A lot has been said about CM Punk over the last few months.
Since his horrendous press conference after All Out 2022 and the backstage fight with The Elite following that, nobody has seen or heard from CM Punk on AEW TV.
However, this has not stopped others talking about him. Talk of his backstage antics have been rife, with Seth Rollins calling CM Punk a “cancer”, and Mark Henry refuting that statement.
Many have given their opinions on whether the two-time AEW Champion should return to the company. Opinion is split both in the fanbase and the AEW locker room, and nobody knows for sure what the future holds for CM Punk.
A lot has been said about his status in the locker room during his career. CM Punk has been said to be a locker room leader during his time in WWE and AEW, while others have also said he has been no such thing.
In this article, we’ve compiled all the stories we could find about CM Punk’s colleagues talking about his status as a “locker room leader” and detailing the different stories differ in how they view the Chicago native.
CM Punk As Locker Room Leader
Here are all the stories about WWE wrestlers talking about CM Punk allegedly claiming himself to be the locker room leader during his time in the WWE.
Chris Jericho
During an episode of Talk Is Jericho, Cody Rhodes joined Chris Jericho to talk about various different topics.
One of these was the idea of the “locker room leader”. This led the pair to reminisce about a team CM Punk professed to be a leader in the locker room, which ruffled some feathers.
Speaking on Talk is Jericho, Cody said:
“No one ever says, ‘I’m the leader.’ The first person who says that….especially, there’s this thing in wrestling ‘the locker room leader.’ Whenever somebody says, ‘I’m a locker room leader’ You definitely know that guy is not the locker room leader. That 100 percent.”
Chris Jericho then reminded Rhodes of the infamous time CM Punk claimed to be a locker room leader.
“do you remember this weird…we had this weird locker room meeting in WWE once where CM Punk said that. Do you remember that? I remember he said, ‘As the locker room leader.’ And I’m like, ‘You don’t lead me.'”
Cody Rhodes
Cody Rhodes also chimed in on that same episode of Talk is Jericho. He gave a different example about how Booker T took umbrage with CM Punk declaring himself the locker room leader in the WWE.
The American Nightmare detailed how the former WCW Champion was unhappy with CM Punk saying “As the locker room leader”, and started a confrontation with the two-time AEW Champion.
Rhodes also went on to say that Kane (real name Glenn Jacobs) was the actual locker room leader at the time.
“It worked on a certain demo of the locker room. But there was one meeting where Booker T was in the room and Punk hit the, ‘As the locker room leader, I’m telling you guys all to pick up your trash.’
And Booker literally threw his trash on the floor. And said, ‘He’s not telling me to pick up my trash.’ They had this whole interaction. Glenn (Jacobs) is the only actual locker room leader. He’s the Mayor now.”
Booker T
However, Booker T revealed his own version of events of Cody Rhodes’ story on his own podcast.
Speaking on his Heated Conversations podcast, the former World Heavyweight Champion talked about the story to clarify that it didn’t go down as first thought.
He didn’t say that CM Punk explicitly stated that he was the locker room leader. Instead, he revealed that Booker T, CM Punk and Big Show took on the role as leaders to help stop a spate of locker room thefts.
Instead of being upset at Punk calling himself the locker room, Booker T was upset at the manner of which he went about talking to his fellow wrestlers.
He didn’t appreciate the aggressive way the Straight-Edge Superstar went about discussing the issue, which made Booker T angry.
“The story that I remember. I just want to clear it up more than anything. I don’t want the fans to think that Booker T is a bully, that Booker T got heat with CM Punk, that Booker T don’t like CM Punk.
I don’t know where this story came from or why my name is being brought up. The story that I remember was, there was some thievery going around in the locker room. Guys were getting a lot of stuff stolen. iPads, laptops, chargers, stuff like that,”
“What happened was, CM Punk, myself, and Big Show….the problem had to be addressed by the boys. We didn’t bring the office in. We felt like we had to have a meeting about this. I said, ‘Hey guys, come on. We’re brothers. I should be able to leave my wallet in the middle of the locker room, go to catering, and when I come back, somebody should say you forgot your wallet and I picked it up for you.
That’s the way we are as a brotherhood.’ Big Show said a couple of words and echoed what I said. Some guys, it may have went in one ear and out the other, but hopefully the guys were listening. We were just trying to make a point, being the elder statesmen in the locker room. “
“Then, CM Punk comes in and says, ‘If I find out who’s doing it, I’m gonna kick the the sun of a guns behind.’ He had some explicit words in there. He was real real mean.
I don’t know if that was when he first started training and the testosterone kicked in or what. I was like, ‘Oh man, somebody look in my bag and see if there is an iPad in there.’ Because it kind of made me hot. I didn’t think he addressed the situation quite the right way. That’s all it was.” – Source: Fightful
Rob Van Dam
Former WWE and ECW Champion Rob Van Dam also had a run in with “locker room leader” CM Punk.
However, it is unknown whether this refers to the same incident as previously mentioned.
Rob Van Dam details how CM Punk told him that he was calling a team meeting in the ECW locker room after the former’s suspension from WWE in 2006 was up.
Mr Monday Night was offended when Punk assured him that the issues being brought up had nothing to do with him. He was irritated that Punk would see himself as a locker room leader, seemingly being upset that CM Punk had the confidence to take charge.
He also does not state that CM Punk called himself a locker room leader, but instead that it was what he was implying by having the chat with RVD.
“I’ve [been] gone for 30 days, when I came back it was the first show back and CM Punk approaches me at the building and he says, ‘Hey, Rob, I just want to let you know, I’m going to have a team meeting in the dressing room.’”
“He says, ‘Of course, this has nothing to do with you. I just want to tell you so you know, like when everyone’s back there and stuff.’ I’m like, ‘What? You’re locker room leader? Like what happened?’ But some people are comfortable just taking that position of control and moving forward and I don’t know. I kind of think he’s one of them,” RVD said. Source – ITR Wrestling
What do you think about the stories of CM Punk trying to be a locker room leader? Let us know down in the comments.