Subhojeet Mukherjee on August 2, 2025
CM Punk is setting the record straight about his iconic 2011 “Pipe Bomb” promo, insisting it wasn’t a breaking of kayfabe — despite how many fans still see it that way.
Punk, who is heavily featured in Netflix’s new WWE Unreal series, discussed the promo during an interview with Allenownz Wrasslin. While the series offers an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at WWE’s creative process, Punk says the “Pipe Bomb” remains misunderstood because everything he said that night was still part of the story.
When asked about modern fans viewing it as one of the first times WWE “pulled back the curtain,” Punk explained that his words were scripted within his character, not an exposure of the business. He even compared it to the 1996 Madison Square Garden “Curtain Call,” where Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Scott Hall, and Kevin Nash famously broke character.
“So this is all going to come down to perspective, and I think this is probably going to reveal, and this is going to sound super egotistical, but the genius of what the Pipe Bomb was. I did not expose anything. You juxtapose it with the Curtain Call, which was 100% I mean, that pissed off Gerry Brisco. You shouldn’t piss off Gerry Brisco. I would be curious to have anybody try to explain to me how those two things are similar, because they’re drastically, drastically different, right? I took what I knew smart fans to think was taboo, and said things on television that nobody had ever said before in a context within a storyline, right? I did not beat anybody over the head with exposing the business. I wasn’t fraternizing with a good guy when I was a bad guy or vice versa. That, to me, proves how powerful a moment of what I did was, because it’s still almost misunderstood.”
For Punk, the fact that fans still debate whether it broke kayfabe is proof of how effective it was. In his mind, it wasn’t a rule-breaking moment — it was just great storytelling that blurred the lines while staying true to character.
Do you agree with CM Punk that the “Pipe Bomb” stayed within kayfabe, or do you see it as one of wrestling’s biggest reality-breaking moments? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.
August 2, 2025 2:32 pm
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