10 Things I Hate About CM Punk
10. He's An Overrated Promo
Phil Brooks has the gift of the gab. You get the impression from interviews hes taken part in over the years that even in his high school days he was beginning to put together the persona hed swing for the fences with in the WWE: the big-mouthed, hard-nosed punk on a mission.
The man can practically talk on an Olympic level, and the years of putting together in-ring promos more or less on the fly have only honed that ability. And good god, but he's lazy with it.
Everyones always going to remember the smart aleck invective of that glorious worked- shoot promo in Vegas, or the trash talking par excellence he came out with against The Rock, whose arms - apparently - were too short to box with God.
Its brilliant stuff from an inspired, motivated CM Punk. When he wasnt motivated like that, or as he was in the summer of 2011 leading up to that amazing Money In The Bank match with Cena for the title, Punk would often meander on the mic, losing focus.
Paul Heyman, a similarly gifted man on the stick with similar sensibilities, never loses that focus because he knows how to hit storytelling beats in a promo, knows how to use repetition, light and shade to create dynamics that build to the point hes trying to make.
Punk never bothered learning how to cut a promo, because Phil Brooks is a naturally gifted motormouth, a born trash talker. Ironically, given that he always compared himself to Batman, Punks more like Superman on the mic so strong, hes never bothered learning how to punch.