CM Punk on WWE Unreal: ‘I’ve always been taught you protect the business’
CM Punk and Rhea Ripley recently discussed the upcoming WWE: Unreal series.
The two WWE stars appeared on ESPN Radio Wednesday, and were asked about the docuseries, which is set to premiere on Netflix July 29. Punk said he is probably the wrong guy to promote the show.
You can listen to the interview by clicking here.
“I’m probably the wrong guy to put on this show to try to talk it up,” Punk said. “It’s not that I’m so much against it, it’s that my entire existence in my profession, professional wrestling, you’re taught and you’re brought up and if you’re old school, you protect the business. It’s always been that way.”
“I feel like since the 20s or 30s, everybody knew wrestling was predetermined. They talk about how they didn’t know and they talk about how in the 80s, we just kind of blew it wide open and now everybody’s exposing the business and this and that. I think if you’re living under a rock, you don’t know, but most people do know.“
He compared WWE: Unreal to what the NFL does with Hard Knocks.
“You’re in the room, you’re seeing the special teams, you’re seeing the Xs and the Os, and you’re seeing the relationships between the coaches and the players and their families and all that, and that’s sort of what we’re doing. We’re following suit in a way. It’s just really strange, for me, at least, because I’ve always been taught you protect the business.”
Later in the conversation, Punk continued to say what it was like to have the cameras backstage:
“I was never sure when they were filming, what they were filming, who’s mic’d up. You could probably make a really good blooper reel of me looking directly down the lens of the camera going, what are you doing? Get out, don’t film this.”
Ripley said that the series is an example of WWE trying new things to help the company grow.
“I feel like WWE is always trying new things and bits and pieces to make it different and make it grow, and this is just one of the next steps. Do I think that everything should be shown? No. I haven’t seen it yet so I’m very intrigued to see.“
She also said it was strange to have cameras around backstage.
“It was really strange having the camera crew around as well because you’re so used to all of this being so top secret and hidden and you didn’t know how to really react to things sometimes, like some of the questions. It was just wild to me, but at the same time, it is a growing business.”
WWE: Unreal will consist of five episodes. A “source close to the production” revealed to Post Wrestling that the first episode will focus on the January 6, 2025 Raw on Netflix debut at the Intuit Dome. Other episodes are set to spotlight the Royal Rumble, John Cena’s heel turn, an episode dedicated to the women of WWE, and another on WrestleMania 41.
