Interview with Straight-edge WWE/ECW wrestler CM Punk
For years CM Punk was a star on the indy wrestling circuit. He had the looks, he had the charisma, and he had the in-ring ability to be a star. Still there were those who believed that his straight-edge lifestyle would prevent him from receiving the big break he deserved. That all changed though when World Wrestling Entertainment signed him, and gave him a chance to shine on their recently resurrected ECW televison show on the Sci-Fi Channel. Now Punk is one of the most talked about wrestlers in the industry, and he did it all on his own terms. I talked with Punk on Halloween, just hours before he was set to appear on a live, 6 hour episode of Ghost Hunters, and he shared his views on the straight-edge lifestyle, the music that inspires him, and the what its like to be a professional wrestler. Whether you watch wrestling or not, this should be an interesting read.
Anarchy Music: There was some criticism when you first joined the WWE that they wouldn't let you be the true CM Punk, but as far as I've seen, your personality comes through almost in a way that I've never seen them do with anyone else before. So, basically the critics were completely wrong in my mind. What's it been like for you so far working in the WWE?
CM Punk: So far, so good. I've been very lucky to be put in ECW. It's an environment I can thrive in. A lot of the ECW guys, or the ECW Originals as they're now calling them, I've worked with for years, ever since the original ECW wound up getting shut down. They all wind up working on the independent wrestling scene and that's where i came up at. So, its a very relaxed, comfortable atmosphere. TV's are more hectic, because there's so much more to do, but I'm loving it. I get to travel, i get to see the world for free and I get to do what i love. I'm not locked in a cubicle pulling a 9 to 5 job. that's basically what it boils down to for me.
As far as emotional highs go, how big was that debut on ECW for you?
Big enough that I freely admit to breaking down and crying when i got done with it because it was a big emotional release for me. that was a big middle finger to everybody that said I was never going to be on tv, let alone on tv as myself. It was pretty intense. The crowd took to me like I was a superstar that had been on tv for years and years.
Lets get into your lifestyle, which is your character, but also you in reality. People who aren't straight-edge don't seem to understand what it is. They say "they're all vegan, they're all gay, they're all whatever". Clear that up and tell us what straight-edge means to you.
Well, straight-edge seems to always mean something different for everybody that's straight-edge, but unfortunately there's a lot of people who make up silly little rules...don't eat meat, this , this that. Straight-edge is simply, i don't even like to call them rules. Its an individual thing. I'd like to preface this with, I'm straight-edge for myself. I'm not straight-edge for anybody else. i don't drink because it's not me, i don't want to. I don't do drugs because I can have fun without getting fucked up. I don't have promiscuous sex because it just causes all kinds of problems. You'll wind up getting hurt, somebody else winds up getting hurt. So, that’s what straight-edge is to me, no drinking, no drugs, no promiscuous sex. That's what it was originally, and then there's the hardliners, that don't eat meat. There's the vegans that don't exploit bees by eating honey, and so on and so forth. It can get kind of crazy. just like any other aspect there's people on opposite ends of the spectrum and take it maybe a little too far and there's people that are really relaxed with it as well.
So, you don't care if the dude next to you is drinking a beer in the bar or anything like that...
Not at all. I'm a wrestler too. Wrestlers, when they're done wrestling its "lets go out and get something to eat". When we're done with our shows it's so late at night that the only thing open that’s really open half the time is a Hooters or a bar or a sports bar. All the other boys drink, and that means they flip me the keys to their car so ironically enough they like having me around because I'm the designated driver. Nobody's going to get in a wreck, nobody's going to forget where they put their rental car and nobody's going to wake up in a subway station bathroom or something like that.
That's awesome that they've taken to you and accepted who you are. The thought is that there could be some tension between you and some of the guys.
So far I've been treated equally. I'm sure there's some guys that will try to give me a drink or something like that, but i'm not even worried about it. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
What was it that led you to being straight-edge?
You know, I think it's something that i always was and it was predominantly because when I was 15 or 16 I was hanging out with people who were 20, 21 stuff like that. so, I saw a lot of stupid stuff, and growing up my dad was an alcoholic so it was something that i never wanted to touch. I was always hearing that alcoholism is hereditary, which i don't always really believe. I just found that it's very empowering to have that...This is my individual choice. i can either do this or I can not do this. To me that was really powerful. Plus, I was heavy into Minor Threat and most of the other straight-edge bands. Music was very influential for me growing up. I just liked the positive message behind it. It basically came down to was like I said earlier, it was my choice and I dont really see the point. It doesn't seem like fun to me. Puking isn't fun, waking up next to...i don’t know what...I can't imagine. it's just not my thing.
