CM Punk says one WWE show in Brazil got so out of control that he had a machine gun pointed right at him.
While speaking to The Late Run, Punk recalled a wild incident from a WWE tour stop in Brazil, where his opponent grabbed a Brazilian flag from a fan and disrespected it inside the ring. Punk said the mood in the building changed immediately, and things went from wrestling heat to real danger fast.
“I had machine guns pointed at me. Oh, yeah. You mentioned Brazil. The company went and did a show in Brazil one time. We haven’t been back. Brazil, I love you. I would like to come back. Let’s try to work on that. My opponent that night rolled out of the ring and snatched a Brazilian flag from somebody.”
Punk said he could tell right away that the spot was a bad idea. He compared it to flag-based heat in the United States or Shawn Michaels’ infamous Canadian flag moment, but made it clear Brazil was a completely different situation.
“In America, you get people who get bent out of shape, but there’s no law against it. People burn flags, do whatever, right? Freedom of speech. He rolled into the ring. I’m down, looking at him, going, ‘Mhm. Maybe no.’ And I can’t remember exactly if he just threw it down and stepped on it or if he maybe wiped his butt with it. Shawn Michaels did this to the Canadian flag, too, very famously.”
That is when everything changed. Punk said a second referee suddenly entered the ring, followed by WWE’s head of talent relations, and everyone was trying to communicate that the match needed to end immediately.
“The instant this happened, all of a sudden, there’s a second referee in the ring, and I’m going, ‘Oh, what’s going on?’ One referee’s talking to him. The other referee’s talking to me, trying to relay the information. Then our head of talent relations is in the ring. This all happens lickety-split.”
Then Punk looked around and realized the ring was surrounded by armed men in fatigues. One of them, according to Punk, had a gun pointed straight at him.
“I’m looking around like, ‘Okay, what? What?’ And then I turn and look, and the ring is surrounded by men in fatigues, and one has his gun pointed directly at me. They were offended.”
The Second City Saint said officials told him the match had to end right away, but his opponent refused to cooperate. So Punk said he had to force the finish himself.
“They tell me — I had my extra referee and my head of talent relations — ‘This match is over. We’ve got to wrap this up, you know?’ Homeboy who did the thing was like, ‘Absolutely not. I refuse to do this.’ So I had to roll him up for real, stack him up, and the ref counted to three.”
After that, CM unk tried to calm the crowd down by grabbing the flag, climbing the turnbuckle, kissing it, and showing respect before getting out of there.
“I grabbed the flag, jumped up on the turnbuckle. I’m showing it, I’m kissing the flag. ‘Hey, everybody, sorry. I love you.’”
Punk said things still weren’t over backstage. According to him, authorities tried to get the wrestler’s passport, and WWE knew that if he handed it over, he might not get it back. That led to WWE getting the wrestler out of Brazil under the cover of night while the tour continued.
“And then they just tried to snatch dude up, grab his passport, and we knew if he handed his passport over, he wasn’t getting it back. So, by the cover of night, we got him out of there, and then we continued on the tour. A very, very, very proud people. Yeah, I mean, legit. I just looked out, and this guy’s pointing a machine gun at me, and I was like, ‘Different gravy, man. Different gravy.’”
It is one of those stories that sounds insane until you remember how quickly wrestling heat can go wrong in another country. Punk clearly knew the flag spot crossed a line, and from his version of events, he had to clean up the mess before things got even uglier.
Do you think WWE should avoid flag disrespect spots entirely on international tours? Drop your thoughts in the comments below.
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