Two Phone Calls With CM Punk (Part 3/3)

I made thousands of phone calls while working on the WWE Creative Team to various talents.  Usually to fill talents in on what they were doing on TV or run a future idea by them.  I was calling CM Punk to wish him a Merry Christmas and Punk’s response to me was not festive; it was cold… it was standoffish.  After what had happened the week before at ECW TV and really the entire year before in 2007 in WWE, his frustration was justified.

Back in September 2007 when CM Punk won the ECW Title, there was a hope he was turning the corner with those in power in WWE.  After the suspension of various talents, Punk was presented for exactly who he was straight edge, as a way to combat the bad PR.  CM Punk the poster boy of WWE?  While WWE wanted to clean up its image externally, the internal feelings over Punk still remained the same.

Elijah Burke

After beating John Morrison on TV, Punk’s first title defense on PPV was against Elijah Burke.  After losing to John Morrison on PPV three times in a row, Punk needed a strong and decisive victory to show he was a deserving champion.  Elijah beat on Punk for a large majority of the match.  Without a comeback, Punk simply rolled up Elijah to get the victory.  No real chance for Punk to shine.  No use of his finishing maneuver – the GTS.  He was the champion who survived a beating and was able to roll up the challenger who looked far superior in the match.

You might say, “You wrote it that way.”  I’ll explain what a “WWE Writer” is involved with and not.  Our job is to create the stories that surround the matches and characters.  Sometimes they are as simple as “I’m better then you because…”  and sometimes they are as complex and silly as “Dawn Marie falling in love with the father of Torrie Wilson”.  We pitched these stories based on the marching orders of Vince and Stephanie and created the show scripts with the matches and interviews.  Once we arrived at the arena, the matches are worked out NOT by the writers but instead by the former wrestlers called Agents/Producers.  The agents communicated the “message” of Vince to the talents about what the match should accomplish.   Once they leave the agent meeting, it’s in the hands of the agent and the talents to create the match.

Big Daddy V

CM Punk made his first trip to Chicago as ECW Champion for the 2007 WWE PPV No Mercy.  I never asked Punk how big a deal this was to him but I knew how it felt to me to do shows in Philadelphia.  Going to see live wrestling at Philadelphia Spectrum or the Civic Center as a kid made me want to work in wrestling.  Being part of creating memories for a whole new generation of fans in the town I grew up in was one of the coolest parts of the job.  That night in Chicago, CM Punk faced Big Daddy V in his second defense of the ECW Title.  Big Daddy V was a complete relaunch of Viscera with a new look and a new attitude – a killer, monster heel.  As soon as he was repackaged and getting over, we were told that Big Daddy V would be “moving up” to Raw or Smackdown.  That night in Chicago, Punk walked into a slaughter but still “walked out” champion.  Probably not the memorable moment that Punk wanted in his first major match with WWE in Chicago.

As Punk walked into Chicago for Money in the Bank this past month vs. John Cena, I thought back to this match.  There was no way Vince McMahon would have had CM Punk beat Big Daddy V.  CM Punk had fallen into that “Rey Mysterio Champion” mold in Vince’s mind.  That he’s “lucky” to be champion and that he has to squeak out victories.  In a finish that made no sense, Matt Striker, after Punk knocked down Big Daddy V, attacked Punk in front of the ref costing his man the ECW Title.  These type of finishes do not help the champion or the challenger.  It’s this type of booking that cause people to scratch their head at WWE.  It’s this type of booking that built the frustration inside CM Punk.

CM Punk wasn’t the only talent that high ranking members of the WWE looked at with a warped perception on the ECW roster.  John Morrison and the Miz came to ECW in the summer because RAW and Smackdown didn’t know what to do with them.  Dusty and I happily took the challenge of finding new things for these talents.  ECW in 2007, carrying the theme of the original brand, was the “island of misfit toys”.   Johnny Nitro had reinvented himself as John Morrison.  Viscera went from being the pajama wearing joke to a killer Big Daddy V.  And the “annoying” Miz had reinvented himself as the “The Chick Magnet”.  

If you’ve followed the story of the Miz in 2010/2011, you know how he the locker room in 2006/2007 treated him.  It was the longest running storyline of 2007 that started to change the perception on Miz.  Yes, Balls Mahoney vs. The Miz was the longest running storyline of 2007.  And it showed the range that the Miz had.

