Punk Walks Out of WWE

[Matt D]

There's a crazy range from "protecting the boys due to the payoffs" to "didn't want to job to Cesaro so he lost his smile" with a dozen things in the middle.

[Johnny Sorrow]

I don't think he was thinking "protecting the boys" or "I won't job to Cesaro ". If he walked about the PPV money deal I doubt it was "I'm doing it for the boys". And I doubt he'd mind putting someone over, especially Cesaro.

[shoe]

Punk probably sold more t shirts than Rey and Jericho combined.

No fucking way this is true. Johnny logic # non withstanding.

[Johnny Sorrow]

 

Punk probably sold more t shirts than Rey and Jericho combined.

No fucking way this is true. Johnny logic # non withstanding.

Think about it. Not talking those masks. But if you watched the crowds over the past few years you'd see tons and tons of Punk shirts and he'd come out with a new one every six months or so. I don't recall seeing 6 straight years of guys in the crowd in Jericho and Rey shirts.

That being said, I couldn't believe how much they charged for those Rey masks when I would go to house shows.

[Jesse Ewiak]

You gotta figure that during his run, Punk kept coming out with new shirt design after new shirt design and his fans bought every single one. Add in that he's single with no kids and lives pretty simply, I'm sure he's mighty well off.

 

If I remember right, he owns the building he lives in that has several businesses on the bottom, so he's got that income stream, even if he's not wrestling.

[Cross Face Chicken Wing]

 

You gotta figure that during his run, Punk kept coming out with new shirt design after new shirt design and his fans bought every single one. Add in that he's single with no kids and lives pretty simply, I'm sure he's mighty well off.

 

If I remember right, he owns the building he lives in that has several businesses on the bottom, so he's got that income stream, even if he's not wrestling.

 

 

Plus he doesn't drink. If I didn't drink, I'd be a millionaire.

[Johnny Sorrow]

 

 

You gotta figure that during his run, Punk kept coming out with new shirt design after new shirt design and his fans bought every single one. Add in that he's single with no kids and lives pretty simply, I'm sure he's mighty well off.

If I remember right, he owns the building he lives in that has several businesses on the bottom, so he's got that income stream, even if he's not wrestling.

I got it all figured out now. The Network is gonna promote that Punk is gonna return immediately after WrestleMania on an all new WWE Network original program. A remake of One Day At A Time and he's Schneider. Only in this one he fucks the Mom, then Julie, then Barb. And eventually Richard Masur.

[PeteF3]

And here I figured the post-WrestleMania Raw would begin with AJ getting out of bed and seeing Punk in the shower...

[Johnny Sorrow]

Punk and Pat Harrington have a lot in common. Both became big stars and pussy magnets with bad ink, bad bodies , and faces that belong hanging on a wall in the Post Office.

[goodhelmet]

When did I ever say I love Miz or that Punk should enjoy the creative decisions? Lol. Will with the slow build of a feud for a podcast. Awesome.

 

Bro, we discussed the about 5 times after you watched the Punk DVD and how pissed you were that Punk would besmirch the good name of lifelong wrestling fan Miz!!! It was the only thing you could talk about from the entire DVD.

 

I understand that's how he sees things and I agree that there were some missed opportunities. But surely he doesn't think he's the only person who has the right to grind his axe. There are guys like Jericho and Rey who probably had more screwy booking and less support from management. Does he think the bad things that have happened to him are somehow worse, or does he just have a different threshold than they do?

 

I agree that the opportunities wasted as it relates to Punk are unfortunate. What I don't understand is what makes his situation worse than quite a few other people, or if he even sees it that way.

It isn't a matter of being the only one. We can make lists for Rey and Jericho similar to the one I made for Punk.

[efrim]

Suddenly realized that as it stands, I was at the last ever Chicago wrestling show for CM Punk (day after x-mas house show).

 

He made kind of a weird, rambling sentimental speech at the end. Makes a lot more sense now.

[Johnny Sorrow]

 

When did I ever say I love Miz or that Punk should enjoy the creative decisions? Lol. Will with the slow build of a feud for a podcast. Awesome.

 

Bro, we discussed the about 5 times after you watched the Punk DVD and how pissed you were that Punk would besmirch the good name of lifelong wrestling fan Miz!!! It was the only thing you could talk about from the entire DVD.

 

Again, you fail.

