On Sunday, April 7th, titans collide at WrestleMania 29 as CM Punk takes on The Undertaker with hopes of breaking the Dead Man's prized 'Mania streak, sullying the record and making him 20-1. Also featured on the card is John Cena vs. The Rock, Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar and Team Hell No vs. Dolph Ziggler and Big E. Langston.
But over the past four or five years, the main attraction that's put everyone on the edges of their seats is Taker's streak. Would he make it to 20? That was the question. The question these days is, is Taker beatable now that he's already reached the perfect Blu-ray/DVD set number of 20-0? Was that the real achievement all along?
I had a chance to speak to CM Punk, the man who recently held the WWE Championship for the longest reign in 25 years, about his upcoming match with The Undertaker, offending fans with his "edgy" promo segments, and his love for The Walking Dead comics and TV series.
After two bouts with HBK and two with Triple H, is it even possible to have an Undertaker WrestleMania match these days unless there's a strong chance that Taker could do down and the streak could be broken? "I don't know, that's a tough question to answer," Punk answered. "I mean, does anybody really think they have to break the streak? It's one of those things. The streak is this monumental thing and I think everybody has these feelings of not wanting to see it broken, so therefore it should never be broken. But once that bell rings I don't have a boss and nobody can tell me what to do. The guy who beats the streak is gonna go down as a legend. If I broke the streak, I'd be a legend. So it's up to me to do everything I can to break it."
Punk, as always, puts more pressure on himself than an outsider ever could. "I expect the best from myself, no more no less," he said. "I don't know what anybody else expects from this match given [Undertaker's] year away from the ring and possibly his physical condition. Or the fact that I don't have a Hell in a Cell or all these different kinds of stipulations, like No Disqualification, to work with. But I like it when they handcuff me."
"I always seem to find a way to make it the best that it can be, given the circumstances," he continued. "I don't think I can look at it like 'Oh, this has to be better than other matches Undertaker's done.' To me this match is going to be what it has to be. It's part of a story, you know. So I don't look at those other matches. It's really a different beast. I'm making him angry. It's not just 'I'm going to break your streak.' I'm trying to piss the guy off and I want him to try and kill me. So it's a completely different animal than the last couple matches he's had at 'Mania."
CM Punk, 'borrowing' Undertaker's urn.
Over the years at IGN, I've spoken to more than a few WWE Superstars before WrestleMania, but no one who's had Undertaker as an opponent. Invariably I've asked them "What would be your dream WrestleMania match?" and they'd all say a match with The Undertaker. But would Punk say the same thing? Is Undertaker Punk's dream 'Mania opponent? "You know, probably not," he revealed. "To be honest. I mean, I probably would have said, hell, at this point, John Cena. You know what I mean? Or, of course, Stone Cold Steve Austin. He's always been my answer to that question over the last two years."
Punk has found himself at the center of a couple "controversial" moments over the past few months; first with his in-ring mocking of Jerry Lawler's heart attack and then again a few weeks back when he crashed a memorial segment for the late Paul Bearer. But to Punk, there is no line. "I'm the bad guy, they're supposed to hate me," he said. "I don't think there is a line, and if there is it's my job to jump over it." Despite his nefarious actions though, the man does have a strong, passionate fanbase. But he couldn't really tell you who they were. "Oh, I don't know. There's such a wide demographic who watches the WWE," he said. "And everybody's into something different. I think you could split my fans up just like any other guy's fans. Some of them are cool and some of them are obnoxious. But it's the variety that makes it great."
Punk, a longtime fan of Robert Kirkman's Walking Dead comic series, appeared on AMC's The Talking Dead a few months ago to talk about the TV series. And with the season finale coming up this weekend, he offered up his take on Season 3. "I think it's blown Season 1 and 2 out of the water, you know," he said. "I think Seasons 1 and 2 had too many moments that felt slow and lacked character development. This one seems like a huge improvement over the first two, as if everything was just leading up to now."
Punk's also not someone who hates the changes they've made in the transition from comic to TV series. "It's keeps me on my feet," he shared. "It keeps me watching. Although I can anticipate certain things, it's not identical. It keeps me interested." Yes, for CM Punk, gone are the days of bitching about things not being the same as in the comics.
"I have to keep an open mind nowadays," he laughed. "I think as I get older, I'm more open to it all. And all of the movies now. Because it's really just the writer and the director's interpretation of what they think a story or a character is. Something I'm completely not open to is remaking movies. Like recently, the new Red Dawn. For some reason I decided to watch the remake and it was possibly the worst movie I've ever seen in my life."
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