Very Interesting CM Punk read.....

Apologies if this has already been posted......

Blog by Dave Lagana (Sp)

“I’m a Paul Heyman Guy!” CM Punk – 6/27/11 Monday Night Raw.

That one line in Punk’s promo kicked off this whirlwind ride we’re on in the “Summer of Punk” story. This period is being talked about as having lead to resurgence of interest in pro wrestling.

Over the next three days, I’m going to look back at three different periods in 2007 when CM Punk became the center piece of the ECW Brand. These stories will shine a little light on the frustration surrounding Punk’s early run in WWE.

On December 4th, 2006, Paul Heyman left the WWE Creative Team, for the final time. This also meant that for the first time ever, Heyman would not be involved in the creative process of ECW. Stephanie McMahon walked into the writer’s room to tell us Paul would no longer be involved and that I was now in charge of ECW. This was as much news to me as it was the rest of the team. As had happened with Alex Greenfield when he took over Smackdown, I wasn’t talked to about the new position. I wasn’t doing backflips about this because I knew the baggage that came with it. I had run Smackdown for four years before this and knew how Vince and Kevin Dunn viewed ECW. The world saw how they viewed the brand for the five months before this and especially the night before on PPV with December to Dismember.

The PPV from Augusta, GA featuring an Extreme Elimination Chamber match was the least bought WWE PPV in history. The show was handicapped by zero promotion from Raw and Smackdown and being the 2nd WWE PPV in eight days; following Survivor Series. The main purpose of the event was to crown Bobby Lashley as the new flag bearer for ECW. The event had only two matches announced before hand, the Elimination Chamber and the reuniting of MNM vs. The Hardyz. While Lashley was going to be the “man” that night winning the title, there was a pitch by Heyman to have CM Punk and Big Show start the Chamber and for Punk to eliminate the Big Show with the Anaconda Vice. Big Show was behind the idea and felt it was the right move to make. There were a few different long term pitches off of this including Punk vs. RVD at Wrestlemania. Heyman had protected Punk, including making sure his debut match was at the Hammerstein Ballroom. This pitch was meant to establish Punk as the “next” guy after Lashley. If you’ve seen the match, you know this didn’t happen.

The Anaconda Vice became one of the things that the agents picked on Punk for. Vince had mocked Punk in meetings by doing the wrist gesture and even instructed announcers to NOT mention his Muai Thai background. Everything that made Punk unique was questioned and mocked. “Don’t think people can relate to with a character who doesn’t have an occasional beer”, said one agent. In 2006, Vince McMahon looked at Punk and “didn’t get it”. Plus, when you have Paul Heyman pushing heavily for you in that environment – you get the stigma of being a “Paul Heyman Guy”. I had the stigma because I worked with Paul on every run he had on creative from 2002 – 2006. Punk suffered for those sins and that night in December, he did not make the Big Show tap out. The agents who didn’t like him made sure the audience would not get a moment from CM Punk that night; Punk was the first man eliminated in the match.

In under 24 hours, everything about ECW had changed. Heyman was out, Big Show was gone, and I was left with a mess. CM Punk, a lot like ECW, Goldberg, the NWO and especially WCW, were not WWE creations. The track record has shown that Kevin Dunn and Vince McMahon do not support ideas that were not generated inside their bubble. Punk got the tag line of “King of the Indies” and those agents who didn’t like him before Heyman was gone, they were out for blood now.

I’m no Paul Heyman. I won’t ever try to sell you that I’m a genius, instead just a guy who always wants to do the best for the talents and projects I work on. I had a connection with ECW, it’s what kept me excited about the business in 1994 and 1995 when there wasn’t much to be excited about. That spirit of ECW was what we tried to continue in the new ECW, including launching a new star like CM Punk. But I didn’t have an ally, especially a veteran voice, in that agent meeting.

The voices in that meeting room pushed for Hardcore Holly. Now, I am a fan of Hardcore Holly. When Brock Lesnar had broke Holly’s neck, it was Bruce Prichard and I who suggested Holly coming for revenge. (watch here) It was the hottest Holly ever got but he didn’t connect with the audience and they had a forgettable match at the Royal Rumble 2004. Here it was 2007 and the agents were pushing for Holly ahead Punk. In their matches during December and January, Holly beat down Punk in the corner, ignoring the ref’s count and getting disqualified. (watch here) And then Hardcore Holly hands Punk his first loss. (watch here) I had heard rumblings of agents pushing Vince to show Punk the door. ECW started to receive less and less attention and then we had the horrible show in Little Rock in mid-January. The matches were bad, the interviews were bad; the plane flight home from that show was worse. It was the longest flight of my life. The next day I sat down to talk with Stephanie about that flight but more importantly about what I thought ECW needed. I needed a veteran voice to help turn the tide. I needed an ally.

