My Mom's Basement - EPISODE 31 - CM PUNK

Episode Date: October 21, 2019

CM Punk joins the From The Top Rope boys - Robbie and Jared - for what may be their biggest interview to date, discussing his newest venture into horror movies, his leading role in ‘Girl On The Third Floor' (Available on digital 10/25), how he feels about a return to the wrestling industry at this point in time, his recent “tryout” with FOX for a WWE-centric show, and much more!You can find every episode of this show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube. Prime Members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. For more, visit barstool.link/mymomsbasement

Hey My Mom's Basement listeners, you can find our episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube, and Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. 40 minutes it was somewhere i'm still coming down from the high bob we literally just wrapped up doing the interview we wanted to save the intro for for doing that i mean i don't even know what to say so when we were walking over here uh rudy from stool scenes was filming me and i said i'm trying to cherish this moment because it's the last time that i'll feel like the anxiety and nerves of like being starstruck. Yeah. Like I'll never feel that again. I've met pretty much everyone there. Everybody in baseball, right? Yeah.

Like I've met David Ortiz. Like, I guess like maybe Barry Bonds is probably the only one that's left. Uh, you met like Roger Clemens. Like those are probably the only guys left. Whether like Patriots have that for you though. Right.

Tom Brady. But like, I've been around him. Like I've never like shook his hand and met him, but like I've been in the same room as him before. And Bonds and Clemens I mentioned because that would be cool, but they wouldn't have the same feeling as CM Punk.

If you're a From the Top Rope fan, you know that CM Punk is Jared's number one in terms of what he would want to talk to. The whole Rocket shtick doesn't exist without cm punk definitely like that like the whole shtick is based off of like the summer of punk like the whole like anti-authority like just carving people up with with like a microphone that's all from punk so if he doesn't do all that like i'm probably just some baseball nerd like i still am a baseball nerd but like i'm definitely not one that can like hurt you with my words or even want to do that.

Like I saw him do it and I was like, I want to do that. I saw him in your promo against Frankie on the other night against him for the Yankees. All punk. That was a punk promo. Yeah, it was. Basically a punk promo. Yes. It was surreal having it for me as well.

I'm obviously not as big a fan as Jared because I'm not sure anyone in the world is as big a fan as Jared. But he's up there for me. He's definitely like a top five all time for me. So I had a little jitters. I had a little nerves going before the interview. He was promoting his new horror movie, Girl on the Third Floor. We talked a lot of horror with him. Speaking of horror, one of the things that makes me completely terrified every night is the thought of someone breaking into my home. And I'll tell you what, Jared. Yeah. A recent Gallup survey shows that Americans worry more about burglary than almost any other crime. More than mugging, more than terrorism. Tell you what, more than murder.

Really? How crazy is that? According to studies, just over 10% of break-ins are planned beforehand, and the rest are spur-of-the-moment crimes of opportunity. In other words, random. I mean, what are we doing here? All biz Pete. This guy's unbelievable. You think about soundproofing these podcast studios? Let me know. What's crazy is that only one in five homes have home security. Maybe that's because most companies don't really make it easy. Obviously, it's

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trial you've got nothing to lose go now be sure you go to simply safe.com slash mom and tell them our show sent you that is simply safe.com slash mom going back to the punk interview though we talked a lot of horror movies with him and then we talked wrestling with him and we were obviously feeling a little like how do we approach this with him? One of those guys who we don't know if he wants to talk wrestling. We don't want him to feel like this is an uncomfortable or not fun interview. So we talked a little beforehand. We said, let's intro it, see what he would like to talk about. He was pretty much more than happy to talk wrestling with us.

Yeah, I think he knows, like, you know, he's going to promote a horror movie. And I love horror movies. Like, that's one of my big wheelhouses, too. Which was perfect because you guys instantly had that. Right. So I can talk horror movies. I could have done the whole interview about horror movies, but I'm also thinking about the listening audience. The grapple fucks.

Yeah, the grapple fucks. They want some wrestling talk, so we mixed that in there. And I think we did it in a way that wasn't just like... I think we did it in a way to let him know we're not trying to get headlines here. We're just genuinely curious. As fans of you, as fans of wrestling,

we're just curious. We're not trying... Because I've seen him go on those shows where they ask him these questions and they're very confrontational and this and that. You can tell that they're not familiar with him or his work at all.

They're just like, oh, there's a juicy story here. Let me get to the bottom of it. So, I mean, we were obviously never going to do that. But I think we did it in a way where I think it was comfortable for all parties involved. Yeah, I mean, he brought up the Fox rumors. Yeah. And we went deep into those. And you'll listen to that in an interview coming up.

