In a new clip from a previous Inside the Ropes live show, which took place in July 2016, Paul Heyman has discussed his on-screen partnership with former WWE superstar CM Punk. ‘The Advocate’ went into detail about the fun the two had together as well as the reasoning between their on-screen pairing.
Heyman and Punk, though long time friends, did not work together on-screen until Punk’s 2012 heel turn during his 434-day WWE Championship reign. However, as each man had a certain amount of controversy surrounding them backstage, putting them together seemed unlikely. Heyman explained that both men were shocked that the partnership was actually making it to air:
“I look over at him at he says ‘Can you believe they’re f***ing putting us together?’ And I’m like ‘We’re both gonna be f***ing fired in the next four weeks, don’t you get it?’ And he goes ‘But the s**t we’re going to stir in four weeks, they don’t f***ing have a clue!’ I loved working with him, I loved it. I had the time of my life.”
Long regarded as delivering some of the best promos in the business, Paul Heyman often found himself taking a back seat to CM Punk during promos. His protege’s skills were the subject of much praise from Heyman:
“We had a blast working with each other because, just like me, he had no idea what he was going to say when he went out to the ring. He was just doing it, you know, allegedly shoot promos that then get wrapped around into the storyline that we’re telling that he fervently believed in his heart that he was telling the truth.”
Heyman, clearly believing that Punk did not require a manager to cut promos for him, nevertheless explained why the pairing was made. The mastermind behind ECW alleges that it was a Vince McMahon idea to make CM Punk’s heel turn more successful, as it was obvious that fans would not boo Punk instead of the divisive John Cena:
“How do you turn CM Punk heel in Chicago? Make it even more difficult: How do you turn him heel on John Cena? Because Night Of Champions is in Boston, which is John Cena’s hometown, where they are sure to boo John Cena and cheer CM Punk. So, Vince comes up with the idea ‘If I can’t make them boo him, I can at least make them gasp.'”
Though we may never see CM Punk return to WWE or even a wrestling ring, a return would undoubtedly be fascinating. Punk recently stated that working with Roman Reigns would be “interesting”, made even more interesting by the on-screen partnership both men have now enjoyed with Paul Heyman.