CM Punk and Paul Heyman recently spoke with The New York Posthe New York Post about WWE ’13 and more. Check out the highlights:
Punk on his first impressions of the game: “I haven’t had too much time with the game but certainly the time I have had with it is ten-fold of what anybody else has had. I can’t say enough about it. Not just because I am on the cover, it’s a fun game. Every year they pull out all of the stops and come up with new ways to get you to buy it and this year is definitely the case.”
Punk on working more closely with the WWE ’13 team: “To me, when I was a kid, and this is kind of the stock answer but it’s true, I wanted to be in a video game and I wanted to be an action figure. The only thing cooler than being in the video game, which I’ve done for half a decade now, is to be on the cover. To me that’s a goal I don’t think I set early on, but I reached it nonetheless.”
Punk on whether his feud is in-character or legit: “Punk: I am a character, I don’t play a character, and the same can be said for Steve. I think there is a mutual respect, I’m not positive we get along in the world we’re in. Texas Rattlesnake, beer-drinking son of a gun and I’m the straight edge kid from Chicago. We just come from two different worlds. For all of our differences, we’re very similar. I don’t think he’s backing down from anything, and I’m not, so you put the two of us in the room [and that’s what you get]. I think that was the first time the world has seen what it’s like when CM Punk and Stone Cold Steve Austin are in a room together.”
Punk on the similarities between himself and Austin: “I prefer to say that Stone Cold Steve Austin was the Attitude Era’s version of CM Punk. Our similarities, and I’ve already talked about it. We both work extremely hard, we both love, respect and are passionate about this business. I don’t think that when he laced up his boots that there is anybody that worked harder than him and now there is not a single person today that can lace up their boots and work harder than me.”
Punk on whether he’s worried about the “Madden Curse” affecting him: “No, not at all. When we were at the Izod Center and I had to wrestle World Champion Sheamus in a champion versus champion lumberjack match and prior to heading to the ring I was walking backstage and was going from catering to head to find Paul and the title and go to the ring. There was a giant ladder set up and everyone is walking around it even though the quickest route from Point A to Point B was to walk directly under it and I was tickled by the looks on everyone’s faces. They were aghast and were like ‘Oh my god.’ I couldn’t believe people were going out of their way to walk around this ladder. I’m not superstitious at all.”
Heyman on whether the Attitude Era feature is disrespectful to today’s stars: “I do think it’s disrespectful, and here’s why. As with anything else in life, you have to constantly re-invent yourself. I don’t think it’s any secret that the Attitude Era was spawned from the ECW days, and as the architect of the ECW experience, I can tell you that the 1990s are dead. That means that the extreme concept, the Attitude Era has run its course. The reason why it is in this game today is so that people can compare the modern era to the Attitude experience. The WWE can continue to look on the Attitude Era as its glory days and ignore the magnificent performances that are being delivered every week by their current reigning, defending WWE Champion who proclaims himself to be the best in the world and with good reason, because he is. These people who are hanging onto the past need to understand that by doing that they are not allowing the audience to sink into the future.”