But it has been an interesting five years. years like crowds will not stop chanting his name you will still hear cm punk chants in pro wrestling crowds obviously nobody's given up on him and for good reason and i think he understands why they haven't given up on him sure and you know what i noticed bob what'd you notice i mean he's definitely not like the weight that he was when he was training for ufc it looks like he uh you think he's bulking up i... You think he's bulking up? I mean, I know he's bulking up. Oh, wow. I didn't notice that.

Oh, for sure. I noticed he's in tremendous shape. He's in great shape. I mean, I've never met him before this. I actually had one opportunity to meet him, and I couldn't go. I was in like, I want to say I was in second, third grade, somewhere around there.

And we had a wrestling store in our town very briefly. It was up for like three months. Did you ever have one of those? Yes. Three months. It got shut down quickly. It was next to our school, though, and he did a signing with Mickie James. And my friend Chris went, and I couldn't go.

It devastated me. But guess what? I fucking talked to him for 40 minutes today. Yeah, you did. That was pretty sweet. I don't know where I was going with that. Well, we're talking about his appearance. Oh, yeah.

We were talking about his appearance. I didn yeah. We were talking about his appearance. I didn't meet him when he was a wrestler. He definitely looked like a wrestler when he walked in today. He's built like CM Punk is built. He looks strong. Definitely. Let me ask you something, Jared. Yes, sure.

How much time do you spend in front of your digital screens? Hours. Probably up to like 21 hours a day. Got to be hours. Pretty much every moment that you and I are not asleep or anyone here at Barstool is not asleep. You're looking at a screen. 100%.

Even if you're waking up in the middle of the night, what's the first thing you do? You check your phone. Let me tell you this. That is no good for your eyes. Bad. Your eyes are going, that's probably why I have to wear glasses. Looking at screens too much. But if you get movement, ever scroll blue light filter and glasses, you will be Gucci. They protect your eyes from blue light. That's known to cause eye

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Shop MVMT. Ever scroll blue light filter and glasses, protect your eyes, and look good doing it. Join the movement. All right, Rocket. I think we've made the people wait long enough. Yeah, we have. I think it's time. Is it time?

I think it's time. What time is it? Bob, it's clobbering time. You guys make me nervous. Yeah. Do you remember the bachelor party that you went on in Chicago and John Mayer was there and Rowan was there and he asked you to write something for a tattoo? That was for me.

Oh, that was for you? Yeah. I don't have it yet. I'm going to ask you to pick a spot for it. Oh, Jesus. You have to pick a good spot. Sure. So we have CM Punk in studio.

He is promoting Girl on the Third Floor. White Whale, everybody. His new horror movie. It's available on October 25th on digital. It's available in select theaters. You could go see it if it's in your city. And this is interesting. This is your first time venturing into the horror movie realm, really yeah uh acting yourself how did this come about uh funny story so there's

there's two roads um first one was they mpi being the the parent company that uh is producing the movie dark sky films uh they They have this very Chicago-centric film, and they don't have a lead yet, and they're throwing around ideas. I don't know if they had anybody else in mind, but my name popped up as a Chicago guy. But they didn't know how to get a hold of me. Bobcat Goldthwait works with them frequently

and was like, oh, I directed Phil on a couple episodes of Marin. Phil's amazing. Yeah, you should absolutely use Phil. And they're like, great. How do we get a hold of him? So he asked Mark Marin for my contact information. And at the same time, somebody who works in the MPI offices, Nicole, is a friend of a friend.

So I got an email from Bobcat Goldthwait and my longtime friend, Natalie, both talking about the same project. And I was sent a script because that's how you do things, I guess. You know, what's the first thing you do? Well, let me read the script, see if I like it. But before I even read the script, just based on, you know, the names attached to this thing and it being a Chicago-centric film, Steve Albini was attached doing the score. Travis Stevens wrote and directed. And he he produced a film called Uterowski's Dune. That was like the first thing that jumped out on the page for me. And I was I was already in. And then luckily, the script was really good, too. Yeah. What's your favorite type of horror movie? You got your slashers and, you know, they have all the paranormal ones now.

I love all of them. And it's one of the reasons I love horror genre is because I think even the worst horror movie is still good. I love shitty horror movies. And that's the thing, too. I know when you say that, you don like have a negative connotation to it. It's just like the corniest, worst, even like over the top splatter, grossly misogynistic horror movies are still good. There's still a lot of entertainment value there. Yes, I agree. And so to pick one, I don't know.

