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00:00All right, we are now joined by the one and only, the best in the world, CM Punk, my man.
00:06DC, legend, hall of famer. Oh my god, it's Pam. Sorry. Government names is very bad. I can't do that. I shouldn't do that.
00:14Yeah, yeah. She just kind of popped in there.
00:17Yes, that's what she does.
00:18That's another thing about aging. You get scared fast. That scared me.
00:22Oh, did it really?
00:23It frightened me. Oh my god, who's that person?
00:25If it was a white woman, I might have gotten scared. It was my friend Bailey.
00:30Yeah. So, Wrestlemania, man.
00:32Yeah.
00:33You're back. From the moment you got back, it was all love for CM Punk.
00:37How good has it been being back in the WWE, that second part of your journey?
00:43It's been so good, I am uncomfortable telling people how good it is.
00:46Really?
00:47Yeah, just because you get the people who are like, oh, he's just that company guy now, this, this, that.
00:53I'm 46 years old. I'm still doing what I dreamed as a little kid to do at a high level.
01:00Yeah.
01:00Like, I'm, I'm a pig in shit. You know what I mean?
01:03Yeah.
01:03Like, I'm just rolling around. I'm happy. I love seeing my friends. I get to sit here, be interviewed by a legendary Hall of Famer.
01:11You know, like, life is good. I can't, I can't complain.
01:14Last time we had you on Good Guy, Bad Guy, Chael and I, you kind of went far. Did you get in trouble for anything you said? Because we went a little far.
01:22Brother, I don't remember. I always get in trouble for things I say. That's, that's who I am.
01:27Yeah.
01:27And I, I realized very early that it doesn't matter what you say. Somebody's going to be mad about it.
01:32Yeah.
01:33Somebody's going to find something. Oh, he didn't really mean that. Somebody will say, oh, but, but, but he's, he's paid to say that. Yeah. All right. You know, so I'm just going to be me and live in the moment. Not really worry about yesterday and not worry about tomorrow and just, just have fun.
01:48The moment is WrestleMania 41. We're live in Las Vegas. You have been a part of some of the biggest matches in wrestling history.
01:55Saturday. We'll go down as such. There's a difference though. It's your first WrestleMania main event for my money. Far too long for it to happen. Being who you have been in this business.
02:09Yeah. What does it feel like to finally be here knowing that you've earned this?
02:15Well, first of all, thank you. I agree with you. It's just, you know, to me, what this main event represents, especially with Paul Heyman being in my corner,
02:24this is almost like a, this is what should have happened in 2011, 12, 13, you know? So I feel like I'm, I'm, I'm fortunate. I get a do over. Uh, I try not to build things up too much anymore.
02:40And I try not to downplay the important things because no mistake. This is still very important to me. Uh, this business hurts too much for, for anyone, especially me to go out and do what I do to, to not care. Right.
02:57I think in the past, one of my biggest crutches was I care too much almost. Uh, but this is everything for me. And it's evident that all the close people in my life, uh, are re reaching out on a daily basis.
03:10Hey, you know, if I, I, I know you're going to be busy tomorrow, but we love you. Congratulations. Like, this is huge. When I fly home and I'm walking through O'Hare airport, trying to get to the train, random people walking by me are like, congrats on the main event.
03:25Like that's awesome. This it's resonated. And I put so much pressure on myself as an athlete to try to set these goals and to reach them. And, you know, quote unquote falling short of them prior. And now I'm here. I'm just trying to enjoy the moment, man.
03:42That's probably one of my biggest regrets. Never really living in the now. Oh, it's hard. What's the next thing? That's how I always operated. And I, I, I think it's funny. I talked to Steve Austin, right?
03:54And when you look at stone cold Steve Austin's career in the WWE, and he's arguably the biggest box office superstar that this industry has ever seen.
04:05Like he told me, he's like, ah, kid, I ran so hot for such a short amount of time, you know?
04:10And it's like, he, he, he sees the schedule we're on now and he's like, man, I wish I could have done that.
04:14Yes. And I said, Steve, what made you, you was you were running that hard. Yep. And nobody could tell you anything.
04:21It's just like, what makes CM Punk is that chip on my shoulder. And it's, you know, you, when you burn the candle at both ends, you're going hard. That makes you who you are. You're a competitor.
04:34You're always looking ahead. Okay. What's next? Yep. I got to climb this next mountain. It's kind of a double edged sword, right?
04:40It is. Yeah. Yeah. Especially when you, when it's over. Yeah. Right. You mentioned Paul Heyman being in your corner. Your guys' relationship is something that I've watched for so long on TV.