 

What I actually said was that it was a shitty, elitest, douchebag move for Punk to shit on Miz on the DVD while including the footage of Miz praising Punk. Given that Punk made such a big fucking deal about "All WWE Bio DVD's are the same and stink and I have complete control on mine" then why be a cock and include the bit with Miz praising him? If he just did his bit bashing him and being mad he was in the Mania Main Event, then fine. But why include Miz saying nice things about him unless he was being a cock? Like Punk's childhood being a wrestling fan is somehow better than Miz's childhood being a wrestling fan. I never said "I love Miz". I do love the Miz/ Morrison team in WWECW, to be fair.

 

And YOU, sir were the insane one in that convo, going on that Punk's douchey behavior was OK and justified because Punk is a better wrestler and plugs DVD sets.

 

WOOOOOO.

[SteveJRogers]

I can understand a lot of the points being made about what the reasoning behind Punk leaving could be. But it still doesn't take away from the fact that Punk was still very much in the wrong for handling it the way he did.

 

Its unbelievable that only in sports and entertainment that someone can just up and leave a job, contracted or otherwise, with an half hour notice, leaving that place completely in the lurch and with zero explanation for their actions with fans and media treating the employee like they were completely justified due to their own speculation about what exactly happened. With the lone exception of collegiate basketball and football coaches that do get criticized by media members when jumping contracts, but sadly most of the media members get the "get off your high horse, you'd do the same if a bigger outlet came calling to you, or why don't you get on college kids for leaving their schools for the draft early" type of flack.

 

Then again, maybe it does go towards the whole wish fulfillment aspect of fandom. We know we can't just say "take this job and shove it" whenever we feel like it with anything less than two weeks notice. And if we did, good luck taking chances getting another job in the industry, or trying to explain to someone conducting an interview why you left in a completely unprofessional manner.

 

And not only that, but have fans clamor for his return (though I agree that the WWE's stunt Monday should put that fad to rest, or at least lessen the "movement" as an "organized" thing) as if it was a case where the company fired him. He left on his own accord, he wasn't forced out the door or wrongfully terminated. To say nothing about the fact that by his own admission he had been feeling burnt out and wasn't giving it his all in recent months, so even if the "fans" wanted to see him return, chances are it would be more of the same burnt and worn out Punk that had been going through the motions since the fall.

 

 

[goodhelmet]

EDIT: this is in response to Johnny THE MARINE 3 Sorrow, not Steve Rogers.

 

 

Your drunken 70 year old WOOOOOs that cause Jim Ross to get fired after video game press conferences have no effect on me.

 

Your impassioned rant and 20 minute soliloquy on the issue during our conversation can only lead one to believe that you have the Miz action figure, Awesome T-shirt and an autographed copy of The Marine 3. It's the only rational conclusion.

 

You also left out the part where guys like Michael Hayes were criticizing... Wait for it... PUNK on his own DVD. So it's ok to criticize Punk on his own DVD but Punk can't criticize somebody? This Miz was probably just reading script off a TelePrompter when doing the Punk DVD. It could have been a DvD for the Warlord or Rikishi and he would have said the same exact shit... Like the good WWE robot that he is... Which is Punk's point...

 

You also ignored Punk's actual criticism of the Miz which was that the Miz wasn't at the level to main event Wrestlemania. However he is great at being the WWE wind up robot whenever they need him to be. History has proven this to be true.

 

Also, Punk's behavior was perfectly acceptable because he was right. As for DVDs, he didn't even include the bus tour on the DVD version. My stuff is stuck on Blu-Ray only.

[cowboy hats]

We know we can't just say "take this job and shove it" whenever we feel like it with anything less than two weeks notice.

 

 

This can't be true, right? People quit without two weeks notice all the time (just as people get fired or are 'let go' without notice all the time). If you want to leave on good terms, sure, give some notice, but there's no obligation.

 

It's difficult to compare professional wrestling to a real world job. In the abstract, someone like Punk walking out to never return is odd (though, as many have conceded, we still know very little about all this), but (i) this is still a business full of carnies, why do I care that they may have been burned by one cog in their wheel doing what he thinks is best for himself?; and (ii) in a conflict between HHH and pretty much anyone, most are going to side with the latter, especially when the feeling is that Punk left because he didn't want to be in a program with the man (which seems...understandable). If he's unhappy, on autopilot, etc., what other leverage does he have?

[Matt D]

I think the most important question to ask here is this:

 

what matches would make a Warlord DVD?

[Marty]

Suddenly realized that as it stands, I was at the last ever Chicago wrestling show for CM Punk (day after x-mas house show).

 

He made kind of a weird, rambling sentimental speech at the end. Makes a lot more sense now.

