G'day, here we go with yet another guy who got my attention when he hit ROH a few years back, to say he has gone ahead in leaps and bounds is an understatement...Wrestling fans...may I present C.M.Punk
Punk's first venture into wrestling was a stint in a backyard wrestling federation called the Lunatic Wrestling Federation with his friends (and his crooked theiving brother Mike Brooks) in the mid-late 1990s.
There are various versions of what C.M actually mean, I think he first started using the ring name CM Punk when he was put into a tag team named the Chick Magnets with CM Venom after another performer skipped out on the card...works for me
Unlike his friends, Punk genuinely wanted to be a wrestler and saw it as more as a career than simple fun....When the LWF promotion started taking off, doing spot shows out of a warehouse in Mokena, Illinois, Punk found out that his brother Mike had embezzled thousands of dollars from the small company, creating some legit heat between them...they haven't spoken since....and just between you and me , I dont blame Punk one tiny bit...his a bigger man than me, I woulda bashed the theiving bastards head in, just on prinicipal
Punk decided to get his skills some polish and enrolled as a student at the "Steel Dominion" wrestling school in Chicago, where he was trained by Ace Steel,Danny Dominion and Kevin Quinn As part of the training, he wrestled at Steel Domain Wrestling in St. Paul, Minnesota. It was in the Steel Domain that he met Scott Colton who soon adopted the stage name Colt Cabana. Punk and Cabana became best friends and spent most of their early career together working in the same independent circuit promotions, as opponents or allies.....Punk and Cabana were old school, and they had the "WRESTLING" MATCH that tape traders and promoters wanted to see In the independents, Punk, along with fellow Steel Domain graduates Colt Cabana, Chuckee Smooth, Adam Pearce and manager Dave Prazak, formed an alliance named the Gold Bond Mafia....around this time him and Cabana were working regular for Ian Rotten, down at the deathmatch promotion IWA in Kentucky, him and Cabana were gonna be the "wrestler" guys ( just like Eddie and Dean over at ECW was, nice bit of original thinking there Ian), and when they shoowed up to work, they found that Ian already had a wrestler guy CHRIS HERO (or Kassius Ono of WWE/NXT fame)...Punk and Hero hit it off and had a run of incredible matches , one could arguably suggest, that the Punk/Joe series got there idea from this series of matches....their best match was Punks last night in the "Barn" when him and Hero smashed about every wall panel in the place..the thinking being that they were literally gonna tear the place down....nice one
STRAIGHT EDGE GIMMICK( that isnt a gimmick)
Punk has adopted his real-life following of the straight edge movement as his professional wrestling gimmick, but the gimmick uses different elements of Punk's personality and the beliefs of the straight edge movement depending on his alignment.
While portraying a face, the gimmick tends to be that of Punk's normal personality,largely indifferent to others who drink alcohol, smoke tobacco, partake in recreational drug use or have promiscuous sexual behavior, but emphasizing the social discipline involved with abstinence.
Conversely, his heel persona tends to be that of one who is hardline or militant straight edge, exemplifying the elitist attitudes and superiority complexes—defined by Punk's common mantra during villainous-themed promos that, because he is straight edge, he is "better than you".
The X on his wrist tape is a left over from Punk concerts in bars when underage kids got X'd so they wouldnt be served alcohol...so there you go.
FAMOUS PUNKISH STORYLINES
Raven (2002–2004)
Initially, Punk joined Ring of Honor (ROH) as a crowd favorite, but quickly became a villain in a feud with Raven that featured numerous variants of no disqualification matches.
Their rivalry lasted most of 2003 and was considered one of ROH's top feuds of the year, and was based around Punk's straight-edge lifestyle, with him likening Raven to his alcoholic father.
Their rivalry was settled at The Conclusion in November 2003, where Punk defeated Raven in a Steel Cage match. At the same time, Punk joined the wrestling promotion NWA Total Nonstop Action (TNA), in which he was paired with Julio Dinero as members of Raven's TNA alliance The Gathering.
THE SAMOA JOE v CM PUNK TRIPLE
In ROH, Punk faced off against ROH World Champion Samoa Joe for the championship in a three match series. The first match, on June 12, 2004 at World Title Classic in Dayton, Ohio, resulted in a 60-minute time limit draw when neither Punk nor Joe could pin or cause the other to submit in the 60 minutes.
