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CM Punk appeared on Stephanie McMahon's podcast, where he discussed the best advice he received from Paul Heyman and the story of how he got over with Pat Patterson and became one of his "guys"
Stephanie McMahon: What is one of the best pieces of advice, life or business, that you've ever received from Paul Heyman?
CM Punk: The first thing that comes to mind I don't even really think was advice, but it became prophetic because it was true. Anytime I was ever frustrated—and I do have this drive based on "F**k you, I'm the best," that's how I've always wanted to approach things. I wrestled Eddie Guerrero in the Indies and I was immediately like, "Oh boy, okay, I got some f**king work to do." But at the level I was at, yeah, I thought it was great. Oh shit, there's another summit. Paul, anytime I was frustrated and I would say things, he said one time, "You're gonna have to leave and come back to get what you want."
Oh, wow. And I was like, "Oh, that stinks," because you don't necessarily wanna leave. I'm on the team. I understand people being proud of the company you work for. "Oh, I work for WWE and we're the best." Yeah, you work there. Your perspective's gonna change based on what team you play for. You're not gonna hear somebody on the Ottawa Senators saying, "Yeah, we're okay, but I'd really love to play over there for the Maple Leafs." F**king greatest way to get yourself thrown out of the locker room. "Let's see if they want ya."
What in turn I learned from that was just like, it's not always gonna be rainbows and puppy dogs and sunshine. But if you bust your ass, and if you are good enough and you're consistent, yeah, you do get put in the places you belong. I was just probably impatient, and it took me a long time to get to where I wanted to be. Now I'm where I wanna be, and now people are like, "You're old," and I'm like, "What the **ck?" Like, when I was 32, maybe I wasn't ready to receive this. I grew into the person that was ready to do it. It wasn't really advice, maybe it was a little Yoda-esque because I had to kinda figure it out myself. But at the time, I took that as a negative. "Yeah, you're gonna have to leave and come back." I was like, "There's nowhere else to work. What do you mean? This is it."
So that was probably it, other than just trust your instincts and be yourself. He was a big one on always telling me to trust my instincts. A perfect example—I'm way out of my depth here—this is my first pay-per-view. It's Survivor Series. We're in Philly. I lived in Philly at the time, hardcore fan base, they all know me. I'm debuting on pay-per-view. I've only been on TV since August. I've been on the road full time for four months. I'm still a newbie, right? I'm in the Survivor Series match. It's me, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Matt Hardy, and Jeff Hardy. So there's four people that have been on television consistently since 1992, '93—'96, '97 for the Hardys—compared to my four months.
Pat Patterson, f**king legend, he's the agent. He's sitting there going over the match. We're working... can you guys pull it up? Who's the fifth guy? Randy... Johnny Nitro! Ah, yes. Oh my gosh. And Pat's there and Pat's like, "Okay, guys. This is what we do. We get the heat on Jeff, we get the heat on Jeff." And the little f**king voice in my head was just like, "You should get the heat on me." And Edge, to his credit, was like, "Ah, I really think we give it to the kid." It was either get the heat on him or give him the comeback, I can't really remember. But the moment, there was some mechanical device in the match where I was really like, "Ah, I can't just stand here in this group of f**king people and raise my hand and be like, 'I think it should be me.'" So I just kinda sat there. And Pat was like, "No way. It's Jeff Hardy. They go crazy for Hardy. They don't know who this kid is." From his perspective, he's not wrong. I had no ill will towards Pat. I was just like, "No, it's f**king Jeff. They'll go f**king banana for Jeff." And they eventually agreed and they gave me the moment. After the match, he came up to me, "Oh, I am so sorry. I had no idea they know who you are. Oh my God, they love you." From that point on, I was Pat's guy. And I was like, "F**k. How cool. Man, I really earned my money that day."
Stephanie McMahon: And you earned it. That's a super cool f**king moment.
CM Punk: Yeah, and I wasn't mad at Pat, but it was just one of those instincts in my head where I was just like, "I'm feeling something." Pat knew me for four months; you were just another new kid. He looked at it and he was like, "No, Jeff's the babyface." From Pat's perspective, that I've heard him say, "There's old shit and there's new shit." That was one of the greatest days of my career, honestly, because I felt like I earned Pat's f**king love. And that was tough to do.
Stephanie McMahon: Yes, it was. It really was.
CM Punk: But then I would start asking him questions about Ray Stevens and shit, and he'd be like, "Ray Stevens?!" And then I got to nerd out with Pat, yeah. Then I would be like, "Oh, Harley said one time." So many great stories Pat had. He is a legend. Absolutely. First Intercontinental Champion, created the Royal Rumble. Rio de Janeiro, as it happens, right? The lore. Unfortunately, there's no footage of it. It was eaten by moths.
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