What The Punk?: CM Punk

Welcome to a brand-spakin'-new segment over at the Anaheim Punk Examiner. It's called "What The Punk?" So what exactly is "What The Punk?" Well, let me tell you. Basically it's expanding the "punk" to outside of just the music. It's reserved for fans of punk rock who work in other entertainment fields, or punk artists, or even writers or athletes or actors who embody the punk spirit. Up first, WWE Superstar CM Punk. The three-time WWE World Heavyweight Champion talks about his love of punk rock, The Bouncing Souls and his upcoming SummerSlam match with The Big Show.

Matt Baldwin: How did you get your start in wrestling?

CM Punk: Very D.I.Y actually, so I guess that’s a good way to start for a punk rock interview. I loved wrestling since I was a little kid, so it was the only thing I wanted to do. I didn’t know that you had to get trained, I didn’t know that there was such thing as a wrestling school, I pretty much just did the same thing that everyone else did and rolled around in backyards with my friends and stuff. We weren’t jumping off of roofs or doing any of the crazy stuff that you see kids doing today, which is a bad thing to do, but we I guess acted out our wrestling fantasies or whatever. It kind of blossomed from there. I built a ring by myself. I didn’t know how to do any of this stuff. But then me and my buddies started running shows in the Chicago-area and even though we were completely un-trained, just goofy kids, we wound up attendance-wise and entertainment wise blowing away of the other local shows. So that’s how it started.

M: You’re the first real punk rock wrestler the WWE has thrown out there. What was appealing to you to bring in your background in punk rock as well as your actual straight edge lifestyle?

CM: I just think anything new and fresh and different is exciting. Anything that hasn’t been done before I’m interested in. I think me being able to be me on television is a thousand times better than them trying to make me be an astronaut or something like that, you know? Just like the first time I found out about straight edge or punk rock as a kid, I was excited. Not that I’m into labels or anything like that, but I felt like that I wasn’t alone, you know? I never drank. I never smoked. I was this weird kid with blue hair and listened to music that nobody else liked. When I found out about straight edge and punk rock bands and doing things yourself and not really caring about what other people thought, I got excited. If I could do that to just one kid, I think that’s awesome.

M: At the same time you do sometimes walk the line on your straight edge persona from tolerant to the more hard-line straight edge person. Do you ever feel like that could give straight edge a bad label?

CM: A bad name?

M: Yeah, a bad name, that work’s too.

CM: I think it can. I also think that there are marines out there that don’t like John Cena. He portrays a character that not everybody is going to like or that not everybody is going to identify with. But I think that’s what’s cool about me and my character. It’s very polarizing. You’re either going to like me or hate me and there doesn’t seem to be an in-between. Yeah, I can definitely see I can maybe cast a negative light on straight edge. I’m portrayed as a bad guy on television right now, so there are probably people who probably would say “straight edge, bad guy.” They might think that straight edge people are bad, per se. What I’m doing is entertainment, and if they can’t use their own cognitive skills to differentiate between the real life and that, I think that’s the least of their worries.

M: Yeah (laughs). I’ve noticed that you have a Bouncing Souls tattoo on you. Can you talk a little about the influence the Bouncing Souls have left on you?

CM: Bouncing Souls, like a lot of bands; I’ve kind of been lucky. I was fortunate enough to actually be real good friends with (them) now. When I was first starting out getting tattoos and stuff like that, Bouncing Souls who I discovered back in ‘93 and ‘94 were a band that just spoke to me. Nobody wrote music and lyrics that really identified with kids and that generation and what they were going through and stuff, and they did. They just spoke to me. Their little rocker-heart tattoo represents a lot, but it meant a lot and felt touched enough to get that tattoo. Now I can call them up and get tickets to a show. My life is pretty crazy. But they’re just a great band and they’re kind of like the voice of my generation almost.

M: Most definitely. I probably should have asked this before, but how did you get into punk rock?

