Speaking to Inside the Ropes, Paul Heyman recalled first meeting CM Punk while overseeing OVW after the inaugural ECW One Night Stand. Punk had built a reputation in Ring of Honor under Heyman’s protégé Gabe Sapolsky as a talented performer with innovative ideas.
Heyman revealed WWE hired Punk based on internet buzz but lacked knowledge of his wrestling style.
After a dark match, WWE staff asked about his finishing move, the Pepsi Plunge (a top-rope pedigree). When told it wasn’t suitable for WWE, Punk was asked to use a “flippy-dippy” move like Jeff Hardy. Punk declined, stating he didn’t wrestle that way, and questioned if they had seen his matches.
The response was surprising: WWE admitted they hadn’t watched his work and had hired him solely due to online hype.
Heyman described the story as improbable but affirmed its authenticity, underscoring Punk’s early challenges in breaking into WWE’s mainstream wrestling landscape.
Here’s what Heyman said:
“Well, I met Phil Brooks, CM Punk, when I was at the tail end of my five-year contract with WWE. This was right after the first ECW One Night Stand, and I was asked to go to OVW to write and produce their television for Wednesdays.
One of the talents I got early on was Phil Brooks, CM Punk, who had worked for my protégé Gabe Sapolsky in Ring of Honor and had built quite a reputation as being a fantastic performer and for having his own ideas. Oh no, God forbid someone has their own ideas about their character to break through the glass ceiling that obviously existed.
They brought CM Punk in because he had a lot of buzz on the internet, but they didn’t really know what to do with him. They told him, ‘Hey, how do you want to do this?’ He had a dark match that wasn’t on TV, and a certain person went up to him and asked, ‘What’s your finish?’ His finish was a pedigree off the top rope called the Pepsi Plunge. Not the best thing to present to WWE at the time.
So, he said, ‘I don’t know, what finish do you want me to use?’ And they said, ‘Do one of those flippy-dippy things like Jeff Hardy.’ He said, ‘I don’t do flippy-dippy things like Jeff Hardy.’
He looked at them and asked, ‘Have you ever watched any of my matches?’ They said, ‘No, We just read about you on the internet, and that’s why we hired you.’ So they had him, and it sounds f**king r******, but it’s true. People always tell me, ‘No way, that didn’t really happen.’ But it really happened.”
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