CM Punk signed with WWE in 2005 after becoming one of the top independent talents in the country. Punk spent time in Ohio Valley Wrestling before debuting on television as a member of the ECW brand.
During his early time in WWE, CM Punk was branded as a "Paul Heyman Guy," which was a scarlet letter and not the badge of honor it would become.
"CM Punk battled against the perception that all he was was a Paul Heyman guy," Heyman told CBS Sports' Shakiel Mahjouri. "He got, unfortunately, dragged down by that tag. By becoming collateral damage from the fallout between my fallout with management. Because of my fallout with management, that’s how they described him. ‘The Paul Heyman Guy.’ All of a sudden, he fell victim to being described. If I had made him a star by some of the smoke and mirrors we used in ECW, for some people that weren’t up to the level of the national stars, but we used enough ingenuity in our approach of promoting them in hiding the weakness and accentuating their strength that we made them look like stars. That wasn’t the case with Punk. He was a magnificent performer, an all-time performer, a WrestleMania main eventer, and a top-of-the-card-worthy performer from the moment he walked in the door. He fought against that perception and proved himself, through his hard work, through his connection with the audience, through the fact that no matter how stupid of a concept they threw at him, he made it work. Imagine if you let him have input into something that is good, to the point that he was undeniable. You could not stop the progress, no matter how hard they were self-sabotaging their own product, to the point that he rose to the top of the card because the audience shoved him to the top of the card. They weren’t accepting the way he was being presented, knowing he had so much more to offer."
Punk and Heyman aligned on screen in 2012 as Heyman accompanied Punk during his record setting reign as WWE Champion.
Punk and Heyman reunited on screen in 2024 with Punk helping The OG Bloodline at WWE Survivor Series as a favor to Heyman.
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