WWE News: Former WWE Superstar Claims WWE Used Plants In The Crowd To Cheer For CM Punk
Former WWE Superstar CM Punk may be a big star today, but that was not always the case. Today Punk may be involved in the world of MMA under the UFC banner, but before all of this he was known as a backyard wrestler when he was younger. He got so good that eventually he and his friends owned a mini-promotion in Chicago, Illinois. He and his friends were not liked by local performers who claimed they were untrained, so they would go out and get trained and jump into the world of pro-wrestling officially.
CM Punk then made it on the independent scene where many hone their craft before they get signed by major companies like the WWE. Ring of Honor popped up around the time ECW and WCW ended, which made it an easy place to look to in the northeast where many could get seen by the likes of the WWE. The idea of ROH was to bring all the best independent workers into one place, and they really managed to do well there.
Not only would they sign people like CM Punk, but they would also bring in people you may know now such as Luke Harper, Cesaro, Daniel Bryan, Austin Aries, Chris Daniels, AJ Styles, Homicide, Seth Rollins, and various others. TNA Wrestling would manage to make a partnership with ROH where many of the performers from ROH would appear on TNA television. Punk was among those featured at one point.
All of this got him noticed by the WWE, but the thing is, wrestling wasn’t like it is today. Now we have a lot of access to independent wrestling, so we get to see a lot of the best performers. Over a decade ago, that was not the case. The only people who would truly know independent workers well were the ones who lived close to where those people performed. Those people would talk and scouts from the WWE would get word on those people, which would obviously make the scouts take notice and check them out. Most of the time, independent wrestlers were overlooked by WWE who would rather sign people who were already on television or those they could make themselves….which they had done for years with great success.
However, with no ECW or WCW to choose from, guys like CM Punk were obviously out there but not nearly as noticed as he would be today. Today, we could see him almost from his first match. Now we only see highlights of his career from his best material. So much has changed in the decade since he was hired, which is good. All of this said, CM Punk was a star on the independent scene but not nearly like one would be today from there.
With this being known, something surprising to some was said to have happened. According to former WWE Superstar Renee Dupree WWE added plants to the audience to cheer for CM Punk on TV tapings, he claimed in an interview with The Hannibal TV.
“Yeah. They would do chants, and then it’s like a ripple effect. They hear chants, chants, chants and then try and get the people up. CM Punk or ECW shirts, I’d see like three or four guys scattered around the arena. And I was like ‘wow’, but I guess if you really want to get somebody over.”
Now this is not a first time thing, especially for performers WWE likes. CM Punk was coming in to the WWE around the time Renee was leaving, so he very well could have come across plants for Punk. WWE has been known to use plants in the audience as a way to bring realism into play and use fans in order to make it seem like WWE stars are taking things to a different level. WWE has also been known for putting people in the audience in the past. That said, it would not be shocking if Renee was telling the truth regarding CM Punk.
At least initially, he had to build a following. What better way to help him get over with the live crowd than to have people cheer for him? Often times, chants can start from just a few people…as many are sheep and tend to follow what’s going on around them. It is a common practice on various wrestling programs to see chants occur. A lot of the time this catches on and certain stars can get over due to what WWE did then, which makes the people at home take notice. Therefore if CM Punk had this happen to him at the beginning of his WWE career, it would not shock those who know the wrestling business well.
Obviously CM Punk mostly got over on his own, as WWE pretty much didn’t put him in the top of the card a lot until his first WWE World Title run. He also never lost his first World Title officially and never got a rematch. The second run was much better for him, but eventually Punk was over with fans even as a heel but WWE didn’t take notice. It wasn’t until he was close to leaving n 2011 that fans really had no choice but to take notice of Punk. WWE also had to and the rest was history. However, before all of this WWE did likely have to help Punk get cheers weirdly enough.
[Featured image by WWE]
