3. Using A Homophobic Slur Against A Fan
Back in 2011 during a WWE tour of Australia, Punk got involved in a heated argument with a fan at ringside. Now don't get me wrong, I love it when heels enrage fans at ringside, it gets them a lot more heat and really helps to build the hatred toward them. However, this one time, Punk took things way too far. By using a homophobic slur against the fan, Punk called down the wrath of the Gossip Gods (TMZ almost instantly picked up the story and even a video of the event!) and all hell broke loose on the internet. Once again, Punk had forced the WWE into going into full damage control mode as they quickly tried to shut down anyone that had picked up the story, which as we all know is nigh-on impossible. This incident came at a time when WWE was really trying to break away from the stereo-typical 'wrestling' image so the timing couldn't have possibly been worse. Even John Cena had been recently forced to apologise for a throw-away 'Brokeback Mountain' comment that he made. I'm not trying to excuse Punk's behaviour here for a second, but it really does seem like a simple slip of the tongue with no malice in it whatsoever. Telling a fan to kill himself, though? That's a totally different story...