The second match between Punk and Joe was planned for December 4, 2004; however, due to Steve Corino being pulled from a match with Joe by Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE, the second match was hastily rescheduled on October 11, 2004 for October 16 in Punk's hometown of Chicago.At Joe vs. Punk II on October 16, they wrestled to a second 60-minute draw
In addition to Joe vs. Punk II becoming Ring of Honor's best-selling DVD at the time, the match received a five-star rating by Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer Newsletter. It was the first match in North America to receive a five-star rating in seven years
Joe ended the series by defeating Punk in the third and final match on December 4, 2004 at All-Star Extravaganza 2 in which there was a no time limit stipulation.
Then came the SUMMER OF PUNK...when he signed with WWE ...on the ROH belt in an ROH ring at a ROH show...ballsy move there fella
OVW
February 2006, a tournament was held to crown a new champion. The finals were Brent Albright vs. CM Punk with Albright defeating Punk to become the new champion.
Punk and Albright continued their feud, with Albright becoming more unstable and paranoid about maintaining his championship after several close call matches against Punk, resulting in acts such as threatening Maria. On May 3, 2006, Punk finally defeated Albright in a strap match to win the OVW Heavyweight Championship.
As champion, Punk retained the title in matches against opponents such as Shad Gaspard, Ken Kennedy, Johnny Jeter and Mike "The Miz" Mizanin.
THEN CAME THE CALL TO ECW:
On June 24, 2006, Punk made his ECW debut during a house show at the former ECW Arena, defeating Stevie Richards.
He made his TV debut on the July 4 episode of ECW on Sci Fi, cutting a brief pre-taped promo about his straight edge lifestyle emphasizing the disciplinary aspects of being drug and alcohol free. Although he had retained the straight edge gimmick, he now had a Muay Thai training background. Punk made his TV wrestling debut on August 1, 2006 at the Hammerstein Ballroom, defeating Justin Credible......CM Punk established himself in ECW by going undefeated, defeating opponents such as C.W.Anderson, Stevie Richards and Shannon Moore.
Punk was meant to face Chris Benoit at Vengeance: Night of Champions for the vacant ECW Championship.....Benoit, however, was hastily replaced by Johnny Nitro when Benoit no-showed the event due to what was described on-air as "personal reasons". Nitro subsequently defeated Punk at Vengeance for the vacant championship.
Punk won another shot at the title at The Great American Bash against Nitro, who had changed his moniker to John Morrison by this point; however, Punk was defeated again by Morrison.
The next week, Punk challenged Elijah Burke and Tommy Dreamer in a triple threat match to determine the next competitor in Morrison's 15 Minutes of Fame Challenge, in which Punk came out victorious.
A week later, Punk defeated Morrison with the Go To Sleep to earn an ECW Championship title match at SummerSlam. At SummerSlam, however, Punk lost the match when Morrison used the ropes for leverage.
At the September 1,ECW taping, in a "last chance" title match, Punk defeated Morrison for the ECW Championship. Punk then went on to have successful title defenses against the likes of Elijah Burke (at Unforgiven), Big Daddy V via disqualification (at No Mercy) and The Miz (at Cyber Sunday).
On the November 6, 2007 episode of ECW, Punk retained the ECW Championship in a match against Morrison following The Miz's interference. At Survivor Series, Punk retained his title in a Triple Threat match, beating The Miz and John Morrison.On the January 22, 2008 episode of ECW, Chavo Guerrero defeated CM Punk in a No Disqualification match to win the ECW Championship after Edge, (acting as a guest commentator at ringside) ran in and speared Punk
AND ON TO RAW HE GOES
On the June 23, 2008 episode of Raw, CM Punk was drafted to the Raw brand during the 2008 WWE Draft....His first night on Raw came the following week, and he made an immediate impact. After Batista beat down World Heavyweight Champion Edge and left him lying in the ring, Punk and referee Mike Chioda ran to the ring with Punk carrying his Money in the Bank contract. Moments later, as Edge was struggling to get up, Punk hit him with the Go to Sleep and pinned him to win the World Heavyweight Championship.
Later that night, Punk won his first defense of the title against JBL, who challenged him shortly after his win....His win over Edge would eventually also earn Punk the Slammy Award for the "Oh my God" Moment of the Year.... Punk continued to hold and defend the title until Unforgiven on September 7, 2008. Before the Championship Scramble match, Punk was attacked by an early version of The Legacy (Randy Orton, Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase with Manu). Orton finished the assault by punting Punk in the head. It was announced that Punk could not participate in the match due to the attack and, as a result, he involuntarily forfeited the title...but, he was only babysitting the belt, dont get me wrong his matches were brilliant, but creative didnt have a clue what to do with him...SO...
PUNK AND KOFI HOOK UP
On the October 27, 2008 episode of Raw, Punk and Kofi Kingston defeated Cody Rhodes and Ted DiBiase to win the World Tag Team Championship. The duo were members of Team Batista at Survivor Series, where their team lost to Team Orton.
