Paul Heyman On CM Punk's Reaction When WWE Paired Them Up
CM Punk and Paul Heyman were paired up on-screen in 2012 during Punk's historic 434-day WWE Championship reign. According to Heyman, the partnership took both men by shock and they never expected to take their real life friendship to TV.
Heyman spoke of his time managing Punk during an Inside the Ropes live show released recently.
"I look over at him at he says 'Can you believe they're f***ing putting us together?'" said Heyman. "And I'm like 'We're both gonna be f***ing fired in the next four weeks, don't you get it?' And he goes 'But the s**t we're going to stir in four weeks, they don't f***ing have a clue!'
"I loved working with him, I loved it. I had the time of my life," he added.
Heyman said that WWE had given both him and Punk creative freedom to deliver unscripted promos.
"We had a blast working with each other because, just like me, he had no idea what he was going to say when he went out to the ring," said Heyman. "He was just doing it, you know, allegedly shoot promos that then get wrapped around into the storyline that we're telling that he fervently believed in his heart that he was telling the truth."
As for why Vince McMahon decided paired them together, Heyman pointed to how being in Punk's corner was the one way to get fans "to gasp" since they were going to boo the intended babyface John Cena either way.
"How do you turn CM Punk heel in Chicago? Make it even more difficult: How do you turn him heel on John Cena? Because Night Of Champions is in Boston, which is John Cena's hometown, where they are sure to boo John Cena and cheer CM Punk. So, Vince comes up with the idea 'If I can't make them boo him, I can at least make them gasp.'"
Punk and Heyman became an alliance in September 2012 when Punk helped Del Rio beat Cena in a Falls Count Anywhere match on RAW. After the match, Punk got into a car with Heyman and pulled away slowly. Their alliance ended a year later when Heyman and his new client, Curtis Axel, turned on Punk before the Night of Champions event.