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Helwani: Wow. He went on air several days later and said he's never been afraid for his life like this. Been going to shows for 30 years. Felt fearful for his life, for the safety of the workers. When you saw this, What is your reaction when you see this? Not only was it was a promo on TV, but then he also spoke to the crowd, right? There was a a clip that surfaced of him talking to the people in your town, right? I believe it was in in Chicago, just outside.
Punk: Yeah.
Helwani: When you saw that version of the story being put out, what is your reaction?
Punk: I can't tell you what Tony felt or what he was thinking, but I never did anything that would make him fear for his life. He's who he is.
Helwani Did you feel like your reputation was being slandered? Of course someone hears that and you think...I'll be honest....I hear like I hear that and I'm like did Punk attack Tony.
Punk: Yeah, I know and everyone's oh my God, think of the billionaires, right? No, yeah, they're very much as a part of there's a concerted effort to I guess slander me and try to ruin my character and stuff like that and that's the genesis of the Punk scene...all the drama, don't do that. Why are you doing that to a guy who works for your company? Why are you lying? Why are you spreading rumors and lies and bullshit about your top guy? It doesn't make any sense. You're only hurting yourself. I'm trying to dim my stuff. I don't know, jealousy envy I don't really know and again, it's not really the time to litigate it all and everything but like It's an unfortunate situation. I have a lot of friends there and there's a lot of good people that work there I hope they continue to get paid,
Helwani: How would you describe what it's like working for Tony?
Punk: Man, it's a loaded question, because I don't want this to be, I don't like the drama. The truth is the truth. Like he's he's not a boss. He's he's a nice guy, and I think ultimately that is a detriment to the company, but it's not my company. I just, I'm an outsider. I thought I was brought in to, sell merchandise and tickets and draw, numbers for pay per views and stuff. And, I clearly did that, but that's not what the place was about, and some people didn't like that.
Helwani: Is there any part of you that's always man, I'm 45, I'm tired of this shit?
Punk: Yeah, very much yeah.
Helwani: Why?
Punk: Did you, you saw my exasperated press conference when I'm eating Mindy's?
Helwani:Yes, of course.
Punk: Drinking Spindrift. So there's very much a guy who's just, I'm too old for this shi**.
Helwani: So you just talked about how this all started. So then we go to the feud with Hangman Page Adam Page. And it seems, correct me if I'm wrong, when you debut in August of 2021, up until the spring of 2022, it's pretty good times, right?
Punk: I thought so. Yeah.
Hewani: But then when he says, I'm not here to just, fight you, I'm here to protect you, or protect the locker room from you in so many words, and the story is that he, went off script, so to speak, and really pissed you off by saying that. Did you feel like that was the first time that your reputation, that your character was being slandered?
Punk: What he said didn't. It didn't matter to me, but when you sit, peeling the curtain back, ladies and gentlemen, and again, if you want to believe all the bad things about me, please do, just leave me alone. If I'm working with you, and we sit, and we talk, I think one of the biggest criticisms about WWE was it's overly scripted. There's writers, pro wrestlers don't need writers. Some people don't. Some people do. Some people prefer it, right? It's, I sat down with them. And we hammered, I was very gracious, hammered out this promo. Oh, if I say this, what if you say this? Okay, I'll say this. Oh, if you say that, I'll say this. Okay, great. Great? Yeah, awesome, great. Then he proceeds to go on live TV and not say any of the sh** that we talked about. I can't hear him because the crowd's so loud and I'm looking at him and I have to really pay attention to what he's saying because my responses matter. I can't just say what I had planned, because it's not going to match what he's saying to me. He's saying some sh**, and I don't know what he's talking about. And I'm just like, man, why would you do this? Why would you ruin TV is very expensive. Every minute of TV is hundreds of thousands of dollars, between production and all that stuff. You're just sh**ting on me, and you're sh**ting on the business. Why would you do this? I knew the promo ended with him punching me. There's very///I had to fight the, just double leg him, just double leg. Why is he doing this? I don't know what's going on, but I was a professional. Afterwards I spoke to him and I was like, why did you do that? And, he thinks I got one of his friends fired, who hasn't been fired. But I went to Tony and the lawyer and I said, you need to fix that, because if I do, you're not going to like the way I fix it. I thought I was being professional. By not just murdering him on television. I know some people are going to be upset about that. Some people are going to be like, Oh, he's talking about this guy again. But with me, respect is the default. I respect everybody. Until you do something that makes me lose my respect for you. And I had never done anything to any of those guys. If they're basing how their attitude is towards me based on some bullsh** their friend told them I can't help you, but I got plenty of friends who don't like certain people, and I keep relationships business. Yeah, that's everything went off the rails from there. It's a shame. It's a shame.
Helwani: You guys have a match, I believe from what you have said, you were thinking the whole time that it would go off the rails in the match, so you couldn't really fully how could I trust him?
Punk: Of course. Yeah.
Helwani: You injure your foot, right? You break your foot.
Punk: The week after, yeah.
Helwani: Take some time off, come back, and then it's the Moxley match. You win. When you are getting ready to go to that scrum, did you know that you were about to unload all of this? Or is it just something in the moment that kind of took over you perhaps?
Punk: No. Getting out there and seeing, reporters that report sh** about you like it's fact without ever checking with you to see if stuff happened, who are openly friends with other wrestlers, it just it's just f**king high school. It's high school. Clicky, Mean Girls drama bullshit and I get there and I see these goofs, and I just You know, lose my temper.
Helwani: Top three CM Punk promos, though. It was tremendous. Yeah, 100%. I know you don't like the,
Punk: Do you like Pipe Bomb now? Because I know one time, famously, you said you hated Pipe Bomb. But again, what are we going to do? Are we going to credit me for changing the vernacular about how people talk about promos? Or are we going to just be like, he's overrated. You got to pick, you got to pick a lane.
Helwani: I like it.
Punk: Yeah I don't mind. How many terms are that associated with a person, right?
Helwani: No, it's great. That's how I know I did something great that night. People are still talking about it. That's 2011.
Punk: Yeah.
Helwani: It's been 13 years. So you do that, you say all of that, and it's fascinating going back and watching it because it's clear that Tony's a little bit uncomfortable sitting next to you.
Punk: It's nothing he'd never heard before.
Helwani: Maybe he didn't know that it would come out right then and there.
Punk: Should've handled it.
Helwani: What happens when that scrum is over?
Punk: Went home, got surgery, got my arm fixed.
Helwani: Yeah. Can you not talk about that?
Punk: I don't think I can.
Helwani: That's brawl out, right?
Punk: Yeah. Yeah.
Helwani: That's the one where there is an actual,...is there anything you could tell us about that?
Punk: I didn't have to sign an NDA for anything I did wrong.
Helwani: Interesting. What does that mean? It means I have nothing to hide and I don't give a sh**.
Helwani: So just, for the record, once and for all, can you tell us what happened?
Punk: No.
Helwani: Oh, there is? Yeah. Oh, for that particular one? There's an NDA in place for that one.Punk: Yeah.
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