Further Reaction from WWE Talent Regarding CM Punk

The latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter has provided further reaction from WWE talent regarding CM Punk and his now infamous interview with Colt Cabana that hit the Internet on Thanksgiving day. As previously reported, Punk revealed why he initially left WWE in January during the interview, and had a lot of negative things to say about his previous employer.

While reports have previously claimed that some of the guys and gals in WWE’s locker room sided with Punk on his frustrations, Dave Meltzer claims that not everyone is on Punk’s side of the fence. Some superstars actually agree with some of the comments made by Punk, especially on the medical side of things, but disagree with how Punk talked about his creative frustrations.

Meltzer writes,

“The interview pleased a lot of people and riled up many others. Virtually everyone in WWE kept quiet publicly on the subject, with the exception of Ryan Reeves (Ryback) and Brian James (a producer and the former wrestler known as Road Dogg). Punk portrayed Reeves, who he called “steroid guy,” as a dangerous guy who took 20 years off his life, and listed a slew of injuries he blamed Ryback for. James just took a measured approach when dealing with people on Twitter, saying there are two sides to every story and he’s only heard one side.

We were told most, but certainly not all, of the WWE talent loved some of what he said. Many were not happy about him complaining about his booking when he was booked better than all but a few guys over the past three years. The feeling of guys that while he complained about putting over Rock, Undertaker and Brock Lesnar in 2013, that most of them would have loved to have been in the position to work twice with Rock, and then do Mania against Undertaker and SummerSlam with Lesnar regardless of the outcome. One major name, while seeing Punk’s side on the medical issue and some other issues , felt most of the interview was “sour grapes.”

Many felt he came off badly about complaining that he was booked against HHH at WrestleMania, noting he’d be in one of the top matches and would get ample time to promote it. McMahon in the Austin podcast said that WrestleMania wasn’t about one main event these days, although Punk’s argument to that is that the guys in the one real main event get paid far better than just about anyone else on the show. Several felt he made himself look bad in complaining about having to put over Rock, Undertaker and Lesnar. The “two sides of every story” saying was said by others, but there was also a consensus that what he said about his experience in WWE was the same as many would say, with the difference that he made more money than all but a few, and they admired his balls to say it publicly.

Another person who knows several major WWE talents said, discounting the few that will parrot whatever Punk said, his experience is that there was a feeling that Punk’s comments on Ryback were unprofessional and cheap, and that nobody bought Ryback kicked Punk as hard as he could or intentionally broke his ribs. However, there was the feeling Punk is a genius, particularly for how he handled the situation. There was a lot of hate for Colt Cabana (I really don’t see why) according to one person. Some said they felt Punk was bitter. Almost nobody had any sympathy for his injury situation, noting that every top guy on the roster that works a full schedule has a litany of injuries.

Most agreed Punk not being allowed to walk Chael Sonnen to the ring on FOX and HHH walking Floyd Mayweather to the ring was a double standard and completely ridiculous (when that happened in May 2013, I heard that from a number of people). Nobody has even suggested this may be a work.

Most felt the idea of a three-way with Rock, Cena and Punk as he lobbied for as the main event at WrestleMania 29 would have been a bad idea. The consensus also was that Punk did not deserve, based on how over he was, to main event this year’s WrestleMania. Regarding Orton vs. Batista, Batista is very well liked (Batista is cool, I’ll just say that, and was in the wrong place at the wrong time with fans as far as a vocal part of the fan base thought they could force Bryan into the main event, saw Batista as the obstacle, and in the end they ended up doing so). The feeling was that the creative team totally misread the situation when it came to Batista and everything else at the time.

But the reaction was also that Punk’s ideas were not the best thing for the company for Mania this year either, only the best thing for Punk. Those in the office were totally behind Paul Levesque for the most part. Aside from one person very close to Punk who parroted almost everything he said, nobody agreed with everything Punk said 100 percent.

But all were fully aware even a hint of saying anything publicly in any agreement with him would be career suicide unless it was done by an untouchable guy, and there are only a few of them.”

You can listen to the entire CM Punk episode of Colt Cabana’s “Art of Wrestling” podcast below.

Editor’s Note: 
I bet the locker room is all a buzz about this interview, and I can’t even imagine the awkward tension that surrounds AJ Lee right now.