Co-Founder of APMA Walks Through How CM Punk Came to Be Host of APMA

Upon CM Punk departing from WWE in late January of 2014, the “Best in the World” would not make a major public appearance until July. On the 21st of the month, Punk co-hosted a red carpet pre-show for the inaugural Alternative Press Music Awards. Additionally, Punk was part of the award show itself, presenting Smashing Pumpkins frontman and fellow Chicago native Billy Corgan with an award.

One of the co-founders of the Alternative Press Music Awards (APMA,) Josh Bernstein, recently sat down with Journey of a Frontman, talking about the inaugural APMA. One of the most interesting parts of the interview saw Bernstein give a very detailed story about how CM Punk’s appearance at the awards show came about.

When asked, “how did CM Punk become a part of it,” Bernstein said the following:

“Well I think it’s pretty obvious throughout my career that I am a huge wrestling dork and any opportunity I ever could have to involve wrestlers in any project I’m working on, I’ll take advantage of it. I met Phil in 2008 when we did the first Golden Gods Awards. I reached out to the WWE to involve some of the talent. This is a really funny story, I was at an AC/DC concert and I had really good seats through work, but the whole row behind me was empty. Halfway through the show, I was wondering who was not showing up to an AC/DC concert at the Garden? And all of a sudden, this security guard came down and was like, “Alright, the row is clear. Bring ‘em in.” And it was Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon, John Cena, John Laurinaitis, Bruce Pritchard, a couple other wrestlers and all these hot chicks. I was like, “What the hell’s going on here?” I turned around and Vince McMahon was right behind me and I was like, “Oh, Vince McMahon, I can’t believe I have a better seat than you. Come on, take my seat.” And he was like, “Come on kid, turn around. Come on, come on.” I told him I wanted him to take my seat. He told me he to turn around and enjoy the show. So I got the vibe that he was basically telling me to F off. I then turned my attention to Shane McMahon and we started talking. I told him how I had interviewed for the WWE earlier and I had passed on the job, since my current employer said if I stayed, I could do this awards show idea. He gave me his card and said to stay in touch. When the Golden Gods was launching and he put me in touch with WWE public relations. I knew Jericho was a music fan, but he was unavailable at the time. So I said, “Listen, there’s this guy, CM Punk. I have Killswitch Engage booked for my awards show and they do his entrance theme. Maybe he could come out and introduce the band onstage?” They agreed, so we got CM Punk to appear at the first Golden Gods Awards. He did a great job. I reminded him of the story that I thought him being straight edge was just a gimmick for television, like Big Boss Man being a cop and I offered him a bunch of drink tickets and he was like, “Are you kidding me?” I was like, “Oh, you’re really straight edge?” And he goes, “Yeah, I’m really f***in’ straight edge.” (laughs) I told him I was so sorry. He forgave me. So we then were launching the AP Awards. I know Chris Jericho loves metal, but the punk stuff isn’t really his bag. I just reconnected with CM Punk and the WWE and invited him to partake. It was obviously tricky because at the time I started talking to him, he was still wrestling in WWE. And by the time the awards show came, he had gone AWOL. No one really knew what was going on. I had to basically keep his involvement secret until his contract ended. And that contract didn’t end until three or four days before the awards show, so we didn’t announce his involvement until the very end. When we did, it was his first real public appearance since he left WWE. I knew it was going to be a big deal. He had gone to some ballgames and he was on Talking Dead, but this was his first big appearance. He’s just such a cool guy. He’s a legit fan of the music and scene, so I knew he would not only be wonderful as host on the carpet, but a great presenter as well. It was cool working with him and the bands loved that he was there. I’d love to work with him again for sure.”

Continuing, Bernstein put more emphasis on CM Punk’s expiring contract with WWE, noting how TNA and MMA quickly came calling:

“As you can imagine, once word got out before the show, you would’ve thought I was his agent or manager. No one knew how to even get a hold of him. I got a movie offer for him. I got a commercial offer. I got labels wanting him to put out a record. It was insane. We’re trying to do an awards show here with 75 different participating bands and he easily got fifty percent of all press and interview requests. MMA folks were calling me. TNA called me. I found myself becoming very protective of him because he’s not a character, he really is that guy. I gave him my word that I would be professional and I would protect him and make the experience comfortable. I found myself fending off all these swarming flies, so to speak. Of course, every interviewer wants to ask him that one burning question. I didn’t want him to have to deal with that. I just isolated him until the show. But at that point, I couldn’t block all the wrestling questions. That night, he was being interviewed and he replied by saying, “I will never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever wrestle.” To be honest with you, I know this sounds crazy, but I never asked him what was happening. Even as the biggest mark in the world, I didn’t ask one wrestling question. I didn’t want to be “that guy.” He was getting married in the middle of the process too and I was like, “Oh, congratulations to you and your wife!” To me, I wanted to be professional and not like an idiot fanboy. When I interviewed for WWE years ago, I thought they might not hire me because I was a wrestling fan. So I just played dumb. They told me, “This guy Undertaker, he has a brother.” And I was like, “This Undertaker guy has a brother? Oh my god, that’s crazy!” But probably by the third interview, I snapped. I said, “I can’t do this anymore! Of course I know who Kane is!” They asked why I was lying to them. I told him that if they knew I was a fan, they wouldn’t take me seriously. I want to them to hire me because I’m the right guy for the job, not because I know what’s in the urn and about Paul Bearer and all that. I want to earn their respect separately based on merit before they find out I own wrestling figures.”

Be sure to check out the entire interview, here.

Editor’s Note

A bit lengthy, but a tremendous look at how CM Punk came to host the APMA, with some great anecdotes.