When CM Punk walked into Cyber Sunday, the audience was going to vote on who faced him for the ECW Title.  Big Daddy V, The Miz or John Morrison.  Morrison seemed to be the logical pick since he had the most history and would be the “better match” for voters.  Big Daddy V had destroyed Punk at the previous PPV and fans could want Punk to get revenge.  But the fans chose The Miz.  This was the first inclination that the Miz was connecting and this was the first major title defense that Punk won decisively.  The next month at the Survivor Series, Punk had defeat Miz and Morrison in a triple threat match; pinning Miz after the GTS.  The tide was turning and Punk was gaining momentum as champion.

Miz & Morrison

The long term plan was to make Miz the ECW Champion but when we put the WWE Tag Team Titles on Morrison and Miz instead of Mark Henry and The Great Khali, (hear this story in this podcast with John Carle here) the story needed to be altered.  Chavo Guerrero was chosen to be an interim challenger for CM Punk.  This was to kick off in a special episode of ECW where it was United States Champion MVP vs. ECW Champion CM Punk.  The approved pitch in the agent meeting was to see CM Punk to make his comeback on MVP and just as he’s about to hit the GTS, MVP takes a walk and be counted out.  That way Punk is looking great when Chavo Guerrero hits from the audience to attack Punk and make his statement.   That’s not what happened.

MVP gets disqualified for kicking the crap out of Punk and refusing to stop after the five count.  Then a dead CM Punk is jumped by Chavo Guerrero.  This is an example of how a finish changes during a taping day.  It didn’t help Chavo and it made Punk look bad.  Just when Punk thought he was starting to see some daylight in the making waves in the company.

This segment was the last thing that happened before I made that Merry Christmas phone call to Punk.  He was mad.  I tried to explain the original pitch for the segment and he knew how the system worked.  I was simply who he was taking his frustration out on; I knew my job.  When a talent is told, “Creative has nothing for you”, it usually  means that Vince just didn’t see making money with that talent.  When ECW had a bad show full of bad matches, it wasn’t the agents who took an earful for three hours on a plane flight home, it was creative.  I genuinely liked Punk because he did voice his frustration.  Most of the talents would pretend to be “buddy buddy” with members of the team in hopes that it would “lead to a push”.   Punk did apologize to me for the phone call after the holidays but I understood his frustration.  It was Punk’s natural human reaction; instead of a lot of talents who let it eat away inside them and lash out in stupid ways.  Punk always stuck to his guns and never changed who he was; he’s still the same way.

I made another phone call to Punk a little over a month later that was much different.  It was me calling to let him know I had been dismissed from WWE and we wouldn’t be working together anymore.  Punk was the first talent I called.  Again, we weren’t friends but I respected him enough that I wanted him to hear it from me and not read it online.  The tone of the conversation was much different then the previous.  Punk was sympathetic of my situation and appreciative of what we had done working together.  I wished him luck in the future and told him I knew he’d do great going forward.   I had similar calls with Miz and Morrison; these guys were genuine as well.  The talents who were “buddy buddy” didn’t call.  In fact, I heard all about the BS they said after I was gone.  That’s wrestling though and it’s a business full of “what can you do for me.”  And now that I couldn’t do anything for some, they took pleasure in talking.  I’m glad I don’t have to be those people because there will come a point where they realize they can’t do anything for themselves.

I saw Punk a few time since then.  My favorite was one of those moments you think only happens in movies.  You’re walking by an airport bar and you see someone you haven’t seen in almost two years.  Yup, CM Punk was in a bar… drinking water and by his feet was his second Money In the Bank briefcase.  He was heading home from the WWE TV tapings in Los Angeles and I was heading to Philadelphia for ROH TV tapings.  He was on the cusp of starting his first heel run with WWE; where he really shined and hasn’t looked back since.  While 2007 really was a hard year for him, the years since have built an even larger fan base for Punk.  To see him catch fire over the last month simply by being himself gives hope.  If you walk away with one lesson from CM Punk and these posts  – being yourself and never compromising what you believe will make you successful.

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Part 1 - Which Hall Of Famer Saved CM Punk

Part 2 - How CM Punk Won His First Title 

Part 3 - Two Phone Calls With CM Punk

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