In this video, we’ll cover his most notable indie matches, the behind the scenes speculation, and any interviews I could find from the time.
I’ve decided to cover the few months from the first interest that WWE showed in Punk, to when he actually signed his contract. As such, we won’t be covering what's commonly known as the Summer of Punk here, his unexpected Ring of Honor World title reign. You could call it the Spring of Punk maybe.
On April 11th 2005, a week after Wrestlemania twenty-one, CM Punk would wrestle a match for WWE that would air on Sunday Night Heat in Moline Illinois. He would team with Russell Simpson to lose to the team of Simon Dean and Maven, and the most notable thing about the match was Jonathan Coachman and Todd Grisham on commentary thinking that the name of the team was CM Punk, not the man himself, making them sound rather foolish. I won’t go any further into this match here, as I talked about it in a video I made a year and a half ago, in which I was looking for CM Punk’s first televised WWE match. It does serve though, as a useful jumping on point, so we’re going to start here.
There’s nothing really remarkable about April for Punk, except that he couldn’t win a title to save his life. On April 8th he lost to Jimmy Jacobs for the IWA Mid South heavyweight title, a promotion we’ll get back to in a while. On April 22nd he and Don Juan lost in a tournament final to crown the first ever Full Impact Pro tag team champions, then a day later he failed to beat Homicide for the FIP Heavyweight title. Rounding out the month, Punk lost in the opening round of the IWC Super Indy Tournament to eventual winner John McChesney, a bloke I knew nothing about but is still going today apparently. That same tournament was won in the year previous by Sterling James Keenan, better known to WWE fans as Corey Graves. I’m being pretty flippant, but the point I’m trying to make is that Punk wasn’t exactly on his indie farewell tour in April of 2005, and he is barely mentioned in the Newsletters at all except for in ROH results. Even in Ring Of Honor, he had a pretty unremarkable month, defeating Mike Kruel in a four minute match at Stalemate, but as May came around, his name was being passed around quite a bit more.
MAY
MAY
On May 8th 2005, Dusty Rhodes would be a guest on Wrestling Observer Live. He talked about a few subjects, but made a point of saying that he was interested in bringing CM Punk back, following his run there in 2003 and 4. When talking about his hopes that TNA would find a new TV deal soon, having just left Fox Sports Net, Dusty had this to say about his vision for Impact: *clip* Just Two days later on May 10th, Dusty would show up for a TNA Impact taping and be told that he would now be booking as part of a committee, with Scott D’Amore, Bill Banks and Jeremy Borash. According to the Observer, Dusty would quit the company that same day, citing the booking inexperience of some of his colleagues in the new group. This career change for Dusty might well have halted any plans of bringing Punk in, but TNA would regain some interest in him later on. IN an interesting twist, by September Dusty would be working for WWE creative, but just before that in August, he would wrestle a match in Ohio Valley Wrestling just before Punk would arrive there. His tag team partner, a very young in his career Cody Runnels, not even using the Rhodes name yet.
Also on May 10th 2005, the next day after having a match on Sunday Night Heat with Val Venis which I talked about in my previous video, Punk would wrestle a dark match at the Smackdown and Velocity tapings, his opponent would be the Amazing Red, competing in his only WWE match ever in his twenty five year long career. The match was released a few months ago in full on the treasure chest that is the WWE Vault YouTube channel, and is particularly noteworthy for seeing Punk work like a much bigger wrestler than himself against the smaller Red. In a reddit AMA a few years ago, Amazing Red made some very cryptic comments about this match which as far as I can tell, are more about him not working for WWE again than about Punk.
On May 14th, CM Punk would have the final match in a violent feud with Jimmy Rave and the Embassy for Ring of Honor. Having had a brutal dog collar match with Rave on May 7th that Rave had won with some unprotected chair shots, Punk would win this time in a steel cage match. The storyline had aimed to turn the Embassy from a comedic undercard group into more serious heels, with them at one point attempting to remove the “straight edge” tattoo on Punk’s abdomen with a cheese grater. Ah yes, early ROH, that young serious wrestling promotion, where Homicide once poured Drano down Colt Cabana’s throat to shut him up? Aye, that Ring of Honor. I only mention Punk’s matches with Rave as they were happening around the same time as his WWE tryouts, and had to be taking a toll on him physically. Just a couple of days after the dog collar match Punk wrestled Val Venis on Heat, and while Val claimed in an interview years later that he was influential on Punk in that match, I bet I know what he learned more from.
