Punk at a Hartford, CT house show. - Doors Hate MMA Fighters
For however long "The Straight Edge Superstar" is out, he did some memorable things, and I'd like to give thanks.
Personal story time, everyone. I won't be too long winded, promise.
CM Punk is by far my favorite active wrestler. The quote I use in my signature here on Cageside comes from him, he's who I talk about the most to others, and he's the main reason I watch wrestling. On June 27, 2011, Punk came out with his amazing "pipe bomb" promo and shook up the wrestling world. I was packing to move from New York to Connecticut to live with my girlfriend (now fiance) when I watched him do this. My fiance was well aware of my love for wrestling, but didn't really "get it", so I showed her Punk's promo. She didn't really understand the shout out to Colt Cabana, or the many inside references he made. She did get that it was an important moment and liked his anti-authority swagger. This led her to looking up Punk on Wikipedia, and finding out they had the same birthday.
So, of course, she loved Punk from then on. We ordered up Money in the Bank 2011, and she seriously enjoyed watching both the PPV and Punk's kiss goodbye as he ran off into the night.
Thanks to that angle, she tolerates - borderline enjoys - wrestling, which is great for me! Had all that not occurred she would probably give me a lot more hell for the amount of time I spend watching and writing about wrestling.
He may return in a week, a month, a year, but if not, I enjoyed scrounging through DVDs and YouTube to find all of his indie work. I was thrilled when he finally got the call up to WWE, and debuted on ECW. I laughed when he called Shannon Moore (with his overdone Punk gimmick) a "poser" and slapped the shit out of him. I cheered every time he won a title, Money in the Bank briefcase, and especially when he beat John Cena. Nothing against Cena, mind you, I just loved seeing Punk victorious.
So I'll stop here because I'm sure you guys have some fond Punk memories as well. Feel free to leave them in the comments if you wish.
Thank you, CM Punk.
