CM Punk has done it all in the last 12 months.
He has won Money in the Bank twice, held world, intercontinental and tag team gold and now features on Friday Night Smackdown after switching brands during the latest draft.
During the recent UK Tour, the Straightedge superstar sat down with The Sun to chat about cashing in his briefcase, the guys he'd love to wrestle and why nobody in the WWE ever expected him to make it this far.
Q: How do you feel about the move to Smackdown?
I'm excited. I've done the ECW thing, won the titles there. Did the Raw thing and won all the titles there. Might as well go over to Smackdown and see what happens!
Q: We loved the Money in the Bank match, but we had it down to Christian or Kofi to win.
I'll be honest, I thought Shelton was going to win.
Q: When did you find out it was you?
Not long before. They keep things pretty hush hush, you find out on a need to know basis.
Q: It was probably the best Money in the Bank match so far...
I haven't watched it yet. I'm waiting for it come out on Blu-ray!
Q: Well, it's excellent. Kofi Kingston was great.
Yeah, he is a breath of fresh air. It was my third one so I feel like I'm boring and stale.
Q: We thought it might get to the end of the WrestleMania show and then you'd cash the briefcase in...
A lot of people have said that. That would have been really fun. That would have been rad.
Q: Do you think that's the way it will happen again, the shock run-in, or would you prefer to have a straight up match this time?
If it was up to me, I'm a guy who gets bored very, very easily and doing the same thing over and over again isn't very appealing, I would much rather do it a different way. I'm all for the ambush thing. I thought it was fun and it gets a reaction.
But I'm always thinking character-wise too. No-one ever thought CM Punk would be world champion, and that it was a fluke the way I won it. This time, perhaps I'll silence the critics and call someone ahead of time.
Q: The last time you were champion you capitalized on Batista's actions on Edge. Do you think the fact that you didn't win a match for the title harmed your reign as champion?
Not at all. I don't at all. Edge did it, he was ok.
To me it was a bad guy getting his comeuppance. What goes around comes around.
Q: You're over on Smackdown now, so is there anyone on that brand who you haven't got to grips with yet and would like to?
There's a laundry list of guys that I've yet to wrestle, and I'm started to get a little pissed about it.
Undertaker would be the number one guy now I'm on Smackdown. I've never wrestled Cena, Triple H, HBK or Jeff Hardy. To me, those are five huge, huge matches and I would love nothing more than to get in there with those guys.
Q: You list those five guys, the thing that strikes immediately is that they are all currently babyface, the same as yourself. Is there a chance we could see a heel CM Punk any time in the near future?
If it was up to me, then yes, absolutely. Do I think WWE is ready for a heel CM Punk? No, I don't. I don't see it happening any time soon. But man would that be fun.
Q: Do you have a pick for the 'next big thing'? Ted DiBiase, a lot of people say, and Swagger is another obviously one.
I don't think either of those guys can touch Evan Bourne. If we're talking about guys with potential, he's head and shoulders above everybody.
If used correctly he's the next Rey Mysterio.
Q: Interesting you mention him because you and he are almost the last guys to have come from the Indy circuit.
Maybe I'm a little biased. But he's a wrestling guy. Some people have got into this business in a different way, not that there's anything wrong with that.
The best way to get into the business in 2009 is to do it through the WWE because everything else is dying.
But Evan is a phenomenal athlete - he's a good looking little kid. What's not to admire about that guy?
Q: Did it mean a lot to you that when you were world champion that the man holding the TNA title was Samoa Joe, with the history you two have had?
Me and Joe have talked about this, and I get that question a lot. Joe's wife actually asked us, we were sitting around at Thanksgiving dinner, and she said: "It's crazy, did you ever both think you'd be world champions in different companies?"
We both looked at either other and went "Yep!" It may sound egotistical, but we knew we were that good.
We were two of the craziest most driven people you've ever seen in your entire life. I see something and go after it.
Q: At Survivor Series 2006, you were teaming with DX and the Hardys. Hunter did his usual mic thing, but handed it over to you and for a minute you were a star above DX, the crowd went crazy. Was that as big a buzz for you as for your fans?
Yeah, but I obviously I think I have a little bit of a behind the scenes twist on it.
To me it was like a big middle finger to everybody because I wasn't supposed to be there, wasn't supposed to make it. Even from then until now I wasn't supposed to make it this far.