Speaking of indie matches, on May 21st Punk would wrestle IWA Mid South promoter Ian Rotten, on a tribute show for Chris Candido, who had recently passed away. The show would include many former ECW names who had worked with Candido, as well as some TNA talent like Elix Skipper, Andy Douglas of the Naturals who was picked for the event by Tammy Sytch, and Shark Boy. IWA Mid South was one of the promotions where Punk first got noticed, and so you could say that Rotten gave Punk one of his first breaks in wrestling. Despite Ian’s hardcore reputation, the two have a pretty straight wrestling match, with some comedy moments like Ian pulling Punk’s tights so that we see a bit more of younger Punk than I was expecting. CM Punk would continue to wrestle for IWA-MS for a few more months, having his last match for them in July, when it was clear that he would be WWE bound.
In the May 23rd Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it would be noted that TNA’s new booking team might still want CM Punk after all, along with two more ROH greats. “The new booking team is interested in getting Bryan Danielson, Samoa Joe and C.M. Punk. Joe is a probable because definite ideas have been discussed for him.” Of the three, Samoa Joe is the only one that would would ever appear for TNA, joining the company a month later at their Slammiversary pay per view.
On May 23rd and 24th, CM Punk would work two more WWE dark matches. On the Monday he would defeat Tough Enough three winner Matt Capotelli, and on the Tuesday he would lose to Scotty Too Hotty. What's most interesting about these matches is that they were Punk’s first in a WWE ring which weren’t in a regular Ring of Honor town. By that time, Ring of Honor had only held one event in Wisconsin during Punk’s time there, and the next would come eight years later. At Death before Dishonor Two night one, Punk and some other bloke would retain the tag titles in the main event against the Briscoes. Despite Punk having quite a few WWE matches to this point, there was still nothing reported that they had any interest in signing him, but this would change a week later.
In the May 30th Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer would write about WWE wanting to sign all three of the ROH wrestlers that TNA had expressed an interest in, apparently just because TNA wanted them. “an internal memo at WWE was circulated to John Laurinaitis telling him he needed to get on the ball and sign C.M. Punk, Bryan Danielson and Samoa Joe, because TNA is after all three. Clearly, WWE will make offers to anyone who even shows a hint of getting over on the new show, or whom they find out TNA shows any interest in. History shows few will turn those offers down.” Mid-2005 was an interesting time for TNA, as Impact had left it’s first TV channel Fox Sports Net, and would eventually debut on Spike TV in October, and were looking for new talent to bring in before then to give them a competitive edge. WWE being WWE didn’t want that to happen, so here’s hoping that Laurinitis wouldn’t fumble again and sign the wrong one legged wrestler, because that’s a thing he definitely did. In the following week’s newsletter Dave provides a brief update, saying that Punk had been offered a deal and would likely start in OVW, which he eventually would. His choice of words when referring to Danielson are interesting though, like he’s some cave dweller that they have to chuck a contract into.
On the same day over in the Figure Four Weekly newsletter, Bryan Alvarez would report on Ring of Honor announcing that Punk would be challenging for the world title on June 18th. He writes, “The big selling point is “Can CM Punk finally win a World title?” Seeing as to how WWE will probably be signing him shortly, I’d say the answer is no.” We would soon find out that Bryan is quite the clairvoyant.
JUNE
On the same day, June 6th, Slam Sports published an interview with CM Punk, in which a great deal of Punk’s time is spent mulling over the differences between WWE and TNA. While he clearly enjoys two companies making offers to him, he notes that the two are at that point worlds apart in terms of size. “This is probably only going to happen to me once the way the wrestling business is, with there being only one place to make a living and TNA trying their best to make it two places. I’m probably never going to see this much attention in my career so I’m just trying to enjoy it.” CM Punk there, also a clairvoyant. He also goes as far as to comment that the state of the wrestling business in 2005 is quote, “in the crapper”, repeatedly noting that TNA at that point didn’t have any TV, and saying that Ring of Honor would only get television is “if a billionaire suddenly decides to give us a million dollars or if we get put on some kind of network or station where we don’t have to fund it.” One final really interesting thing that Punk says, is that he’s been “sitting on an offer for a week”, implying that him leaving at all might not be a certainty. The June 13th Observer offers a little context to this but as we’re going chronologically, we’ll get to that in a minute.
