Why WWE Edited CM Punk “Basic Punkanomics” Rap On USA Network

There were edits made to CM Punk’s WWE SmackDown “rap” when it aired on USA Network.

The final WWE SmackDown episode before Night of Champions featured three championship matches, along with several promos that were used to build up some of the big matches at Night of Champions. It also aired seven hours earlier on Netflix for international viewers, as it was broadcast live in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

There was also a power outage early in the show when Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes were doing a promo to set up their King of the Ring final match. That power outage caused SmackDown not to air as scheduled for 30 minutes. Everything went smoothly after the show returned for the final two-plus hours.

In the main event of SmackDown, WWE John Cena did a quick promo before his “face to face” promo with his Night of Champions opponents. That’s when the classic Cena song “Basic Thuganomics” and CM Punk dressed as a throwback version of Cena while delivering a “Basic Punkanomics” promo.

During CM Punk’s rap about Cena, he referenced several things, like WWE bringing back Cena’s ex (Nikki Bella), as a reason why Cena is retiring. Punk also claimed that Cena buried more talent than The Undertaker.

Punk mentioned Cena’s “you can’t see me” catchphrase while mentioning that we can see Cena now, and we see that he’s just a washed-up bum.

To end the rap, Punk referenced a rap beef by saying, “You’re gonna lose to Kendrick because b**ch, you’re my Drake!”

CM Punk’s Rap Edited On USA Network Version Of SmackDown

Since there were seven hours between the Netflix and USA Network airings of SmackDown, it gave WWE time to edit things.

According to Fightful Select, WWE edited a line from Punk’s promo where he made a mistake, so it was edited to make it appear as if there was no error. Additionally, some crowd noise was used, which is not uncommon for a taped wrestling show.

A WWE production source told Fightful that they were busy due to the power outage issues and the main event segment that needed editing. The source was also excited about SmackDown going back to a two-hour format next week.

John Cena will defend the WWE Championship against CM Punk in the main event of Night of Champions on June 28th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

WWE posted CM Punk’s full “rap” on their YouTube channel.