It really just depends on the mood. You know, personally, I like the ones that are just like full on scary, suspenseful. I grew up on John Carpenter stuff. So Halloween, uh, the thing, I,

the, and, but, but there's the big part of me that needs the gore too. So, you know, the Friday the 13th movies are, are always on cue at my house.

Um, and I'm a big guy, a big fan of practical effects too. How'd you feel about the Halloween reboot? I never, wait. The new one. Oh, the new one I liked. Yeah, I wasn't sure if you were talking about

the Rob Zombie ones or not. Did you like those? I never saw them. Okay. Out of principle or something? You know, one of these days I'm going to run into Rob Zombie and we're going to have a conversation about it because people always ask me about it and I just never saw him.

Could you ever see yourself taking maybe the Rob Zombie route and being like, I kind of want to make my own horror movie? I'll never say never, but I'm having too much fun just being in other people's stories right now. And were there any huge differences growing up this massive horror movie fan? You've probably seen more horror movies than most people have seen movies. Was there anything different when you actually got on set that you were like, oh, that's a little different? I don't know if I was expecting how easy some days would be and how difficult some other days would be.

I think the benefit of being a pro wrestler who is doing live TV, you know, at least one day a week for almost 10 years, uh, and then being thrust into this, uh, world where you can do multiple takes of stuff and, Oh, I didn't like the way that felt or, Oh, you know, let's do it. You know? Uh, so it, in, in that respect, it's almost easier. And that was kind of shocking to me. Do you think that if you're going to continue in an acting career, do you want to stick with that genre or do you want to branch out?

What do you think is your wheelhouse in terms of genres? I think I want to branch out, but I will never say no to good horror movie scripts. They've been very good to me. Travis Stevens, the Saska twins, you know, they're those are three. They did the Cino Evil movies, right? Yes. Three writer, director, creative types who have, you know, been very, very good to me.

And I, in turn, want to be very, very good to them. So, you know, I would work with all of them again in a heartbeat. And then there's, you know, there's a litany of other people out there I want to work with. So, um, you know, we'll see what happens, but you know, I, I know a lot of people are like, Oh, don't pigeonhole yourself and just do genre. And I'm like, well, what's so bad about that? It doesn't sound so bad to me. Yeah. Uh, do you have any big fears like for me it's it's bugs it's cockroaches like if i see a bug in a movie i can't look at the screen i kind of put my like hand up over my eyes did you have anything where you're like oh that's that's number one for

me um i i don't think so but um this is daniella she's a lovely uh pr person who the other day while i was doing an ama came out of the bathroom and she was touching her own eyeball and oh god it freaked me the fuck out i was like and like so um and then you think back to like you know movies where they have like eyeball scenes like yeah there's an eyeball scene in like black christmas uh the uh the the movie in zombie – not the movie, the scene in zombie with the eyeball going into the shard of wood. So anything with eyes, I think. There's a rough eye scene in the recent John Wick movie. Did you see John Wick 3?

Yes, I did. You know what took me out of that movie? You know what took me out of that movie? What? Is the bad guy was the dude from Kitchen Stadium. Which bad guy? The bald guy that he fights. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Fuck me up. It took me out of the whole thing. I was just like, this is the dude that judges Bobby Flay and Morimoto. I was just like, ah. The other bad guy was Braun from Game of Thrones

and he had like some crazy Italian accent. It was funny. True. That's how I felt about Breaking Bad. I was like, all right, it's the dude from Malcolm in the Middle. I'm kind of turned off. Yeah, but you get lost in it, you know? I think you do that in this movie, too, in Girl on the

Third Floor. I think you watch it and you don't even realize that that's CM Punk, you know? At least that's what I've heard. Was that a thing for you? Were you like, let me make sure that I don't come off as CM Punk? No, it was a happy accident. I had to be clean shaven for the practical effects. So that was the worst part for me is shaving every day. Oh, my God. Living hell. Living hell. Yeah, I won't do it.

Did you get the opportunity to watch this movie with an audience yet, like at the film festivals and stuff like that? Oh, yeah. Is that different? Because in wrestling, you're out in the ring. You have like a live reaction from the crowd. You made this movie months ago, I assume, and then you kind of get to see how people react later. What was that like? It's interesting. It's interesting to sit in an audience and listen to what they laugh at, what they cringe at,

when you're expecting them to laugh or gasp and they don't. So it's fun to do that. And the most recent screening, we got one coming up here in New York. We were in Chicago and I didn't necessarily want to sit and watch the entire movie again. I wanted to watch like reactions, mostly of people that I knew. So when certain things are happening, I was just like turning around and like staring at, like looking at my little sister, like there's my friend Nora, you know, and like that, that I got a kick out of that. So that's, that's, that's fun. Was this a movie where multiple endings were shot and you didn't know which one was going to be the definitive one? No, we got a budget, man.

