CM Punk may be known as one of the greatest talkers of his generation, but his work on the mic allegedly caused WWE to go with scripted promos.
Punk was part of WWE programming from 2006 to 2014 and would famously walk out of the promotion following the 2014 Royal Rumble match.
Speaking to “Wrestle Binge,” WWE Hall of Famer Sgt. Slaughter recalled being told that Punk’s colorful language resulted in Vince McMahon deciding on scripted promos. He said,
“I was told that CM Punk was using the F-bomb on live television, and Vince got a little upset about that, so he just said, ‘That’s it, no more ad-libbing. We’re gonna script everything so I know what people are saying. I’m gonna lose my sponsors and my TV shows if I don’t.’ So the business went a different direction.”
Punk returned to wrestling in 2021 as part of AEW and recently returned to programming as part of AEW Collision.
