— During a recent interview with GQ, CM Punk commented on his craziest interaction with a fan, what he’s learned from Paul Heyman over the years, and who his “Six Grandfathers” in the wrestling business are.
You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On his wildest interaction with a fan: “I heard my mail slot jingling. And I was expecting, I don’t know, a check probably in the mail. I ran downstairs, and I looked down my flight of stairs, and I didn’t know exactly what I was seeing. Upon further inspection, I went around, I opened up my window, and I looked outside onto the street, and there was a fan shoving something into my mail slot. I was like, ‘This can’t be good.’ So I grabbed my Louisville Slugger and I walked downstairs, and I’m thinking, ‘I’m just gonna open this door and confront this person.’ Essentially, what they did was jam an entire Easter basket into my one-inch-by-five-inch mail slot. It’s a bunch of green garland and half-melted chocolate Peeps. There’s been many, many crazy interactions with fans. That one that sticks out. Because, why? Why? Stop it. Behave yourselves.“
On what he’s learned from Paul Heyman: “Paul — I don’t know if he taught me, but he more reinforced, don’t take any s**t from anybody.“
On his logic for using “Six Grandfathers” over “Mount Rushmore”: “I’m gonna cheat. I’m gonna be a really annoying — I’m sure somebody’ll call me a liberal cuck — I like to say Six Grandfathers instead of Rushmore,” Punk explained, noting that the ‘Six Grandfathers’ concept works better in wrestling and was what the monument was called before the faces of the former Presidents were carved into it. “Four is hard! And to me, it’s interesting because in sports, if in the ’60s, you said ‘Give me your top four baseball players?’ it’s infinitely easier than 2025, right? Same with football, same with hockey.”
On Bret Hart being his first pick: “This is why some people love me and why some people hate me: the top six pro wrestlers of all time? Man, it’s still pretty hard. Bret Hart. In terms of just overall to me, he’s like a 10 out of 10 at everything. People can give him flak for not maybe having the best mic skills, but for who he was and what he was trying to accomplish, Bret was always Bret.”
On his other picks after Terry Funk, Harley Race, Roddy Piper, and Eddie Guerrero: “That’s five. It’s hard, right? Everyone normally says like, you know, [Ric] Flair, Shawn Michaels is a good pick, Dusty’s another good pick.”
On if Logan Paul should make the list: “Very, very, very good, very skilled, picked it up very fast, but you’re talking to a wrestling history buff. I think Dusty is a very – I think Dusty [Rhodes[ is a very good pick. Yeah, Dusty, six; six with a bullet.”
— WWE NXT World Champion Oba Femi is staying grounded despite the growing hype surrounding him.
Often praised as a future WrestleMania main-eventer, Femi admitted that while he appreciates the compliments, he doesn’t let them get to his head. Instead, he’s focused on the present and allowing his in-ring work to pave the way for what’s next.
Speaking on a recent edition of the “Good Karma Wrestling” podcast, Femi said, “I try not to let it get to my head, because you’re never as good as you think you are. You’re never as good as they say you are. You’re never as bad as you think you are so you always have to find that balance. And amen. One day, hopefully, it will happen, but, I try not to dwell on that because sometimes when you tunnel vision, you forget to experience the journey.”
— During a recent episode of Tony Schiavone’s “What Happened When” podcast, ECW legend Raven reflected on his storied career, shared his thoughts on the decline of kayfabe in today’s wrestling landscape, and offered insight into his distinctive character work, along with several other topics.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On kayfabe going away in wrestling: “The day that Vince said that the business is a work and made it public was quite the happiest day of my life. I remember when I got into business like, you know, ‘Look at this match, it’s horrible. We’re terrible,.’ And we’re trying to tell people that’s real fighting? Like people would go, ‘Is wrestling real?’ And you’re like, [unenthusiastically] ‘Yes.’ And they’re like, ‘No, it isn’t.’ And I’m like, [unenthusiastically] ‘Yes, it is.’ ‘Come on, it’s got to be fake.’ [unenthusiastically] ‘Nope, it’s real.’”
On getting into wrestling: “Yeah, I went to Larry Sharp’s Monster Factory. But he didn’t train me at all. He was in Japan the whole time with Bigelow, because he was managing Bigelow… Thank God for Portland. That’s where I learned how to wrestle. The two years I spent there were two of the best years of my life.”
— CM Punk recently joked that he could “crash out” and end his WWE run at any moment.
During the kickoff show for WWE Wrestlepalooza, Punk was asked about the upcoming two-year anniversary of his WWE return. In a tongue-in-cheek response, Punk poked fun at critics who predicted he’d derail his comeback, saying:
“I’m gonna crash out at any time guys, don’t worry, keep watching. Any minute now.”
Punk’s comments referenced his turbulent AEW tenure, where he was suspended twice before ultimately being released after just over two years.
Since returning to WWE, Punk has remained controversy-free and has earned praise for his work with WWE NXT talent. At Wrestlepalooza, he teamed with his wife AJ Lee — wrestling her first match since 2015 — to defeat Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch.