04:51And just knowing what he means to you. Yeah. Speak about that relationship with Paul Heyman, a man that's been so important to this business as a whole, but clearly he's been important to you.
05:02Yeah. You know, I've been fortunate throughout my career, ah, for some reason or another, a lot of, a lot of really, really special old timers, like took a liking to me.
05:12Like Harley Race, Bret Hart, Ricky Steamboat, Tracy Smothers.
05:17And when I got signed to WWE in 2005, I figured this is going to last four, six months.
05:25You know, I was a little indie guy, little by their standards, right?
05:29Yeah. And now I feel like I'm a bigger dude.
05:31It's so different today. Yeah.
05:32The landscape's changed, but back then I was coming in.
05:35I was like the first one through the wall. I got bloodied. You know what I mean?
05:39I mean, Paul Heyman was a guy who took a liking to me, saw something in me.
05:44He's that coach that you, you, you, you come across that he sees it in you.
05:49And not only does he see it in you, he knows how to pull it out of you. Yeah.
05:53He knows how to tell you, look, I, yeah, I know all these people are going to say X, Y, Z about you and this is going to be hard, but I know you can do it.
06:01I know you want to do it. You have the ability, you have the talent, just somebody who fostered that at my early stages in WWE.
06:08And we've had our ups and downs. You know, he gave me 13 staples in the top of my head in Philadelphia.
06:16He smashed the ladder into my face, but friends, friends fight hurt each other.
06:20Yeah. You know, and we make up and now here we are.
06:23And I get to share what is arguably the pinnacle moment of my career with him.
06:29And I, and it's deserved. I wouldn't be here without him.
06:33You know what I like about you is that you're not just a wrestler, you're a sports fan, you're an athlete, you have stepped outside of your comfort level in box before.
06:45Oh, yeah. You go to the UFC, you support the UFC.
06:49Now, do you take from all those experiences, right? Not only as actively doing them.
06:55I'm talking, hell, you're in Los Angeles watching Umar Nurmagomedov and Mirabh, right?
07:02Yeah.
07:03You're tied to these things because you still love the sport.
07:05Can you take from that, like from that environment at the Intuit Dome where you see those great champions compete and apply it to what you're doing and what you're going to do this weekend in WrestleMania main event?
07:17I think, man, 100%, you know, I think if you're a fan of sports and you go to sporting events, baseball, I don't care if it's football, American football, European soccer, whatever, hockey, like you go, you get excited, you get swept away.
07:33But there's moments that a lot of civilians won't be privy to, things backstage, their eye isn't trained to see certain things like how me or you see certain things.
07:43Like, especially as a broadcaster, you see things differently now than when you were in the cage, you know?
07:48Yep, yep.
07:49So to be where I'm at in this company and to be able to go to a UFC and to, I kind of move a little bit differently.
07:58I look at different things.
08:00I watch Bruce Buffer, you know what I mean?
08:02I watch how he moves in the cage.
08:04Yep.
08:05So everybody from behind the scenes or all the fighters putting their gloves on, you guys, the commentators, I see how you guys are in the cage.
08:12I see how you guys operate and we can 100% apply that to our world.
08:17This is the real world and ours is the real make-believe world where we can take elements of what you guys do.
08:24And I see stuff like that all the time and I try to bring that over.
08:29Like, even if it's camera shots or production stuff or how people get interviewed post-fight, we need to do that more here in wrestling.
08:37Yeah.
08:38Storytelling.
08:39Yeah.
08:40Is as important in this world as anything.
08:43It's easy to tell a story when you take a big gold belt and you put it on the end and you tell the consumer that's the gold.
08:50That's the thing that we are fighting for.
08:52Yeah.
08:53But when you don't have that gold belt, now you got to tell a different story and a more in-depth story.
08:59You guys have told the story without a title that has drawn people in and made this one of the most anticipated triple threat matches of all time.
09:08How important was it for you to tell that story with Seth, with Roman, to get people invested?
09:15Because there's five title fights on the card this weekend.
09:18Yeah.
09:19But you guys are the main event.
09:21So, I'll liken it again to UFC, like this past pay-per-view.
09:27I was looking forward to Lopez and Volkanovski.
09:30Yup.
09:31But to you, what was the fight on the main card that you really wanted to see?
09:36I wanted to see, honestly, I wanted to see Bryce Mitchell versus John Silva.
09:42Exactly.
09:43I knew it was going to be awesome.
09:44Yeah.
09:45Right?
09:46There was no title there.
09:47Right.
09:48There's no title.
09:49And it was in the same weight class.
09:50But there's human emotions.
09:51Yes.
09:52There's things that people can watch and go, oh man, yeah, I feel that.