Fast forward to the agent meeting in Houston. Vince McMahon was scheduled to appear on ECW for the first time in the start of a new storyline. He was going to rid ECW of it’s “Original” stars and make the way for a “New Breed”. The meeting quickly turned into another CM Punk bash fest. My role was to run the meeting but dare not speak out of turn on the veteran agents. This was how the previous months meetings had gone but this day was different. It was a new voice in the room that changed everything. “Um, if you don’t like something the kid is doing, why don’t you work with him to fix it… instead of killing him” That voice belonged to Shawn Michaels.

In January of 2007, Shawn Michaels was my consultant on ECW. I was able to get in his input on the shows, thoughts on talents and in this situation the voice needed in that agent meeting. Like getting to work with Paul Heyman, Vince McMahon, Dusty Rhodees, working with Shawn was a dream come true. In that meeting in Houston, Shawn brought up that guys like him and Undertaker will not be around forever and, while everyone liked Holly, it was guys like Punk who were the future. The mood in the room changed, the den of negativity that existed was silenced for the time being. Punk wasn’t pushed strong that week or even the next week but the ship had turned. Punk was positioned better from that point forward.

Shawn Michaels was pulled back into active duty when Triple H was hurt and programmed to face John Cena at Wrestlemania 23. Dusty Rhodes ended up joining me to help book ECW. And CM Punk made Wrestlemania 23 as the only ECW guy in the Money In the Bank Ladder Match.

In that Money In the Bank ladder match, Punk was involved in the finish of the match. He was finger tips away from the briefcase only to have Mr. Kennedy knock him off and grab the case. This was just foreshadowing as Punk did go on to win the Money in the Bank briefcase in back to back years to win his first two World Titles.

Imagine if those agents would have gotten their way back in early 2007? We might have never gotten to see this at the 2011 Money in the Bank PPV.

That really is a great read! Probably should say thanks HBK!

well played Shawn! what I want to know is, how could so many people not see what Punk had to offer when he has always posessed such great ability. Or were other "agents" just kissing mcmahons behind? I mean surely Heyman wasn't the only one to see his potential.

Great read. And yes, the agents and writers have to kiss Vince's behind to protect their jobs. If you listen to Lagana's podcasts with former creative team members this becomes obvious.

I find it amazing that it takes a few words from a veteran like HBK to change everyones tune!!

It makes you think how many talented workers have slipped through the net that didnt have a HBK fighting their corners in the meetings!

I think that a few words from a particular veteran (that being HBK or HHH) is enough to change everyones tune, purely because they have Vince's ear.

He didn't have to do it of course, and I am grateful he spoke up. But if it were someone else...

What other stars on the current roster might have Vince's ear?

Undertaker is obvious......Kane???.....Cena maybe (simply because he is Vince's biggest asset money making wise). Orton is another one (you could tell after he got Mr Kennedy shafted)

Im not sure about other "Veterans" like Rey. Goldust might simply because he is Dusty's son and has been about a long time.

This is why i think the more creative control Triple H has the better. He'll have more of an eye for what the modern day casual fan wants to see than what Vince has, and i'm sure he'll have the same mindset as Shawn Michaels in that he knows the company need to produce future megastars and showing them the door isnt the way forward.

I have every faith in HHH to push the company in the right direction if he is indeed given the power to do so.

Cheers for the post mate I always enjoy reading Lagana's views on the biz and his experiances, I'm glad Shawn sat in on that particular meeting

It always seems to be the agents who get blamed by the writers for bad decisions i wonder how much of that is actually true?

Agents usually dictate the scenario's that writers have to write around

That was quite an interesting read. I usually never read these sorts of things, but this was really good. So basically, if it wasnt for Shawn Michaels, we many never have had any of whats going on now?!

I think we should be careful not to paint Shawn as some kind of paragon of Virtue here

I'll give him his dues where he deserves them, I think this helps prove the theory that he was more mature in the years following his return

A few months after that though he apparantly threw a hissy fit at the 2007 tribute to the troops because Umaga wore green in his tights and "thats Hunter's colours", that said I think he'd be a great booker

There's a part 2 on his website but I can't access it at work.

Part 2 of Lagana's blog as per his website:


CM Punk stood face to face with Chris Benoit on ECW just days before their ECW Title Match at Vengeance Night of Champions. June of 2007 was to be the launching of a new era in ECW and the next step in the evolution of CM Punk. The match never happened.



If you flashed back to a year earlier, ECW was meant to be on the same level of Raw and Smackdown. Stars like RVD, Kurt Angle, Big Show were brought in to compliment the returning ECW stars like Sandman, Tommy Dreamer, Sabu. On the day of the WWE Draft in June of 2007, RVD, Angle and Big Show were all gone from WWE/ECW and the ECW Originals were being phased out. This draft was meant to was meant to shape the new “New” ECW. Read here for the talent switches in the 2007 WWE Draft.