This is, this is indie punk rock filmmaking. No, we had a, I did have to do one reshoot like months after the fact, and I was really upset that I had to shave again and drive out to the suburbs. But it's a hard life. You talked a little bit about how wrestling helped in that. It was a nice difference because you had the opportunity to do multiple takes instead of live TV. Did you find anything from your career in professional wrestling actually did transfer over otherwise where you were like maybe like was it the baby steps of acting maybe? Well, I think one of the reasons people thought I was good at pro wrestling is because I believed everything I said and did. And I think you can watch other wrestlers and the audience can maybe even just sometimes subconsciously, they won't know it, but they'll see through certain people.

And if you don't believe what you're saying, you've lost the audience. The audience isn't going to care. So I definitely think that helped me acting-wise get into character. I'm not Christian Bale where I'm a method actor and I'm going to try to stay in character all the time. I'm very much, because of pro wrestling,

when I see the red light go on, I'm on and I'm ready to go. Very interesting. You just snap into it. You weren't doing any of the Jared Leto. Like a swim gym, brother. Any of the Jared Leto Joker thing, sending your castmates weird, bizarre rats and all that kind of stuff. No, that's just absurd. Was that your first time portraying a character where you didn't feel like it was an extension of yourself? Well, that and the Sask saska twins shoot for rabid

which i did like i did these i did those back to back yeah yeah uh especially for the role in rabid um i have to play like a pretty overtly like just rude uh ignorant guy and like it was to the point where like after every take i would apologize to every every single female that was like in earshot i was like sorry everybody guys i'm sorry it's in the script i'm doing it for someone else is that like out of your comfort zone or did you enjoy being able to like jump into the skin of somebody else no i was definitely uncomfortable like um doing in certain things that i would never do in my everyday life. I was, you know, even though, yes, hey, we're playing make-believe here.

You know what I mean? Everybody on set's a professional. It was still a little bit uncomfortable for me. I mean, like, if you're doing, like you said, one-shot promos in front of a live audience, that gives you a leg up on, like, other actors almost immediately. So were there any, like, did you go to acting school to jump into film or was there just like, Hey, like I got this, like I'm pretty much all set. No, I've worked with acting coaches, um, especially for certain projects, you know,

like studios, uh, film or TV will like, you know, have you come in and like, if they're really interested in you taking on a project, they'll have you work with somebody. Uh, so I've done that and I'm, I'm just now starting to maybe kick around the idea of just to kind of stay sharp. Cause I think anything's about reps, whether it's pro wrestling, MMA acting, you know, whatever, the more you do it, the better you get at it, or at least, you know, you, you kind of stay ready. So you don't have to get ready. I'm kicking around the idea of, uh, you know, getting a coach and like, you know, doing stuff like that.

But I didn't do that for this specific role, but I've done it in the past. If we could jump a little bit towards pro wrestling, obviously. Jump around. We're two massive pro wrestling fans here. There's been rumors since you left the WWE five years ago now that you were returning. It feels like as of recently they've ramped up a lot more because AEW is a thing. There are other alternatives. There's obviously the people in AEW have brought up your name a few times. Is there any truth to the rumors that, I don't know, we see your name pop up in wrestling all the time. Are you more open to it now than you used to be? And I'm not talking about actually getting in the ring in wrestling. I'm just talking about the business itself, the wrestling industry, working in the wrestling industry. Yeah, absolutely. Uh, but I also think that, you know, for five years, I've always been asked that question and no matter what I say, it gets, it gets reduced to clickbait and it gets, you know, warped. Um, and we've gone through, I don't know how many iterations of, Oh,

punk hates wrestling. Oh, punk – and none of that was ever the case. Am I open to it? I think I've always been open to it. But my attitude has always been – I just – I don't see it happening. Do you think your attitude has changed at all recently or no? Would I be wrong to assume that? No, I just think I've talked about it more recently. I don't think necessarily my attitude

has changed just because I say things like, what would it take to get you to go back? And I just say, it'd take a really big bag. And so people use their imagination. And immediately it's like, so you're saying there's a chance. Right, right. And then there's the haters who are like,

he's just doing that to try to stay relevant. And I'm like, that's not the case at all. It's just like when you do interviews, I'm promoting a movie, people are going to ask me about my past. And I've never been one to be like, don't ask me this. You can't talk about this. I think that ruins the fucking interview. So, I mean, and I'm not, you know, I actually think both companies, WWE and AEW, have used the fact that I've been like, whatever about it, to kind of, you know, rope people in every now and again to think that maybe I am coming back on specific shows at specific times and stuff like that. And I'm like, oh, we have a mystery opponent or a mystery partner.

