Paul Heyman recalls his fiery promo on CM Punk from March of 2014.
Following the 2014 WWE Royal Rumble event, CM Punk would walk out on WWE and would not return to the company for almost 10 years before making his shocking return at Survivor Series 2023. In March of 2014, Punk's future in pro wrestling remained a mystery to many, and Paul Heyman played into that when he came out to CM Punk's music on the March 3rd edition of WWE Monday Night RAW in Chicago.
In a new interview with Undisputed's Justin Barrasso, Paul Heyman looked back on that time and set the stage for the promo.
“That moment in Chicago was a very unique period of time. It came after the Royal Rumble where CM Punk had walked out, and the Chicago crowd was on fire, angry that obviously CM Punk was not going to be there. In the meantime, my appearance took on a whole new meaning because I was so closely associated with Punk. I was going to be a distraction from Brock Lesnar, and we had to get Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker on the map because we were heading straight into WrestleMania.”
Heyman continued, noting that the circumstances surrounding the event on March 3rd reminded him of the movie, 'The Untouchables'.
“In looking at the circumstance, it reminded me of The Untouchables, which was directed by Brian De Palma. Kevin Costner, who plays Eliot Ness, leads a group–they’re ‘The Untouchables’. One of the villains in the movie kills one of ‘The Untouchables’ and writes ‘Touchable’ in blood on the elevator wall. It was such a dramatic turning point in the movie.”
For many in WWE, heading back to Chicago in the year's after Punk's walkout was a hard situation, as the company would have to combat the constant chanting for Punk. In Heyman's mind however, he did not see it as an unwinnable situation.
“I never saw the situation in Chicago as unwinnable, I looked at it as a magnificent opportunity to promote Brock Lesnar vs. The Undertaker. I knew I could spin within my persona the fact that Punk would have beaten The Undertaker the year before had he just listened to me and ignored the love being bestowed upon him by the audience. In blaming the audience for Punk’s decision to leave, which would only have happened outside of my wisdom, I was directing my venom towards them–and I’d punish the audience by taking something away from them, which would be The Streak, and the only beast on the planet that could beat The Streak was Brock Lesnar. It sounds so fucking convoluted, but when you put it in front of yourself, with that audience that night in that moment, it all made sense. On that night, there was nothing else to do–unless we wanted to get badgered by CM Punk chants all night, and that wasn’t going to sell WrestleMania tickets. So, for me, it was a straight line. I knew in the moment that it wasn’t just the best move, it was the only move.”
On last week's edition of WWE Friday Night SmackDown, Heyman revealed to Punk that his triple threat match with Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins would main event night one of WrestleMania 41. You can read more about that here.
