The magazine formally known as Gentleman's Quarterly put up a fantastic CM Punk interview late on Thursday. The whole interview is a must read, but here are some of the highlights:
I don't think it's any secret; I think the biggest match any wrestling company can do right now is C.M. Punk vs. Stone Cold Steve Austin. I've thought that since I was 15. I'm straight edge. I don't drink. I don't do drugs. I don't smoke. And that is the perfect protagonist or antagonist to Stone Cold Steve Austin, depending on how you want to spin it. It writes itself. You would have to try really, really hard to fuck that one up. The idea of being on television is to wear your T-shirt so people see it and maybe buy it. I had gone out previously in the night and wrestled. You throw your T-shirt on the ground, and I don't know what the hell happens to it after that. I came to the back, and I was looking for another T-shirt. I sent somebody to go and get one, and they came back with a XXL. I was like, "I'm going to be swimming in this thing." And it's always creepy when you're wearing wrestling trunks with a shirt because it doesn't look like you're wearing any pants. I had a Stone Cold Steve Austin shirt in my bag, and it fit me. I chuckled to myself and put it on. Am I planting seeds? I don't know. I can't guarantee to anybody that that match is going to happen. Do I want it to happen? Absolutely.
GQ: When you look back at your time with the WWE, what were your proudest moments?
C.M. Punk: I will always say that my proudest moment was just being C.M. Punk. When I started wrestling in the backyard with my buddies, I was C.M. Punk. When we didn't know anything about the wrestling business and decided that we needed to run shows because we were awesome, when we built a wooden ring and eventually bought a ring and started running shows-these untrained goofballs that we all were-I was obsessed with being the best wrestler. I think it's an awesome story, that I've been C.M. Punk since I was 15, and that I went from rolling around in the backyard to Wrestlemania. I'm extremely proud of that. I've always been me. The last three weeks of my career, I've cut some of the best promos I've ever cut, and I do consider myself to be a promo guy. Winning the Heavyweight Title for the first time, when I cashed in on Edge, was awesome. The fact that I can work with anybody, from Undertaker to Big Show to Rey Mysterio.I don't want to sound egotistical, but I'm egotistical to an extent. If you're in this business and you don't think that you're the best, or want to be the best, then I don't know what you're doing. I would never be happy with just coming to TV tapings, not working house shows, and just getting by, staying in the shadows. I'm proud of the fact that I can turn chickenshit to chicken salad.
We were just in Australia, and somebody on the babyface bus comes up to me and says, "Cena was at an appearance this morning, so do you know who was on the babyface bus with the most seniority? Kelly Kelly." Your ascension as a locker-room leader is one of those things that naturally happens. I would like to think that, instead of being the guy who yells at them to pick shit up, maybe they look at me as a leader. But maybe that's premature in my career.
GQ: In Australia, somebody caught you on camera calling a ringside fan a "homo." When it went public, you apologized for it immediately. What brought that on?
C.M. Punk: It was just me doing my job, being a bad guy. I'm glad you mentioned something. When I saw that TMZ picked it up, because what a salacious story, I was legit embarrassed. My best friend Chez, ever since I have known her, has tried to curb anyone around her from using any gay slur. It's something that slipped out, more in reference to the guy's faux-hawk. It's not like he said anything that made me mad. It was just a back-and-forth that everybody was enjoying until I slipped and said something that could potentially damage somebody. I wasn't proud of it. I have gay friends, and sitting there in Australia, I was immediately thinking, "What are they going to say? Are they going to be disappointed?" Before I even talked to anybody in the office, I went to Twitter, and I apologized. It wasn't a public relations statement. It was just that I fucked up.
GQ: Are you set for life? Could you never work again?
C.M. Punk: I don't know if this sounds bad, but I am set, yeah. I don't spend my money. I don't buy cars or have an expensive drug habit. The only thing I've ever bought with the money I've made is my house. My car was paid for in 2005. I don't like having debts. I don't like buying anything that I can't buy in cash. I didn't have a credit card until about a year ago. I'm not going to say I'm fortunate, because I've sacrificed a whole ton, but I'm set.GQ: Does that have any appeal for you? Never working again?
C.M. Punk: No. Everybody jokes with me that I'm going to go crazy in the first week, and maybe I am. But maybe that's what I need to experience. I've never not done this, whether it was because I needed to pay bills or because I was so passionate and obsessed about it. But I think I'm reaching a point where I can step away and where I need to step away for a while.
Check out the whole interview for more awesomeness. It's a great look into Punk's head that the public hasn't really gotten up to this point.