And everyone's just like, it's CM Punk. And, you know, instead of coming out and being like, well, it's not him. Like, you know, there's nothing wrong with them kind of trying to trying to do that, you know. But I mean, they sent me they texted me secondhand like an offer. And I was just like, real offers only, please. It's like that kind of thing. And I don't know. Who knows what's going to happen?

I did the Fox thing. They asked me to come out, and I was already in L.A., so I went to the Fox studios, and I guess you'd call it an audition. I don't know, but I did that. I haven't heard a thing. What was that like? Actually, I mean, you were working with the WWE for the first time. Was I? Well, you were working with Fox, right?

You were working with Fox. They made that very clear. They made that very clear to me as if I was going to be like, what? Yeah, sure, sure. Were you seeing people for the first time in years? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, Renee Young and Booker T. Yeah. I mean, I haven't seen either of them in five plus years or whatever, how long it's been. So was that weird jumping back in or did it feel normal for you? No, it felt fine. I think Renee's great. I think that's, that's the kind of thing that she's built for. Um, uh, and, and Booker to me is just like, you know, he's just, he's Booker. He's always laughing and he's, you know, he's, he's good for that kind of a role.

You know, do you still have have a passion for the business and for professional wrestling in general? What do you think? Haven't done it in five years. What do you think? Because I think the answer is still yes. Like somewhere deep down. Yeah, I really do because it's in your DNA. your dna like i feel like like i've been in similar situations where um maybe i've been doing something

that i loved for a long time and i felt burned by it and i walked away but then something will happen where i get drawn back in because it's just always going to be there for some level so i feel like for you having gone back like way before like any professional wrestling when you're when you're talking about uh backyard wrestling and things like that, it's part of your DNA. It's not even there a little bit. So you think I'm just not involved because none of it's any good? I mean, if I were in your position...

Is any of it any good? WWE, I haven't watched it. I went to WrestleMania this year, haven't watched since. But AEW, that's the thing. I went to WrestleMania this year. Haven't watched since. But AEW, like, but that's the thing is like AEW. There's some good out there. What? I think there's definitely some good in AEW right now. I think there's a lot of talent in the WWE that's being misused.

And I think there's a lot of good happening in New Japan right now. Okay. But this is Jared's question. Don't rope me into this one. But I guess, I guess what I'm more curious about is like, so AEW comes about

and that's something new. Did you see any of it and been like, well, this, this is not WWE. This is something different. This is something I could see myself

getting involved in. Well, how many shows have they had? So I, you know, there's not a lot of content out there for me to be able to watch. I like the Young Bucks. Yep, I like what they're doing. It's very

punk rock. Um, but I, I guess I'm just like, I'm that white whale for your guy, your guy's show is being a guest. I guess I'm the white whale in pro wrestling. And it's just like, I would say you definitely are. I just, I, you know, I don't definitely are. I don't know. I don't know if that freaks people out on how to approach me. It is what it is. I don't know. I'm open to the idea.

It's just I haven't been approached properly, if that makes any sense. I'm not courting anybody to to you know show up with a dozen roses at my front door and everything like that and like even just like kind of talking about it it's kind of it's kind of gross and i know it's annoying but the the it just is what it is i mean master p you know master p reached out on instagram wants to talk to me i don't know what that's about. The thing that I'm afraid of is when people are like,

oh, well, Bret Hart came back and Hulk Hogan came back, so he'll come back. That's not how to approach you. I feel like that only pushes you even further away where it's like, oh, you think I'm just going to come back because other guys came back? I'm just not going to come back. So I wish people wouldn't approach it that way. That's why I asked you about, like, the passion for it.

But that doesn't matter because I don't do things for me based on what other people think. You know, because there's the people out there, too, that are like, he's coming back. He needs the money. And it's just like, do I? I don't think I do. You know what I mean?

You've been doing a lot of commentating in MMA as well. I'm a massive, massive mixed martial arts fan. Is commentary, it seems like it's something that you're very much into. It's the best job I got. I love it to death. Is that maybe why also you were open to the Fox show? Because it's a similar, right? Is it similar?

