CM Punk will no longer walk out with Chael Sonnen at UFC On Fox 2.
WWE Champion CM Punk will no longer walk out with Chael Sonnen for his fight with Mark Munoz at UFC On Fox 2.
In early-January, news broke that longtime MMA fan Punk (Phil Brooks) would walk out with the former pro wrestling prospect and top middleweight contender Sonnen in Punk's hometown of Chicago, IL. Punk had previously received permission from WWE to skip a house show on Saturday, January 28 to be at the UFC event.
From Ariel Helwani's piece on MMA Fighting:
Punk confirmed with MMAFighting.com that WWE chairman Vince McMahon decided against allowing him to walk out to the cage with Sonnen later this month. MMA reporter FrontRowBrian first reported the news Friday afternoon.
The original story garnered nearly 300 comments here and set off the usual firestorm of pro wrestling vs. MMA debates including this video done by BE co-founders/editors Luke Thomas and Kid Nate. McMahon's decision to put the kibosh on the arrangement (which Brian accurately opined could have been influenced by his son-in-law Paul "Triple H" Levesque) shows a short sighted view of the crossover appeal and a bad business move by WWE to not grab the attention from a major event on Fox.
0 recs | 57 comments
FUCK THIS SHIT I'M LEAVING
T.C. Engel - January 14, 2012
'Guess Vince is gonna Vince.
Less publicity for CM Punk when he could really benefit from the Chicago love?
Yep, sounds like a WWE decision.
McKinley B. Noble - January 14, 2012
OH FUCK
MAN, I just wasted my 1000th BE comment on stupid pro wrestling bullshit.
McKinley B. Noble - January 14, 2012
and your 1001st
Cory Braiterman - January 14, 2012
This should go over well with Punk. He loves being told what to do, even back in his ROH/IWA-MS days.
BVandDietPepsi - January 14, 2012
ITS A WORK
Just like Jericho said he wouldn’t be back to the WWE. I still believe!
Thats It For you! - January 14, 2012
mobile rec'd
CLASSIC
Sonnenmeister - January 14, 2012 via mobile
Weird. I thought they had already pulled him off a house show that night.
Tim Burke - January 14, 2012
From what I’m hearing, Punk just asked for the night off, and didn’t say exactly what for. My guess is Vinny Mac didn’t like that he was cutting work to go do a walkout at a UFC event.
I’d do the same if I were in Vince’s shoes.
Kaleb Kelchner - January 14, 2012
Ahh. That makes more sense, and I definitely agree.
Tim Burke - January 14, 2012
Who the "F" cares?.....
……….’nuff said!
Taiter - January 14, 2012
GET THE "F" OUT!
GreyedOut - January 14, 2012
C.M. Punk is barred from walking out with Chael Sonnen?
GSP is exposed
Balrog - January 14, 2012
Oh...
FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU
Irminsul - January 14, 2012
Hopefully Sonnen still walks out to Cult of Personality
MaZZacare - January 14, 2012
Poor CM Punk
He would have had the opportunity to be in a full arena on a show that people actually will watch.
Steve W - January 14, 2012 via mobile
Monday Night Raw averages 4 million viewers a week.
Also, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84HA9CyHVSQ.
/Obligatory
RonSwanson - January 14, 2012
Did he just Tebow?
Zachary Kater - January 14, 2012
Nah, just checking what time it is
IRodC - January 14, 2012
A bit off topic
But the production really shines when the crowd is into it, some of those shots are beautiful
IRodC - January 14, 2012
Maybe there is a god after all.
Luke Thomas - January 14, 2012
If there was a god, Brock would be champ and UFC would institute tag team events.
( . Y . ) - January 14, 2012
M.I.B
At the very least
LRaunThaDamaja - January 14, 2012 via mobile
You make me want to switch to boxing.
UncleMax - January 14, 2012
Wow.
Geno Mrosko - January 14, 2012
So, this means you are thanking Vince McMahon?
IRodC - January 14, 2012
Foley had nothing to do with this
Holls Hoyce - January 14, 2012 via Android app
There is, it’s just too bad he won’t be walking down the aisle with Chael.
Tim Burke - January 14, 2012
CONSPIRACY!
Maybe Dana told Vince to get him out of there if he wanted to get Brock back early!!
manbearpig - January 14, 2012
P86 - January 14, 2012
did they hug back stage cause there was actual contact?
