CM Punk signed with World Wrestling Entertainment in 2005 and won the WWE Championship twice, the World Heavyweight Championship three times, and the Intercontinental Championship and the ECW World Heavyweight Championship once each.
87 Facts About CM Punk
2.
CM Punk is the only back-to-back Money in the Bank winner, has headlined several WWE pay-per-view events, won Superstar of the Year at the 2011 Slammy Awards, and was voted Wrestler of the Year in 2011 and 2012 by readers of Pro Wrestling Illustrated.
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CM Punk then lost his second fight to Mike Jackson via unanimous decision at UFC 225 in 2018 and was released.
4.
CM Punk grew up in nearby Lockport, where he attended Lockport Township High School.
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CM Punk's father struggled with alcoholism, which inspired Brooks to follow a straight edge lifestyle from an early age; his mother had bipolar disorder, causing him to become estranged from her.
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CM Punk first started using the ring name CM Punk when he was put into a tag team named The Chick Magnets with CM Venom after another performer skipped out on the card; the CM stood for "Chick Magnet".
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Unlike his friends, Punk genuinely wanted to be a wrestler and saw it as more than simple fun.
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CM Punk soon left the federation and enrolled as a student at the Steel Dominion wrestling school in Chicago, where he was trained by Ace Steel, Danny Dominion and Kevin Quinn to become a professional wrestler.
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In 2002, CM Punk became the International Wrestling Cartel Heavyweight Champion, in Monroeville, PA.
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CM Punk would compete in the company's Super Indy tournament, but never won the championship.
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From July 2003 until May 2004, CM Punk refused to wrestle for IWA Mid-South, explaining this as a protest to Ian Rotten's mistreatment of Chris Hero in the company.
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However, Hero has stated he believes there were other reasons and Rotten's treatment of him was just an excuse by CM Punk to stop working for the company.
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CM Punk eventually returned to IWA Mid-South and continued to perform as a wrestler and commentator for them until July 2005.
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CM Punk made his in ring debut on ROH at ROH All Star Extravaganza on November 9,2002, in a gauntlet match involving five participants, that was won by Bryan Danielson.
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Circa October 2003, CM Punk was hired as the first head trainer of the Ring of Honor wrestling school, having previously been a trainer for the Steel Domain and Primetime Wrestling.
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In 2004, CM Punk faced off against ROH World Champion Samoa Joe for the championship in a three-match series.
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Immediately after the match, CM Punk proceeded to become a villain and started a storyline where he threatened to bring the ROH World Championship to WWE with him.
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For weeks, CM Punk teased the ROH locker room and the ROH fans and mocked the championship he possessed, going so far as to sign his WWE contract on it.
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CM Punk made a special appearance at the ROH show Unscripted II on February 11,2006, when the original card had to be scrapped due to Low Ki leaving ROH the week prior.
20.
Shortly before a TNA show on February 25,2004, CM Punk had a physical scuffle with Teddy Hart outside of a restaurant that was broken up by Sabu.
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However, CM Punk said the scuffle had no bearing on his TNA career.
22.
In September 2005, CM Punk was assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling, a WWE developmental territory.
23.
On January 4,2006, CM Punk lost the OVW Television Championship during a Three Way Dance among himself, Albright and Doane.
24.
Later that month, CM Punk lost the OVW Heavyweight Championship when he was defeated by Chet Jablonski.
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CM Punk continued to make sporadic appearances for OVW until WWE and OVW ended their developmental partnership on February 7,2008.
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On June 24,2006, CM Punk made his ECW debut during a house show at the former ECW Arena, defeating Stevie Richards.
27.
At Survivor Series, CM Punk had his first pay-per-view match when he teamed with D-Generation X and the Hardy Boyz in their Survivor Series match against Rated-RKO, Knox, Johnny Nitro and Gregory Helms, a match in which all the participants on DX's side survived elimination.
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CM Punk participated on the Money in the Bank ladder match at WrestleMania 23, WWE's biggest PPV, but lost the match.
29.
CM Punk joined the New Breed after several weeks in which both the New Breed and the ECW Originals had attempted to recruit him.
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However, two weeks later he betrayed the New Breed during a four-on-four tag team match between the New Breed and ECW Originals by kicking New Breed leader Elijah Burke in the back of the head and costing them the match, after which CM Punk proceeded to deliver his finisher, the "Go to Sleep".
