CM Punk

**Phillip Jack Brooks** (born October 26, 1978) better known by his ring name **CM Punk**, is an American professional wrestler, currently contracted to WWE The E-Fed's Raw brand.

In professional wrestling, Punk is a five-time World Champion, having held the ROH World Championship, ECW Championship and WWE's World Heavyweight Championship once each, and the WWE Championship twice. Punk has also won the WWE Intercontinental Championship on two separate occasions. Punk has won the Royal Rumble match twice (2008 and 2010).

Punk initially came to prominence through his career on the professional wrestling independent circuit, primarily as a member of the ROH roster, where he was the first head trainer of the ROH wrestling school as well as winning both of their championships. In 2005, Punk signed a contract with WWE and was sent to its developmental promotion, Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), where he won every championship available in the promotion. Throughout his career, Punk has consistently used the gimmick of being straight edge, a lifestyle he follows in his actual day-to-day life. Depending on Punk's alignment as a crowd favorite or villain, he emphasizes different aspects of the culture to encourage the desired audience reaction.

## Character

A key part of Punk's gimmick emerges in the form of iconoclasm which can be shown in his disinclination to conform and penchant for challenging popular and accepted beliefs, traditions, and customs. A prime example, Punk has adopted his real-life following of the straight edge movement as a major attribute of his professional wrestling character. The character utilizes different elements of Punk's personality and beliefs of the straight edge movement dependent on his antagonist/protagonist alignment. While portraying a crowd favorite, Punk's character tends to be that of Punk's normal personality, largely indifferent to others who drink alcohol, smoke tobacco, partake in recreational drug use or have promiscuous sexual behavior, but emphasizing the social discipline involved with abstinence. Conversely, his villainous personality tends to be that of one who is hardline or militant straight edge, exemplifying the elitist attitudes and superiority complexes—defined by Punk's common mantra during villainous-themed promos that, because he is straight edge, he is "better than you". Punk performs the straight edge symbol of crossing his arms in an X formation while having the letter X written on the back of his hands, usually drawn on his wrist tape.

Originally, the initials CM in his ring name represented the phrase "Chick Magnet", the name of the tag team he was in as a backyard wrestler. Punk, however, later changed CM into a pseudo-acronym, declaring that it has no meaning, though when asked since he has taken to making up meanings that fit the initials, going so far as to make up long stories to explain the origins that do not match the actual origin story at all. Since beginning this practice, Punk has stated CM stands for "Cookie Monster", "Cookie Master", "Crooked Moonsault", "Chuck Mosley", "Charles Montgomery", "Charles Manson", "Chicago Made", among others.

During his entrance, Punk yells "It's clobberin' time!" The phrase is a reference to New York hardcore punk band Sick of It All, who wrote a song with the same name, and Marvel's fictional character The Thing.

An integral part of Punk are the numerous tattoos that adorn his body, some of which have come to become symbols associated with Punk, as well as mantras and declarations that have been integrated into his gimmick. The tattoos as a whole, due to their large quantity and variety, have also become an attribute identifiable to Punk. The most important of the individual tattoos in Punk's character, whether through association, symbol, or mantra, are:

* A Pepsi Globe logo on his left shoulder that inspired the names of two of his signature moves. It also became a symbol of Punk himself, who wore the logo on his ring gear in the independent circuit, as well as a slightly modified Pepsi logo being used as part of his TitanTron entrance video. Punk, a keen Pepsi drinker, chose to receive a Pepsi tattoo to emphasize his straight edge beliefs. The tattoo is also a reference to former Minor Threat guitarist Brian Baker, who had a Coca-Cola tattoo and explained this by saying "I like Coca-Cola". When people inquire about Punk's Pepsi tattoo, he often replies "I like Pepsi" in a similar fashion.

* The words "Straight Edge" are spelled out on Punk's stomach. This is one of his oldest tattoos; he has referred to it as his identity.

* A sleeve tattoo on his left arm that reads "luck is for losers" and features numerous good luck symbols, including a rabbit's foot, four-leaf clover and a horseshoe. The tattoo also features four ace playing cards as a tribute to trainer Ace Steel.

* A tattoo on the back of his left hand reading "No gimmicks needed", a tribute to deceased wrestler Chris Candido.

* A tattoo across his knuckles with the words "DRUG FREE" ("DRUG" on his right knuckles and "FREE" on his left).

* A tattoo of his little sister's jersey number (31) behind his left ear surrounded by stars, each of which also representing his siblings as a way to bond away from home.

* A tattoo on his right shoulder of the Cobra Command logo, G.I. Joe's enemy. Punk is well known for his love of comic books, considering them along with jazz and professional wrestling as three of the original arts that America has given to the world.

* A tattoo of a rose on his left wrist.

* A tattoo on his knuckles, below the drug free tattoo, that reads "romance" when his fingers are intertwined with an arrowed heart on his left pinkie at the end.

Punk's character has been parodied by the wrestling federation Chikara who used a mascot character CP Munk, the straight edge chipmunk. The character includes references to Punk, such as X-marked wrist tape, a Pepsi logo on the costume's left shoulder, and a high-pitch version of Punk's best-known independent circuit theme song "Miseria Cantare – The Beginning", by the band AFI.

## In wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ *Anaconda Vise* (Arm-trap triangle choke)
	+ *GTS – Go To Sleep* (Fireman's carry dropped into a knee lift)
	+ *Pepsi Plunge* (Diving double underhook facebuster)
* **Signature moves**
	+ Arm trap swinging neckbreaker
	+ Arm wrench followed by stepping a leg over the wrenched arm and performing a mule kick with the leg below the opponent's face
	+ Backhand chop
	+ Belly-to-back suplex, sometimes from the top rope
	+ Bulldog
	+ Diving crossbody
	+ Diving elbow drop – adopted from and used in tribute to Randy Savage
	+ Hammerlock twisted into a short-range lariat
	+ Koji Clutch
	+ Leg drop, sometimes while running and preceded by a scoop slam
	+ Mongolian chop
	+ Multiple kick variations
		- Back heel
		- Leg lariat
		- Roundhouse
		- Step-up enzuigiri
	+ Piledriver
	+ Repeated elbow strikes to an opponent's chest
	+ Rope hung arm trap can opener
	+ Short-arm clothesline
	+ Sitout suplex slam
	+ Slingshot somersault senton
	+ Snap scoop powerslam
	+ Springboard clothesline
	+ Step-up high knee to a cornered opponent followed by a bulldog or a short-arm clothesline
	+ Suicide dive
	+ Super frankensteiner
	+ Tilt-a-whirl backbreaker
	+ *Welcome to Chicago, Motherfucker* (Double underhook backbreaker)

* **Entrance themes**
	+ "This Fire Burns" by Killswitch Engage (August 1, 2006–July 17, 2011)
	+ **"Cult of Personality"** by Living Colour (July 25, 2011–present)

## Championships and accomplishments

* **World Wrestling Entertainment**
	+ ECW Championship (1 time)
	+ World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
	+ WWE Championship (2 times)
	+ WWE Intercontinental Championship (2 times)
	+ Royal Rumble (2008, 2010)
	+ Slammy Award for Heel of the Year (2010, 2011)
	+ Slammy Award for Coward of the Year (2010)
	+ Slammy Award for Hottest Superstar (2011)
	+ Slammy Award for Best Tattoos (2011)
	+ Slammy Award for Freedom of Speech Award (2011)
	+ Slammy Award for Puppetmaster of the Year (2012)