Five Things You Probably Didn’t Know About…CM Punk

Photo: Bec Ferrara

There are many things we know about WWE Superstar CM Punk, he is the reigning WWE Champion, he lives the straightedge lifestyle, he’s an avid comic book fan, and he has an affinity for tattoos, but here are five things you probably didn’t know about CM Punk…

1. During his time in former WWE developmental territory, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), CM Punk won every championship that OVW had to offer, winning the OVW Heavyweight Title, the OVW Television Title, and the OVW Southern Tag Team Titles.

2. In the mid-to-late 1990’s, CM Punk began wrestling with his friends and his brother, Mike Brooks, in their own backyard wrestling organization called the Lunatic Wrestling Federation. The future WWE Champion was put in a tag team with a wrestler by the ring name, CM Venom, forming Punk’s first tag team, the Chick Magnets (which is widely believed to be the origin of the “CM” initials). When the backyard promotion started to take off, the LWF moved to a local warehouse in Mokena, IL. However, Punk discovered shortly after this that his brother had embezzled thousands of dollars from the small company, causing a rift between the brothers and Punk has not spoken to his brother since then.

3. While his Ring of Honor career is legendary and has often been attributed to his WWE success, CM Punk also used to compete for TNA Wrestling. However, a real life fight between CM Punk and Teddy Hart before a TNA house show in February 2004 led many to believe Punk would be fired, but that was not the case. However it would not be long before Punk left the Orlando-based organization as, in March 2004, Punk left TNA due to TNA’s new policy that anyone under contract with them would no longer be allowed to compete for ROH at the same time.

4. In his personal life, CM Punk has been romantically linked to several female wrestlers and valets, including former WWE Diva Maria Kanellis, former TNA Knockout Traci Brooks, former WCW competitor and former TNA Knockout Shannon “Daffney” Spruill, current WWE Diva Beth Phoenix, and Amy “Lita” Dumas.

5. In addition to simply being a proclamation for his love of Pepsi, the Pepsi logo tattoo on CM Punk’s left shoulder was also inspired by Brian Baker, the former guitarist for the band, Minor Threat. Brian Baker had a Coca-Cola tattoo done and, when asked about the tattoo, Baker reportedly said that he liked Coca-Cola, so he got the tattoo, which Punk adopted as his explanation for the Pepsi tattoo.