You mentioned Minor Threat, obviously punk rock has been a big inspiration in your life. How important is that to you now and what are your favorite bands?
Music to me is very important. Currently my entrance theme in the ECW is a Killswitch Engage song, which i think is awesome because I'm a fan of Killswitch Engage. Typically WWE produced music is hit or miss, and for a guy starting out they never really get it right. They never really produce a song that really fits the guy in my opinion. I was kind of worried about that for me but then they were like "we have this song, this is your music" and I totally fell into it. i was like wow, this is Killswitch, this is cool, this is something I like so I can get into it. There's nothing worse than coming out to a song that doesn't get you in the right mood, that doesn't get you pumped up. Some of my favorite bands are probably typical to a lot of people reading this. I grew up listening to The Clash. On my moms side I had an aunt who was 10 or 15 years younger than my mom. So when i was 9 or 10 years old she was 18, 19, 20 whatever and she was heavy into the music scene in Chicago. She'd always be going to the clubs and stuff like that. She got me into what she thought was cool at the time. i listened to everything as a kid. Anything she listened to, I listened to because I thought she was cool. The Clash, Duran Duran, just really weird shit. But right now my favorite bands are...I will buy anything Bouncing Souls do, Less than Jake, I’m a big Hatebreed fan, huge Rocket From The Crypt fan. I was very sad that they broke up and today is actually the first anniversary of their last show that they played last year. I'm a huge Mike Patton fan, I grew up on Faith No More so anything Mike Patton does is gold. and believe it or not I'm a huge Creedance Cleerwater Revival fan as well.
I saw you do a promo once on your tattoos. They almost seem kind of spiritual to you. For the people who haven’t seen you wrestle yet, hopefully they will, tell us a little about your tattoos, maybe a bout the "Luck Is For Losers" concept and what they represent.
"Luck is For Losers"...my left arm is pretty much what i call my god luck arm. i've got a Japanese coy fish, which is a symbol of good luck. It's got 3 eyes in homage of Blinky the radioactive fish from The Simpsons. I've got a sacred heart with a dagger going through it, there's a rabbits foot, some dice, a horseshoe, four leaf clover, there's a lot of good luck symbols. There's some cards and stuff like that and there's a banner that says "Luck Is For Losers". That's kind of my motto. I don't believe in luck. I believe you can kind of fall into stuff but in the end its how hard you work and what you put into it is what you get out of it. You've gotta work hard. In my opinion I've worked very hard to get where i am, and if anybody ever says that I'm lucky to be here...I just don't like the wording of that. I'm fortunate to be here, its nothing to do with luck. I've worked at this my entire life so it's just paying off now.
And you've got a Cobra tattoo too, so I love that.
I was a huge GI Joe fan growing up. It's just one of those things. i think a lot of people are into certain things when they're a kid and then they grow out of them and they move on to liking what they think they're supposed to like when they're a certain age, like beer or whatever. They wear a tie and get a briefcase and go to work. i don't know, I'm just a perpetual 12 year old kid really. I still love GI J oe, I still read comic books. I like cartoons. These are things I just never grew out of I guess. I don't really understand growing out of stuff.
I keep trying to tell the girls that there's nothing sexier than a guy who reads comic books, watches cartoons and plays with GI Joe but none of them believe me.
Yeah I know, right! They're hard to find.
Tonight on the Sci-Fi channel you'll be on a live episode of Ghost Hunters...what have you gotten yourself into with that?
Well, I don't know. They just contacted me and were like "yo Punk, Ghost Hunters wants you on their show" and I was like, "okay, I'm there"! At first I was honestly a little bit apprehensive because it's Halloween and I kind of had plans with my girlfriend for Halloween. But as soon as I heard that we were at the Stanley Hotel where they shot some of the stuff for The Shining, where Steven King wrote The Shining, I pretty much dove headfirst into it because I'm such a horror movie fan as well, which the ladies also love. It could be interesting. everyone here's been telling me their ghost stories. I have never seen a ghost, I don't really believe in them. I think I'd like to believe in them. I think it'd be pretty cool if i ever die to come back and haunt somebody, but like I said I've never seen one. Maybe tonight I will see one, supposedly this place is really heavily haunted. I haven’t felt creeped out yet or anything.