Yeah, it absolutely is but I think the interesting thing about it would be like I was told WWE wasn't involved but I mean who knows? That could be why I haven't heard anything yet. I made it very clear to them that I was just like

I'm not if I landed this I wouldn't be here just to shit on everything because nobody wants to watch that. But the way they approached me with it was just like, we have A-Rod for baseball. We have Troy Aikman for Fox. And then we would have you for wrestling. And that would be your authority. You've been there. You've done it.

You've done the WrestleManias. You were the champion. So we would like you to be your authority. You've been there. You've done it. You've done the WrestleManias. You were the champion. So we would like you to be the analyst. And I was like, oh, that's kind of interesting. You know what I mean? And then I look at guys in the sports world like Stephen A. Smith, who I feel is just a complete gimmick. I love him. Yeah.

Yelling and screaming. He's a hysterical troll. And like, yeah, right? Yeah. And he gets paid probably like $10 million a year or something like that, you know. And like I looked at it, I was like, I don't want to I don't want to do that because I really despise the pro wrestling. Like, you know, somebody will say something about me and then I'll see him in public and I'll be like, hey, what the what's the problem? And they're like, oh, no, brother, we're just working. It was like, no, we're not like you're being,

you're, you're caught and now you're trying to backpedal and like, we're not going to fight or anything like that. I just, you know, I just got to cross you off my Christmas card list. You know what I mean? But,

um, is there a specific example of that happening? Oh, there's tons. Yeah. Yeah. I'm not going to talk about it or whatever. Yeah.

People making up stories and like, you know, if I address them, then it gives them life. And it's just it's just not worth it. You know, it reminds me of sometimes people call themselves, especially in the wrestling industry. They'll say, like, I'm a real life heel. And it's like, well, the translation for that is you're an asshole. Yeah. You're just a dork.

You know, but I've been on the other side of that. You know what i mean i've been so obsessed with wrestling that like you know i really want to you know uh you know be the bad guy or really trying to talk people into the building like i i've i've been on that side of it it's probably how i got that reputation of like oh god phil's such an asshole you know what i mean uh but i don't know the fox thing was interesting to me based on that you know like oh it's like fuck i'd be an analyst yeah that sounds that sounds great i mean but like let's be honest like if they do something bad i'm not going to be able to tell the company line and be like well geez that was great i i just i just can't

do that and i expressed that to fox and i was like please if that's the case and like you know then if i have to try to like tell the company line, like I'm not interested. So obviously you, you have many interests in, you know, you've got like the comic thing, you've got the acting thing and, and, and obviously pro wrestling is still on the table.

Have you considered doing your own podcast? If you don't, cause you obviously have thoughts and I would have to figure out a way to try to sue myself. Then I win all those. so I would technically lose. I don't know how that would work. You never had the instant podcast. I feel like that's like right in your wheelhouse. I saw recently you teased maybe writing a book.

Yeah. I mean, I'm now more open to that. I think that will happen eventually. I just saw what my wife went through when she wrote her book and it's intense. It's a lot. You know what I mean? And, you know, I'm tired of being sued, but

you know, I'm going to cross that bridge when I write that book. I'm sure it'll happen again. A lot of people don't like the truth. We'll get to it. To give you a little breather on the wrestling talk, I know it's all good. You brought up the lightsaber on my arm early on. There's a new Star Wars trailer tonight for The Rise of Skywalker. Jared's not much of

a nerd, but I gotta just utilize this time. I saw one Star Wars movie and it was with Bob Fox. That was it. Oh, that's amazing. Look at this. He's showing us the socks right here. He got their Chewbacca on there, Han Solo. Is that a holiday special? It looks like a little holiday special-y. Everybody's under Luke's over here. I think that's supposed to. Is that the holiday special? It looks like a little holiday special-y.

Everybody's under Luke's over here. I think that's supposed to be Obi-Wan, but it looks like a German chef. It looks like a St. Bernard. Are you excited for this trailer tonight, Rise of Skywalker? Yes. I'm so excited. Are you excited for the movies? Are you pro-sequel trilogy? I'm pro-sequel trilogy, yes.

I'd love to have you on that side. Yes. I'd love to have you. I don't want to hear anything about Mary Sue and all that other bullshit. The Last Jedi hate was insane. Ridiculous. What I want to do is watch The Last Jedi with Scorsese now.

Him and Francis Ford Cobble. He came out, he doubled down, he said they're despicable movies. What are you talking about, sir? Everybody has an opinion. It reminds me to bring it back to horror. Like, what's the difference between that and horror? Just because it's a certain genre, you know?

