Americans: why is CM Punk famous?

[FrankieNYC]

Really? Even overseas? Like dude up top was saying, I was under the impression that they were doing pretty well on those overseas tours, and that was why they keep going back.

They get paid a LOT for Saudi Arabia & their two shows
About $50m a year
They are paid for shows
meaning the government pays them a set fee & then does what they want with the tickets

The been doing less & less in UK

This was Q3 (2018)
Live event attendances declined by an average of 8.2% domestically and 17.6% abroad.

 

[usernamee]

I imagine that it is easy not to see something that you're not looking for. It's there, especially in Russia and Britain, who have their own organizations. Britain in particular has avid pro wrestling fans. Popularity has waned a bit in Australia, but is still popular enough that several current WWE pro wrestlers have come from Australia, and WWE will actually hold shows there from time to time. Same with Europe. They did a European tour less than a year ago, through Germany, Spain, Czech Republic, Hungary, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, France and the Netherlands. They went to Italy, Ireland, Spain, Germany and Portugal less than a year before that. Whether someone who isn't a fan notices or not, for WWE to actually go somewhere outside of the US there needs to be a certain degree of popularity. It's similar to the UFC. The UFC will go to places like Britain, Australia, and Brazil bc they will make money there, it is no different with WWE.

Now, there may be a misconception as to just how popular WWE is in the States. It isn't extremely popular. You could say that maybe the average American knows who John Cena is, but he has been in movies and on talk shows and has been doing those things for quite a while now. He gets name dropped in rap songs by popular artists. Most people aren't going to know anyone else on the roster, except maybe Ronda. It's similar to Conor and the UFC. Both UFC and WWE are popular enough to hold sold out shows repeatedly, basically anywhere they go, but they go to places they know they have a degree of popularity. Do either have the level of popularity here that the NFL or NBA has? Do they have the same popularity elsewhere in the world that soccer has? No, not even close. But both have a degree of popularity. I'd wager that WWE has more legitimate fans than the UFC though.

Latin America doesn't have much in common with the US or Canada, just so you know.

This shuts me up. Very informed. I spewed some classic Sherbro nonsense and was treated with a respectful answer. I tip my hat to you good sir, and now i'm going back to my corner of shame.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

They get paid a LOT for Saudi Arabia & their two shows
About $50m a year
They are paid for shows
meaning the government pays them a set fee & then does what they want with the tickets

The been doing less & less in UK

This was Q3 (2018)
Live event attendances declined by an average of 8.2% domestically and 17.6% abroad.

Wow. Any idea what might be causing people to lose interest? I haven't watched with any degree of regularity for quite a few years. I had a roommate in Charlotte who was a manager, and the way he talked it was like pro wrestling was ripe for another popularity spike. I can see that he may have been spouting hyperbole since he was in the business, but it made sense to me, with NJPW finding an audience in the States and Lucha Underground as well. And Rhodes and Co. holding an indie show that did amazing numbers and starting their own org. Is it that the average fan is gravitating to these other orgs and leaving WWE behind, or just people not finding interest in pro wrestling as a whole?

 

[FrankieNYC]

Wow. Any idea what might be causing people to lose interest? I haven't watched with any degree of regularity for quite a few years. I had a roommate in Charlotte who was a manager, and the way he talked it was like pro wrestling was ripe for another popularity spike. I can see that he may have been spouting hyperbole since he was in the business, but it made sense to me, with NJPW finding an audience in the States and Lucha Underground as well. And Rhodes and Co. holding an indie show that did amazing numbers and starting their own org. Is it that the average fan is gravitating to these other orgs and leaving WWE behind, or just people not finding interest in pro wrestling as a whole?

Pro wrestling is gaining popularity
WWE for the most part have declined about 15-25% every year in ratings
Vince is completely bankrupt creatively and a control freak

The AEW (Cody & The Young bucks) is something a lot are excited about, because it won't be as goofy as WWE & will give the talent a lot of creativity

 

[Bobby Boulders]

This shuts me up. Very informed. I spewed some classic Sherbro nonsense and was treated with a respectful answer. I tip my hat to you good sir, and now i'm going back to my corner of shame.

No worries, bud. Stay golden, Ponyboy.

 

[FrankieNYC]

No worries, bud. Stay golden, Ponyboy.

lol
Did you see John cena on Jimmy Fallon doing mad libs?

 

[Bobby Boulders]

Pro wrestling is gaining popularity
WWE for the most part have declined about 15-25% every year in ratings
Vince is completely bankrupt creatively and a control freak

The AEW (Cody & The Young bucks) is something a lot are excited about, because it won't be as goofy as WWE & will give the talent a lot of creativity

I'm intrigued by AEW. I may even watch. It will be interesting to see some fresh ideas, and it seems that there is a lot of interest from established veterans in being a part of it.

What's the word on Brock? I know Paul Heyman said that he might throw his hat in the AEW mix as well.

 

[Bobby Boulders]

lol
Did you see John cena on Jimmy Fallon doing mad libs?

Lol

 

[FrankieNYC]

I'm intrigued by AEW. I may even watch. It will be interesting to see some fresh ideas, and it seems that there is a lot of interest from established veterans in being a part of it.

