came back because the Payback PPV was in Chicago and he worked with Chris Jericho, starting a babyface turn.
As noted many times, the reason he turned heel when he was a hot babyface, was recognizing that he could be the top heel in the company, but would always at best be the No. 2 babyface. But after the heel run, he was turned back. Still, he was always in top programs, was beating The Shield in 1 vs. 3 matches consistently and was being groomed for a match with HHH at WrestleMania, which while not the main event, was guaranteed to be pushed as one of the key things on the show.
Vince McMahon does like a challenge in the sense if a guy looks like he wants out, like Punk did the last time, he may be able to cut a better deal than the guy who the company knows isnt going anywhere and is so glad to be there and afraid of losing their job that theyll take anything.
Its an interesting game because he is valuable, maybe second or third most valuable guy in the company, at a time when value of the individual means less than it ever has.
He was also asked about doing MMA. He talked about it like hed like to do it, and noted that he knows people think he cant do it and looks at that as a challenge. He noted that people thought he couldnt do what he did in wrestling and he loves proving people wrong.
Bellator has already expressed at least preliminary interest in him. He would be free and clear of any WWE contractual obligations in July.
He thought some people who wanted him to fail would tune in to see him get beat up, but he gets punched in the face four times a week anyway.
I get the impression a part of him would like to do it the same way Batista did it as a bucket list thing. With Batista, it seemed on the surface to be a real bad risk, but in the end, he did it and wasnt hurt at all. With Punk, on the surface, it would seem the same thing. A theoretical big risk.
There was a time when a giant name pro wrestler doing MMA would have been huge, as noted by Brock Lesnars UFC debut. But I dont see UFC using an 0-0 guy for the same reason they never used Herschel Walker, and at least with Lesnar and Kurt Angle (who they made a strong pitch for), they had the high-level wrestling credentials to make them real. Bellator should take him, but that limits the upside and PPV money.
The key is hes 35 and his body is beaten up from years of pro wrestling. While he does train in fighting disciplines, he doesnt have the competition background at a high level in any fighting sport. That is very old to start out in unless you want to compete at the beginners level. Its also hard to say if he goes against someone legit and loses, how it would affect him for a WWE return, either with the fans, or with management. And Im not sure exactly what kind of challenge hed be up for. Herschel Walker was up for the challenge, got a lot of publicity, but was put in with guys below his level that he was going to have no trouble beating. But hes also one of the great athletes of modern times.
Alberto Del Rios previous MMA means nothing good or bad for him because most fans dont know of it. But Punk is such a big star people would know. Batista did one fight and few saw it and it meant nothing one way or the other, but he also didnt lose. Had he got knocked out, would it have made a difference? Im leaning toward no from a fan standpoint because wrestling fans know the difference and if you are a star to wrestling fans, no matter your personal life shortcomings or screw-ups, in the end, you are still a star to them.
Punk also said hes told Vince McMahon (via text) that hed like to induct Ultimate Warrior into the Hall of Fame, although one would think his leaving may nix that, and there probably was never a chance of it to begin with.
He said hes never met Warrior, but Warrior texts him inspirational messages before PPVs and they have a connection. He noted that Hulk Hogan, who is rumored to be the one who inducted Warrior, hates Warrior.
He tried to downplay the Michelle Beadle/A.J. Lee thing. His description of what happened with he and Beadle was exactly what we heard, well with one added thing. She was with a few of her girlfriends and walked past him and said, Hey, fuckface and then high-fived them. I heard everything but the high-five to her friends, which I guess would explain why he wasnt too happy about it. She had claimed it was a greeting of endearment (the two dated at one time briefly), and later went on Twitter and made a comment about girlfriends ruining guys friendships with girls. His description of what happened with A.J. Lee (whose name he never mentioned, only saying my girlfriend) was very different, trying to low-key it and play down that anything happened.
He said the connection with HHH and Rener Gracie is that HHH and Stephanie brought Rener and Eve Torres (the former WWE star who now is involved in teaching Jiu Jitsu to women) to teach their kids Jiu Jitsu and he put over how great both of them are at teaching kids.
When asked about the network, he said as a fan in 1997 hed have loved if such a thing existed. As a wrestler, he doesnt know, because nobody knows how itll affect PPV bonuses and none of the wrestles have been told much of anything. Across the board, among the wrestlers, there is a lot of curiosity regarding WrestleMania paychecks. The one thing is, with all the new money coming in, all the wrestlers should make far more because the revenue will be way higher presumably come October when the new TV deals are in place. However, wrestlers have never been paid a cut of the TV deals in the past, and the bulk of their income is either their downside guarantee if they are hurt or not used well, or a formula based on the house show revenue, the PPV revenue, how their merchandise does and a fee from the video game. The network wont hurt house show revenue significantly or at all. It may hurt PPV revenue a lot, and may hurt revenue on DVDs somewhat.
So thats a situation to look at. But if PPV and DVD business goes down with the network, but the company gets as much or more revenue based on network subscribers, what cut of the network will the wrestlers be getting is a real issue. In a sense, with more revenue coming in presumably, wrestlers should be paid better. Yet at the same time, with so much of that income more guaranteed rather than generated based on individuals, when it comes to the key guys and big moneymakers, how will their value be measured?
He said he has no problem with Batista coming back in a Mania main event spot, but he did have a problem with Dwayne Johnson because he doesnt think you should be in the business part-time and take a WrestleMania spot from someone who deserves it, but since Batista is around the long haul he has no problem. I hope he doesnt really mean that because it would tell me he doesnt understand the concept of a drawing card, since the three Mania shows Johnson came back for were the three biggest grossing events of all-time because of that fact. I really dont think Batista will make anywhere close to the same difference this year that Johnson made the last three years, not that he may not help.
The subject of Bryan came up and he said that Bryan gets the biggest crowd reactions at the shows, but he doesnt know if its Bryan that is popular or the most popular wrestler, or that people just like screaming Yes, Yes, Yes.
An interesting note is a few days later at a Q&A at a comic con he did, he said he thought this was Bryans year and hed like to see Bryan in the main event at Mania instead of Batista, said Batista was his friend, hes glad he was back. He said he had no problem with Batista in the main event because hes back full-time. He said his belief Bryan should be in the main event was meant as no slight toward Batista.
Its a weird deal because things are self fulfilling in many ways. The Bryan & Punk shows havent done the kind of business the Cena & Orton shows do, and that would indicate the Yes chants arent selling tickets like Cena, but the biggest draw in most cases is going to be the guy pushed as the biggest star.
He said he was happy for Bryan because he knew where he came from. Helwani asked about Bryan stealing the chant from Diego Sanchez but never acknowledging it (Bryan has acknowledged it in a few interviews Ive heard) and Punk said something about how today people know while in the past people didnt know Superstar Billy Graham stole everything from Muhammad Ali and that Ali stole from Gorgeous George.
Graham did take a lot from Ali, but tailored it for his own thing and created a lot of new stuff. Dusty Rhodes took a ton from Graham, as he was in the AWA with Dick Murdoch when Graham was in his AWA heyday, and then used the same interviews when he went to Florida as a heel after the AWA, but also tailored it and created his own stuff.