 

If you track down a lot of Punk's tweet from during the holidays, he posted things like a thank you to the Detroit crowd with "I haven't got many performances like these left in me", coupled with his own disgust with his performance against Seth Rollins on the final RAW of 2013. Since a lot of people feel the minimum number of dates were met sometime in December, it seems like Punk knew in his own mind he was winding down, it was just a matter of how soon.

[SteveJRogers]

 

We know we can't just say "take this job and shove it" whenever we feel like it with anything less than two weeks notice.

 

 

This can't be true, right? People quit without two weeks notice all the time (just as people get fired or are 'let go' without notice all the time). If you want to leave on good terms, sure, give some notice, but there's no obligation.

 

It's difficult to compare professional wrestling to a real world job. In the abstract, someone like Punk walking out to never return is odd (though, as many have conceded, we still know very little about all this), but (i) this is still a business full of carnies, why do I care that they may have been burned by one cog in their wheel doing what he thinks is best for himself?; and (ii) in a conflict between HHH and pretty much anyone, most are going to side with the latter, especially when the feeling is that Punk left because he didn't want to be in a program with the man (which seems...understandable). If he's unhappy, on autopilot, etc., what other leverage does he have?

 

 

There is no obligation, but yeah, if you just decide you have had enough in a very public company, project or whatever, you might be considered obligated to give a response other than "reasons" because you do seem like that flaky and unprofessional worker that just quits his 9 to 5 office job one day because he feels more passionate about being a music artist or something.

 

Put it this way, there is a reason why Steve Austin to this day says that his "taking his ball and going home" for those eight months was the biggest mistake of his career. It was extremely unprofessional of him, and it caused strain on his relationship with a boss that treated him well when Austin was a top earner. Yeah Pro Wrestling is a low down, dirty rotten business, but you should still rise above the seediness and conduct your exit professionally. This really isn't the mafia (despite the jokes on the latest Titans of Wrestling, and what happened to Bruiser Brody), no one is going to think the lesser of you and try to whack you if you simply state your reasons and come to an understanding with the boss on your way out the door.

 

HELL, on the last Place To Be Network they discussed Mick Foley's exit promo in 2001, where Mick was allowed to get things off his chest and have Vince simply let him go, complete with a "Have a Nice Day."

[Hollinger.]

There isn't any obligation beyond trying to get a good reference from that employer for your next job. No one is bound to their job. Employment is at will.

[SteveJRogers]

There isn't any obligation beyond trying to get a good reference from that employer for your next job. No one is bound to their job. Employment is at will.

Hence why, if it is your choice to leave, it should be handled much more professionally, and with public explanations if in a very public arena, than what Punk did.

[Loss]

I don't know that we're owed an explanation. If he was fighting some rare disease or taking care of a sick family member, that's not really anyone's business. If there's a dispute over pay, that certainly isn't either. I realize this stuff leaks out sometimes and we talk about it, so it's not my point that we shouldn't when it does. My point is more that he doesn't really owe anyone a public explanation.

[SteveJRogers]

You're right, he doesn't. Just saying a simple "its a private matter, respect my privacy" tweet, PR release, whatever would be a professional response if that,or any reason to be honest, was the case.

 

My point is there is nothing about how Punk has acted that says he's nothing but an unprofessional piece of shit and shouldn't be prasied for "principles" or "leaving on his own terms" and have fans clamoring for his return as if he was unceremoniously turfed from the company.

[Childs]

How do you know he acted unprofessionally in informing Vince of his intentions? If he fulfilled the minimum terms of his contract, he was entitled to walk away whenever he chose.

 

Leaving a job that you no longer like does not make you a piece of shit. Nor does it make you a martyr. But to me, at least, it seems a lot more sane than desperately clinging to a company that repeatedly kicks you in the teeth. If Punk has the financial security and resolve to walk away, good for him. If he changes his mind at some point, that's fine too.

[Cox]

I think the most important question to ask here is this:

 

what matches would make a Warlord DVD?

Powers of Pain vs The Rockers, one of the many, many, many Warlord/Bulldog matches, probably either the POP/Fuji vs Demos or Survivor Series '88 tags since those were the POP's biggest angle as a team, maybe something from the NWA...I bet you can fill a solid disc of Warlord matches and not make him look like a total bag of shit if you were careful.

[SteveJRogers]

Until something is said on anyone's end to clear up what happened that day, that is my perception. Punk acted unprofessionally and deserves scorn more than he does clamoring for his return and fans acting as if he was fired.

 

Vince wants to call it a "sabbatical" to answer investor's questions, that's fine, but until a full explanation of what happened is detailed, then it is no different than Austin on a phone saying he wasn't going to be showing up anymore. Which again, Austin freely admits to one of the biggest mistakes of his career.