Former WWE Writer Reveals Vince McMahon’s Reaction To CM Punk’s Pipebomb Promo

It’s been over a decade since CM Punk dropped his infamous pipebomb promo on Monday Night Raw, but fans are still talking about the promo to this very day. The promo clearly made an impression on wrestling fans and it helped CM Punk reach a new level in regards to his career with WWE.

Over the years there have been a lot of questions when it comes to how much WWE officials knew about what Punk was going to say before the promo happened. Former WWE writer Brian Gewirtz recently discussed the promo with Ariel Helwani and he shared some insight into what the dynamic was like between Punk and WWE creative.

“Punk brought so many elements of that to himself, in terms of sitting down as opposed to standing –  I know he worked with [WWE writer] Ed Koskey on it but the vast majority of it [was] coming from Punk’s heart and his brain. But at the same time, I know going into it there wasn’t anything he said or was going to say that was [unexpected]; I know he improvised a little on the spot, but Vince and everyone had a version of it in front of them. They knew when to cut the mic, knew to cut to Cena in the ring selling. It was part of a television show, but there were real life overtones to it, and real life passion into it. This wasn’t like Punk cut the promo, the mic went out, and then he’s giving everyone hugs backstage going, ‘Oh this is great, I can’t wait until next year.'”

“There was real tension, it was palpable. It’s a testament to Punk to pull that off so well, and to have people questioning to this day what they saw. And it’s a testament to Vince, too, to say, ‘Yeah, go ahead and say it. I don’t care. Call me an imbecile, whatever.’ I’m sure there are plenty of lines within that, that Punk kind of improvised on the spot, but at the same time, we knew going in what to expect. That was a great example of something coming together, and it couldn’t have been executed any better.”

CM Punk recently made his return to AEW programming and he confronted interim AEW World Champion Jon Moxley. The match has not been confirmed as of this writing, but it’s expected that Moxley and Punk will face off in a match to determine the undisputed AEW World Champion at the All Out pay-per-view next month.

H/T Wrestling Inc.