BRM Reviews Straight Shootin' with CM Punk

[Big Red Machine]

Punk talks about backyard wrestling, the different training styles of his three trainers, paying his dues, his first ladder match, the Gold Bond Mafia, his philosophy on blading, his thoughts on Ian Rotten, the heat between Jim Cornette and Ian Rotten, Nick Gage, Chris Hero's first few shows in CZW, his feud with Hero in IWA-MS, Eddie Guerrero, breaking his skull (and recovering from it), Jasmine St. Clair, CZW, John Zandig, and his match with Justice Pain, coming to ROH, his heel turn, his feud with Raven, his AWESOME Raven impressions, Daffney, the way she was written out of ROH), getting beer poured down his throat, and the segment after his dog-collar match with Raven at Death Before Dishonor, going to a CZW show to watch Chris Hero's back, wrestling Terry Funk, wrestling AJ Styles, his trip to Japan, and why he never went back to Zero-1, his tryout match in WWE, Vince Russo, Dutch Mantell, the origins of his Pepsi tattoo, Teddy Hart, and other things.

This was a very good shoot. It covered all of the bases, had some great stories, and, like everything punk does, felt 100% sincere.

[cero2k]

is this the one with Colt Cabana?

[Big Red Machine]

is this the one with Colt Cabana?

No. Just Punk.

[yourcrapsweak]

I'm curious, what does he say about CZW, Zandig and Justice Pain? I've seen his match with Pain and it was really really good (one of the matches that began to make me respect Pain as a wrestler).

[cero2k]

is this the one with Colt Cabana?

No. Just Punk.

what date is this from? can't find it

[Big Red Machine]

is this the one with Colt Cabana?

No. Just Punk.

what date is this from? can't find it

Not sure. I think it was early in 2004 or late in 2003. RF was still doing the interviews.

[Big Red Machine]

I'm curious, what does he say about CZW, Zandig and Justice Pain? I've seen his match with Pain and it was really really good (one of the matches that began to make me respect Pain as a wrestler).

Basically, Punk says that Pain is a moron and has no idea about general psychology. Punk said that when they were plotting out their match and Punk asked Pain if he was a babyface or a heel. Pain said that his gimmick was being a babyface who acted like a heel, which Punk thought didn't make much sense. Punk said that he thought he (Punk) should be the babyface, because it was his CZW debut and he was well known, so he would likely get babyface pops anyway, and because he was chasing the title. Punk said that Pain wanted to do one spot where he kicked Punk in the balls, and later in the match, wanted to do a spot where he shook Punk's hand, and Punk's response was (paraphrasing) "that doesn't make sense for me. You kicked me in the balls. Why would I want to shake your hand after that?" And that Pain just didn't get why that didn't make sense.

About Zandig, he said that he didn't like the way that Chris Hero was treated his second match in CZW (apparently the H8 Club legit beat the crap out of him with chairs or something like that- it is his match from the 12/14/2002 show, teaming with B-Boy against the H8 Club). He also said that he didn't respect Zandig as a promoter because Zandig did things like assign referees to be the ones to give out the paydays (meaning that he never had to face the initial burst of anger from someone when their wasn't enough cash to pay them, and the poor referee had to instead).

[yourcrapsweak]

I'm curious, what does he say about CZW, Zandig and Justice Pain? I've seen his match with Pain and it was really really good (one of the matches that began to make me respect Pain as a wrestler).

Basically, Punk says that Pain is a moron and has no idea about general psychology. Punk said that when they were plotting out their match and Punk asked Pain if he was a babyface or a heel. Pain said that his gimmick was being a babyface who acted like a heel, which Punk thought didn't make much sense. Punk said that he thought he (Punk) should be the babyface, because it was his CZW debut and he was well known, so he would likely get babyface pops anyway, and because he was chasing the title. Punk said that Pain wanted to do one spot where he kicked Punk in the balls, and later in the match, wanted to do a spot where he shook Punk's hand, and Punk's response was (paraphrasing) "that doesn't make sense for me. You kicked me in the balls. Why would I want to shake your hand after that?" And that Pain just didn't get why that didn't make sense.

About Zandig, he said that he didn't like the way that Chris Hero was treated his second match in CZW (apparently the H8 Club legit beat the crap out of him with chairs or something like that- it is his match from the 12/14/2002 show, teaming with B-Boy against the H8 Club). He also said that he didn't respect Zandig as a promoter because Zandig did things like assign referees to be the ones to give out the paydays (meaning that he never had to face the initial burst of anger from someone when their wasn't enough cash to pay them, and the poor referee had to instead).

I disagree with Punk here. Pain was the babyface champion, who did act like a badass heel (which is perfectly fine; hell it's similar to what Punk is doing right now), and even if Punk was the babyface coming in who was well known, there's nothing wrong with the crowd being split 50-50. And with the low blow spot, I see nothing wrong with Punk shaking his hand after it. Sometimes the whole point of shaking someone's hand (not just in wrestling but in life too) is to say hey we may not have been great to each other in the past, but after you gave me a hell of a match, in the end, I do respect you. For once, I think Punk is wrong.