CM: I listened to anything my Aunt listened to. My Mom’s sister. There’s maybe ten years between them, maybe more. There’s like the generation gap there. So I’d get dropped off at my Grandpa’s house, and of course, my Aunt still lived there. And I was into anything she was into because I thought she was the coolest person on earth. She listened to anything from Duran Duran to The Clash. I remember getting into The Clash because of her. As a kid I was devouring the liner notes, anything I could get my hands on because this was pre-internet, and it just went form there. Somehow I discovered Green Day when I was 13 or 14. Through Green Day I discovered Op. Ivy. Op Ivy becomes Rancid and it snowballs from there.

M: You’ve got the straight edge tattoo, what kind of influence did Minor Threat have on you?

CM: Well, huge. There was a band that not only when I listened to was very pleasing to my ear and I fell in love with them, but then the message behind the music and the whole subculture. I remember I discovered them while sitting in detention I think my freshman year in high school or something like that. I was trying to be as punk rock as I could and I was reading “Maximumrocknroll” or something like that and I found out about Minor Threat. That was the point where I was like, “wow, I’m not trying to put a label on myself, but I don’t drink and I don’t do drugs. That’s me and I’m the only kid who’s like that.” I didn’t know there were other people like that. That was a pretty big moment.

M: You’re from Chicago. Chicago has a really good punk rock scene. What Chicago-area bands are you into and were you into?

CM: Since I’ve never home now, its really hard to be involved in my area because I miss it all anyway. Lets see. I used to go all the way to Homewood to go Off The Alley shows. Anybody from Chicago that’s reading this, they know what I’m talking about. I grew up going to the Fireside Bowl and all kinds of places. There’s a lot of great punk bands from Chicago. Obviously Naked Raygun’s out of Chicago. They were long gone by the time I was coming through, now they’re back together.

M: They’re actually playing Riotfest in Chicago this year.

CM: Dude, Riotfest this year look’s awesome. I remember I really dug Slapstick. Members of Slapstick went on to join Less Than Jake, Lawrence Arms, Alkaline Trio. Slapstick was this huge local band.

M: Since this is the Anaheim punk examiner blog, what Orange County bands were you into?

CM: Me being from Chicago, I wasn’t so much into drawing the line in the sand when it came to where bands were from outside of Chicago, whether it was East Bay or South Bay or Orange County. I never really got into anybody specifically from Orange County unless they’re slipping my mind.

M: I’ll allow So Cal bands.

CM: So Cal…obviously the punk starter kid for anybody I was hanging out with, you’d get into Lookout! bands. You got to name Green Day, but there’s Pennywise and NOFX. Everybody likes Rancid and rightfully so because they’re an awesome band. But there are a ton of awesome bands there were on Lookout! that Larry Livermore helped get out there and stuff like that. I’m a huge fans of The Queers, bands like that you don’t have to so much get into the music. You can put it on and forget about it. It’s great music to work out to. I clean my house all the time listening to The Queers.

M: SummerSlam is coming up on Sunday. What can you tell me about SummerSlam and who are you fighting against?

CM: I am in a handicapped match with the “World’s Biggest Athelete,” The Big Show. It’s pretty crazy for me because like everything else in my life, stuff I was into 15 or 20 years ago, my life has kind of come full circle. I was watching an old show last night with my good buddy Lars Fredrickson, actually, and we were watching the formally (known as) “The Giant,” Big Show come out on Nitro like 15, 16 years ago and we were just laughing. I’m wrestling him on Sunday at The Staples Center.

M: That’s crazy.

CM: It’s very crazy. Like I said before, I’m very fortunate.

M: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

CM: SummerSlam is sold out, unfortunately. I say that sarcastically, it’s not unfortunate. The next night, Monday Night Raw, is still at The Staples Center. SummerSlam is sold out, so that means it’s a matter of time before Raw sells out, so if anybody want’s to get tickets to see the show they should do it now before the tickets sell out.

To learn more about CM Punk, visit his official website or WWE.COM. As for SummerSlam, the event takes place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Sunday, August 15th. Contact your local cable or satellite provider about ordering the event on Pay-Per-View. For more information of SummerSlam, click here.