11 Things We Learned From CM Punk's Latest Oral Sessions Appearance

2. The Political BS Of WWE

Renee Young CM Punk
WWE.com

While CM Punk didn't mention WWE by name once during this interview, he did give some insight into the political landmines he had to navigate at times during his WWE tenure.

In discussing how old stars should be helping out the stars of tomorrow, Punk explained the struggles he himself had when he was in "developmental" - presumably referencing his time in Ohio Valley Wrestling and possibly his days in WWE's ECW brand and beyond.

"I came up in a place that was a shark tank full of bullies that were protecting their spot. It wasn't about what was good or bad, or right or wrong. What I did was always bad or it was always wrong, and there were people who ran the show that told me to my face, 'I don't get it!' I would just be, like, 'Well what the f**k are we doing?'

If I'm in developmental, to liken it to playing AAA ball, I want to make it to the major leagues. And if I'm hitting home runs, I'm the Home Run King in AAA ball, and I get called up to the major leagues and the guy on the team with the most home runs tells the hitting coach and the bench coach and the manager, 'That guy sucks'... It's just like, 'Oh, we don't wanna just win games?'"

Punk would then add:

"I got there, I was already a grown ass man, and I had these other grown ass men picking on me. I was like, 'Why is this like high school?' But that's the culture, that's what they want. 'We want you guys to fight, we want you to want his spot'. And I never wanted anybody's spot, I wanted my own spot.
When I got over, quote/unquote, so to speak, there was very much a contingent that was, like, 'He's one of us now. Watch us bury everybody'. And I would be going, 'No, man, that sucks. That's not cool'."
Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.