Paul Heyman Reveals the Most Important Part of CM Punk’s Legacy

CM Punk is the WWE World Heavyweight Champion and is headed for a major main event match against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas later this year.

On this week's episode of WWE Raw, Reigns officially chose Punk as his WrestleMania opponent after having the option to fight either Punk or Drew McIntyre for their respective world championship. Punk and Reigns had an epic verbal battle on Raw this week, which set the tone for WrestleMania.

If there is one man who knows CM Punk and Roman Reigns, it's Paul Heyman. Heyman managed both Punk and Reigns during their historic world championship runs.

Heyman has been connected to CM Punk since his early days in WWE. He worked with Punk in OVW and chose Punk for his relaunched ECW brand in 2006. Heyman and Punk have also been adversaries.

Punk battled Heyman and Brock Lesnar prior to his departure from WWE in 2013. For most of this year, Punk and Heyman have been on opposite sides, with Punk regularly feuding with various members of Heyman's Vision faction. Heyman started the faction with Seth Rollins at the expense of CM Punk and Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 41 last year and the duo has feuded ever since.

Paul Heyman says one key quality is the main part of CM Punk's legacy in wrestling

Despite their differences, Heyman found some kind words to say about CM Punk. In a new interview with Shak Wrestling, Heyman spoke about Punk and revealed what he considers the most important part of his legacy in pro wrestling.

“His authenticity. Because we all know his given name is Phil Brooks, and we all identify him as CM Punk. Because when he’s out in the ring, the two merge. I say that because he doesn’t speak from the perspective of a certain persona. He speaks from the heart. He means what he says, and he says what he means, and that’s whether he is as Phil Brooks or as CM Punk."
Paul Heyman

Heyman continued:

"It’s not even a blurred line. It’s an open border and the two cross into each other all the time freely. It’s genuine. It’s him. This is how that body and however many different personalities live within that body, that’s how he really thinks. His authenticity is underrated, and it’s a tactic and a strategy and a talent that all others should aspire to meet.”
Paul Heyman

In addition to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania, CM Punk looks to be on course to face Finn Balor for his world championship. Punk defeated Balor in Ireland two weeks ago, but then viciously attacked him on last week's Raw. This week, before addressing Reigns, Punk vowed revenge on Balor for the attack.

After a near ten year hiatus from WWE and the pro wrestling business, Punk returned to the company in 2023. Since then, he's wrestled in both the main event of WrestleMania and SummerSlam.

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