In October 2007 (during his ECW title reign) CM Punk was in a backstage altercation with Tony Atlas who had been brought in to talk to the younger stars and give them some tips. He told Punk before his match that “stars don’t tape their wrists like that” and that management doesn’t like it, but Punk ignored him, knowing that he’d been doing it since his debut without any issues. After the show Atlas went on a rant about various things and kept giving the evil eye to Punk for disobeying him earlier, seeing him as a ringleader for bad behavior. When CM Punk confronted him the two got in to a massive slanging match with Atlas saying “With an attitude like that you’ll never be called up to TV.” This obviously ruined Atlas’s credibility and everyone generally saw him as an old bumbling idiot, with CM Punk being backed by most people in the locker room. Morale was really low at this point in OVW and punk was seen as a hero.
- CM Punk is very honest and confident, often rubbing people the wrong way who don’t “get” him. He’s been in the proverbial doghouse several times during his WWE run but due to his straight edge lifestyle has worked his way to the top. He was never booked to win the ECW title until John Morrison got suspended and he was never booked to win the Money in the Bank at Wrestlemania 24 until Jeff Hardy got suspended.