On June 12th, CM Punk would wrestle Roderick Strong at Ring of Honors The Future is Now event in New York. Going into the show, the big talking point was Shane Douglas making an appearance to promote Hardcore Homecoming, his ECW reunion show that was competing with WWE’s One Night Stand. Coming out of it though, CM Punk was the big story. Roderick Strong at this time was an enforcer of sorts for the ROH champion Austin Aries. If you were gunning for the champion, you would have to get past Roddy first, so Punk beating him was very significant. Post match Punk got on the microphone, and stated that his goal was to win the ROH title. There was just one problem though, the internet savvy Ring of Honor fans all knew that Punk had one foot out of the door. In his report on the show, Dave Meltzer would note how the times had changed, as the ECW fans would have drowned Punk out with “you sold out” chants, while just a few years later, the ROH faithful shouted “please don’t go”.
In the June 13th Observer, Dave Meltzer attempts to clarify why Punk might have been sitting on that WWE offer I mentioned earlier, citing that Punk is doing well for himself without needing to report to Ohio Valley Wrestling, WWE’s developmental territory at the time. “Punk is said to be 50/50. The deal with Punk is, between all his indie bookings, his announcing work with ROH and running the ROH wrestling school, he’s not getting rich, but he’s not struggling either. He doesn’t need to be an OVW guy.” Dave also points out that Punk essentially ruled out TNA with his interview. “He gave the impression if it was a big money offer he’d have already signed. He said he only considers that he’s gotten one offer, saying, “Obviously, there’s TNA, but how much of an offer can they give me if they don’t have TV?””
On June 14th, as reported in the newsletters later in the week, Samoa Joe would sign his TNA contract, and would be set to make his first appearance at their Slammiversary pay per view on the 19th. In one last note about CM Punk and TNA, Dave Meltzer claims in the June 20th Observer that TNA had wanted to promote CM Punk vs Samoa Joe on this event, but it wouldn’t happen because Punk would have wanted a much longer match than TNA would be willing to give them. “Punk ired some people here by saying he wasn’t going to come in and work with Joe because they weren’t going to let him go 45 minutes. The reaction was, good luck in your 5:00 matches on Velocity.” Dave noted that since TNA still didn’t have a TV deal yet, playing off the famous Ring of Honor trilogy of matches between the two would be an attempt to draw in the internet fans, which is a clever strategy given that those fans were the only market they had access to at the time. In the build up to Slammiversary, TNA had been airing episodes of Impact on it’s own website, which mainly focused on a Chris Candido memorial tournament and not many main storylines to tide them over. In the same newsletter, it was noted that CM Punk was expected to sign his WWE contract that week, and that Ian Rotten had said in a promo, that Punk’s last indie match would be with IWA Mid-South on June 17th, a show that would be titled it’s Clobberin Time. This would end up being false to put it lightly, as Punk would wrestle two more matches for IWAMS, a slew of other final indie dates and a whole ROH World title run but we’ll get to that.
On June 18th 2005, against what everyone expected to happen, CM Punk would defeat Austin Aries to win the ROH championship. Given that all of the ROH fans knew by now that Punk was leaving, the win came as a genuine shock, as everyone expected Punk to bow out never having held the title. In the Observer Dave would note that booker Gabe Sapolsky’s inspiration had been the Dudley Boyz’ final night in ECW, when they would win the tag team titles, and threaten to take them to Vince McMahon. While that would play out as a show long storyline, with them losing the titles later that night. This time Punk would get away with the title, and hold it for nearly two months.
If Punk winning the title was a shock, what happened next was even more of one, as in his victory speech, he would proceed to turn on the fans in attendance, in arguably one of the better promos he’s ever done in his entire career. He told a lengthy story about a snake in the grass that had gotten frozen in the ice, and was thawed out and nursed to health by an old man, only for the snake to attack the man once healthy. Punk likened himself to the snake, and his true nature to being a heel. I strongly recommend you seek this promo out if you’ve never seen it, after this video please. To try to work the fans even further, ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky would lose it in front of fans, claiming that Punk was stealing the belt, and heavily implying that he had gone off script, when in reality it was all part of the plan. In the Observer Dave noted that Punk at that point had one more date advertised, July 8th in Long Island New York. The show would be named Sign of Dishonor, for what Punk would do on that night.
