When he blasted WWE’s higher-ups on live TV, CM Punk had GQ, ESPN and “The Jimmy Kimmel Show” banging on his door. TMZ and CNN interviewed him about his recent Twitter feud with pop star Chris Brown. But on this particular March afternoon on the Blue Line — the train he takes to and from O’Hare International Airport every week with the diamond-encrusted WWE Championship belt in his suitcase — Punk appears to have gone unrecognized by those sitting around him.

That’s just how he likes it.

“I’m so cranky,” admits Punk, holding onto a pole by the “L” train’s doors to keep his balance. Punk (real name: Phil Brooks) is on the third day of a diet that requires him to skip food entirely in favor of juices because “I’m bored out of my mind and I’m trying to get in wrestling shape. I can’t work out harder than I do. I’ve been a (pescetarian) for three months.”

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Once in a decade a WWE Superstar comes along and changes the game. CM Punk’s secret is that he isn’t a character, he is who he is—and he’s badass. See for yourself, below, and compare during WrestleMania XXVIII this month.

Few lifestyles seem more at odds than pro wrestling and straight edge punk. The success of WWE relies on its ability to tell over-the-top stories involving larger-than-life Superstars to millions watching on TV or in packed arenas. Excess is the key to the WWE image: enormous egos, huge physiques, gigantic spectacles. The straight edge movement is more defined by substance than style, outspoken but less brash (unless the target is Chris Brown). Straight edge finds its home at all-ages basement punk shows free of alcohol and drugs. Serving as a bridge between these two divergent worlds, we find WWE champion CM Punk.

Since arriving in the WWE in 2005, Punk has introduced a whole legion of WWE fans to straight edge and punk rock while also converting some young punks to fans of combat sport. He also has eccentric ink, from a large Pepsi logo to a slice of deep-dish pizza. If you disapprove of his tattoos, Punk doesn’t care: “These are all things that make me who I am. So, yeah, you’re damn right I ink them on my body and I want them to be with me for the rest of my life.” Many would try to conform to one lifestyle or the other—not Punk. He has always found himself out of step with the world, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

INKED: After you first won the champion title at Money in the Bank and “quit” the WWE, you took the story line beyond Monday Night Raw and other WWE events by posting pictures of the belt in your fridge on Twitter and by showing up at Comic Con. What made you want to use alternate media to move the story line forward? Continue reading »

Wrestlemania is a little more than a week away and at this time you usually see the WWE champion taking a media tour, promoting the “biggest spectacle in sports entertainment.” So if that’s what the champ CM Punk was doing on Wednesday, well that’s a pretty sweet media tour.

Punk, who hails from Chicago, had the opportunity to come onto the ice and take part in the classic intermission game of shooting from center ice, sporting a red Blackhawks sweater — still the best in sports for my money — all the while.

By Brian Stubits | NHL Blogger

Thanks to nominations from the WWE Universe on Twitter, WWE and its Superstars have been named as finalists in four award categories in the 2012 Shorty Awards.

The Shorty Awards honor the best of social media, recognizing the people and organizations producing real-time short form content across Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, Foursquare, and the rest of the social Web.

John Cena, Kelly Kelly and CM Punk are three of the six finalists for the Shorty Award for Best Athlete in Social Media. Cena won the award category’s “Vox Populi” Award as its top nomination-getter. Cena also won the “Must Follow Athlete in Social Media” award in the 2011 Mashable Awards.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is one of six finalists for Best Actor in Social Media. The Rock won the “Must Follow Actor in Social Media” award in the 2011 Mashable Awards.

Zack Ryder is one of six finalists for the Shorty Award for Best Web Show in Social Media, for his Web series “Z: True Long Island Story.”

WWE is one of six finalists for the Shorty Award for Best TV Show in Social Media (for both WWE Raw and SmackDown).

Winners are not decided by popular vote, but chosen by The Real Time Academy, a panel of judges from the worlds of media, journalism and entertainment. Winners will be announced at the Shorty Awards ceremony in New York City March 26.

Past winners of Shorty Awards include talk show host Conan O’Brien, Newark (N.J.) mayor Cory Booker, Sesame Street’s Grover, financial expert Suze Orman, musician Ted Leo, actor Neil Patrick Harris and NASA.

CM Punk, we can all agree, is an upstart. This tattooed rabblerouser with a Bond-villain goatee changed the game last summer when he perched in front of the TitanTron and tore the fabric of WWE asunder. His infamous “Pipe Bomb” shattered the status quo so much so that the power structure of Monday Night Raw has been a revolving door of authority figures ever since. He also won the WWE Championship twice and successfully rechristened himself as “The Best in the World” as he hoisted the gold. Punk’s run has been unique – revolutionary, even – and yet on Raw SuperShow Monday night, Chris Jericho stood in the middle of the ring, blinking bomber jacket and all, and called the WWE Champion a “wannabe.” Continue reading »

During the past few months a different “r” has been tossed around. Not “reality,” but “relatable.” Why is it so important for fans to have Superstars they can relate to?
I think being relatable and accessible is the key to having fans. People want to be involved and want to be part of the show. They certainly want to feel like they know you. I think it’s hard for a fan to feel like they know someone like Brad Pitt, or someone like that. But we’re a completely different animal as far as entertainment goes. If they can relate to a person they see on television, they feel like they know that person. They want to root for that person, or they want to boo that person. I think every good bad guy uses the part of them that they hate, and it gets under the skin of everybody else. People can relate to that, especially when they’re in a real-life situation. They can’t understand what it feels like to get suplexed off the top rope, but they can understand what it feels like to get slapped in the face.

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Read more at Fox6Now.com.

By declaring outright his intentions of screwing CM Punk out of his WWE Championship at the 25th annual Royal Rumble event, John Laurinaitis revealed himself to be a man of deep resentment. That’s according to the one person who has known the Interim General Manager of Raw and EVP of Talent Relations longer than anybody else: his older brother, WWE Hall of Famer Road Warrior Animal. (Road Warrior PHOTOS | VIDEO)

In an exclusive interview, Animal told WWE.com that his brother’s vendetta against The Second City Saint is relatively easy to explain. Whereas Punk has reached the uppermost echelon in sports entertainment – the WWE Championship – Laurinaitis, an accomplished grappler in his own right, was never able to parlay his success overseas into a main event slot in the U.S.

“It’s one thing to be popular in Japan, and it’s another to make it in the U.S.,” Animal said. “That’s one thing that eats John from the inside, deep in his gut. I think he carries animosity over that, because he never got to be ‘the guy’ in the U.S. the way that CM Punk is today. I think he’s getting on Punk’s case because Punk is living the dream that John wishes he could have accomplished.” Continue reading »

CM Punk has faced – and overcome – many challenges during his rise to becoming WWE Champion. Not only did he fight tooth-and-nail to wrest the coveted title from John Cena – twice – he had to work just as hard to get it back from Alberto Del Rio. However, after everything that’s transpired on Raw SuperShow over the past several weeks, Punk could be up against his biggest challenge yet when he faces Dolph Ziggler at the 25th anniversary of Royal Rumble. (PREVIEW)

On Raw SuperShow, EVP of Talent Relations and Interim Raw General Manager John Laurinaitis admitted that he’s going to try and screw Punk out of his title when he serves as the guest referee at Royal Rumble (WATCH). And if history is any indication, guest refs have been notorious for being anything but fair. (SPECIAL GUEST REFEREES: NOT SO BLACK AND WHITE) Immediately after the shocking confession, Punk responded in a WWE.com Exclusive Video. (WATCH) Continue reading »