31.
On June 23, CM Punk was drafted to the Raw brand during the 2008 WWE draft.
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CM Punk then entered in a number one contender Intercontinental Championship tournament, defeating Snitsky and John Morrison in the first two rounds.
33.
The next day at Armageddon, CM Punk defeated Rey Mysterio in the tournament finals.
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Later that night, CM Punk cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to defeat Jeff Hardy for the World Heavyweight Championship right after Hardy won the title from Edge in a ladder match.
35.
Undertaker originally won the match with his "Hell's Gate" submission hold, but SmackDown general manager Theodore Long restarted the match after stating that the ban that former SmackDown general manager Vickie Guerrero had placed on the move was still in effect and CM Punk won the match with his "Anaconda Vise" when referee Scott Armstrong called for the bell despite Undertaker never submitting.
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CM Punk gave sermons including during the annual Royal Rumble match in January 2010 as well as during an Elimination Chamber match in February 2010 at both of the eponymous pay-per-view events.
37.
Mysterio and CM Punk faced each other in a match at WrestleMania XXVI, where if Mysterio lost, he would join the Straight Edge Society, but CM Punk lost to Mysterio at WrestleMania.
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The next month, at Night of Champions, CM Punk lost to Big Show in a singles match.
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CM Punk later revealed that his motives for the attacks were that he had joined and assumed control of The Nexus.
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CM Punk then made each member of the group prove themselves worthy of a spot, with some instead choosing to join The Corre, which had been started by former Nexus leader Wade Barrett on SmackDown.
41.
In June 2011, after pinning WWE Champion John Cena on the June 13 episode of Raw, Rey Mysterio at Capitol Punishment, and finally Alberto Del Rio in a number one contender's triple threat match all within one week, CM Punk revealed that his contract was to expire on July 17 at Money in the Bank and vowed to leave the company with the WWE Championship.
42.
On June 27,2011 Monday Night Raw, CM Punk made a scathing yet highly acclaimed on-air speech, often referred to as the Pipe Bomb, concerning the way in which WWE is run and its owner Vince McMahon, Punk was given a storyline suspension from televised WWE events.
43.
At Money in the Bank, CM Punk defeated Cena to become the WWE Champion on his final night under contract with WWE.
44.
The night after SummerSlam, CM Punk accused Nash of conspiring with Triple H to keep CM Punk away from the WWE Championship.
45.
At Night of Champions, CM Punk lost a no disqualification match to Triple H after Nash, The Miz and R-Truth attacked both men.
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CM Punk balked at Laurinaitis' promotion and verbally attacked him as a dull yes man.
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At the Royal Rumble on January 29,2012, CM Punk successfully defended his title against Ziggler despite Laurinaitis acting as the outside enforcer.
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John Laurinaitis added the stipulation that the WWE Championship could change hands via disqualification, which led to Jericho inciting CM Punk into using a weapon, but CM Punk resisted and retained the title.
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CM Punk justified his actions the following week on Raw, explaining he was tired of people like Cena and Rock overshadowing him when the WWE Champion should be the focus of the company, asserting himself further soon after by disrupting a number one contender's match between Cena and Big Show.
50.
CM Punk continued to feud with Cena despite the latter's arm injury, rejecting the requests of Mick Foley and Jim Ross to pick him as his Hell in a Cell opponent and leading to a brawl with WWE chairman Vince McMahon.
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The next night on Raw, a furious Mick Foley confronted CM Punk for refusing to pick John Cena as his Hell in a Cell opponent, leading the two to agree to meet at Survivor Series in a Survivor Series match with CM Punk choosing Alberto Del Rio, Cody Rhodes, Damien Sandow and The Miz for his team.
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However, CM Punk was replaced as captain by Dolph Ziggler the following week on Raw and was instead booked in a triple threat WWE Championship match against John Cena and Ryback by Vince McMahon.
53.
CM Punk returned to in-ring action on the January 7,2013, episode of Raw, retaining the WWE Championship against Ryback in a TLC match following interference from The Shield.
54.
CM Punk originally pinned The Rock to retain after The Shield put Rock through a table while the arena lights were out, leading Vince McMahon to come out and announce that CM Punk would be stripped of the title, but he instead restarted the match at The Rock's request.
55.
