Why CM Punk on “Art of Wrestling” is a Must-Listen

At midnight on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day in America, Colt Cabana released the latest edition of his weekly podcast, just like every other week. However, the podcast itself was unlike any other that Cabana has done before.

Sure, Punk has been a guest before, Punk even hosted a special episode with Cabana as the guest, but that was before the events of the past year.

You don’t have to be a genius to figure out why Punk chose Cabana’s podcast as his platform to speak. Cabana is one of Punk’s best friends, and has no agenda whatsoever, outside of trying to help Punk finally feel comfortable in sharing his story.

This was one of the longest, if not the longest podcast that Cabana has ever done. Punk spoke freely about what caused him to walk out the night after the Rumble, bouncing around on a timeline that stayed mainly from Survivor Series 2011, the beginning of his 434 day title reign, all the way up to present day.

There’s a lot of fun stuff in there, like the original idea for The Shield, who the original trio was, and who came up with the idea, but the crux of the podcast is the story that we have wanted to hear for almost a year.

At the end of the podcast, Punk does get into the fateful meeting in Cleveland, the night after this year’s Royal Rumble, when he met with Vince McMahon and Triple H. It’s what happened in the months that followed that really shocked me.

Following a serious health scare, Punk reveals that he was suspended by the company until the day after WrestleMania XXX, but that he never got a call. Eventually, royalties stopped coming, Punk got upset, and it wasn’t until the day of his wedding in June, that the termination papers were sent to his house.

That’s right. Punk did not quit, he was fired.

You might say that he walked out, and you’d be right, but don’t make assumptions about Punk until you hear the interview. This is a day that many of us thought would never come, but it has arrived.

It would be impossible to properly explain everything that Punk said, so I’m going to recommend that everybody, fans and haters alike, seek out this interview and give it a listen.

I am not a Punk hater by any means, and I always gave him the benefit of the doubt in this situation, but now after hearing what he had to say, and, more importantly, hearing the tone in his voice, I can say I have a lot more respect for his decision.

Punk didn’t come off as whiny, and a lot of the things he said had a lot of solid reasoning behind them.

When news of this podcast broke late Wednesday night, it was met with a lot of skepticism, as fans were sure they wouldn’t address any major issues, but they did.

Next week, Cabana will release another podcast with Punk, this one will feature Punk answering fan questions after listening to the first part.

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