The Official CM Punk Twitter thread

[Jingus]

Is Punk's career thus far compilation worthy? I think so.

Yeah, I'd say so. Looking back, he's had a much more varied career than you'd expect from a modern indy guy who's never really worked much outside of America. His IWA Midsouth, ROH, and WWE work has seen him doing a whole lot of diffent stuff in different styles with different opponents. Not many guys can claim to have gotten watchable matches out of Raven in the past decade, or to have gone well past an hour in a marathon match, or to have somehow kept their indy name and gimmick in the WWE, or all the other unlikely accomplishments that he's somehow stacked up over the last several years.

 

I would think it's more that the 'E realizes how good he is (in the ring and on the stick) and don't want anyone else to have him.

Also, he's one of the few relatively safe bets they have in terms of drug scandals. I've always been slightly suspicious of just how firm his straightedge convictions are, but he is at the very least much less likely to get busted with a ton of shit on him.

 

That said, if he does decide to leave (has anything been reported since it came out that he hasn't signed his extension?) I don't think he'll be going to TNA. He's not exactly buddies with the Hardly Brothers, and I'm sure he's smart enough to know that he'd wind up being just like Angle, Kennedy, and the other 50 guys who left the 'E and went there. They'd hype him for a month or so as their biggest acquisition yet, and then he'd be just another guy.

Depends. How important are the Hardys to TNA? I'd think Punk at this point is a more valuable name than Matt is, and it's still a question if Jeff is coming back. And as for Punk's feelings on the matter, that depends on plenty of variables as well. How busy a schedule he wants, how much money he wants, etcetera. Lots of aging big names go with TNA just because it's the only other company which can guarantee them a contract, with the bonus of working much less than in the WWE.

[smkelly]

Punk's looks have changed drastically over his career. He went from looking like a young punk rocker in '02 to grizzled biker bar looking dude when he was running the sXe society. Pretty obvious, yes, but I think he aged rather poorly over the years. He would not look nearly as bad as those before and after meth use posters, but his metamorphosis over the years is like a rockers, though.

 

Anyway, his Indy days were awesome. TNA, not so much. OVW was apparently awesome. His WWE run has been hit and miss, with mostly misses early on, then some big hits, followed by confusing misses, rinse and repeat. His dynamic in the WWE is like the cycles of a person with bipolar. I still think the WWE has missed the boat with Punk. They barely tapped on his potential. Punk's well is deep like Lawler's. But I guess you can only do so much with a guy who looks like a meth dealer but says he's never done drugs before. Or it's his attitude problem.

[Ryan Faulconer]

Punk has "DRUG FREE" or (something like that) tattooed on his knuckles. I'd say he's probably pretty serious about being straight edge. Reading his blog and interviews over the years anyone who acts so sanctimonious probably practices what he preaches. It isn't just a trend with him. Debate what you want about the details but I'd say it is a pretty safe bet that he is alcohol and recreational drug free. Being straight edge (whether he would ever admit it or not) is just like any other belief or religion though. There are people who live to the letter of the law and there are people who practice it in phases.

 

Now, whether his womanizing hurts his "eligibility" as straight edge is another story. Of course its not like we have any proof that he actually had all those relationships. This is the internet after all. Pictures are worth a thousand words.

[Jingus]

Punk has "DRUG FREE" or (something like that) tattooed on his knuckles.

And the Undertaker had "SARA" tattooed on his throat, but he still divorced her.

 

It's not that I'm saying Punk is a big fat phony, he probably is drug-free. But that's a probably. He is still a professional wrestler, which is an occupation which tends to be one of the most drug-friendly demographics on the entire planet. It's funny how much fury and rage some people go to when you suggest the very idea that Punk's straightedge gimmick might be a work. People refuse to believe even the remotest possibility that he might have ever done anything but practiced what he preaches. This guy works in an industry which is deceitful and drug-fueled to its very core, and it wouldn't shock me at all if he had "lapses" which never became public knowledge.

[Dylan Waco]

The music industry is filled with hardcore drug addicts, particularly the punk rock/hardcore scene where straight edge sprung from. Speaking for myself, I knew a dozen people who had died of heroin related deaths by the time I was 15 though that isn't really the point. The point is that World is incredibly drug and alcohol friendly. I don't know Punk and don't really have a dog in this fight one way or the other. Just pointing out that straight edge popped out of and exists within a culture that is exceptionally drug friendly

 

EDIT: Also may or may not be worth noting that I lived in two punk houses where drug use and distribution was on a level that equals or surpasses what the Merry Pranksters were pulling - literally..and I've never even so much as taken a sip of alcohol or a single drag on a cigarette.

