'You’re gonna get fired': CM Punk recalls WWE backstage reaction after 'Pipebomb' promo

CM Punk recently made his return to pro-wrestling by joining WWE's rival company, All Elite Wrestling a few months back. Recently he spoke on the AEW Unrestricted podcast with Aubrey Edwards and Tony Schiavone. He talked about his infamous 'pipe bomb' promo that saw many fans return to WWE and watch it. It was also a catalyst for creating new fans for the company. CM Punk talked about how everyone reacted to him when he came backstage after the promo.

“No, I don’t think so, and I always tell this story, too,” Punk stated. “When I was done with that, I remember walking back up the ramp on the fly, thinking, well, I can’t go through the curtain because I just did this promo. If I go through the curtain, kayfabe-wise, I’m fist fighting somebody. I went side stage, which was just another little tiny thing that made people go, hmm, that was weird. And when I got into the back, there was nobody anywhere.

That was amazing!

He then said that usually backstage is lively with people everywhere but that time around it was empty. He then walked past the curtain and everybody from the company was in the tunnel waiting to see him come through. Chef Robert Irvine was very pumped when he saw CM Punk and said "That was amazing!", speaking about the 'pipe bomb' promo.

“Backstage is normally just buzzing with people in the hallways. It was empty, and I remember looking around like, ‘geez, what’s going on?’ And I walked past the curtain through Gorilla and everybody in the company was jammed into the tunnel, waiting to see me come through Gorilla because they figured the same thing. They were like, ‘oh man, this is gonna get real.’ And the first person I see is Chef Robert Irvine because he’s there with Gail Kim. And he just looks like he just got through like a Dorian Yates chest workout, and he’s just like, ‘That was amazing!’ And he’s all fired up. He’s a guy that maybe doesn’t necessarily watch a lot of pro wrestling, but it resonated with him."

You're gonna get fired

Punk then said that he saw Chris Masters who looked at him and said that he, Punk, was going to get fired, and based on those reactions Punk realised he had done something big.

"And then I saw Chris Masters, and Chris Masters looks at me and goes, ‘Did you just hear what Punk said?’ And I was like, ‘Chris, it’s me,’ and he was like, ‘Oh, it is you. You’re gonna get fired, dude,’ and then I just walked up. It was a weird scene. I didn’t know it was gonna become as big as it did, but I knew just based off those reactions, we had something."

(Image: allelitewrestling.com)