And the funny thing is, is horror, I feel, is the genre that tackles more social issues than anything. It might. Yeah, it may. It really may. No, it does. Like, they're the movies that aren't afraid to tackle, you know, like, everything that's going on. I mean, Night of the Living Dead. That movie's about racism. It's about, you know, like everything that's going on. I mean, Night of the Living Dead. That's the movie is about racism. It's about, you know, turmoil in America. And they just,

you know, look, look what it's become like. So, yeah, I don't know. I don't I don't really care about that. That's they have their opinion. You know what I mean? I like their movies, too. You know, so I'm I'm just like, whatever. If I gave you obviously Star Wars is very deep into the comic book realm now. If I told you that you could write a comic book under the Star Wars umbrella, what story are you picking? You know – Not really what you're picking. So I was writing for Marvel when they announced that they were going to be doing the Star Wars comic book. And I shamelessly lobbied.

I was like, oh, let's do that. And then they attached a bunch of really good writers to it. And I was like, oh, let's do that. And then, you know, they attached a bunch of like really good writers to it. And I was like, yeah, okay. Yeah, and that happens a lot in acting too. Like I've read for some really cool stuff and then I don't get it and then I see who got it and I go,

yeah, I would have been, yeah, that's the absolute, yeah, that's the absolute right decision. What Star Wars story am I doing? I don't know, man. Because we see things with the Mandalorian and all that. Yeah, but I think that universe is so expansive. I think you could literally, I could think, I think I can get my rocks off writing stories about just random stormtroopers.

Downy Hunter stormtroopers, something like that. Yeah, just stuff like that. I don't necessarily have to tackle the Han Solos and all that. And I would almost be afraid to. Yeah. Because that shit's so iconic to me. I something like that. Just stuff like that. I don't necessarily have to tackle the Han Solos and all that, and I would almost be afraid to. Yeah. Because that shit's so iconic to me, I'd be intimidated. I think if you gave me six issues, I could write a funny Jawa story or something like that. That would be awesome.

I'd love to read it. Is there anything on the horizon for you, comic book-wise? No, I don't got anything on the books, unfortunately. I mean, I am lobbying then. Writers, hit them up. Publishers, hit them up. We need to read some CM Punk comics coming up soon. What is next for you?

I think I'm doing another podcast in this very room. I think you're actually going to move two rooms down. Oh, okay. They have their own studio, yeah. I think I might try to go to a Rangers game tomorrow. Okay. But next as far as work. Just like what do you want to tackle next? Not even just like what's next as far as work. Just like what do you want to tackle next?

Not even just like what's next in terms of work. What's something that is a goal of yours that you've yet to accomplish? I think I need to do something musically. I think that's always been in the back of my mind. I'm in a band if you want to hit me up. Oh, yeah? Yeah, yeah. I play bass in your band.

I got plenty of friends in bands that were always joking about the idea of starting. No, but that's how it starts, right? But they have, like, real bands, so it's like a real job. So I can't just be like, hey, let's, you know, fuck off and do something. But, I mean, you never know. That's in the back of my head. But as far as, like, next, next, honestly, I'm looking forward to November because I got two CFFCs. And we didn't have any in October, which worked out for the press for this movie and all that.

But I'm kind of going through withdrawal. I love calling the fights. It's so fun. It's so fun. I actually found out about you through music. So I was a big wrestling fan. 97s when I first started watching. I stopped watching when Kane took his mask off.

I was like, fuck that. I'm a big Kane fan. I'm out. I'm out on this. So I worked, you know, Bridge Nine, they have H2O. Yeah. So I worked there and they were talking about you there. They're like, yeah, like there's a straight edge guy.

He loves H2O. We're going to send him a bunch of shit. And I was like, all right, I'll check it out. I'll check it out. And I did. And I was like, all right, I'm back. Interesting. You brought me back.

I'm sorry. Well, I left when you left. That's my standard answer. People are like, you brought me back to wrestling. And I apologize. I'm sorry. I'm very sorry. We had a good run, though.

And after that, I was like 14. You left in 14. Kane was Corporate Kane after that I was like 14 You left in 14 Kane was corporate Kane And I was like Alright I can't do this anymore But why do wrestling fans Hate wrestling so much? But that's all fandom isn't it?

We can talk Star Wars the same I'm not that way though With Star Wars I'm not like Oh they should have done this And this could have been better I love the prequels Like you guys love bad horror movies

But very much in wrestling. I'm, I'm very, I don't know. Maybe that's because I'm a control freak or I'm a creative type. I don't know. But like, that was always my thing.