JULY
The table was now laid for what we know today as the Summer of Punk. On July 8th, Punk would enter wearing a suit, a very uncharacteristic thing to do, and would sign his WWE contract on the Ring of Honor championship belt inside the ring, which was seen as an act of disrespect to ROH. While going in to the show everyone expected Punk to lose and be on his way, he would retain the title against future World champion Jay Lethal, and would defend it again the next night against Roderick Strong. There’s one more interesting trivia note about Sign of Dishonor though, it’s actually the first show where Punk used Cult of Personality by Living Colour to walk to the ring to, a song that has become synonymous with him over the years since. He would use this song throughout his last dates with ROH, until his final night with the company, where he would come out in tears to Night Train by the Bouncing Souls, mouthing along with the words. Night Train is a beautiful song about saying goodbye to what you know and moving on without much from your past to hold on to. Punk would use another song from the same album called New Day in his WWE produced documentary, which he was given an unusual amount of control over.
In the July 18th Observer Dave offered a little explanation into what was actually going on. “He’s back on the 7/16 show in Woodbridge, CT, against James Gibson, which may be the title change, being that Gabe Sapolsky believes Gibson right now is as good as anyone in the business. It’s not a lock as Punk has no start date in OVW or WWE right now (but those things change on a dime) and they are going to play this angle out as long as they can.” Challenger after challenger would try, and knowing the dates Punk had left were dwindling, nobody could take the title off him. Ironically, Punk would finally lose to a former WWE star now making a new name for himself on the indies, James Gibson, formerly known as Jamie Noble in WWE. Punk’s final farewell as an ROH roster member would come a day later, at an event titled Punk: The Final Chapter. On the way out, he would put on a forty five minute match, losing to his friend, hey Colt Cabana how ya doing?
Over the next few weeks, Punk would continue to say his farewell to the indie scene. On July 1st and 3rd he would leave IWA Mid South, having matches with Matt Sydal, the future Evan Bourne, and a one hour time limit draw with Delirious. On July 10th he would have his final match for Pro Wrestling Guerilla, a company he had worked for since their fifth event in 2003, beating Ricky Reyes. Finally on August 5th and 6th he would have his final matches for Full Impact Pro, ROH’s little sister promotion who he had worked with regularly for nearly a year.
With all of his indie dates done, Punk would report to OVW officially in mid-September. One final thing from the Wrestling Observer that I’d like to add, is a quote from Dave in the September 19th issue, the week that Punk first checked in in Ohio. “Punk was buried on his Heat appearance backstage, in particular by HHH, Michaels and Hayes. The line on him was that he didn’t know how to get over, and that the way he wrestles is like he’s doing a simulated wrestling match and not working a wrestling match.” I wonder why they didn’t get on? Dave notes in the same report though, that one man who had moved down to OVW on July 10th had really taken a shine to him. “Punk should do fine because he can talk, and because Heyman likes him. Hopefully, like Benoit, Guerrero, Mysterio and Jericho did as time went on, he’ll also eventually learn “how to work.”” Aye I think we can agree that he did.
When you go back and look at some of the biggest stories of 2005, you look at the rise of John Cena and Batista to the main events. You look at the ECW reunion shows, and more controversial ones like the Matt Hardy, Edge and Lita situation, and the ladder match for the custody of Dominic. Didn’t do him any harm. It’s crazy to think about in a way, that a story that fits right in among them, was about an independent wrestler working for the third top promotion in the US, leaving to start at the bottom of WWE., but then CM Punk has always had a way of drawing the headlines. It would take him twenty years from there, but he would finally get to the main event of Wrestlemania. Even if he’s now telling us he didn’t want it anyway!
Also on May 10th 2005, the next day after having a match on Sunday Night Heat with Val Venis which I talked about in my previous video, Punk would wrestle a dark match at the Smackdown and Velocity tapings, his opponent would be the Amazing Red, competing in his only WWE match ever in his twenty five year long career. The match was released a few months ago in full on the treasure chest that is the WWE Vault YouTube channel, and is particularly noteworthy for seeing Punk work like a much bigger wrestler than himself against the smaller Red. In a reddit AMA a few years ago, Amazing Red made some very cryptic comments about this match which as far as I can tell, are more about him not working for WWE again than about Punk.