Some say it's cocky, but I'm just a confident dude.
I've always tried to be the best. I'm not saying I am, I'm not saying I'm better than Hunter or the Hardys or Shawn or Samoa Joe or anybody, anywhere, in any company.
I just try to be the best. In the gym, watching tapes, in the ring, out of the ring, some days I have better days than others.
But yeah, that day was a bit of a launching pad for me and I remember that very fondly.
I just wish they'd done something more with it.
Batista interview; speaks on Randy Orton, Wrestlemania and more.
Chris Smith of
Mirror.co.uk caught up with Dave Batista on Saturday night in Las Vegas before he escorted Manny Pacquiao to the ring. Below are highlights from the interview:
On his match against Randy Orton at Judgment Day:
Randy and I have got a lot of history together. My first TV match was against him on SmackDown, and we actually started off together in Ohio Valley Wrestling so we've always had good chemistry.
We had a really great match in December before I got injured so hopefully we'll be able to start out where we left off. I've never held the WWE Championship, always the World Heavyweight Title, so I'd really like to hold that belt.
On Randy Orton's development:
It's really cool actually because we've watched Randy go from being a boy to being a man in every sense of the word. He's matured so much in the ring, but behind the scenes as well. He's got married, had a child and I think he's really got control of his personal life and whatever problems he was having. He's just really matured a lot.
On being bumped from WrestleMania 25:
Oh yeah, definitely. I actually went up to see Vince about a month before the show because I felt my leg was healing up so fast. I told him "I think I could be ready for WrestleMania" and he said that they'd definitely be able to use me. I actually found out the Thursday before WrestleMania that I wasn't going to be in it. I think it was something very similar to what happened that Monday night (where I saved HHH and the McMahons from The Legacy), but they felt it would work better on RAW than it would at WrestleMania. I didn't really ask questions, just said "Okay, if that's what you guys want".
On how much longer he will remain in pro wrestling:
It's something that I've been thinking about a lot. I really just have mixed feelings about it right now. I have just about another year left on my contract which I want to fulfil and when I start getting close to the end of that contract that's when I'll make a final decision.
You can read the entire interview at
this link.
Update on Bobby Lashley's status with TNA.
Dixie Carter and Jeff Jarrett are expected to meet with Bobby Lashley at next week's Impact tapings in Orlando, Florida in hopes of finalizing a contract with him. The deal is expected to allow Lashley to work a limited schedule that will still allow him to compete in MMA fights.
Up until this point Lashley has been working on a per-show basis which is a dangerous move. We heard WWE initially showed interest in bringing him back after he appeared on TNA PPV, but nothing ever materialized.
WWE's backstage reaction to Lashley debuting in TNA.
Nobody within WWE was too surprised to hear that Bobby Lashley has signed with TNA, and it was always seen as a matter of "when" and not "if."
Booker T has been a close friend of Lashley's for pretty much his entire career, and Kurt Angle had also pushed for Lashley to come in to TNA.
TNA offered Bobby Lashley a deal similar to Kurt Angle's where they give him the breathing room to do his MMA stuff. Lashley's training facility is in Florida about three hours away from Universal Orlando where TNA tapes the majority of their programming.
WWE does not see Lashley signing with TNA as a major loss, as opposed to how they would view someone like Rob Van Dam signing with the competition.
Dennis Rodman interested in working with TNA.
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Retired NBA player Dennis Rodman was seen hanging out in Miami this past week with Jeremy Borash. According to a friend of Borash's, the 6-foot-8, five-time NBA champ and two-time All-Star inquired about working with TNA.
Rodman wrestled at a few WCW pay-per-view events in the late-1990s and won the first ever Hulk Hogan's Celebrity Championship Wrestling tournament this past fall.
Rodman first stepped into the ring as a member of the New World Order, feuding with Lex Luger and The Giant. He would go on to wrestle fellow NBA All-Star Carl Malone, as well as ring veterans Curt Hennig and Randy Savage.[/font]
Details on Kurt Angle's split with the WWE.
There is a detailed article in yesterday's
Miami Herald on the history of the WWE-Kurt Angle split. Kurt Angle always claimed he quit, but in the article, it is revealed that WWE gave him a mutual release when he refused to go into drug rehab. The article also reveals that WWE wanted Angle to go to rehab months earlier and he refused then too. You can check out the lengthy article at
this link.