Punk was then entered in an Intercontinental Championship Tournament, in which the winner would get to challenge for the championship in the future. He would defeat Snitsky and John Morrison in the first two rounds. Punk and Kingston lost the World Tag Team Championship to John Morrison and The Miz at a live event on December 13, 2008. The next day Punk defeated Rey Mysterio at Armageddon to win the tournament. On the January 5 episode of Raw, Punk received his title match against William Regal, which ended in a disqualification, when Regal grabbed the referee's shirt. Due to this, Steph awarded Punk a rematch the following week, but this time it was himself that was disqualified....Steph then awarded him another rematch, this time a No Disqualification match on January 19 episode of Raw, Punk won the match and the I.C title.With this win, he became the nineteenth Triple Crown Champion. Also, the victory made him the man to accomplish the Triple Crown in the fastest amount of time, shattering Kevin Nash's old record...BUT, we werent supposed to know that
Then he got called to a meeting with Hayes and Vince, Vince said that they were thinking of turning him heel but Vince didnt think he had it in him...SO...Punk went home and wrote 14 weeks of t.v and thus began the run of THE STRAIGHT EDGE SOCIETY
Punk took on a more sinister demeanor on the November 27 episode of SmackDown when he revealed that he had converted Luke Gallows, who had previously been portrayed as the mentally incompetent wrestler Festus, to the straight-edge lifestyle which had rid him of his mental troubles. Continuing to espouse his straight-edge philosophy, Punk began to present himself as a cult-like savior to the crowd, growing the hair on his head, face and chest in an allusion to Jesus.
Through January 2010, Punk began to convert planted members of the audience to a straight-edge lifestyle, making them take a pledge of allegiance to him and shaving their head as a sign of renewal and devotion. After converting many people who were not seen again, convert Serena
(Shimmer champion Serena Deeb) began accompanying Punk and Gallows to form the Straight Edge Society. As well as leading this alliance, Punk was also the mentor of WWE NXT rookie Darren Young who flirted with the idea of becoming straight-edge before refusing just before his head was to be shaved
Straight Edge Society: Serena, Punk and Luke Gallows.
Punk continued to show messianic traits, and he got some heat off the crowds in the bible belt, one old lady jumped the barricade and sslapped him yelling at him that he was satan not christ, Punk turned to Luke and shouted "WE GOT THEM"
Punk frequently stopped in the midst of a match to begin giving sermons including during the annual Royal Rumble match as well as during an Elimination Chamber match
In the Chamber match, he was eliminated by Rey Mysterio, whom he had feuding with leading into the PPV. Tensions escalated as Mysterio prevented him from winning a Money in the Bank qualifying match, causing Punk to interrupt Mysterio's celebration of his daughter's ninth birthday. Mysterio challenged Punk to a Street Fight at WrestleMania XXVI but lost to Gallows, meaning Punk picked the stipulation that if Rey lost he would have to join the Society.
At WrestleMania, Punk lost to Mysterio sparking a rematch at Extreme Rules where Punk would have to shave his head, like his disciples, if he lost. Punk won this match after interference from a fourth member of the Society who kept his face covered. At Over The Limit, a third and final match was booked with both stipulations reactivated. In the match Punk lost and was subsequently shaved bald...he also got busted open hardway during the match and the match was held up while the ref tried to cease the bleeding
Embarrassed by being shaved bald as he considered himself always pure unlike his followers, Punk appeared on the following episode of SmackDown, May 29, wearing a mask to hide his baldness.
At Fatal 4 Way, Punk challenged for the World Heavyweight Championship against Mysterio, The Big Show and the champion Jack Swagger, but was unsuccessful when he was attacked by Kane, who was accusing various people of attacking The Undertaker.
On July 16's SmackDown, Punk was finally unmasked by Big Show while healing from an arm injury......The following week Show also unmasked the anonymous member of the Straight Edge Society who was revealed to be Joey Mercury....This led to a handicap match at SummerSlam where Show defeated the entire Society after Punk abandoned his tea mates. Show also beat Punk in a singles match at Night of Champions. Following this Serena was released from WWE and Mercury got injured, Gallows began showing signs of dissension too, and Punk defeated him on SmackDown, airing September 24, ending the group.
Somewhere in the midst of all this who haa, there was also a fairly pointless run as the leader of the new Nexus ...it finished up with a great match at Wrestlemania with Randy Orton...BUT...it was hard to watch till it got there
In June, Punk was named number one contender for the WWE Championship after pinning the reigning champion John Cena on Raw, Rey Mysterio at Capitol Punishment and finally Alberto Del Rio again in a contenders match (which included Mysterio) all within one week.