[Jingus]

I'm not saying it's impossible that he's drug free, nothing like that at all. My point is, why do so many people insist that it IS impossible that he might ever do drugs or otherwise break the rules of the lifestyle he claims?

 

 

The conversation usually goes something like this:

 

Someone else: "CM Punk definitely never does drugs."

Me: "How do you know?"

Them: "Because he says so."

Me: "A wrestler tells you something, and you automatically believe him?"

Them: "There's also the tattoos!"

Me: "(previous Undertaker anecdote)"

Them: "WHY DO YOU SAY THAT PUNK DOES DRUGS"

Me: "Never did. Why do you say he doesn't?"

Them: (either they repeat a previous statement, change the subject, curse me out, or storm off in a huff)

 

And I've had that exact exchange at least half a dozen times, if not more. The point isn't about Punk himself, the point is that wrestling is full of lying motherfuckers and you should practically never 100% trust any of them just at their word. Especially when it comes to things they're bragging about which make them look good.

[goodhelmet]

The Undertaker tattoo is a horrible example. Just saying.

 

As for if he has or hasn't, until there is some evidence of him doing drugs, even a rumor or some backstage whisper, then why is this even being discussed? I want to read more posts about Punk and Stone Cold having a Twitter war.

[Victator]

Reliable sources say he takes Ambien to sleep. Very reliable sources.

[Bix]

Reliable sources say he takes Ambien to sleep. Very reliable sources.

LOLHardy

[Victator]

Surely you are not suggesting Jeff Hardy is not a reliable source?

[Jingus]

The Undertaker tattoo is a horrible example. Just saying.

How so? It's in relation to a tattoo on another wrestler, which people claim is concrete evidence of this person's internal beliefs. I'm just illustrating that the ink on a person's skin isn't exactly a rock-solid predictor of their actions.

 

As for if he has or hasn't, until there is some evidence of him doing drugs, even a rumor or some backstage whisper, then why is this even being discussed?

It's just something which comes up on occasion. People mention how they're certain that Punk couldn't possibly ever do drugs, and I feel obligated to repute that claim.

 

I liken it to the various sex scandals involving politicians here recently, where people act all Shocked~! and Appalled~! that a rich and famous man might happen to enjoy poking some strange pussy. It doesn't matter how whitebread they are, nor how much they preach about Family Values and such; we all know that this kind of thing happens. South Park did an episode about that a year or two back, where the entire nation deeply pondered the esoteric mystery of why celebrities cheat. We all know that the tendency is there, but we act shocked every time we hear a new example of it. And more pertinently, we act a hell of a lot more shocked if we liked them as a performer or if the person had a "wholesome" image.

 

Now apply that to wrestling. How many times have we heard wrestlers claim they do drugs, and at some point we knew they were lying? Too many to count, right? It's happened over and over and fucking over again, up to and including the all the biggest stars in the industry. I don't think it's too much of a stretch to consider wrestlers as a group guilty until proven innocent on the drug issue. Thinking back to my various close friends in the business, I can't offhand think of a single one who didn't do some form of drugs at some point, even if it was just roids or pain pills.

 

So then we come to this one particular wrestler who claims to not do drugs. Why do we believe him? Well firstly, his gimmick in both kayfabe and real life is that he doesn't do drugs. Okay. And? What does that definitively prove? It's simply his word. (Cena falls into this category too; a surprising number of people will say that they think he never does anything, including steroids, just because he repeatedly says that he doesn't do drugs and he doesn't "seem" insincere.) We have no idea what he really does behind closed doors, we're not there. For all their public exhibitionist nature, wrestlers are often pretty goddamn secretive about their personal lives. And the other factor is simply that most of us are a mark for the guy, and nobody ever wants to believe that their heroes in the media can be just as fallible and flawed as any other human beings.

 

And once again, I want to stress, I'm not saying Punk does drugs. Whether he does or not is, for the purposes of my point, actually quite irrelevant. My point is that he could do drugs, but he gets a massive level of extra support from so many fans who give him a benefit of a doubt that practically no other performer gets. Only Lance Storm, Bob Backlund, and Mick Foley are anywhere near Punk on the "everyone knows these guys never do drugs" public perception. Never mind that there's probably several other workers out there who are just as straightedge as those guys, if not even more so; they're simply not as well-known, for whatever reason. Kinda like how on the flipside of the coin Jake Roberts and Scott Hall are the go-to punchlines for drug and alcohol jokes, despite the fact that there's probably dozens of guys out there who imbibe just as many chemicals as those guys.

