Shocking Photo! C.M. Punk In Street Clothes
Who's that Punk?
After reading C.M. Punk's interview last week with Time Out Chicago, in which he revealed that he is not allowed to wear street clothes on television "because Vince McMahon says I don’t look like CM Punk when I’m not in my gear," I dug through some photos I took during the 2007 THQ videogame challenge over WrestleMania 23 weekend in Detroit to find this.
Sorry the quality isn't so good, but that's Punk in a baseball hat and polo shirt. He also had jeans on, and maybe sandals. In a room full of WWE fans, I don't think anybody had a hard time recognizing him. But I've got to admit that if you didn't follow WWE and ran into Punk in a bar, you would never think you were standing next to wrestling's world heavyweight champion.
While it may seem innocent enough, the subtext of McMahon's mandate may say a lot about what he really thinks of Punk, and how serious he is about making him a top player in WWE for years to come. McMahon obviously thinks Punk doesn't look like a wrestler, much less a heavyweight champion who can hold his own against big men like Batista, Kane, and John Cena.
And forget about Punk's quote, all the evidence you need to prove that notion has been in Punk's title reign so far. After pinning JBL with some outside distraction in his first title defense the night he won the belt, Punk hasn't exactly been mowing down his competition. He survived by the skin of his teeth in matches against Batista and Kane, and got a second clean win against JBL at SummerSlam. I was willing to give WWE the benefit of the doubt that they planned to make a good faith effort to get Punk over as a top star, but I'm starting to wonder.
As I wrote yesterday, with the Hell in a Cell match and the first ever Cena-Batista match both booked on the same night, you could find a valid reason why Punk's title defense was not one of the centerpieces of SummerSlam. But there was no reason why they couldn't clear the way to give Punk a money, one-on-one title defense to headline Unforgiven - or at least a second to the top match behind a possible Jericho-Michaels showdown. Instead - obviously convinced that Punk lacks the star power to carry a meaningful main event on his own - WWE announced yesterday their newest concept match – a five-man world heavyweight championship “scramble” match.
Nevermind the TNA-inspired convoluted rules, in which the title can change hands several times within the allotted 20 minutes. It would seem to me that the biggest reason WWE decided to go with this match as the main event of Unforgiven is that they don't have faith in Punk's drawing ability. So they decide to throw more established draws like Cena and Batista in the match.
I'll reserve judgment until I watch the match, which could conceivably feature Punk never getting pinned, and surviving the match with his championship in tow. But in between the announcement of the scramble, and Punk unceremoniously doing a clean job to Chris Jericho in his hometown last night on Raw, I'm starting to wonder if this whole Punk experiment is less about sincerely trying to create a new star, and more about proving those "Internet marks" wrong.
And if some people think I'm being too pessimistic, let me remind you of another undersized wrestler who, against all odds, captured the world heavyweight championship and seemed to embody a new direction for WWE - one in which substance, not size, would dictate what the company's main eventers would look like.
After three months of holding on to his belt through DQ wins and count outs, Rey Mysterio lost the title to Booker T. The next month, he wrestled in the opening match of SummerSlam against Chavo Guerrero.
Nevertheless, I'm still willing to believe that WWE has big plans for Punk - regardless of how he looks in cargo shorts and a button down.
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"After three months of holding on to his belt through DQ wins and count outs, Rey Mysterio lost the title to Booker T. The next month, he wrestled in the opening match of SummerSlam against Chavo Guerrero."
Did Rey even get that much? I just remember him being pinned cleanly by Mark Henry and Great Khali in back-to-back weeks and than beat up by Kane although not pinned. He also admitted in a promo that he was about to tap out to Kurt Angle the previous week before someone interfered.
Punk's run hasn't been perfect, but I don't think it's even close to as bad as Rey's.
Chris Benoit was another guy suffering from being deemed "to small" and then having a completely wasted run as world champion.
And the thing is: WWE has established, "small" main event players. Think of Shawn Michaels, think of Edge, think of Jeff Hardy, think of Chris Jericho. Ideally they'd try to establish a few power houses and a few small-but-speedy guys as possible title holders, so a guy like Batista could face the power houses as a champion while a guy like Punk'd defend his title against the more technically skilled wrestlers.
I really doubt a multi-billion dollar company is investing in a young wrestler just to prove internet wrestling fans wrong. That very well could be part of it, but it really bugs me when folks who write about the business give themselves that much credit.
Truthfully, I don't think CM Punk would be a sucessful draw for the company if they got behind him. This is a slow build. And it's the right thing to do.
And as for Rey Mysterio; no push would have made him into a credible centerpiece champion. He has limited charisma and can only work main event-caliber matches with a select few.
Besides which, I think the WWE should be applauded for grooming their champions with brief title reigns (see Randy Orton in 2004, Edge in 2006, Booker T in 2006, etc...). There are more wrestlers near or at the top of the card in the WWE than ever before, and that's a good thing.