John Morrison smashing Melina...again.
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-- Melina and John Morrison were together at the Hall of Fame ceremony a few weeks ago and they are once again a couple. They were put back together on the same brand during the Draft at least in part as a result of their relationship.[/font]
Hernandez out 2 to 3 months.
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-- LAX member Hernandez will be out of action for two to three months after undergoing neck surgery this past week. His neck surgery is the reason company officials booked "The British Invasion" alliance to attack him http://www.24wrestling.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1241424360&archive=&start_from=&ucat=7&#]backstage[/url] during last week's episode of Impact.[/font]
Details on Vince McMahon's opinion of Barack Obama.
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There has been some talk in recent months that http://www.24wrestling.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1241210873&archive=&start_from=&ucat=6&#]Vince McMahon[/url] isn't fond of United States President Barack Obama, basically saying "he's bad for business."
The latest issue of Power Slam magazine sheds some more light on McMahon's opinion, including a behind the scenes story from last year in which WWE http://www.24wrestling.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1241210873&archive=&start_from=&ucat=6&#]television producer[/url] Kevin Dunn reprimanded anyone he saw wearing clothing or merchandise in support of the Democratic President-elect.
Here is what was written: "Dunn's philsophical overlap with Vince extends beyond wrestling. Like the WWE Chairman, Dunn is an ultra-conservative Republican who supported George W. Bush. In 2004, Dunn earned Vince's compliments when he proudly flouted company policy to wear a giant "Bush/Cheney 2004" badge to work on the day after the election. In 2008, creative team sources allege that Dunn, ironically, had anyone who wore clothing or merchandise related to the Democratic President-elect formally reprimanded by the company. Meanwhile, sources http://www.24wrestling.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1241210873&archive=&start_from=&ucat=6&#]backstage[/url] report overhearing McMahon and Dunn discussing how Obama's policies will so badly damage America's ecomony that periodic cuts in WWE personnel will be required in order for the company to continue to pay their multi-million-dollar executive salaries and stock dividends."[/font]
Backstage update on Mr. Kennedy and the WWE.
In preparation for his return to WWE, PW reports that many WWE officials feel Ken Kennedy will need to prove that he can stay healthy before the company will give him a major push once he returns to the ring following his ongoing shoulder problems.
Kennedy has been pegged with the "injury prone" label by many in WWE according to sources, while others are not fond of some of the comments he has made in various mainstream interviews. One WWE source stated, "He needs to learn to shut the fu*k up." That comment was in response to a recent interview Kennedy took part in where he felt his shoulder injury could be career-threatening and sounded off again on steroid use.
Where the Santina angle is supposed to go.
- The Santina angle is being done for an eventual Beth Phoenix babyface turn where she will feud with Maryse for the Women's Championship.
Some wrestlers were told ahead of time of draft changes.
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-- It has been confirmed that a few of the top names who switched brands during the WWE Draft were told ahead of time at the previous week's television tapings. Unlike last year when Triple H was the only Superstar told ahead of time, at least three of the top names were told.
The company's decision to inform http://www.24wrestling.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1241211508&archive=&start_from=&ucat=6&#]wrestlers[/url] ahead of time made for better morale and a feeling that they were being treated with respect.[/font]
Eric Bischoff not in WWE's new WCW DVD.
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- Via Twitter (twitter.com/EBischoff), a fan asked Eric Bischoff if he'll be taking part in http://www.24wrestling.com/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1241378438&archive=&start_from=&ucat=6&#]WWE[/url]'s upcoming "Rise and Fall of WCW" DVD release - which Jim Ross noted was in production in a recent blog post. Bischoff responded with the following:
"They called and asked me to be a part of it and I declined. No desire to give credibility to their revisionist history."
Bischoff later added the following in response to another fan:
"Chose not to participate in WWE's latest revisionist history initiative for many reasons including the obvious one."[/font]
Stone Cold Steve Austin misses being in the ring.
As noted earlier, Steve Austin was overheard telling a friend that he missed being in the ring after watching WrestleMania 25 and seeing The Undertaker vs. Shawn Michaels and Ricky Steamboat's return to the ring.
