CM Punk’s ex-girlfriend is responsible for his “Straight Edge” persona.
“The Best in the World” recently spoke with Sports Illustrated for an interview, during which he credited his ex-girlfriend Natalie Slater for his decision to lean into his “Straight Edge” lifestyle as a heel character early in his pro wrestling career.
“I had not done this straight edge gimmick yet,” he said. “I was racking my brain to come up with a great idea, and I remember my girlfriend at the time, Natalie Slater, who is still to this day a great friend of mine, pointed out the pot of gold was right under my nose.”
Punk continued, “She was like, ‘Why don’t you just be you? Why don’t you just be straight edge?’ All credit to her. That’s where it was born.”
He also spoke about his decision to lean back into the persona for his AEW run, and explained why he puts the X on the tape on his wrists.
“That’s why I tape my wrists, that’s why I X-up my hands, and that’s where ‘Straight edge means I’m better than you’ comes from,” he said. “Looking back on it now, there’s a lot of people I currently work with who are not only wrestlers because of me–their words–they’re straight edge because of me. It’s time to go back to that. Look how powerful it is. That’s a nice itch I get to scratch now.”
Check out the complete interview at SI.com.