I'm canceling my plans tonight so i can do nothing but watch Ghost Hunters, so if you see anything there's going to be a lot of people that are going to be screaming along with you.
Yeah, well that’s the thing. I can't promise I'm going to see anything but I can promise that it will be entertaining. Even if it's just 6 hours of me rambling and giving my side commentary, I hope its something to watch.
A fan of yours named Marc helped me out with this and he wanted to know who your dream opponent would be for Wrestlemania.
You're asking this years Wrestlemania, if i had to pick somebody to wrestle?
I say you're going for a title, you've got to come out of Wrestlemania as ECW champion!
Well, maybe it'll be Big show, maybe it'll be Rob Van Dam, I don't know. A dream match for me would be to wrestle a guy that I might not ever get a chance to wrestle in the upcoming years. I can't really say how long Ric Flair is going to be around for anymore. I would like to wrestle him. I would love to wrestle Chris Benoit, Steve Regal, Fit Finlay, those guys with the epitome of my style. We all love to go in there and get physical. We all love to go "hey look, I'm bleeding" Oh well, big deal just roll with the punches. It's very smash-mouth, and i think I fit with those guys really well. Plus, I’ve grown up watching them and I've learned a lot from all three of the guys. i think it’d be a lot of fun to try to beat the crap out of them.
Also, JJ Brooks wants to know if you still keep up with some of the indy guys?
Of course, 100%. Some of my best friends are still "slaving away" on the indys. Colt Cabana, Samoa Joe, there's tons of guys out there. Roderick Strong, Jimmy Rave, yeah i keep up with them all the time. There's times I wish I could go to some shows but I'm on the road too. I definitely keep tabs, I still get DVDs and watch and read up on them to make sure everyone’s doing okay. I'm always there to give them advice too, you know?
A lot of kids look up to you, I know you've inspired a lot of kids to be straight-edge. Have you ever had someone come up to you that was maybe in a crisis situation with drugs or alcohol, and if so what have you said to them?
You know, I don’t want to name any names, but there has been a couple of times when a couple of people that I've been friends with have had issues with drugs and alcohol. It's never been a real crisis situation like 'oh my god, please help me" but its been "hey, if I ever need to call you, or talk to you or can i just come over and hang out if I'm having a bad day' and I'm always like 24/7, call me, knock on my door, do whatever you've got to do. I remember years ago, I think it was maybe 2002 when Eddie Guerrero got released from the WWE and he started working indys, I was fortunate enough to get to work with him like 6 times. I became good friends with Eddie. I remember one of the first times we were out after a show. He was looking at my tattoos and he was like "you're crazy Punky". Then he saw that I've got "DRUG FREE" on my knuckles and he looked at that and he was really taken back by that. He just went "wow, i really need to hang out with you more often". Eddie had some battles with drugs and alcohol so he actually sort of used me as an anchor sometimes. he would just call me, if he was having a bad day he'd just call me just to talk to me. To me, that’s incredibly flattering because that guy was my hero. For him to find even a little bit of solace and a little bit of direction from me is crazy to me.
He seemed to really change his life, and for wrestling fans like me and I'm sure for the wrestlers, what a tragic thing it is that he's no longer with us.
Yeah, definitely
For the people who don't watch wrestling who say "oh those guys arent that tough" or whatever, what do you have to say to them.
Well, the people who say that wrestlers arent tough are generally armchair quarterbacks. they're the people who say "football players are tough, hockey players are tough". I don't take anything away from those guys. Hockey players are tough, football players are tough, but we don't wear pads. We use our hands and our feet. we dont have an off season. We do 300 to 320 shows a year. The rest of the 365 days out of the year nrmally we're travelling, so we're not seeing family, we're not seeing friends. We're strandedin airports a lot of the time. There's problems with our rental cars. We're driving crazy miles day in and day out. I would say that 90% of the time we're doing it hurt, so to say that wrestlers aren't tough is a little bit ridiculous.
Thanks you very much, good luck with the show tonight. Try to keep it together.
Sweet, yeah, don't worry I will. Thanks
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I would like to thank CM Punk for being the first WWE wrestler to appear on the site, and Chris for helping to set this up for us. I think that there is a natural cross-over appeal between wrestling and aggressive music, so hopefully this is only the beginning of our relationship with WWE.