[Big Red Machine]

I'm curious, what does he say about CZW, Zandig and Justice Pain? I've seen his match with Pain and it was really really good (one of the matches that began to make me respect Pain as a wrestler).

Basically, Punk says that Pain is a moron and has no idea about general psychology. Punk said that when they were plotting out their match and Punk asked Pain if he was a babyface or a heel. Pain said that his gimmick was being a babyface who acted like a heel, which Punk thought didn't make much sense. Punk said that he thought he (Punk) should be the babyface, because it was his CZW debut and he was well known, so he would likely get babyface pops anyway, and because he was chasing the title. Punk said that Pain wanted to do one spot where he kicked Punk in the balls, and later in the match, wanted to do a spot where he shook Punk's hand, and Punk's response was (paraphrasing) "that doesn't make sense for me. You kicked me in the balls. Why would I want to shake your hand after that?" And that Pain just didn't get why that didn't make sense.

About Zandig, he said that he didn't like the way that Chris Hero was treated his second match in CZW (apparently the H8 Club legit beat the crap out of him with chairs or something like that- it is his match from the 12/14/2002 show, teaming with B-Boy against the H8 Club). He also said that he didn't respect Zandig as a promoter because Zandig did things like assign referees to be the ones to give out the paydays (meaning that he never had to face the initial burst of anger from someone when their wasn't enough cash to pay them, and the poor referee had to instead).

I disagree with Punk here. Pain was the babyface champion, who did act like a badass heel (which is perfectly fine; hell it's similar to what Punk is doing right now), and even if Punk was the babyface coming in who was well known, there's nothing wrong with the crowd being split 50-50. And with the low blow spot, I see nothing wrong with Punk shaking his hand after it. Sometimes the whole point of shaking someone's hand (not just in wrestling but in life too) is to say hey we may not have been great to each other in the past, but after you gave me a hell of a match, in the end, I do respect you. For once, I think Punk is wrong.

Punk's point with the handshake thing is not that it wouldn't make sense for Pain to offer a handshake, but that it wouldn't make sense for Punk to accept it.

[yourcrapsweak]

Punk's point with the handshake thing is not that it wouldn't make sense for Pain to offer a handshake, but that it wouldn't make sense for Punk to accept it.

But a lot of the time, handshakes aren't kayfabe, and are legit displays of respect between workers. CZW fans especially know that. It still makes sense to me that Punk could shake his hand.

[Big Red Machine]

Punk's point with the handshake thing is not that it wouldn't make sense for Pain to offer a handshake, but that it wouldn't make sense for Punk to accept it.

But a lot of the time, handshakes aren't kayfabe, and are legit displays of respect between workers. CZW fans especially know that. It still makes sense to me that Punk could shake his hand.

But to Punk, if it is in the ring, it should be kayfabe. To Punk (and I agree with him), if it would be a kayfabe problem, the type of handshake you are referring to should take place backstage. It is just a disagreement on how far kayfabe should extend.

[yourcrapsweak]

Punk's point with the handshake thing is not that it wouldn't make sense for Pain to offer a handshake, but that it wouldn't make sense for Punk to accept it.

But a lot of the time, handshakes aren't kayfabe, and are legit displays of respect between workers. CZW fans especially know that. It still makes sense to me that Punk could shake his hand.

But to Punk, if it is in the ring, it should be kayfabe. To Punk (and I agree with him), if it would be a kayfabe problem, the type of handshake you are referring to should take place backstage. It is just a disagreement on how far kayfabe should extend.

I understand but CZW fans aren't stupid, there's no reason to not break kayfabe in that way unless you say you have too much respect for the business, but I think that's a silly excuse. I just think it wouldn't be a kayfabe problem for them to kayfabe shake hands in the ring. If the ballshot happened at the very end, then yeah I could understand. But if I remember correctly, it wasn't. It's not much different than using a weapon, or ramming them into the ring post. That's not traditional wrestling, so why would they shake hands if something like that happened? I dunno how to explain it the way it is in my head.

[Big Red Machine]

I understand but CZW fans aren't stupid, there's no reason to not break kayfabe in that way unless you say you have too much respect for the business, but I think that's a silly excuse. I just think it wouldn't be a kayfabe problem for them to kayfabe shake hands in the ring. If the ballshot happened at the very end, then yeah I could understand. But if I remember correctly, it wasn't. It's not much different than using a weapon, or ramming them into the ring post. That's not traditional wrestling, so why would they shake hands if something like that happened? I dunno how to explain it the way it is in my head.

I think it is different than a weapon shot, though. It is just less... honorable. You just don't go for the balls. It is disrespectful, in a way. In Punk's opinion, once you kick him in the balls, that's it. You showed him disrespect, so he isn't going to respect you.