Following his victory over Del Rio, Punk revealed his WWE contract would be expiring on the same night as the Money in the Bank PPV (his scheduled title shot, which would be taking place in his home town of Chicago). Punk then vowed to leave the company with the WWE Championship; some of his speeches and mannerisms echoed his final months with Ring of Honor.
On the June 29 edition of Raw, Punk cut the now world famous pipebomb promo in which he addressed numerous 'taboo' issues regarding WWE and its owner Vince McMahon; as a result he was given a storyline suspension from televised WWE events but was reinstated the following week on Cena's insistence.Upon his return, Punk continued to defy McMahon by repeatedly refusing contract offers even when McMahon agreed to his outrageous terms. At Money in the Bank, CM Punk defeated John Cena in Chicago to become the WWE Champion on his final night under contract with WWE.
Following Punk's victory, he left through the crowd having made the transition from a villainous character to a fan-favorite. The next night on Raw, Triple H announced that he would be replacing Vince McMahon as Chief Operating Officer of WWE, and a tournament took place to crown a new champion in lieu of Punk.
Also, lets not forget the MATCH OF THE YEAR...that no one talks about ...PUNK vs BRYANT at Over the Limit...they don't talk about it, cause were all supposed to think that stinker with Cena and Lauranitis was the main event
At Night of Champions, Punk retained the WWE Championship after he fought Cena to a draw. Punk would continue to feud with Cena, despite the latter's arm injury, rejecting the requests of Mick Foley and Jim Ross to pick him as his Hell in a Cell opponent and leading to a brawl with WWE Chairman Vince McMahon.
Eventually, Cena would be out of the title match at Hell in a Cell, instead thrusting Ryback into the main event as Punk's opponent. On October 28 at the pay-per-view, Punk, with help from referee Brad Maddox, defeated Ryback in a Hell in a Cell match to retain the WWE Championship.
The following night on Raw, a furious Mick Foley would confront Punk for refusing to pick John Cena as his Hell in a Cell opponent. This would lead to the two agreeing on meeting each other at Survivor Series in a traditional five-on-five elimination tag team match with Punk choosing Alberto Del Rio, Cody Rhodes, Damien Sandow, and The Miz for his own team.
The following week, however, Punk would be taken out as captain, replaced by Dolph Ziggler, and booked in a triple threat WWE Championship match against John Cena and Ryback instead by Mr. McMahon.
On November 18 at the pay-per-view, Punk won the match by pinning Cena, following interference from Seth Rollins, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns,now know as THE SHEILD allowing him to retain the WWE Championship and hold the title for a full year.
On the December 3 episode of Raw, Punk suffered a knee injury after Roman Reigns blew a spot and speared Ryback causing him to power bomb Punk way too hard, the following day, Punk underwent surgery to repair a partially torn meniscus, thus removing him from his title match against Ryback at TLC:Tables, Ladders and Chairs.
Despite his injury, Punk became the longest reigning WWE Champion of the modern era on December 5, when he hit 381 days, surpassing John Cena's 380 day reign.....as it stands at the moment Punk has had the belt for 420 + days and is facing Dwayne at the Royal Rumble 2013....dont get me started on Dwayne strolling into a title shot, I know its Vinny Mac's doing...but GEEZ, his got a locker room full of guys that can work their arses off...BUT Rock gets a shot....och well....
PUNK PREDICTION TIME
I have a feeling that Heyman will set Punk up to lose the belt to either Lesnar or Ryback after a screwjob....dont ask me why..I just got the feeling.
Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South
IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship (5 times)
IWA Mid-South Light Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
International Wrestling Cartel
IWC World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Mid-American Wrestling
MAW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
NWA Cyberspace
NWA Cyberspace Tag Team Championship (1 time)– with Julio Dinero
NWA Revolution
NWA Revolution Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Ohio Valley Wrestling
OVW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
OVW Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Seth Skyfire
OVW Television Championship (1 time)
Second OVW Triple Crown Champion
Ring of Honor
ROH Tag Team Championship (2 times)– with Colt Cabana
ROH World Championship (1 time)
St. Paul Championship Wrestling
SDW Northern States Television Championship (2 times)
SPCW Northern States Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
World Wrestling Entertainment/WWE
ECW Championship (1 time)
World Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
WWE Championship (2 times, current)
World Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kofi Kingston
WWE Intercontinental Championship (1 time)
Money in the Bank (2008, 2009)
Nineteenth Triple Crown Champion