On May 14th, CM Punk would have the final match in a violent feud with Jimmy Rave and the Embassy for Ring of Honor. Having had a brutal dog collar match with Rave on May 7th that Rave had won with some unprotected chair shots, Punk would win this time in a steel cage match. The storyline had aimed to turn the Embassy from a comedic undercard group into more serious heels, with them at one point attempting to remove the “straight edge” tattoo on Punk’s abdomen with a cheese grater. Ah yes, early ROH, that young serious wrestling promotion, where Homicide once poured Drano down Colt Cabana’s throat to shut him up? Aye, that Ring of Honor. I only mention Punk’s matches with Rave as they were happening around the same time as his WWE tryouts, and had to be taking a toll on him physically. Just a couple of days after the dog collar match Punk wrestled Val Venis on Heat, and while Val claimed in an interview years later that he was influential on Punk in that match, I bet I know what he learned more from.
Speaking of indie matches, on May 21st Punk would wrestle IWA Mid South promoter Ian Rotten, on a tribute show for Chris Candido, who had recently passed away. The show would include many former ECW names who had worked with Candido, as well as some TNA talent like Elix Skipper, Andy Douglas of the Naturals who was picked for the event by Tammy Sytch, and Shark Boy. IWA Mid South was one of the promotions where Punk first got noticed, and so you could say that Rotten gave Punk one of his first breaks in wrestling. Despite Ian’s hardcore reputation, the two have a pretty straight wrestling match, with some comedy moments like Ian pulling Punk’s tights so that we see a bit more of younger Punk than I was expecting. CM Punk would continue to wrestle for IWA-MS for a few more months, having his last match for them in July, when it was clear that he would be WWE bound.
In the May 23rd Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it would be noted that TNA’s new booking team might still want CM Punk after all, along with two more ROH greats. “The new booking team is interested in getting Bryan Danielson, Samoa Joe and C.M. Punk. Joe is a probable because definite ideas have been discussed for him.” Of the three, Samoa Joe is the only one that would would ever appear for TNA, joining the company a month later at their Slammiversary pay per view.
On May 23rd and 24th, CM Punk would work two more WWE dark matches. On the Monday he would defeat Tough Enough three winner Matt Capotelli, and on the Tuesday he would lose to Scotty Too Hotty. What's most interesting about these matches is that they were Punk’s first in a WWE ring which weren’t in a regular Ring of Honor town. By that time, Ring of Honor had only held one event in Wisconsin during Punk’s time there, and the next would come eight years later. At Death before Dishonor Two night one, Punk and some other bloke would retain the tag titles in the main event against the Briscoes. Despite Punk having quite a few WWE matches to this point, there was still nothing reported that they had any interest in signing him, but this would change a week later.
In the May 30th Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer would write about WWE wanting to sign all three of the ROH wrestlers that TNA had expressed an interest in, apparently just because TNA wanted them. “an internal memo at WWE was circulated to John Laurinaitis telling him he needed to get on the ball and sign C.M. Punk, Bryan Danielson and Samoa Joe, because TNA is after all three. Clearly, WWE will make offers to anyone who even shows a hint of getting over on the new show, or whom they find out TNA shows any interest in. History shows few will turn those offers down.” Mid-2005 was an interesting time for TNA, as Impact had left it’s first TV channel Fox Sports Net, and would eventually debut on Spike TV in October, and were looking for new talent to bring in before then to give them a competitive edge. WWE being WWE didn’t want that to happen, so here’s hoping that Laurinitis wouldn’t fumble again and sign the wrong one legged wrestler, because that’s a thing he definitely did. In the following week’s newsletter Dave provides a brief update, saying that Punk had been offered a deal and would likely start in OVW, which he eventually would. His choice of words when referring to Danielson are interesting though, like he’s some cave dweller that they have to chuck a contract into.
On the same day over in the Figure Four Weekly newsletter, Bryan Alvarez would report on Ring of Honor announcing that Punk would be challenging for the world title on June 18th. He writes, “The big selling point is “Can CM Punk finally win a World title?” Seeing as to how WWE will probably be signing him shortly, I’d say the answer is no.” We would soon find out that Bryan is quite the clairvoyant.