In March 2013, CM Punk set his sights on ending The Undertaker's undefeated WrestleMania streak in an effort to "take something away from the fans" as he believed they had taken the WWE Championship away from him.
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The next night on Raw, CM Punk was attacked by The Shield while attempting to save Bryan from being "taken hostage" by The Wyatt Family.
57.
At the Royal Rumble, near the end of the match, Kane, who was already eliminated earlier in the match by CM Punk, eliminated CM Punk from the outside and proceeded to perform a chokeslam on him through the announce table.
58.
The Pro Wrestling Torch documents the CM Punk interview released in November 2014.
59.
CM Punk said that when he reached out to them for unpaid royalties, he was given a run-around by company executives until he was handed his termination papers and was fired by WWE on his wedding day in June 2014.
60.
The manner of firing was the last straw for CM Punk, stating that he would never return to WWE and that following a legal settlement with WWE there would be no further working relationship between them.
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The settlement included CM Punk giving WWE permission to sell his remaining merchandise.
62.
CM Punk cited his health as the main reason he left WWE, describing that in his final months in the company, he had been working through an untreated and potentially fatal MRSA infection, broken ribs, injured knees and multiple concussions, including one at the 2014 Royal Rumble, as well as having lost his appetite and ability to sleep well.
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CM Punk felt that WWE was pressuring and rushing him to wrestle before fully recovering.
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CM Punk had the doctor evacuate the infection, describing it as the worst pain in his life, but said that once it was treated and he was on stronger medication, he was able to sleep better than he had in months.
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Lastly, CM Punk described having left with "zero passion" for wrestling and described himself at the time of the interview to be the happiest in many years.
66.
The commentators referred to him as Kikutaro's "nameless mentor," and CM Punk didn't get involved in the match.
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On November 12,2019, CM Punk made a surprise appearance on the Fox Sports 1 series WWE Backstage.
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CM Punk subsequently joined the program as a special contributor and analyst.
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CM Punk accepted the job because he would be under contract with Fox instead of WWE directly, and hoped it would help him find his way back into the wrestling business.
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CM Punk avenged his loss to MJF at Revolution in a Dog Collar match.
71.
At Double or Nothing on May 29, CM Punk defeated "Hangman" Adam Page to win the AEW World Championship, his first world title victory since the 2011 Survivor Series.
72.
CM Punk cited "irresponsible people who call themselves EVPs" and "Hangman" Adam Page as the reason why the rumor was leaked in the weeks leading up to All Out.
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CM Punk adopted his real-life following of the straight edge movement as a major attribute of his professional wrestling character.
74.
However, CM Punk later changed CM into a pseudo-acronym, declaring that it has no meaning, though when asked since he has taken to making up meanings that fit the initials, going so far as to make up long stories to explain the origins that do not match the actual origin story at all.
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An integral part of CM Punk is the numerous tattoos that adorn his body, some of which have become symbols associated with CM Punk and mantras and declarations that have been integrated into his gimmick.
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Reporters, wrestlers, and fans alike have praised CM Punk's speaking skills, especially his in-ring promos.
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CM Punk is credited with being one of the first independent wrestlers to have success in WWE, which in turn opened the door for other independent wrestlers to both join and succeed in WWE.
78.
At UFC 181, on December 6,2014, CM Punk announced that he had signed a multi-fight contract with Ultimate Fighting Championship.
79.
In January 2015, CM Punk began training under Duke Roufus at Roufusport MMA Academy.
80.
In June 2015, CM Punk moved to Milwaukee to be closer to the Roufusport gym while still retaining his home in Chicago.
81.
Later, it was announced that CM Punk would compete in the welterweight division.
82.
In October 2015, Roufus announced that CM Punk had suffered a shoulder injury, delaying his UFC debut until the next calendar year.
83.
The event was held at the Quicken Loans Arena, the same venue where CM Punk left WWE and retired from professional wrestling.
84.
CM Punk was taken down immediately and lost via rear naked choke submission early in the first round.
85.
On November 8,2018, CM Punk signed with the Cage Fury Fighting Championships promotion as a commentator.
86.
CM Punk is an atheist, and has been outspoken in his support for LGBT rights and same-sex marriage.
87.
CM Punk cowrote "The Most Cursed", which appeared in Vertigo Comics' Strange Sports Stories No 3 in May 2015.