Does WWE really think that getting people embarrassed in their hometown is worth the slight extra heat? They did it to JR and countless others all the time... maybe for that night, the extra heat is worth it... but does it really do that much afterward?
WWE has dug their own hole on this one. They've made it clear (with Benoit and Misterio and every untalented bodybuilder they've pushed) that even if you are extremely talented, your size and look count a whole lot more than your talent. They might use smaller guys like Shawn or C.M.Punk every now and then, but only if they can't rely on jacked-up monsters because of some public relations disaster regarding steroid use in wrestling.....hey, wait a minute...
It's their philosophy, and they're welcome to it. But guys like C.M. Punk and Rey are going to be left out because of it. Which, you could argue, is/was a serious waste of talent.
I'm just waiting for the almight Seth Masturbates to give us his thoughts on SummerSlam!
c'mon Seth come out of your closet and tell us how great things were when you were on the creative writing team.
Come now Seth, tell me a f*cking story would you!
Oh and Alfonso, glad you received the dictionary I sent you.
Hope ti nac assist ouy.
Yes, I am a troll and very proud of it!
You see I'm here to stand up for the rights of other trolls. I mean, all our lives, we've been picked on and made to feel inferior and tonight those bastards...they trashed our house...why? 'cause we're smart?
Man, that is hilarious!! Even funnier than the first three times!!! LOL!! Keep going, It'll never get old, or less funny!!! And it will definitely NEVER make you look like an idiot!!!
Punk's title reign is reminding me of Jericho's Undisputed title reign all the time.
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Posted by Anonymous | August 19, 2008 17:05 Punk's title reign is reminding me of Jericho's Undisputed title reign all the time.
Jericho wasn't booked nearly as poorly going into his title reign as Punk was, and he still looked better going into Mania than Punk has throughout all of this.
Between losing the ECW heavyweight title en becoming the World champion, Punk lost quite a few matches and was considered a midcard wrestler. We all know wrestling is fake, but if Vince wants his product to have at least a bit of credibilty, how could he all of a sudden let Punk beat his top wrestlers? Punk became the World champion by beating Edge after the latter was already destroyed by Batista. Punk is getting stronger as champion, but he's nowhere near the level of i.e. Jericho and Cena, yet. We should just all be happy Punk got to hold the main belt on Raw and enjoy his run while it lasts.
I'm sorry everyone. I don't know how, or why, that comment posted that many times.
I get pissed off when i watch Seinfeld and the writers don't put George over more. Sure he doesn't have the star power that Jerry has, but week after week George is the funniest one on the show and he gets the most laughs. I think the writers should have given him more lines and made him the main focus of more episodes.
Does this sound ridiculous? Because this is how a read complaints about wrestling. You wouldn't complain about Greg Daniels putting the wrong character over on The Office, you wouldn't complain that The Joker should have beat Batman because he had a better crowd response during the movie. But why does everyone feel that their bitching about the writing on a wrestling show is valid?
LQBigCountry, what you wrote DOES sound ridiculous.
Everybody knows that Newman, not George, is the one who deserved a bigger push.
The reason Punk does not get all these huge clean wins over superstars is simple: because he shouldn't.
When Punk won the MITB match, it was assumed he'd use it for the ECW title, at least in my head. I never would have pictured him as a world champ this soon. He never would have beat Edge unless he took advantage of the MITB contract, which he is obviously entitled to use, but just because he pinned an already destroyed Edge doesnt mean he all of a sudden has the abilities to take on all the top stars cleanly. I was surprised how cleanly he pinned JBL at Summerslam.
And he didn't cleanly job to Jericho, he held his own until the interference. (WWE.com Headline: Chi-Way Robbery) Remember, a few months ago this guy was on the C-Show.
This title reign isn't a slap in the face to internet fans, it should be considered a gift. A thank you for putting up with Cena for so long. A few months ago, not even the biggest ROH mark would say that CM Punk deserved to be a world champion. As talented and skilled as he is, he still doesnt do the best mic work and he is still young with time to grow. This title run will make him a legitimate star and keep him in the upper card for the rest of his career. This cannot be compared to Rey and Benoit who were around much longer and deserved their shots way before they got them. This is an example of WWE doing something new, risky, and exciting.
"Posted by Anonymous | August 19, 2008 17:05 Punk's title reign is reminding me of Jericho's Undisputed title reign all the time.
Jericho wasn't booked nearly as poorly going into his title reign as Punk was, and he still looked better going into Mania than Punk has throughout all of this."
I dunno why that showed up as "anonymous"
I honestly thought Jericho's Undisputed title reign was horrible. The way he won the belts and his being treated like a mid-carder in the following months made him look like a total chump. Not once did I ever see Jericho as a credible champion, and I'm a huge fan of the guy.
You can see a clearer picture of Punk in street clothes in my WM 23 pics at http://mattboom.smugmug.com/gallery/2661632