CM Punk Collateral Damage After Paul Heyman’s Epic WWE Fallout

Paul Heyman has explained why CM Punk was caught up as collateral damage after his major fallout with WWE management.

Paul Heyman returned to WWE on SmackDown, where he introduced CM Punk as the fifth man on Roman Reigns’ team for WarGames at Survivor Series.

The relationship between Heyman and Punk goes back years and the two were previously aligned during Punk’s WE Title reign in his first run with the company. But it seems that their friendship behind the scenes ended up costing Punk in the eyes of WWE management.

Paul Heyman Guy Not A Good Tag For CM Punk In WWE

Speaking to CBS Sports, Paul Heyman admitted that CM Punk was dragged down in the eyes of management when being a ‘Paul Heyman Guy’ was not the thing to be in the company:

CM Punk battled against the perception that he was only a ‘Paul Heyman guy.’ He got unfortunately dragged down by that tag.

He became collateral damage to my fallout with management. Because of my fallout with management, he was tagged — that’s literally what they called him — ‘Oh yeah, the Paul Heyman guy.’

This guy was a magnificent performer, an all-time performer, a WrestleMania main eventer, a top-of-the-card-worthy performer from the moment he walked through the door.

But he fought against that perception and proved himself through his hard work, connection with his audience, and the fact that no matter how stupid of a concept they threw at him, he made it work… He was undeniable. You could not stop the progress no matter how they self-sabotaged their product.

Paul Heyman’s tumultuous run in WWE came to an end in December 2006 after he advocated that CM Punk should eliminate The Big Show in record time in the Extreme Elimination Chamber at the woeful December To Dismember event. Vince McMahon disagreed and Punk was the first man eliminated in that match with Heyman leaving the promotion shortly after.

Heyman returned to WWE in 2012, two years before CM Punk infamously walked out on the company after growing increasingly frustrated at his position and direction in the company.