We were told most, but certainly not all, of the WWE talent loved some of what he said what he said. Many were not happy about him complaining about his booking when he was booked better than all but a few guys over the past three years. The feeling of guys that while he complained about putting over Rock, Undertaker and Brock Lesnar in 2013, that most of them would have loved to have been in the position to work twice with Rock, and then do Mania against Undertaker and SummerSlam with Lesnar regardless of the outcome. One major name, while seeing Punk’s side on the medical issue and some other issues , felt most of the interview was “sour grapes.”
Many felt he came off badly about complaining that he was booked against HHH at WrestleMania, noting he’d be in one of the top matches and would get ample time to promote it. McMahon in the Austin podcast said that WrestleMania wasn’t about one main event these days, although Punk’s argument to that is that the guys in the one real main event get paid far better than just about anyone else on the show. Several felt he made himself look bad in complaining about having to put over Rock, Undertaker and Lesnar. The “two sides of every story” saying was said by others, but there was also a consensus that what he said about his experience in WWE was the same as many would say, with the difference that he made more money than all but a few, and they admired his balls to say it publicly.
Another person who knows several major WWE talents said, discounting the few that will parrot whatever Punk said, his experience is that there was a feeling that Punk’s comments on Ryback were unprofessional and cheap, and that nobody bought Ryback kicked Punk as hard as he could or intentionally broke his ribs. However, there was the feeling Punk is a genius, particularly for how he handled the situation. There was a lot of hate for Colt Cabana (I really don’t see why) according to one person. Some said they felt Punk was bitter. Almost nobody had any sympathy for his injury situation, noting that every top guy on the roster that works a full schedule has a litany of injuries.
And Meltzer's opinion:
Some people will interpret this as WWE = bad, others as Punk is an egomaniac, some of his facts weren’t correct, and use that to absolve WWE of anything negative. The reality is somewhere in the middle.
But on the egomaniac thing, or Punk has too high an opinion of himself, this is a fact of life that people who say these things about main event talent don’t understand. They are all like that or they wouldn’t be main event talent. If you don’t have the confidence that you are the best, you wouldn’t be main event talent. It amuses me when people read books by top stars or listen to interviews and go, “This guy is full of himself.” If they are a top guy, either they are being honest with you and are, to a degree, full of themselves, or they are putting on fake performance. Privately, there isn’t one of them who doesn’t think they are the best, some are more subtle about it than others. And as time goes on, the ones who are comfortable with it, hold back on the fakeness a lot less. Punk was not the greatest natural athlete. He did not have a look that would have gotten him a push in another era. He had tons of great matches because he was in good enough shape to do so, worked hard enough to do so, and was smart enough to understand how to do so. His promo ability is top tier on the all-time list, which is something that is a combination of hard work, practice, and ego.
If you knock him for thinking he should have had a WrestleMania main event, just remember if he wasn’t thinking that way, he’d be just a guy in prelims who would have never gotten higher than those in charge pegged him to get at first. And if that person had complained, nobody would give a rats ass what he said, true or not. Everyone has different goals. From the outside, the idea that someone believes they succeeded or failed as a pro wrestler based on whether they got a WrestleMania main event sounds like somebody with a major problem. While there is some realness to it, it’s also in other ways a fake honor chosen largely by one guy. It’s a guy who has a great track record historically at building his company, but also has greatly lessened the overall popularity of the industry at the same time, and whose track record at knowing what top talent is in this day and age and being ahead of the curve on it is spotty at best. The reality is this is a company that wanted to fire Punk years ago, that fired Daniel Bryan twice, and would have totally botched this year’s Mania had Punk not quit. They even came close to cutting Cena, whose charisma was obvious in his first week of training school to anyone with an eye for talent. And it was a company determined to put Orton vs. Batista as last year’s Mania main event. Worrying about their judgment to define how you look at your career is ridiculous.
Many felt he came off badly about complaining that he was booked against HHH at WrestleMania, noting he’d be in one of the top matches and would get ample time to promote it. McMahon in the Austin podcast said that WrestleMania wasn’t about one main event these days, although Punk’s argument to that is that the guys in the one real main event get paid far better than just about anyone else on the show. Several felt he made himself look bad in complaining about having to put over Rock, Undertaker and Lesnar. The “two sides of every story” saying was said by others, but there was also a consensus that what he said about his experience in WWE was the same as many would say, with the difference that he made more money than all but a few, and they admired his balls to say it publicly.
Another person who knows several major WWE talents said, discounting the few that will parrot whatever Punk said, his experience is that there was a feeling that Punk’s comments on Ryback were unprofessional and cheap, and that nobody bought Ryback kicked Punk as hard as he could or intentionally broke his ribs. However, there was the feeling Punk is a genius, particularly for how he handled the situation. There was a lot of hate for Colt Cabana (I really don’t see why) according to one person. Some said they felt Punk was bitter. Almost nobody had any sympathy for his injury situation, noting that every top guy on the roster that works a full schedule has a litany of injuries.
And Meltzer's opinion:
Some people will interpret this as WWE = bad, others as Punk is an egomaniac, some of his facts weren’t correct, and use that to absolve WWE of anything negative. The reality is somewhere in the middle.
But on the egomaniac thing, or Punk has too high an opinion of himself, this is a fact of life that people who say these things about main event talent don’t understand. They are all like that or they wouldn’t be main event talent. If you don’t have the confidence that you are the best, you wouldn’t be main event talent. It amuses me when people read books by top stars or listen to interviews and go, “This guy is full of himself.” If they are a top guy, either they are being honest with you and are, to a degree, full of themselves, or they are putting on fake performance. Privately, there isn’t one of them who doesn’t think they are the best, some are more subtle about it than others. And as time goes on, the ones who are comfortable with it, hold back on the fakeness a lot less. Punk was not the greatest natural athlete. He did not have a look that would have gotten him a push in another era. He had tons of great matches because he was in good enough shape to do so, worked hard enough to do so, and was smart enough to understand how to do so. His promo ability is top tier on the all-time list, which is something that is a combination of hard work, practice, and ego.
If you knock him for thinking he should have had a WrestleMania main event, just remember if he wasn’t thinking that way, he’d be just a guy in prelims who would have never gotten higher than those in charge pegged him to get at first. And if that person had complained, nobody would give a rats ass what he said, true or not. Everyone has different goals. From the outside, the idea that someone believes they succeeded or failed as a pro wrestler based on whether they got a WrestleMania main event sounds like somebody with a major problem. While there is some realness to it, it’s also in other ways a fake honor chosen largely by one guy. It’s a guy who has a great track record historically at building his company, but also has greatly lessened the overall popularity of the industry at the same time, and whose track record at knowing what top talent is in this day and age and being ahead of the curve on it is spotty at best. The reality is this is a company that wanted to fire Punk years ago, that fired Daniel Bryan twice, and would have totally botched this year’s Mania had Punk not quit. They even came close to cutting Cena, whose charisma was obvious in his first week of training school to anyone with an eye for talent. And it was a company determined to put Orton vs. Batista as last year’s Mania main event. Worrying about their judgment to define how you look at your career is ridiculous.
Meltz is