Love him or hate him, wrestling fans remain somewhat obsessed by Phil “CM Punk” Brooks. Some view him as the hero who stood up to the McMahons, and a name to chant whenever WWE does something they don’t like. Others see him as an ingrate and iconoclast, and wish his fans would leave him in the past the way he left wrestling in his.
But either way, Punk is like the boy/girlfriend who dumps you and goes on living a happy life, seeming unaffected by your triumphs or tragedies. We can’t stop checking in to see if maybe, possibly he’ll say something about us.
And as a guest on the April 8 edition of Sauce & Shram (a Chicago-based podcast and Stadium network talk show)... he talked about us!
Asked about the big WrestleMania 35 WWE title win for his former traveling partner Kofi Kingston, Punk said:
“It should’ve happened ten years ago. That’s what I’ll lead with. And it’s just one of those things where, yes, I’m stoked it happened now. But again, be ahead of the curve instead of way behind it. That’s a dude who I saw something in, and regardless of what anybody else thinks of him, the company didn’t. And that seems to be kind of their modus operandi. They don’t get behind people when they should. And it ain’t too late with Kofi. Kofi’s still the man. And I look at it from like a personal point of view. Maybe it’s almost better now, cause he’s got two kids now, and he can maybe appreciate it more. And those kids are looking at their dad like... always good to see somebody, regardless of - whatever the avenue, sports, anything get their just due. Congratulations, Kofi, that’s awesome.
It’s testament to how long Kofi’s been there, how good he is, and I guess the stars aligned and it was his night.”
On the women’s main event:
“That’s thing about it being a - what do call it, right? Is it a sport, is it entertainment? And it’s predetermined, so they can do whatever they want. So the first African-born champion - that’s awesome. Should it have happened ten years ago? You know, I guess that’s the beauty of it. Cause we can all as spectators argue and have opinions on it.
Women being in the main event? Spectacular. I’d like to shout out my wife, I think she maybe had a little bit to do with paving the road that way. I think the responsibility for that and the reason it happened - I think a lot of that falls on Ronda Rousey. So shout out to Ronda Rousey. I don’t know if it would have happened without her and her mainstream appeal. All the women are tremendous athletes, tremendous characters, but sometimes you need that extra little push, you know what I mean? And Ronda’s not just like a Lawrence Taylor, somebody coming in, getting this main event spotlight. She’s been there - somebody even told me she does house shows, so she’s been a lifelong fan. And I just think it’s great because I think representation is very very important... and it’s something that just being on the outside looking at my wife writing a book, speaking on mental health a lot, I see little girls all the time, ‘oh your wife did this for me, and watching your wife’ so I think if there’s people of color who are out there who see Kofi and they see that and that means you can do that - I feel the same way about women. Those three women last night, put it all on the line, you know, for everybody’s entertainment. And I think the best thing to come out of all of that is the little girls that can watch that and aspire to be something greater than what we all are.”
And last but not least, what does Punk think about Shane McMahon using one of his old catchphrases/nicknames:
“I think he’s been calling himself the best in the world. And this is the funny thing about the company, is I could say, ‘Yeah, that’s a little shot at me.’ And, it probably is, but they’d deny it until the cows come home.”
So there you go. Not exactly earth-shattering takes or revelations, but he talked about WWE and pro wrestling with something other than disdain.
Does it change anything about your own opinion of the Straight-Edge Superstar?