CM Punk recalls guns aimed at him during Jericho Brazil incident

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CM Punk has been absent from WWE programming for about two months now, but he made a Thursday (June 25) appearance on a podcast, where he mostly discussed soccer. However, he did go into detail about a notorious WWE incident in 2012 that resulted in machine guns being aimed at him and Chris Jericho. Punk shared the story on The Last Run, a podcast hosted by former NFL star Chad Ochocinco and former soccer player Raheem Taylor-Parkes. Much of the interview centered on the FIFA World Cup, as well as Punk talking about his loyalty for The Celtic Football Club of Scottish football. (The Second City Saint roots for the team because he’s half Irish, and he noted that added to his feud with Drew McIntyre, who favors the Celts’ rival, the Rangers.) Eventually, they got to some wrestling talk when Taylor-Parkes asked Punk if he had ever experienced “a moment in the ring where you had to maneuver out of it in an unconventional way?” “I had machine guns pointed at me,” Punk answered, prompting surprise from the hosts. He continued: “You mentioned Brazil. The company [WWE] 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, he rolled out of the ring and snatched a Brazilian flag from somebody…Brazil don’t play. In America, you get people who will get bent out of shape, but there’s no law against it. People burning flags, doing whatever, right? Freedom of speech.” The incident he was referring to occurred in 2012 during a match against Chris Jericho. At one point, Jericho exited the ring and snatched a Brazilian flag from a ringside fan. He proceeded to crumple up the flag and stomped on it. His actions caused an uproar among fans in the country, and he later had to issue a public apology. WWE ended up suspending Jericho for 30 days, and the incident garnered international headlines. As Punk recounted on The Last Run (while never referring to Jericho by name): “He rolled in the ring. I’m down looking at him going, ‘Hmm, maybe no.’ I can’t remember exactly if he just threw it down and stepped on it, or if he maybe wiped his butt with it.” The former World Heavyweight Champion mentioned that Shawn Michaels once did something similar to a Canadian flag, but said Brazilians respect their flag on a different level. “The instant this happened, all of a sudden there’s a second referee in the ring, and I’m going, ‘What’s going on?’ One referee is talking to him, the other referee is talking to me, trying to relay the information,” Punk said. “Then our head of talent relations is in the ring. This all happens lickety-split. “I’m looking around like, ‘Okay,’ and then I turn, and I look, and the ring is surrounded by men in fatigues and one has his gun pointed directly at me,” he said. “You’re not even a threat, though,” Ochocinco interjected. “No, but they were offended,” Punk responded. “I had my extra referee and my head of talent relations like, ‘This match is over, like we got to wrap this up.’ Homeboy [Jericho] 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.” Punk said he next tried to do some damage control by kissing the Brazilian flag in the ring after his victory. As for Jericho, Punk said “they tried to snatch the dude up, grab his passport. We knew if he handed his passport over, he wasn’t coming home. So, by the cover of night, we got him out of there, and then we continued on the tour, and he went home.” What do you think about Punk’s wild story? Let us know in the comments.