So I was like, how the hell are we doing this? This is garbage. Like you should do it this way. Yeah. You know, it's, it is bizarre.

Maybe it's also because you're more accessible as a person that's, you know, you were on twitter all the time and you were doing interviews and you're doing comic cons and stuff like that speaking of comic cons you've done a ton of appearances there signings pictures stuff like that have you ever met someone that like blew your mind in a starstruck way through there uh i mean i got a lot of stories about comic cons you know like i would always see stan lee um and he would always remember me which i was always smitten about he was one of the more lovely people that you would

ever meet um i got a good william shatner story about one time i was doing a wizard world in chicago and uh i was sitting in like a green room and shatner busts in and like total Shatner was like, my God, did you see that line? Who is that line for? And I was just like looking at him and like everyone just like pointed at me and he was like, hello. And I met like William Shatner

and he was like blown away. He was like, that line's longer than mine. And I was like, oh, that's cool. And I'm like, well, I'm from here. And he's like, oh, that explains it. That makes a lot of sense. Yeah. Conversationirk right there yeah i know it's great that's a serious legend oh man that guy's like up there and he's just going yeah yeah uh well what they like to do at wizard world a lot was get pictures of celebrities like together you know what i mean so like even if like i didn't want i'm a huge val kilmer fan and they knew that so they did this thing we're like oh we got val kilmer coming

and we're gonna take a picture and i was like no no i don't want i never wanted to do that you know and then and then i i experienced the the you know val kilmer comes in and he's like huh what oh yeah okay yeah i was like oh fuck man he doesn't want to be here he doesn doesn't want to do this. And they're like, he's the WWE champion. And they're trying to put the belt on Val Kilmer. And I'm like, oh, man. Take it off. This is a bum out. You know what I mean?

And he's looking around the room for somebody cooler to talk to. And I'm just like, fuck, I loved you in Salt and Sea. And that's just, this sucks. So there's a great picture of me and Val Kilmer where he's got this gigantic fedora on, and we're both smiling like, hmm. Mine's like, I'm sorry. And his is like, I don't want to be here. Your big Kilmer guy, I would recommend, he's got a hysterical cameo in Jay and Silent Bob Reboot,

which I just checked out. Yeah, he's really, really funny, and he plays Bluntman, which obviously in the rebooted version of Bluntman and Chronic, he's really, really funny, and he plays Bluntman, which obviously in the rebooted version of Bluntman and Chronic is very funny. Interesting. That's good to hear because I heard he was really sick for a minute. He was, and that was part of the reason Kevin Smith really wanted to include him in the movie. They're old-time friends, I believe, and he couldn't talk because of his throat. Yeah.

And he was cast as Bluntman, who is obviously a play on Silent Bob, so he didn't have to. It's a funny cameo. It was a good way to get him in the movie and obviously get some fan service for him. Before we get you out of here, we ask the same question to all of our final guests that have to do with anything in the wrestling world. If you could recommend a very obscure match for our listeners to go check out, you could be in it, you could not be in it, just something that you don't think that these people have seen,

the average wrestling fan has seen, would you recommend hmm that's a hard question to answer um i i think a lot of the classics people probably already see i think one of the greatest matches of all time was uh i think it was at a Clash of Champions. It was Ricky Steamboat against stunning Steve Austin. I think it was for one of their titles. That's one of my favorite matches of all time. Another one would be, but see, I think super wrestling fans have seen all of these. So I'll just say look for Smoky Mountain stuff and anything with Prince Kharis.

I'm a huge Prince Kharis fan. That's a super deep dive. I think most wrestling fans probably haven't seen one of his movies. Huge Prince Kharis fan just because of how fucking insane it all is and if you're listening and you don't know, Prince Kharis is a mummy. He's a mummy

that was resurrected, and of course he was in pro wrestling. It doesn't get any better than that. The perfect absurd pro wrestling gig. It doesn't get any better than that. I think my all-time favorite was the WCW demon. That's good. He was just Gene Simmons.

That was his whole gimmick. He was just Gene Simmons. And he wound up being, I think, a pitching coach for the White Sox. Strength and conditioning. Afterwards, yeah. Very bizarre story for him, like a route in life. But that's pro wrestling. They're always looking for somebody else, not the pro wrestlers.

They're looking outside to be like, oh, man, we don't got any superstars. We need Gene. We need to hire somebody to be Gene Simmons. What the fuck? All right. Yeah, all right. CM Punk, thank you so much for doing this. Thank you.

It was a pleasure talking to you. Girl on the Third Floor is available on digital on October 25th and available in select theaters. So go check it out.