CM Punk — You won’t get anywhere if you don’t try
‘The Best in the World.’ Just one of the nicknames given to CM Punk, a former Pro Wrestler turned MMA Fighter. I’m a big fan of CM Punk, for a lot of reasons really. I’ll discuss these reasons in this piece but it’s safe to say that Phil ‘CM Punk’ Brooks has inspired a lot of people from his actions in his career. Let’s discuss.
Punk began his Pro Wrestling career in 1999 and created a lot of buzz from having matches with the likes of Colt Cabanna, Chris Hero and Samoa Joe in promotions like Ring of Honor. 2005 hit, and he joined OVW, which was a WWE Developmental Brand at the time. Punk was on the right track to becoming a fan favourite, despite the resistance from WWE management. As Punk said himself in a promo battle with Triple H in 2011, ‘The night before my first WWE Pay-Per-View, Survivor Series. I was on a tag team captained by D-Generation X. And the funny thing about that night is, 18,000 people in Philadelphia weren’t chanting DX, they weren’t chanting HBK, they certainly weren’t chanting Triple H, they were chanting [CM Punk chants]’ Not what CEO Vince McMahon had in mind at the time.
In his 9-year stint with WWE, the Master of the Pipebomb won the World Championship 5 times. A couple of other accolades he won were Match of the Year in 2011 vs. John Cena at the Money in the Bank PPV and also the Most Popular Wrestler of the Year in 2011. An impressive resume to say the least. Punk was the 6th longest reigning WWE champion of all time, tallying up a 434-day run. He was extremely popular, having amazing matches with the likes of John Cena, The Rock, Daniel Bryan, Chris Jericho, The Undertaker and Brock Lesner, additionally donning great characters and unmatched promo abilities (Seriously he’s better at hyping up a match than The Rock in my opinion) to back up his wrestling prowess.
Despite his success, Punk was disgruntled. He felt like he was being held back, and was legitimately going to leave WWE to pursue other ventures, because his main goal, to main event Wrestlemania, was not on the cards. His match with The Undertaker at Wrestlemania 29 should have arguably main evented the show, but it was beaten out by John Cena vs The Rock (Who knows why?!). Not only was this making him unhappy, but the fact that WWE seemingly forced Punk to work through injuries simply because he was a money draw, made Punk even more unhappy. Imagine making Wayne Rooney play football with a broken foot or a pulled hamstring. Not good. Punk would leave WWE and retire from Wrestling in January 2014.
Despite retiring from Wrestling at what is considered a young age of 35, Punk left a lasting impression on many in the industry. Fans still chant his name to this day in hope that he will return, which shows his talent and entertainment value. Fellow wrestlers have shared their admiration for him, pointing out how he shared his knowledge with younger talent in the hope they would improve.
After falling out of love with Wrestling, Punk would pursue other passions like writing comics for Marvel. Some months had passed, and Punk had healed from some of his injuries (Not all), then pursued a completely new sport, Mixed Martial Arts. This is a big deal to many, and stirred up controversy among fans of the sport. After months of training and fighting through various injuries, Punk would make his UFC debut against Mickey Gall in September 2016 at UFC 203. He lost. But this didn’t matter, not to me anyway. To me, it showed that if you are passionate about something, you should at least try to prove yourself. Just watch the ‘Evolution of Punk’ series on YouTube, it showed Punks hard work and dedication. Awesome.
https://twitter.com/ufc/status/774812435848888321
Above in the tweet was the post match interview Punk had after his fight with Mickey Gall, true sportsmanship and a humble attitude. You can’t help but respect the guy.
So, what is next? Will Punk go back to Wrestling? Will he have another go at an MMA fight? Who knows? All we know is, whatever he does, he will try his hardest to be successful at it. Go Punk!
Jack
#BeYourPotential
