CM Punk continues to make the media rounds ahead of this weekend’s WrestleMania 42 two-night premium live event.
During an appearance on All The Smoke: Unplugged, “The Best in the World” spoke about Pat McAfee’s involvement in WWE and his recent pipe bomb promo addressing McAfee.
Featured below are some of the highlights from the interview where he touches on these topics with his thoughts. Also embedded below is a complete video archive of the discussion.
On the message behind the promo: “What prompted this is an overall feeling from not just me or the boys, but hair, makeup, production, management, the crew. A lot of people were feeling disrespected and pissed off. I had a job to do, in my mind. I have to go out there and promote my WrestleMania match with Roman, who is not in the building. Not an easy thing to do. You’re solo, and I have to take these people on a ride. I’m fortunate that I’ve done this long enough and have failed at this long enough that I am better at this than a lot of people. This is where I thrive. I was out trying to sell WrestleMania, sell some tickets, make it exciting, make it real, and also stick up for the business.”
On Pat McAfee’s involvement in pro wrestling: “Wrestling has always, sometimes to a fault, embraced people that we believe can get eyeballs on a product. Eyeballs on a product and people actually investing and buying tickets are two wildly different things. Pat was a wrestling fan who became famous outside of the bubble and was afforded an opportunity to be invited in. Somewhere along the line, he forgot that he was a tourist. To me, that can easily be rescinded. Pat is great at what he does. Pat is not great at what we do. Cody is going to handle it. Poor Cody has to deal with this guy. When he disrespects the business and he says something out of pocket, he’s going to get checked and he’s going to get checked by me. You can’t be running your mouth about ticket sales when you’ve never sold a ticket in your life. I would prefer to not have to deal with Pat, but we’ll see what happens. I don’t think Pat realizes the dangerous things he’s doing.”
CM Punk defends his WWE World Heavyweight Championship against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 42, which takes place on April 18 and April 19 from Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, NV.