JUNE
On the same day, June 6th, Slam Sports published an interview with CM Punk, in which a great deal of Punk’s time is spent mulling over the differences between WWE and TNA. While he clearly enjoys two companies making offers to him, he notes that the two are at that point worlds apart in terms of size. “This is probably only going to happen to me once the way the wrestling business is, with there being only one place to make a living and TNA trying their best to make it two places. I’m probably never going to see this much attention in my career so I’m just trying to enjoy it.” CM Punk there, also a clairvoyant. He also goes as far as to comment that the state of the wrestling business in 2005 is quote, “in the crapper”, repeatedly noting that TNA at that point didn’t have any TV, and saying that Ring of Honor would only get television is “if a billionaire suddenly decides to give us a million dollars or if we get put on some kind of network or station where we don’t have to fund it.” One final really interesting thing that Punk says, is that he’s been “sitting on an offer for a week”, implying that him leaving at all might not be a certainty. The June 13th Observer offers a little context to this but as we’re going chronologically, we’ll get to that in a minute.
On June 12th, CM Punk would wrestle Roderick Strong at Ring of Honors The Future is Now event in New York. Going into the show, the big talking point was Shane Douglas making an appearance to promote Hardcore Homecoming, his ECW reunion show that was competing with WWE’s One Night Stand. Coming out of it though, CM Punk was the big story. Roderick Strong at this time was an enforcer of sorts for the ROH champion Austin Aries. If you were gunning for the champion, you would have to get past Roddy first, so Punk beating him was very significant. Post match Punk got on the microphone, and stated that his goal was to win the ROH title. There was just one problem though, the internet savvy Ring of Honor fans all knew that Punk had one foot out of the door. In his report on the show, Dave Meltzer would note how the times had changed, as the ECW fans would have drowned Punk out with “you sold out” chants, while just a few years later, the ROH faithful shouted “please don’t go”.
In the June 13th Observer, Dave Meltzer attempts to clarify why Punk might have been sitting on that WWE offer I mentioned earlier, citing that Punk is doing well for himself without needing to report to Ohio Valley Wrestling, WWE’s developmental territory at the time. “Punk is said to be 50/50. The deal with Punk is, between all his indie bookings, his announcing work with ROH and running the ROH wrestling school, he’s not getting rich, but he’s not struggling either. He doesn’t need to be an OVW guy.” Dave also points out that Punk essentially ruled out TNA with his interview. “He gave the impression if it was a big money offer he’d have already signed. He said he only considers that he’s gotten one offer, saying, “Obviously, there’s TNA, but how much of an offer can they give me if they don’t have TV?””
On June 14th, as reported in the newsletters later in the week, Samoa Joe would sign his TNA contract, and would be set to make his first appearance at their Slammiversary pay per view on the 19th. In one last note about CM Punk and TNA, Dave Meltzer claims in the June 20th Observer that TNA had wanted to promote CM Punk vs Samoa Joe on this event, but it wouldn’t happen because Punk would have wanted a much longer match than TNA would be willing to give them. “Punk ired some people here by saying he wasn’t going to come in and work with Joe because they weren’t going to let him go 45 minutes. The reaction was, good luck in your 5:00 matches on Velocity.” Dave noted that since TNA still didn’t have a TV deal yet, playing off the famous Ring of Honor trilogy of matches between the two would be an attempt to draw in the internet fans, which is a clever strategy given that those fans were the only market they had access to at the time. In the build up to Slammiversary, TNA had been airing episodes of Impact on it’s own website, which mainly focused on a Chris Candido memorial tournament and not many main storylines to tide them over. In the same newsletter, it was noted that CM Punk was expected to sign his WWE contract that week, and that Ian Rotten had said in a promo, that Punk’s last indie match would be with IWA Mid-South on June 17th, a show that would be titled it’s Clobberin Time. This would end up being false to put it lightly, as Punk would wrestle two more matches for IWAMS, a slew of other final indie dates and a whole ROH World title run but we’ll get to that.