UncleMax - January 14, 2012
Well
I guess Chael will get a madiocre to OK reaction from the crowd.
IRodC - January 14, 2012
mediocre*
IRodC - January 14, 2012
Chael can still come out to 'Cult of Personality'
Which might trick the crowd to get the initial reaction.
KJ Gould - January 14, 2012
huge pop for the song, and then thunderous boos when Punk doesn’t show up.
Phildo - January 14, 2012
Which, for Chael Sonnen, is perfect.
KJ Gould - January 14, 2012
This is good, but only because only WWE stood to gain
Chael Sonnen would have got a cheap pop for his entrance, and that’s about it. UFC had nothing to gain from this, where as WWE and CM Punk potentially gets free network TV publicity.
KJ Gould - January 14, 2012
What about the possibility of CM Punk fans tuning in to see what Chael Sonnen is about? It could have garnered a potentially new audience for the UFC.
I know that if I was a kid, and my favorite wrestler was walking out with an athlete that I didn’t know much about, I would have definitely watched the fight.
RonSwanson - January 14, 2012
I think some of CM Punk's twitter followers might check it out
But the amount would be negligible at best. WWE letting its audience know would have been much more valuable.
Besides, even if he wasn’t going, he’d probably tweet that he’s watching, so that’ll do.
KJ Gould - January 14, 2012
Chael should just recruit about 5 or 6 Punk lookalikes and get them to walk as his posse.
Well, either that or see if Bruno Samartino is free that night.
( . Y . ) - January 14, 2012
Mobile rec on the B SanMartino reference.
He won’t be down for breakfast or any thing anytime soon!
JAYGK95 - January 14, 2012 via mobile
That's good news.
The less UFC has to do with WWE and fake sports the more people will take it seriously as a legitimate sport.
NoHo - January 14, 2012 via mobile
people really gave up on boxing after Floyd was at wrestlemania
Phildo - January 14, 2012
And Mike Tyson
And Buster Douglas
IRodC - January 14, 2012
o right, they didn’t give up on boxing, i was wrong. They gave up on the NFL because HHH was at the Super Bowl to give Rodgers a belt.
Phildo - January 14, 2012
Boxing was around for ages before any boxer did anything WWF/WWE related. They were already accepted by the mainstream by then.
Zachary Kater - January 14, 2012
Doesn’t matter. Rational people know what wrestling is, and are able to tell the difference between real and fake.
Pro Wrestling is dramatized/fake mma. because of that, and the history of the two businesses, they always have been, and always will be linked together. There are really only 2 options, embrace the connection, or ignore it; whining about it hasn’t done anything, and won’t do anything in the future.
Phildo - January 14, 2012
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20061125215457AAq1EHH
Zachary Kater - January 14, 2012
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;ylt=AotyJM45i2cM4nN8KaemeTwjzKIX;ylv=3?qid=20100707152446AAj4kdn
Phildo - January 14, 2012
Wow, you topped me.
Zachary Kater - January 14, 2012
Boxers have been fighting pro wrestlers (in worked bouts) forever.
Tim Burke - January 14, 2012
Yeah, I remember learning about that stuff from some of the historical pieces on here about the beginning days of pro wrestling. Interesting stuff.
Zachary Kater - January 14, 2012
Why would
Triple-H care? I don’t get it
OneFitchTwoFitchRedFitchBlueFitch - January 14, 2012 via mobile
He has an executive position in the company
And in a previous interview Helwani did with CM Punk on the MMA hour, they discussed how he doesn’t get it and doesn’t believe WWE needs to evolve as a company. Something like that.
KJ Gould - January 14, 2012
oh ok
thanks for the knowledge
OneFitchTwoFitchRedFitchBlueFitch - January 15, 2012
When asked for comment undertaker simply said
“wanna do it?”
RECE ROCK - January 14, 2012 via mobile
How is this bad business for the WWE?
Not like they actually need exposure from fox or the ufc, they have all the exposure they need and are still doing quite well like the last 20 +years.
Its more of a loss for the ufc not having a WWE star walk the isle in their event.
I’d rather they keep the fake wrestling over there separate from MMA so they can continue to entertain the kiddies, and just leave real sporting to the professionals anyway =)
Subtareign - January 14, 2012
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