10 Things We Learned From Something Else To Wrestle With: CM Punk

2. He Was On The Cusp Of Being Released In 2007

CM Punk
WWE.com

It was relatively routine for WWE to dish out a series of releases in one huge chunk before the Network resulted in rosters being more talent-heavy than any other time in industry history, and Prichard was willing to admit that CM Punk was "on the bubble" depending on just how exasperated Vince McMahon was with a character and human being he simply didn't understand.

Along again, bizarrely, with John Laurinaitis, it took another of McMahon's most trusted staffers to keep Punk in the conversation. Kevin Dunn had a number of young people working for him that unsurprisingly understood the 'Straight Edge Superstar' far more than the stuffy ageing collective that Vince McMahon surrounded himself with.

This led to Prichard recording a never-used sit-down interview with Punk that at long last fleshed out the quirks of his personality in a way the fuddy-duddies (including Vince McMahon himself) could finally connect with it.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say. With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.