On June 18th 2005, against what everyone expected to happen, CM Punk would defeat Austin Aries to win the ROH championship. Given that all of the ROH fans knew by now that Punk was leaving, the win came as a genuine shock, as everyone expected Punk to bow out never having held the title. In the Observer Dave would note that booker Gabe Sapolsky’s inspiration had been the Dudley Boyz’ final night in ECW, when they would win the tag team titles, and threaten to take them to Vince McMahon. While that would play out as a show long storyline, with them losing the titles later that night. This time Punk would get away with the title, and hold it for nearly two months.
If Punk winning the title was a shock, what happened next was even more of one, as in his victory speech, he would proceed to turn on the fans in attendance, in arguably one of the better promos he’s ever done in his entire career. He told a lengthy story about a snake in the grass that had gotten frozen in the ice, and was thawed out and nursed to health by an old man, only for the snake to attack the man once healthy. Punk likened himself to the snake, and his true nature to being a heel. I strongly recommend you seek this promo out if you’ve never seen it, after this video please. To try to work the fans even further, ROH booker Gabe Sapolsky would lose it in front of fans, claiming that Punk was stealing the belt, and heavily implying that he had gone off script, when in reality it was all part of the plan. In the Observer Dave noted that Punk at that point had one more date advertised, July 8th in Long Island New York. The show would be named Sign of Dishonor, for what Punk would do on that night.
JULY
The table was now laid for what we know today as the Summer of Punk. On July 8th, Punk would enter wearing a suit, a very uncharacteristic thing to do, and would sign his WWE contract on the Ring of Honor championship belt inside the ring, which was seen as an act of disrespect to ROH. While going in to the show everyone expected Punk to lose and be on his way, he would retain the title against future World champion Jay Lethal, and would defend it again the next night against Roderick Strong. There’s one more interesting trivia note about Sign of Dishonor though, it’s actually the first show where Punk used Cult of Personality by Living Colour to walk to the ring to, a song that has become synonymous with him over the years since. He would use this song throughout his last dates with ROH, until his final night with the company, where he would come out in tears to Night Train by the Bouncing Souls, mouthing along with the words. Night Train is a beautiful song about saying goodbye to what you know and moving on without much from your past to hold on to. Punk would use another song from the same album called New Day in his WWE produced documentary, which he was given an unusual amount of control over.
In the July 18th Observer Dave offered a little explanation into what was actually going on. “He’s back on the 7/16 show in Woodbridge, CT, against James Gibson, which may be the title change, being that Gabe Sapolsky believes Gibson right now is as good as anyone in the business. It’s not a lock as Punk has no start date in OVW or WWE right now (but those things change on a dime) and they are going to play this angle out as long as they can.” Challenger after challenger would try, and knowing the dates Punk had left were dwindling, nobody could take the title off him. Ironically, Punk would finally lose to a former WWE star now making a new name for himself on the indies, James Gibson, formerly known as Jamie Noble in WWE. Punk’s final farewell as an ROH roster member would come a day later, at an event titled Punk: The Final Chapter. On the way out, he would put on a forty five minute match, losing to his friend, hey Colt Cabana how ya doing?
Over the next few weeks, Punk would continue to say his farewell to the indie scene. On July 1st and 3rd he would leave IWA Mid South, having matches with Matt Sydal, the future Evan Bourne, and a one hour time limit draw with Delirious. On July 10th he would have his final match for Pro Wrestling Guerilla, a company he had worked for since their fifth event in 2003, beating Ricky Reyes. Finally on August 5th and 6th he would have his final matches for Full Impact Pro, ROH’s little sister promotion who he had worked with regularly for nearly a year.
With all of his indie dates done, Punk would report to OVW officially in mid-September. One final thing from the Wrestling Observer that I’d like to add, is a quote from Dave in the September 19th issue, the week that Punk first checked in in Ohio. “Punk was buried on his Heat appearance backstage, in particular by HHH, Michaels and Hayes. The line on him was that he didn’t know how to get over, and that the way he wrestles is like he’s doing a simulated wrestling match and not working a wrestling match.” I wonder why they didn’t get on? Dave notes in the same report though, that one man who had moved down to OVW on July 10th had really taken a shine to him. “Punk should do fine because he can talk, and because Heyman likes him. Hopefully, like Benoit, Guerrero, Mysterio and Jericho did as time went on, he’ll also eventually learn “how to work.”” Aye I think we can agree that he did.