09:54That's my guy.
09:55Or, oh man, I can't believe he did that.
09:58I want to see that guy get choked out.
10:00Yes.
10:01We can incorporate, and I believe that we have at this level, that I don't like Seth.
10:07Yeah, dude.
10:08I know.
10:09Yeah.
10:10And we can tell that story and people can see that.
10:14And it's almost, I hate saying this about Seth, but he ain't wrong about a lot of things he says about me.
10:20And I'm 100% right about everything I say about him.
10:23And now people get to watch us punch each other in the face.
10:26Yeah.
10:27We get to try to settle the score.
10:30What the wrestling business is in the most granule level is capturing those feelings and reaching out and making people feel some sort of emotion.
10:43It's an emotion business.
10:46And the best highlights in the UFC, yeah, knockouts are great, all these things, but it's the emotion.
10:52To me, I remember a lot of the times post-fight interviews, sometimes more than the finish of the fight.
10:57Yeah.
10:58Because you'll get real human beings telling real stories, and you get some real gems.
11:02Most recently, Volkanovski saying, adversity is a privilege.
11:05Oh, my God.
11:06Was that not a great line?
11:07And you feel that.
11:09Yeah.
11:10And you can connect to that as a fan.
11:12I did, you know?
11:13Yeah.
11:14And that's what we are blessed to be able to do.
11:17Like, in real time, we can do the same things.
11:20And, yeah, I think we don't need the title belt because we've told the story that, you know, I'm not going to say this is more important than the title.
11:28I think it could be more relatable than the title.
11:30Yeah, more relatable.
11:31People can understand friendship and betrayal and heartache and heartbreak and all these things.
11:37And whoever wins will possibly fight for the title next.
11:40That's kind of an unspoken thing.
11:42Yeah, kind of an unspoken thing.
11:43Like, when you take three of the biggest superstars in the industry and you put them in a triple threat, yeah, whoever's winning that's probably coming out number one contender.
11:50That's my last question for you.
11:52Do you believe, you said it, Seth says it, you guys don't like each other.
11:55Yeah.
11:56But when you come back, you're immediately together, right?
11:58Yeah.
11:59Because we want it as the consumer.
12:01I want nothing more than to see you and him who don't like each other in there together.
12:05Right?
12:06Do you think that's made it easier?
12:08Because in MMA, when Jon Jones and I are fighting, it's a much easier sell because it's real.
12:14Sure, yeah.
12:15Has it made it easier because you're working with a person?
12:18I saw y'all sitting down last night.
12:20It's like, you don't want to be there.
12:22Yeah.
12:23But you're going to try to put together a masterpiece with that guy who you don't like.
12:27Yeah, you know, I think it helps.
12:29And, you know, I've been on both sides of the coin.
12:32You know, like sometimes you got to deal with people and you're like, this is such a garbage human being.
12:38I do not want my soul tethered to this person.
12:42You know, I'm sure you can relate.
12:44Yeah, yeah.
12:45But it's just like, this is the dude you got to go through.
12:48Yep.
12:49You know, you didn't pick him.
12:50You know, like he's the champ.
12:52He's got something you want.
12:53He may be a garbage human being and you got to do these interviews with him.
12:56And it's like you're spending time with him.
12:58What's more intimate than fighting somebody?
13:01Yeah.
13:02You know?
13:03Yeah.
13:04So it is a little weird.
13:05It's a little bipolar.
13:06Like, I don't like the guy.
13:07I'm spending a lot of time with him because I'm in the ring with him and we're fighting.
13:11And it's a lot of times it's more intimate than I am with a lot of my friends, you know?
13:16But it's also cathartic because like you said, I get to kick him in the face.
13:20Yeah.
13:21You know, I had that cage match with him and I was grinding his head.
13:24I'm grinding his face into that cage, you know?
13:26Yeah.
13:27And it feels good.
13:28Because I'm thinking, I want you to go home and I want your daughter to be like, Dada,
13:31what happened to your face?
13:32Yeah.
13:33You know?
13:34And I want you to have to tell her it was CM Punk.
13:35Wow.
13:36You know what I mean?
13:37That's the way to end.
13:38Man.
13:39Main event Saturday night, night one of WrestleMania.
13:42CM Punk, Seth Rollins, Roman Reigns in a triple threat match for the ages.
13:47Do not miss it.
13:48Make sure you guys tap into everything Punk is doing.
13:50Massive UFC guy.
13:52CM Punk, thanks for joining me.
13:53Appreciate you, legend.
13:54Thank you.
13:55Thank you, forward to getting here.
14:02Thank you, Hilary Ah also.