 

In conclusion: I've just seen too many people claim "there's no way ________ does drugs, nuh-uh, that's totally impossible!" when such a statement is clearly not based on 100% documented factual reality. You can't prove the absence or nonexistence of anything in that manner.

[sek69]

Considering the amount of women wrestlers he's gone through, I wonder what the Straight Edge stand is on penicillin.

[Dylan Waco]

Jingus you were in the business and worked Southern indies. Thus it is fair to assume you smoked crack right?

[Ditch]

Jingus you were in the business and worked Southern indies. Thus it is fair to assume you smoked crack right?

He's saying that there's no reason to believe Punk's drug-free claim more than assorted other 'purity' claims by public figures. Which seems reasonable...

[El-P]

"Purity" claims are the most ridiculous things ever, in every way. How not drinking alcohol makes you "better" than someone who does ? I have nothing against "straight edge" per say, although there's a "holyer than thou" taste to it I don't particulary like from people preaching it (well, than can be said for any kind of preaching...). Plus, as long as they don't hurt anyone else, what people do in their private life is nobody's business.

 

On the topic at hand, I think Punk is totally right to complain about being harrassed at the freaking dentist. There's a time for everything.

[Coffey]

Personally speaking, in my experience, people that brag about drinking (or smoking weed) are infinite worse than those that brag about not doing so.

 

"Hoo boy, I'm gonna get TORE UP this weekend!"

 

Yeah, that's great.

[El-P]

Personally speaking, in my experience, people that brag about drinking (or smoking weed) are infinite worse than those that brag about not doing so.

 

"Hoo boy, I'm gonna get TORE UP this weekend!"

 

Yeah, that's great.

Less annoying, but stupider.

 

Drinking alcohol doesn't equal getting wasted though. Two fine glass of wine while having diner, a fresh beer in a cool bar or a few glass of champain don't do any harm.

[Jingus]

Jingus you were in the business and worked Southern indies. Thus it is fair to assume you smoked crack right?

Considering the number of wrestlers I've personally known who have done exactly that, this statement is much less of a joke than you realize.

 

He's saying that there's no reason to believe Punk's drug-free claim more than assorted other 'purity' claims by public figures.

Yeah, that's it in a nutshell.

[MJH]

Whatever happened to rock stars anyway? Even Charlie Sheen is claiming to be clean.

[Blehschmidt]

Whatever happened to rock stars anyway? Even Charlie Sheen is claiming to be clean.

I guess it's just not cool anymore. You hear about Scott Weiland or someone going into rehab these days and everyone just shakes there head. Where as back in the day, everyone was fucked up, everyone knew it, and no one said shit.

 

I just always wondered about guys like Steven Adler. He got thrown out of Guns 'n' Roses for doing to many drugs and drinking too much. How much drinking and drugs do you have to be doing, to get tossed out of a band full of drug addicts and alcoholics?

[Resident Evil]

Personally speaking, in my experience, people that brag about drinking (or smoking weed) are infinite worse than those that brag about not doing so.

 

"Hoo boy, I'm gonna get TORE UP this weekend!"

 

Yeah, that's great.

Less annoying, but stupider.

 

Drinking alcohol doesn't equal getting wasted though. Two fine glass of wine while having diner, a fresh beer in a cool bar or a few glass of champain don't do any harm.

 

People who don't eat cooked food and stick to a truly healthy diet will get wasted on "mere" sips of wine. I mean, I'm even talking about poeple who had built up a big tolerance to alcohol while on a typical North American diet.

[smkelly]

Cause drugs are bad, m'kay.

[Resident Evil]

Cause drugs are bad, m'kay.

Yeah, no true need to drink that piss.

 

 

RE -- Still hoping Punk turns the entire IWC straight edge:)

[smkelly]

I have nothing against drugs. People have free will to do as they choose. There again though, I'm not a parent of a teenager who is wanting to experiment with narcotics.

 

Nevertheless, I'll probably smoke pot till the day I die, though. And I'm not one of those types that brags about it, either. Marijuana helps control and moderate certain things that are wrong with me, like the amount of crippling pain I fight against on a daily basis because I tore my Achilles tendon, or the brain and heart injuries I suffered in the Marine Corps. Or the seven years of football on my athletic resume. It makes me a functioning cripple but without the nausea inducing side-effects of straight pain. If I were to lose that remedy, I might as well blow my fucking brains out because that is no way to live. Basically, marijuana to me is like vicodin to House.

[Ditch]

Just as long as you don't drive a car into someone's living room.