But we all remember what the MOST important thing to happen the night of the WWE Draft 2007; Vince McMahon Appreciation Night and his limo going boom. (See here) This angle was to kick off a long storyline about who did it and a power struggle over who controlled WWE.



With so much time and attention being put into the McMahon story, ECW was once again pushed down the ladder of importance. By this point, some weeks the ECW Team would be lucky to get five to ten minutes to pitch our show to Vince. We would wait all day for a meeting and then be told, “Just email Vince”. My marching orders were to get one thing approved. That way we could provide something Kevin Dunn’s TV crew could edit a commercial for Raw. We knew “our place” in the WWE Creative food chain. We had to be fine with it because we knew it wasn’t going to change. Our goal for ECW was to focus on young talent and give them a platform to develop. The key to this plan was centered around Chris Benoit coming to ECW.

Chris Benoit was to be the veteran leader for the ECW locker room. He was excited to be coming and helping groom the up and coming talents like Miz, John Morrison, Marcus Cor Von, Kevin Thorn, Elijah Burke and especially CM Punk. Benoit was fresh off working with MVP in their feud over the United States Title. Hear MVP talk about how important this was to him (MVP Podcast Part One /Part Two). The finals of the ECW Title tournament was to feature CM Punk vs. Chris Benoit at Night of Champions. On that night, Chris Benoit was scheduled to win the title and enter into long term story with CM Punk; Punk attempting to beat the veteran to win his first title.



When Chris Benoit did not appear that day in Houston, a decision was made to replace him in the match with Johnny Nitro (making his ECW debut). We had no information on Benoit at the time beyond the phone calls that his family was sick. The decision was made to have Nitro win the title and leave options that if/when Benoit came back – he could challenge Nitro for the title. When news broke over the Benoit Family Tragedy, wrestling storylines weren’t important. I remember hearing Vickie Guerrero scream in shock when we all heard the news. That sound will always stick with me. Those are emotions I don’t think any of us ever want to live through again. The McMahon story was dropped and everything planned was put on hold.

When we finally got back to work, ECW’s Champion was John Morrison (changing his name and persona from Johnny Nitro) and Punk was the number one contender. The name change gave Morrison a fresh canvas to paint on and create a whole new persona. It was Morrison who came up with his entrance (including the slow motion and the fans). He would come up with his promos and the crazy catch phrase. Punk, being himself, was the perfect opponent for Morrison.



They had 3 PPV matches against each other (Night of Champions, The Great American Bash, and Summerslam). Morrison won all three. We wanted Punk to win at Summerslam but Vince didn’t want to make the switch. I could tell the frustration with Punk of “well, what now?” I could never pin down the issue with putting the title on Punk in any of those three matches. Morrison was improving as a heel but WWE had always been a babyface territory – a hero who would defend and fight off the oncoming challenges.

We were instructed to come up with a new opponent to face Morrison for the title. The babyface roster was pretty thin on ECW but we picked Boogeyman. I can see eyes rolling across the world on the choice of Boogeyman because the match wouldn’t be a five star classic. But I liked the Boogeyman; he was a great character and figured it would be a good victory for our champion. We scheduled a four way match to determine the new #1 contender with CM Punk vs. Boogeyman vs. Big Daddy V vs. The Miz.

The show aired live on 8/28/07. I remember sitting in the Gorilla Position (where wrestlers walk out / where the agents and Vince sit) and noticing that Vince wasn’t there. The main event had gone in the ring before Vince walked in and sat down at the monitor. After a moment, he waved over Fit Finlay (the agent of the match). A quick but quiet discussion was had. Finlay went over to the microphone hooked up to the ref and fed something to the ref. None of us knew what was going on until we looked at the monitor. Punk hit his flying clothesline and then the GTS on The Miz. 1…2…3. CM Punk won the match and was announced as the number one contender. Vince walked out of gorilla and didn’t tell us anything.

Over the next few days, the world found out about this news story breaking in Sports Illustrated. (read here). John Morrison (along with a large number of other talents) were suspended for 30 days for wellness violations. Punk vs. Morrison for the ECW Title was scheduled for that Sunday at an ECW taping. It was called “CM Punk’s Last Chance” to win the title. And the crowd reaction that night in Cincinnati spoke to the hard work of CM Punk over the previous year. CM Punk was finally their conquering hero.



WWE had gone through some of its worst publicity ever in a three-month span with the Benoit tragedy and the Sports Illustrated article. The media were having a field day with these stories and attacking the company. Vince McMahon made the choice to go with the straight edge superstar CM Punk to represent his company. In the late summer of 2007, Punk, being exactly who he was when he walked into WWE, won his first title in the WWE. And in 2011, it was CM Punk being himself that has brought him more notoriety than anyone in the WWE had ever thought was possible.

Good read that, thanks for posting.

Has anyone listened to Dave Laguana's podcast this week? I recommend it, very good listen.

Great post again, has Lagana got a book out?