CM Punk told a crazy story about a WWE show in Brazil turning into a real-life danger scene, but now that story is getting pushed back hard.
Punk claimed the match went off the rails after his opponent (Chris Jericho) grabbed a Brazilian flag from a fan and disrespected it in the ring. Punk said things got so bad that armed men surrounded the ring and one of them pointed a gun at him. Punk said he knew right away that the flag spot was a bad idea.
“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.”
“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.”
Then Punk said another referee and WWE’s head of talent relations got in the ring because the match needed to end right away.
“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.”
Punk claimed he looked around and saw armed men in fatigues, including one with a gun pointed at him. The biggest part of Punk’s story was that he said his opponent refused to end the match, so Punk had to force the finish himself.
“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.”
“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.”
That sounds insane, but Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez later said the footage does not back that up. On Wrestling Observer Radio, Alvarez brought up Punk’s story by naming the two biggest claims.
“Tell us about the machine guns and the shoot roll-up.”
Meltzer said the flag incident itself was real. He explained that Chris Jericho kicked the Brazilian flag to get heat, and it caused a serious problem. Jericho had to apologize before the match continued.
“Jericho kicked the flag, the Brazilian flag, to get heat. In some places it would get heat, and there it was almost an incident. It was a bad thing. They made Jericho apologize. So Jericho apologizes, then they go do their match, and Punk beat him.”
Alvarez pointed out that Punk was champion at the time, so Punk beating Jericho was not strange. Meltzer then pushed back on Punk’s version, saying there was no sign that Jericho refused to lose.
“The whole point is that there’s nothing there.”
Alvarez also knocked down the machine gun part of the story, “They were not at ringside with machine guns.” Meltzer said the situation was serious, but not the way Punk described it. He said people were upset enough that some wanted Jericho arrested. Then Meltzer got to the shoot-roll-up claim. He said Punk’s version was that Jericho refused to end the match, so Punk had to shoot-cradle him. Meltzer said that did not happen. According to him, Jericho apologized, then they had a regular match.
“It was not an international incident, but it was something. It was something in the sense that there were people who wanted to arrest Jericho. That’s legit.”
“As far as Punk’s story is, they tell them to go home and Jericho won’t go home. So Punk had to shoot-cradle him and pin him to end the match, like right after this incident happened.”
“First of all, the incident happens, Jericho apologizes, they go do their match. They do a regular match. I don’t know why Punk says this, because this match is on tape.”
Alvarez added that Punk’s own interview showed clips from the match while he was telling the story, and the footage did not match what Punk was saying.
“They had access to the match as he is telling a story that doesn’t match what’s on the video they put on the screen. That was amazing.”
Meltzer then gave the biggest part of the update. The finish was not a shoot roll-up. It was Punk hitting the GTS.
“The finish of the match was a GTS, not a shoot cradle.”
Alvarez agreed that it was a planned finish. Meltzer also said the idea of Jericho refusing to lose made no sense because Punk was champion, Jericho was the heel, and Jericho is not known for changing finishes. Meltzer also pointed out that a GTS requires cooperation, so it could not have been Punk forcing the finish.
“Obviously, if Chris Jericho was not wanting to do the job, which is preposterous anyway because Punk’s the champion, he’s the heel. Chris Jericho is not exactly known for double-crossing finishes or changing finishes. Almost nobody in wrestling is.”
“You can’t shoot GTS the guy. He went up for the GTS. He had no trouble doing it. I guess Punk was trying to tell a story, but my God. It was a story.”
So, the Brazil flag incident was real, and it was serious. Meltzer said people were upset and some wanted Jericho arrested. But the machine gun claim and the shoot-roll-up part of Punk’s story are now being challenged because the match footage shows a normal GTS finish.
What do you think about CM Punk’s Brazil story after this update? Does the match footage settle it, or do you still believe Punk’s version? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Please credit Ringside News if you use the above transcript in your publication.