What's the word on Brock? I know Paul Heyman said that he might throw his hat in the AEW mix as well.

Brock is signed until Mania
He will get a huge offer to do the May Saudi show though

Chris Jericho who is with AEW is interested in Brock doing something with AEW, but it is a long shot

They have the Khan family behind them & they are worth 7x what Vince is & already have two huge TV offers

 

[Evenflow80]

He was a very talented in ring performer and had great charisma in the John Cena era. Not great in the Attitude era. When he "went off script" it was a big deal and fresh. WWE has gone to complete shit since the real days of Stone Cold, The Rock etc. When John Cena is carrying your company a guy like CM Punk can be a star.

Thats the thing, I stopped watching pro wrestling after the nWo fizzled in WWE (2002?), and when I would go and occassionally watch Youtube clips Inever got the appeal of CM Punk. he was so bland and boring and came off as a millenial whiny self entitled habitual complainer.

Why is that appealing??

 

[FrankieNYC]

Lol

I'm serious
I asked bc he used that

I cued it up but the whole thing is hysterical

 

[MuddyFugger]

Hey TS, I am from America and I have no fucking idea why this guy is so famous. I've watched youtubes of him to see what was the big deal... I still don't fucking know

 

[Evenflow80]

He wasn't a boring speaker...like at all. Not when he was performing in the WWE. Dude had some great ass promos, legit some of the best. He was a heel you loved to hate. His most remembered promo was this one. Don't remember exactly what he said. But he started going off script and going off on the wwe so much that they had to cut his mic.

This is so fucking boring, entitled, petty, petulant, millenial, self absorbed, and did I mention boring?

Can you legit compare this to the mic skills of a Ric Flair? The Rock? Steve Austin?

How the **** is this entertaining in the least bit? Didn't we all watch pro wrestling to escape from reality, from whiny bitchy co workers, to escape to a world of fantastical and gimmicky characters that made us laugh or made us get mad?

I hear people bitch and moan about being treated unfairly or victimized all the time. Its the national sport now thanks to the leftist media. And if not on the media here at work from coworkers all the time.

No wonder pro wrestling is long past its glory days of the late 90s...

 

[Bobby Boulders]

I'm serious
I asked bc he used that

I cued it up but the whole thing is hysterical

I knew what you were talking about. That skit was pretty funny. Pretty sure I've heard him use that line elsewhere too. It was perfect for that skit.

 

[BarkTheSilentBrawler]

Just asking this question triggered this in you? Wow. I actually really like the US but for some reason you just have a dick small enough to be offended by this thread. Lol.

A 37 year old man losing an argument uses small dick jokes, teenager internet slang, sherdogs equivalent of emojis, and tries to reuse the very same "ur mad" insult I got him with earlier, to bounce back... I'm not impressed. My argument was reasonable and displayed minimal emotion; on the other hand, the same shouldn't be said, for anything you've posted here. You've been on this site for 11+ years of your life and haven't, yet, learned how to win an argument on the internet? I thought people only got brain damage from doing MMA -- not watching it.

 

[wigglestick]

I'll never figure it out. I am canadian EH and I have no idea why hes popular at all, I guess lots of kids watch WWE and like him for some reason?

 

[FrankieNYC]

I'll never figure it out. I am canadian EH and I have no idea why hes popular at all, I guess lots of kids watch WWE and like him for some reason?

Funny thing is, there has never been less kids watching WWE as there are now

 

[kumitechamp]

I think it's a few things.

He was a big deal on the independent wrestling scene, rather than being a product of WWE so he was already "cool" in the eyes of those hardcore, or wannabe anti-establishment kinda wrestling fans who were booing every generic thing WWE was putting out at the time.
He even carried his original ring name CM Punk with him, which is unusual and the reason why he can legally still use it today. His name isn't owned by WWE.

He was an exciting performer and quite charismatic with the microphone, so i would disagree with your last points there.

His WWE run also started in their revived ECW brand as I recall. ECW was the coolest shit ever in the eyes of old school wrestling fans ...so he got very popular there, before he got too popular and WWE moved him to their main show.

After that I didn't follow his career much. But from what I know he was "cool", girls liked him, and had those "stick it to the Man" attitude, and wasn't a cookie cutter.

Contrast to another WWE champ from the same era, jack swagger, a strong amateur wrestler and physical specimen, pushed to the moon by WWE very fast, he turned out to be a failure because people rejected him, he was cookie cutter and boring in the ring and when talking.
He said he was gonna fight in bellator under his real name Jake Hager and nobody gave a flying fook.

I didn’t care at all about watching Jack Swagger fight in Bellator then I saw Jake Hager get interviewed about his upcoming MMA match and I wanted to see it. He looked good in his first fight now it will be interesting to see his second fight for me.

 

[Ghostoftheville]

Sorry, thought for sure it was mostly hillbillies, turns out it's just regular retarded americans.

Pro wrestling has been more popular than mma on every continent in the world.

 

[Saku'sEar]

The real question is... Americans why is fake wrestling so popular?