CM Punk

About

CM Punk is the stage name of retired American professional wrestler Phillip Jack Brooks who is known for his outspoken and sharp-tongued in-ring personality and having won nearly a dozen of World Championship titles since his career debut in 2006.

History

Wrestling Career

Brooks first became interested in wrestling after forming a backyard league called "Lunatic Wrestling Federation" with his friends and brother Mike Brooks sometime in the mid 1990s, during which he adopted the ring name CM Punk to represent his tag team Chick Magnets (CM) he had founded with partner CM Venom.

In 2000, Brooks joined the Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South and quickly rose to the top of the roster, thus establishing himself as an up-and-coming pro wrestler. In September 2005, Brooks joined the WWE development territory Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where he subsequently won the championship title on November 9th. In June 2006, Brooks performed in his first ECW match and became champion in September of 2007.

In June 2008, Brooks was drafted WWE’s Raw in the 2008 WWE Draft. On November 20th, 2011, Brooks was crowned as the WWE Champion, the title which he held for 434 days until his defeat by The Rock on January 27th, 2013 (shown below). Brooks' reign eventually earned him the title of "the longest-reigning WWE Champion of the modern era."

Resignation from the WWE

On January 29th, 2014, TMZ^[1] reported that Brooks had abruptly left the WWE due to conflicts over the script for an upcoming WrestleMania match. On the same day, Fox Sports^[2] published an interview with Brazilian Jiu Jistu (BJJ) expert Rener Gracie, who claimed that Brooks had expressed interest in competing in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) instead and that he had a natural talent for BJJ. On February 5th, 2014, following the wrestler's resignation from the WWE, Jason David Frank, an actor and MMA fighter known for his portrayal of the Green Power Ranger Tommy Oliver in the American sci-fi television franchise Power Rangers, posted a status update challenging CM Punk to an MMA fight in response to the wrestler's resignation from the WWE.

In the coming days, several news sites reported on the public challenge, including UpRoxx,^[3] Cage Side Seats,^[4] MMA Fighting^[5] and Bloody Elbow.^[6]

On November 26th, 2014, Brooks appeared on the "Art of Wrestling" podcast with best friend and wrestler Colt Cabana to speak his version of the events that transpired that led to his departure from WWE. Brooks cited his health as the main reason he left WWE, describing that in his final months in the company, he had been working through a possibly-fatal and untreated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection, broken ribs, injured knees, multiple concussions including one at the Royal Rumble, as well as having lost his appetite and ability to sleep well. He also spoke about his issues with WWE, feeling that he was not receiving proper pay for his work and feeling creatively limited. Brooks offered ideas to Vince McMahon and Paul Michael Levesque (better known as Triple H) to, allegedly, have the duo take credit for Brooks's ideas or to reject them, only to use them elsewhere. Brooks claims he now has "zero passion" for wrestling and has repeatedly stated in interviews that he would never return to WWE.

Brooks appeared again on the December 3rd, 2014 edition of the "Art of Wrestling" podcast, with intentions of having a light-hearted podcast, with a Q&A session. The show quickly deviated from the traditional concept, and moved more towards the theme of last week's podcast. Cabana said the Q&A email crashed quickly, getting 10,000 responses. He said that he expected 300 and was planning to read them all personally. The topics slowly returned to matters such as Vince McMahon's public apology to Brooks during Steve Austin's podcast on the WWE Network, additional critique of WWE's officials, and sponsorship deals that were taken from him in favor of wrestlers WWE deemed more marketable.

CM Punk Joins UFC

At UFC 181 on December 6, 2014, Brooks announced that he had signed a multi-fight contract with Ultimate Fighting Championship and will fight as a professional mixed martial artist in the middleweight or welterweight division in 2015. Brooks, at 36 years old, has no amateur wrestling background but has experience in kempo and has trained in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Welcome to the UFC CMPunk</a>! See you in 2015! <a href="https://t.co/X07ezdbmZl">https://t.co/X07ezdbmZl</a></p>&mdash; UFC (ufc) December 7, 2014

Reactions to Brooks' signing has been mixed, from fans and professional MMA fighters alike.

WHA?!?!?! CMPunk</a>!!?!!!!?!! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cantwait?src=hash">#cantwait</a></p>&mdash; Ronda Rousey (RondaRousey) December 7, 2014

ufc</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CMPunk">CMPunk Why?

— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) December 7, 2014

@ufc sign a fake wrestler, but not an Olympian who is the best WW in the world. Amateur move.

— Ben Askren (@Benaskren) December 7, 2014

Jason David Frank once again took to social media to rouse fan interest to be Brooks' first opponent in the UFC, having a 1-0 professional record and a 4-0 record for amateur fights.

What?! He never got back to me lol oh well. I'll be watching his debut good luck CM. It's a whole different world. JDF davohtx @suckerpunchent</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A photo posted by Jason David Frank (jdfffn) on Dec 12, 2014 at 8:32pm PST

UFC Debut

On September 10th, 2016, after several delays, CM Punk made his UFC debut against Mickey Gall at UFC 203. He tapped out after two minutes and fourteen seconds. Despite the loss, Punk offered an optimistic post-match interview.

"In life, you go big or you go home. I just like to take challenges. This was a hell of a mountain to try and climb. I didn't get to the summit today, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna give up. It doesn't mean I'm gonna stop."

His loss prompted a wave of image macros and tweets mocking his performance and desire to compete in MMA after leaving WWE.

CM Punk's loss was a trending topic on Facebook and Twitter the next day.

Social Media Presence

As of February 2014, the official CM Punk WWE Facebook^[7] page has received over 3.6 million likes and the @CMPunk Twitter^[8] feed has accumulated upwards of 2.14 million followers.

Related Memes

CM Punk is Not Impressed

CM Punk is Not Impressed is a photoshop meme featuring a cutout image of Brooks wearing a scowling expression. The original screen captured image comes from the August 1st, 2011 episode of WWE Raw.

Personal Life

Phillip Brooks was born on October 27th, 1978 in Chicago, Illinois. He has stated that he is an atheist and lives a "straight edge" lifestyle free from drugs and alcohol, the latter playing heavily into the early stages of his establishment as a wrestler. Brooks has purportedly had romantic relationships with professional wrestlers Shannon Spruill, Tracy Brookshaw, Maria Kanellis, Amy Dumas and April Mendez (AJ Lee). Brooks married Mendez on June 13, 2014, in a private and small ceremony.

Search Interest

External References