John Laurinaitis Reveals Major CM Punk-WWE Truth
CM Punk loved to mock John Laurinaitis during his WWE career, and Johnny has shed some light on their checkered past.
During CM Punk’s initial run in WWE from 2006 until he left in early 2014, John Laurinaitis worked behind the scenes as a Vice President of Talent Relations. In other words, it was as if Laurinaitis were a real-life WWE General Manager who had to manage the talent.
Laurinaitis, a former wrestler himself, became an on-screen character during CM Punk’s infamous 2011 storyline, in which he walked away from WWE as the WWE Champion before eventually returning more popular than ever.
Prior to a WWE Championship match between Punk and John Cena at SummerSlam 2011, there was a contract signing segment where Punk mentioned the names of released talent, which was very rare to hear on WWE television.
Here’s what Punk said on Raw while sitting at a table with Cena, as Laurinaitis and Triple H – the WWE Chief Operating Officer in storyline at the time – standing by.
“Who fires people around here? You or ‘Funk-man’ over here?”
The “Funk-man” name is what Punk called John Laurinaitis, in reference to the Marty Funkhouser character from Curb Your Enthusiasm, since Laurinaitis had a similar voice.
“Let me ask you a question Johnny, Funk Man!! Did you personally, face-to-face, fire Vladimir Kozlov on Friday? Did you fly yourself to Florida to tell Harry Smith? Yes his name is Harry, not ‘David Hart Smith,’ that he was no longer needed here?
Did you tell Chris Masters, somebody who over the past year has worked his ass off to get better, did you fire him face to face, or did you call him up and say, ‘Hey kid, it’s a budget thing, best of luck in your future endeavors.’ Don’t call me gutless, you (Triple H) have him (Laurinaitis) do your dirty work.”
Regarding that promo from August 2011, John Laurinaitis told a virtual signing with Signed By Superstars that what Punk said wasn’t a shoot, meaning it was just part of the show.
“No…was not a shoot.”
Laurinaitis said that while laughing because he likely knows that fans thought it was Punk “shooting” instead of following what was supposed to be said on the show.
CM Punk Heading To SmackDown When He Returns To WWE TV
While John Laurinaitis has nothing to do with WWE after being fired by WWE in August 2022, CM Punk returned to the company over a year later, and has been one of the biggest names in the company, justl ike he was in 2011.
While CM Punk hasn’t been on WWE TV since the Raw after WrestleMania 42 on April 20, the plan is to bring him back to SmackDown in early July, as reported by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
“The plan right now is for him to return on Smackdown, which is basically a balancing act. The belief is with Raw having Reigns, Rollins, The Usos, Fatu, Femi, Logan Paul and Breakker that Punk made more sense on Smackdown with a top tier of Rhodes, Gunther, Ripley and soon to be Punk, Orton and McIntyre. Plus Rhodes vs. Punk has been a direction.
The return date of 7/6 Raw in Chicago makes sense, although that is a Raw date, not Smackdown, but that’s really not material in the sense Chicago does make sense for him to appear.”
A match like Cody Rhodes vs. CM Punk is obviously worthy of a SummerSlam main event for the two-night spectacular on August 1 & 2, but it’s also a match WWE could save for WrestleMania next year.