NOTE: The COMPLETE, two-hour long CM Punk appearance on Colt Cabana’s “Art of Wrestling” podcast, which covers all of the notes written about in the article immediately below, as well as loads of additional behind-the-scenes, controversial pro wrestling subjects, can be listened to in its’ entirety via the YouTube player embedded directly above.
NOTE #2: For anyone interested, on page three is a very detailed, full-length article I wrote for some pro wrestling websites I work for that give a very extensive look at the backstage reaction in WWE to CM Punk’s controversial interview, which again, you can listen to in full via the YouTube player above.
ORIGINAL STORY …
During an extremely candid, two-hour long “shoot interview” on pro wrestler Colt Cabana’s “Art Of Wrestling” podcast, former WWE Superstar CM Punk (Phil Brooks), famed MMA enthusiast let loose on a number of very controversial subjects, where UFC eventually became part of the conversation.
After talking for well over an hour where he explained all of the issues that ultimately led to his WWE departure, which was revealed during the interview was actually a situation where Punk was fired by the company on the day of his wedding to his wife, current WWE Diva AJ Lee (April Jeanette Mendez), Punk spoke about the final moments he shared with the company as an active employee.
Punk recalled saying his final goodbye to WWE Chairman Vince McMahon after a heated behind-the-scenes meeting that resulted in him exiting the company.
“Here’s Vince McMahon who wants to hug me goodbye and has tears in his eyes and he’s like, ‘oh, we’re family,'” said Punk. “And then he f*cking fires me on my wedding day.”
The former WWE Superstar known to his legion of wrestling fans as “The Best in the World” would go on to discuss a legal letter he received from WWE after the two sides parted ways professionally.
“The letter was ridiculous,” said Punk. “It was like, ‘Your contract is terminated. You forefit all of your royalty rights [and] you’re in breach of contract as of January 27th.'”
While Punk isn’t a lawyer by trade, he knew something didn’t sound right about that.
“Which, I’m not even a f*cking lawyer and I know you can’t claim retro-breach, you know what I mean,” said Punk. “If I was in breach of contract on January 27th, [on] January 28th they would have to be like, ‘You’re in breach of contract. We’re not giving you your royalties.'”
To Punk, that wouldn’t have been a big deal.
“And I would’ve been like, ‘Great, fine,'” said Punk.
From there, “The Best in the World” shed some light on a legal matter that many in the MMA community might find ammusing — or disheartening — depending on your expectations of CM Punk as a potential future professional MMA fighter.
“There was a big no-compete [clause in his WWE contract], specifically naming Ultimate Fighting Championships, which I got a huge kick out of,” said Punk. “I was like, ‘Alright, …uhh…okay. [laughs].’ But they’re ‘not competition with WWE,'” Punk joked, referring to WWE’s constant claims that they don’t view UFC as a competitor of theirs in the business world.
Click below to advance to page two to continue reading this story …
