While many today know CM Punk as a mixed martial artist and comic book author, he was a former professional wrestler whose winning streak and style of play as well as his storyline thrilled fans. He is recognized in the WWE as one of the longest-serving WWE champions of all time, with a record 434 days.
CM Punk Bio – Age
The former professional wrestler was born Phillips Jack Brooks on October 26, 1978, in Chicago, Illinois, but grew up in nearby Lockport, Illinois. Phillips was one of five children born to the father of an engineer and the mother of a housewife. He attended Lockport Township High School.
His father’s struggle with alcoholism inspired him to become Straight Edge from an early age – basically a subculture of hardcore punk whose followers abstain from the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and other recreational drugs. He carries the ring name CM Punk, by which he is popularly known.
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Wrestling Career
What began as magic in a backyard wrestling program that became known in the 1990s with his brother Mike and friends as the Lunatic Wrestling Federation, eventually became the art in which he became famous. While the others considered wrestling to be simple fun, CM Punk really wanted to be a wrestler. He then left the Federation and enrolled at the Steel Dominion Wrestling School in Chicago where he was trained as a professional wrestler.
His productive victories began in his early days. During his promotion for his early career with the Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South (IWA Mid-South), Punk had high-profile feuds with Colt Cabana and Chris Hero and rose to the top of the list. He won the IWA Mid-South Light Heavyweight Championship twice and the IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship five times before leaving the promotion in July 2005.
During a break from IWA between July 2003 and May 2004, he was hired by the promotion to Ring of Honor (ROH). He also joined the wrestling promotion NWA: Total Nonstop Action, later known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). In no time he climbed the ranks of the ROH and won both individually and in tag teams (twice), mostly with his friend Colt Cabana. His last scheduled match in ROH was against Colt on August 13, 2005, which he lost.
WWE
In September 2005 he was assigned to a WWE development area, the Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), and made his debut on September 8 and his OVW television debut on September 26. After beating Ken Doane on November 9, he became an OVW television champion. Punk was removed from the OVW list after he lost the championship, resulting in his full-time inclusion in the WWE list.
On 24 June 2006, he made his debut at ECW where he defeated Stevie Richards. He quickly established himself in ECW by remaining undefeated after defeating opponents such as Christopher W. Anderson, Stevie Richards, and Shannon Moore in a series of 6 months until he was beaten by Hardcore Holly on January 6, 2007. In September 2007, however, he won his first ECW Championship title after defeating defending champion John Morris and ruled for 143 days after successfully defending his title in a series of fights and finally losing to Chavo Guerrero.
Between 2008 and 2009 he won the Money in the Bank Ladder Match twice, was drafted to the Raw mark during the 2008 WWE Draft, won the World Tag Team Championship with Kofi Kingston, became 19th WWE Triple Crown Champion and the fastest man to pull off this feat was drafted to the SmackDown during the 2009 WWE Draft in April and won the World Heavyweight Championship against Jeff Hardy.
Punk formed the Straight Edge Society in November 2009 and presented himself to the crowd as a cult-like savior, with hair on his head, face, and chest growing in allusion to Jesus. His converts also include members of the audience, wrestling colleagues like Luke Gallows, Serena, and Joey Mercury. The group didn’t last long, as it ended in September 2010, and later he joined the rogue stable The Nexus from 2010 to 2011.
He was considered by many to be the best in the world. Punk held one of the longest WWE championship titles in history with 434 days until June 2018, after Universal Champion Brock Lesnar broke the record. He was also named Wrestler of the Year 2011 and 2012 by Pro Wrestling Illustrated.
CM Punk left WWE in January 2014 citing burnout and differences between him and WWE over his creative direction. The walkout earned him a two-month suspension and eventually he was fired on his wedding day.
Professional MMA Career
CM Punk signed a contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in December 2014, after he was eliminated from the WWE earlier this year. He made his professional debut against Mickey Gall in UFC 203 on 10 September 2016 but was defeated in the first round by submission.
He made his second professional debut on 9 June 2018 at UFC 225 in Chicago against Mike Jackson, where he lost unanimously. After the fight, UFC President Dana White said that punk would probably not fight for the company anymore.
CM Punk Wife – AJ Lee
CM Punk is married to AJ Lee, a retired professional wrestler who is best known for her time with WWE. The duo began their love affair in the WWE, where they were first involved in a story, becoming engaged within two years and finally tying the knot on June 13, 2014.
AJ Lee was born in April Jeanette Mendez on March 19, 1987, as the youngest of three children. She was born in New Jersey, where she began her wrestling career in 2007 and was signed by the WWE in 2009. During her time in the WWE’s development branch, Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW), she became the first woman to win the title of Queen of FCW and the FCW Divas Championship, both titles available to FCW wrestlers.
From 2012, when she was signed to the main roaster, to 2015, when she retired from her performances in the ring, Mendez won her first WWE Divas Championship in June 2013, became three-time Divas Champion with record binding, held the title for a total record of 406 days, won the Slammy Award as Diva of the Year in 2012 and 2014. She was also voted Woman of the Year from 2012 to 2014 by the readers of Pro Wrestling Illustrated.
AJ Lee, who considered herself a tomboy, is interested in comic books (as is her husband, who also writes the genre), anime, and video games. She is also an author and advocate of animal welfare and mental health awareness (she is pursuing a career as an animal rights activist). Her memoir “Crazy Is My Superpower: How I Triumphed by Breaking Bones, Breaking Hearts, and Breaking the Rules” was published on April 4, 2017, and became a New York Times bestseller.
The couple spends time in Chicago, Illinois, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
CM Punk Writing Career
Phillips Brooks was interested in comics at a very early age and has also written such books. He reads and collects as a hobby and once worked for a store, All American Comics, and names Preacher as his favorite comic.
He has written a number of articles on the subject, including the introduction for the hardcover edition of Marvel Comics’ crossover event Avengers vs. X-Men 2012, an occasion he described as a “geek dream come true. He also wrote a preface for Natalie Slater’s cookbook Bake and Destroy Good Food for Bad Vegans.
CM Punk has also co-written a number of comic books. One of them is Marvel Comics’ Thor Annual #1 (2015), the others include The Most Cursed, which appeared in May 2015 in Vertigo Comics’ Strange Sports Stories #3, Marvel Comics’ Drax series, which ran eleven editions from November 4, 2015, to September 28, 2016, and his One-Shot of Marvel’s Master of Kung Fu, which was released in November 2017.
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Net Worth
The former WWE champion has amassed an enormous income through his years in the wrestling arena. His other ventures have also contributed greatly to his wallet. His net worth is estimated at 8.5 million dollars.
CM Punk’s Height and Other Facts
The wrestling legend has a huge frame that is 1.88 m (6 feet 2 inches) high. His body weight is 99 kg (218 lb).
CM Punk is an atheist and identifies himself politically as liberal.
He supports LGBT rights and same-sex marriage.
He was awarded the Superstar of the Year Slammy Award 2011.
His initials “CM” originally stand for the name of the tag team he was part of as a backyard wrestler, Chick Magnet.
He has a range of body colors that are an integral part of him, some of which have been incorporated into his character. These include a Pepsi Globe logo that emphasizes his straightforward posture, the words “Straight Edge” on his stomach, which he refers to as his identity, and his younger sister’s jersey number (31) behind his left ear, surrounded by stars, each representing his siblings, as a way of bonding away from home.