CM Punk discusses 2002 skull fracture and its aftermath
Cageside Seats • 3 min read • Latest: Sep 15, 2026, 8:42 PM
Last updated Sep 15, 2026

CM Punk, during a recent appearance on Hot Ones: Extra Heat, spoke about the long-term effects of a skull fracture he suffered in 2002. The injury occurred during a match in JCW's Jersey J-Cup tournament, causing him to develop severe vertigo. Punk explained that the injury has resulted in ongoing issues that can affect his performance in the ring, noting that he sometimes experiences dizziness while competing. He jokingly attributed a recent botched move to his vertigo. While he has not frequently discussed this condition, Punk's insights shed light on the hidden challenges athletes face due to serious injuries.
- •CM Punk sustained a skull fracture in 2002.
- •The injury led to chronic vertigo issues.
- •Punk faces dizziness while performing in matches.
- •He humorously linked a recent botched move to his condition.
- •Punk has rarely spoken about his vertigo struggles.
- 8:42 PMCageside Seats — CM Punk still deals with effects of 2002 skull fracture, in and out of the ring
"He may be picking himself back up like a good babyface right now, but before that CM Punk was doing another part of his current job as one of WWE’s primary spokespeople. He made a return visit to eat spicy wings with Sean Evans in a Hot Ones: Extra Heat special for Netflix. Evans asked the once again-former WWE champ about injuries, and Punk went back almost 25 years to a quarterfinal loss to Reckless Youth in JCW’s Jersey J-Cup tournament. Punk was out for several months after fracturing his skull in that 2002 match, but he says that was just the start of his issues stemming from that injury. “I fractured my skull once. This is the one that reoccurs every once in a while, because after I fractured my skull, I developed vertigo really bad. [It’s] one I haven’t really talked about too much, but what happened was I fractured my skull, and there are some bones in your inner ear to help with equilibrium and those kind of basically were like dice inside a cup and got rattled around and thrown around. “So, sometimes those still get knocked loose, and if I lay down and look straight up, the world spins. So there’s been a lot of matches that you see that you know a lot of people are impressed with, where I’m full on going through a bout of vertigo and I don’t know what’s going on.” I have several family members that deal with vertigo on and off, and Punk’s description of its cause is accurate. Watching folks do the exercises required to get their ear bones back into proper alignment sometime looks funny, but both vertigo and the treatment for vertigo involve serious dizziness and disorientation and all the other side effects that can come from those things. It’s nasty business. It’s also one Punk’s now going to blame for his iffy execution of a move (that he just botched last month at SummerSlam)… View this post on Instagram “I will also now blame the crookedness of my moonsault of my vertigo,” Punk told Evans.
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