Bruce Prichard Says Vince McMahon Didn’t Get CM Punk’s Gimmick

CM Punk’s road to the top of the WWE was a challenging one. Not only did he have to break through the “indie darling” glass ceiling, but the Straight Edge Superstar apparently also had to hurdle the fact that Vince McMahon didn’t quite understand his gimmick.

On the latest episode of Bruce Prichard’s Something To Wrestle With, the former WWE star revealed that Vince was originally skeptical of CM Punk‘s Straight Edge lifestyle and tattoos. WrestleZone transcribed the following comments from the interview.

Up Next: The Bullet Club Extend Invite To CM Punk

“He didn’t understand it, didn’t know what the hell it meant; didn’t get Punk’s look; didn’t get the Straight Edge deal; didn’t like all the tattoos; didn’t know what the hell Muay Thai was. He just didn’t get it. It was just a disconnect with Punk and how he relates with people at home? He is not every man. He is actually against the grain and doesn’t have a big bodybuilder body. Wonders what Muay Thai is. It was almost as if they picked apart the s*it. It’s almost as though, if you want to examine it, why wouldn’t you accentuate that the guy is drug and alcohol free? I could even go, and again, this was my thought, but you position him as a heel against all that stuff because a lot of our audience were beer drinkers among other things. Let him be ‘holier than thou’ because that was how he came across, or you go the other way with it and make him ‘holier than thou’ and say who he is, but either way to me, the message was good on both sides. It was good for him being a heel and Straight Edge and him being a heel and being Straight Edge. They didn’t get it and again the more he was pushed and shoved down people’s throats the more he was coughed back up.”

More: Jeff Hardy Drops CM Punk’s Name In WWE Interview

Prichard also revealed the one time Punk stepped out of his Straight Edge style to honor one of the greatest WWE wrestlers of all time.

“He has ‘Straight Edge” on his fingers because it’s a lifestyle that he believed in that not a lot of people participated in. They could say the words and talk the talk, but they didn’t want the walk and I have a sidebar on that as well. I looked at him and said, “So, you don’t drink, do drugs or anything like that?” He said no, but said he wasn’t a prune either. I asked him to elaborate and he explained that he didn’t want to judge other people that did do that lifestyle, and this is what got him over with me automatically. We were in Kansas City, Missouri, and it was Harley Race’s birthday; so he was at Harley Race’s Camp; they were all doing shots for Harley Race for his birthday. Punk doesn’t drink or do drugs but he took a shot out of respect for Harley Race. He said, “You know, Harley Race asked me to do it, one shot is not going to kill me. I’m not going to get hammered, I simply took a shot for Harley Race.” For whatever reason, I just thought that was cool and showed the love and passion he had for the business and for the old timers. He didn’t have to and that would have been fine.”