STARRCAST 3 SPOTLIGHT: The best in the world with CM Punk

Ongoing coverage, reviews, and analysis of this weekend’s Starrcast 3 shows and events from Chicago, IL.

THE BEST IN THE WORLD WITH CM PUNK
AUGUST 31, 2019
PRO WRESTLING TEES THEATRE
LIVE FROM CHICAGO, IL

Hosted by: Mike Johnson

If you were looking for a pipe bomb from CM Punk during his main event Starrcast 3 appearance, keep looking. For nearly 100 minutes, Punk had a live microphone in his hand as promoted, but kept the conversation positive and reflective. A stark contrast to his tone the last time the world heard him talk about pro wrestling years ago on The Art Of Wrestling podcast with Colt Cabana.

Mike Johnson hosted the interview and helped Punk drench the audience with cold water out of the gate by dispelling any notions or hopes that Punk would be on AEW’s All Out show later in the day. Per Punk, he’d be “spending his evening hanging out with his wife and dog.”

From there, the deflated audience listened as Punk passionately spoke about his movie projects. Punk spent a great deal of time discussing not only the critical success of the films he’s made, but also how working on those films fulfilled him creatively.

The conversation then shifted to pro wrestling and the audience’s interest perked up. Punk covered a wide variety of topics including his departure from WWE, successes within his WWE run, his time in ROH, matches against Samoa Joe, who he’d like to work with if he returned to the ring, and whether or not he missed wrestling. Punk was insightful and mature even as he discussed memories and moments throughout his career that he still was visibly prickly about.

Notably, Punk was flabbergasted after hearing the news that major stars like Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch ask for and are granted time off in the WWE. It was a running joke throughout the program that featured an authentic look of disbelief from Punk.

Punk continued discussing the wrestling business and hit topics that included working with The Rock and John Cena. Punk pulled back the curtain on the formula Rock uses when putting together matches and openly discussed the creative differences between both men in the lead up to their business together at the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber PPV events in 2014.

To close, Punk talked from a birds eye view regarding the political landscape in today’s society and firmly stated his opinion on things after telling a story about his wife and him on a walk in Milwaukee. Punk clearly felt strongly about today’s landscape saying, “I’m at the point now where if you think you’re better than someone because of your color, I’m done with you. My wife is brown and I never looked at her like that.” Punk also passionately spoke about the Wednesday night wrestling wars saying, “Let them pretend there’s a war going on, you reap the benefits. Don’t let someone with a lot of money tell you what to do.”

The jokes CM Punk made about WWE vacations were funny and presented him as someone out of touch with what’s happening in wrestling today. All smoke and mirrors, though. If you dig deep into his comments including those about the new wrestling war and taking a phone call from Vince McMahon, he’s very much a guy that’s still positioning himself for potential big moves on the business side of the business someday. In addition, it’s clear Punk still has the pulse of the present day wrestling fan figured out as good or better than anyone in pro wrestling today.

NOW CHECK OUT OTHER STARRCAST 3 COVERAGE: STARRCAST 3 SPOTLIGHT: GCW’s secrets of Spring Break and Turner memories with Jim Ross & Tony Schiavone