Shannon Moore reflects on how CM Punk entering WWE forced him to change his gimmick.
Shannon Moore and CM Punk were on WWE ECW at the same time. They even briefly feuded. The idea behind their rivalry was CM Punk calling Shannon out for being a "poser" and not truly punk. Punk would even slap Moore for saying he was "bringing sexy back," a reference that was, at the time, on point, but a step too far for CM Punk to resist the urge to attack Moore.
Speaking with Chris Jericho on Talk is Jericho, Moore revealed that Punk's WWE debut actually forced him to change his "Prince of Punk" gimmick. More admits that WWE backed the right horse considering how much success Punk has gone on to have. However, he also admits that it took a toll on his love for wrestling.
"I get back [to WWE] and they’re like, ‘We have this guy that we’re going to introduce, CM Punk. We want you to work with him.’ That’s when I started to work with him in ECW. Whenever they brought Punk in, they squashed my whole punk character because I had been calling myself the Prince of Punk. I had been doing that for six or seven months and they were about to bring Punk up. I had never heard of CM Punk. Then I was like, ‘Okay, I get it.’ Later on, I heard that Paul [Heyman] and them had seen my look and knew that I was calling myself the Prince of Punk, ‘There can only be one Punk.’ They made the right decision. Punk has made them millions of dollars and still makes them millions of dollars. It just sucks because it kind of got me down and out with wrestling. ‘Cut your mohawk, grow your hair back out."
Today, CM Punk is still with WWE and will be entering the 2025 Royal Rumble. Learn more here.
Shannon Moore is now a sobriety counselor. Fans can check out the full podcast embedded below.
