CM Punk supports a wrestling union but does not see it becoming a reality.
Former WWE superstar Jesse Ventura previously attempted to form a wrestling union and explained why wrestlers should not be classified as independent contractors when they sign a contract with a promotion that prevents them from working elsewhere. Hulk Hogan, however, tipped off Vince McMahon, effectively ending the attempt.
Punk was on 670 The Score in Chicago talking about the ongoing Hollywood strike and how he believes there will never be a union in wrestling.
“For professional wrestling. Yeah. Wrestlers should 100% have a union. Like grip hasn’t been able to supplement their income in any other way. For professional wrestling. Yeah, wrestlers should 100% have a union. And I’ll always say this and I mean it in the most loving way. Wrestlers will never unionize because wrestlers are stupid and selfish. It’s just the way it is. There’s always going to be somebody else around the corner who wants what you have or possibly just doesn’t want you to have what you have. And they will do whatever a promoter wants you to do for less money. And that’s unfortunate. You know, the boys never stick together. One of the reasons why I love hockey so much is because I feel like hockey is a microcosm of life. You know, you take Corey Perry, for example. Corey Perry is a guy who I never would have cheered for in my life if Corey Perry got laid out on the ice with a big hit, you know, and wasn’t injured or anything like that. I’m not; I don’t wish injury on anybody. But, if you got knocked on his butt on the ice, I would cheer. Now he’s on my team right? And so now I’m like, okay, great. You know, now I get to cheer for this guy. But if he’s not on your team, you don’t like the dude.
But there’s still a brotherhood in the hockey locker room. And everybody here in Chicago has embraced Corey Perry. We know what he can do. We’ve seen what he can do on the ice already. I think he’s got at least 1 or 2 goals already. So there’s that. There’s a player’s union. Players look out for each other. Even more recently, the NHL is trying to ban players using rainbow-colored tape on their sticks to support a community that often bullied and harassed and the players came together and they’re like, no.
I think it’s a lack of places to work. And it’s really like a wage gap disparity thing. It’s like a class war when your boss is a billionaire, and you don’t want to rock the boat, so to speak. And this isn’t in wrestling. I think this can be applied to anything more often than not. People will just want to keep their heads down, not get in trouble, and just kind of go about their day. And because, for better or for worse, a lot of people have mouths to feed. There’s people with kids, there’s people with families. They’re taking care of other people and they can’t afford to lose their job. Fortunately for me, I’ve never been that guy. I’m always just kind of like, yeah, I don’t need I don’t need the money. So this is wrong. And I get to tell people it’s wrong. I don’t think the platform that I have is worth anything. If I don’t speak from the heart about issues that I feel are important, you know?”
Punk was asked if he had looked into how wrestlers could form a union:
“I have researched, probably not as extensively as I should if I was actually going to act on this. I’m just me. You know, there’s strength in numbers. And if it were to ever happen, just like it’s happened when any other time, people have risen up and created a union or strive for better working conditions for workers. It has. It has to be a group of people. People have to stick together. And wrestler wrestlers are just never, ever going to stick together.”
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
