While appearing on the My Mom’s Basement podcast with Robbie Fox, WWE World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk offered a blunt take on fans who direct intense criticism at wrestling companies like WWE for failing to meet their internal expectations.
Addressing the phenomenon of “fantasy booking,” Punk stated: “People just seem to want to be angry about everything because it didn’t happen the way they fantasy booked it in their head… To me, that’s a slight mental illness.
“Like, ‘Hey, I bought tickets to go to this wrestling show, and then I look on Twitter and wrestling journalist 345678910 reports that there’s going to be a big surprise guest. I go to this show, and there’s no big surprise guest, and I spend an unhealthy amount of time complaining about that online.’ And it’s just like, well, you weren’t promised a big surprise guest.”
Punk’s comments coincide with significant fan backlash following the January 5 episode of Monday Night Raw at the Barclays Center. Despite General Manager Adam Pearce asking fans, “Who can break down the walls and claim the gold?” A phrase widely viewed as a reference to Chris Jericho. Reports later indicated Jericho was never scheduled for the show and was actually in Los Angeles at the time.
The champion argued that fans often misplace their anger by blaming the promotion for the inaccuracies of amateur reporters. “Somebody that probably knows less about what they’re talking about than you do and is just a fan, just like you, made some sh** up on the internet and passed it off as journalism. And you’re getting mad at that,” Punk added.
Despite the controversy over the missing “surprise guest,” the January 5 broadcast saw major shifts in the title landscape. In the main event, CM Punk successfully defended his World Heavyweight Championship against Bron Breakker. Jericho has yet to comment on speculation about this rumored Raw return.