When you go back and look at some of the biggest stories of 2005, you look at the rise of John Cena and Batista to the main events. You look at the ECW reunion shows, and more controversial ones like the Matt Hardy, Edge and Lita situation, and the ladder match for the custody of Dominic. Didn’t do him any harm. It’s crazy to think about in a way, that a story that fits right in among them, was about an independent wrestler working for the third top promotion in the US, leaving to start at the bottom of WWE., but then CM Punk has always had a way of drawing the headlines. It would take him twenty years from there, but he would finally get to the main event of Wrestlemania. Even if he’s now telling us he didn’t want it anyway!
Sources:
WOL May 8th 2005, Dusty Rhodes mentions Punk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbmFSsmYVsU
WON May 16th 2005 Dusty puts a word in at TNA: https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/may-16-2005-observer-newsletter-dusty-rhodes-removed-tna-booker-chris/
Amazing Red AMA https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/wrsgv7/this_is_the_amazing_red_ask_me_anything/
WON May 30th 2005 WWE wants Punk: https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/may-30-2005-observer-newsletter-upn-moves-smackdown-friday-ecw-ppv/
WON June 6th 2005 WWE wants Punk update: https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/june-6-2005-observer-newsletter-future-ecw-simon-inoki-named-president/
F4W June 6th 2005 Bryan predicts ROH title match: https://members.f4wonline.com/newsletters/figure-four-weekly/f4w519-road-wwe-tacoma-662005-88101/
Slam Sports CM Punk Interview, June 6th 2005: https://slamwrestling.net/index.php/2005/06/06/cm-punk-mulls-over-his-future/
WON June 13th 2005 Rules out TNA: https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/june-13-2005-observer-newsletter-wwe-draft-lottery-begins-ufc-53-recap/
WON June 20th 2005 ROH 6/12 report, TNA and IWAMS notes: https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/june-20-2005-observer-newsletter-ecw-one-night-stand-97858/
WON June 27th 2005 Punk wins ROH title https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/june-27-2005-observer-newsletter-tna-slammiversary-cm-punk-wins-roh/
WON July 18th 2005 Dragging out Punk title reign https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/july-18-2005-wrestling-observer-newsletter-death-shinya-hashimoto-wwe/
WON September 19th 2005 Punk reports to OVW https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/september-19-2005-observer-newsletter-wwe-q1-results-cmll-vs-uwa/
WOL May 8th 2005, Dusty Rhodes mentions Punk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbmFSsmYVsU
WON May 16th 2005 Dusty puts a word in at TNA: https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/may-16-2005-observer-newsletter-dusty-rhodes-removed-tna-booker-chris/
Amazing Red AMA https://www.reddit.com/r/SquaredCircle/comments/wrsgv7/this_is_the_amazing_red_ask_me_anything/
WON May 30th 2005 WWE wants Punk: https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/may-30-2005-observer-newsletter-upn-moves-smackdown-friday-ecw-ppv/
WON June 6th 2005 WWE wants Punk update: https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/june-6-2005-observer-newsletter-future-ecw-simon-inoki-named-president/
F4W June 6th 2005 Bryan predicts ROH title match: https://members.f4wonline.com/newsletters/figure-four-weekly/f4w519-road-wwe-tacoma-662005-88101/
Slam Sports CM Punk Interview, June 6th 2005: https://slamwrestling.net/index.php/2005/06/06/cm-punk-mulls-over-his-future/
WON June 13th 2005 Rules out TNA: https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/june-13-2005-observer-newsletter-wwe-draft-lottery-begins-ufc-53-recap/
WON June 20th 2005 ROH 6/12 report, TNA and IWAMS notes: https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/june-20-2005-observer-newsletter-ecw-one-night-stand-97858/
WON June 27th 2005 Punk wins ROH title https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/june-27-2005-observer-newsletter-tna-slammiversary-cm-punk-wins-roh/
WON July 18th 2005 Dragging out Punk title reign https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/july-18-2005-wrestling-observer-newsletter-death-shinya-hashimoto-wwe/
WON September 19th 2005 Punk reports to OVW https://members.f4wonline.com/wrestling-observer-newsletter/september-19-2005-observer-newsletter-wwe-q1-results-cmll-vs-uwa/
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