CM Punk Doubts Wrestling Will Ever Unionise Because Talent Are "Stupid & Selfish”
CM Punk not hopeful of a wrestler’s union materialising
To some in the wrestling industry ‘unionisation’ is a dirty word, with many wrestlers in the past being blackballed and ostracised for supporting a union of any sorts.
With the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike in the United States, and various union led strikes across various industries in the UK, the discussion around unions is very much at the fore, and when asked about that seemingly ‘forbidden’ wrestler’s union, CM Punk gave his thoughts to 670 The Score in Chicago:
"For professional wrestling, yeah, wrestlers should 100% have a union. I’ll always say this, and I mean it in the most loving way; wrestlers will never unionise because wrestlers are stupid and selfish. That’s just the way it is. There is always going to be somebody else around the corner that wants what you have or possibly doesn’t want you to have what you have and they will do whatever the promoter wants you to do for less money. That’s unfortunate. The boys never stick together,” said Punk.
As to why he doesn’t see wrestlers banding together to unionise, Punk theorised it’s due to a lack of job security in the industry and not wanting to ‘rock the boat’:
"I think it’s a lack of places to work. It’s really a wage gap disparity, it’s a class war. When your boss is a billionaire and you don’t want to rock the boat - this isn’t in wrestling, this applies to anything. More often than not, people will want to keep their head down, not get in trouble, and just go about their day. For better or worse, people have mouths to feed. There are people with kids, families, taking care of other people, and they can’t afford to lose their job. Fortunately, for me, I’ve never been that guy. I’m always like, ‘I don’t need the money. This is wrong and I get to tell people it’s wrong.’ I don’t think the platform I have is worth anything if I don’t speak from the heart about issues that I feel are important,” said Punk.
Ultimately for Punk, wrestlers are just never going to band together:
"I have researched. Probably not as extensively as I should if I was going to act on this. I’m just me. There is strength in numbers. If it were to ever happen, just like it happened any other time people have risen up and created a union or strived for better working conditions for workers, it has to be a group of people. People have to stick together, and wrestlers are just never going to stick together. It’s sad,” said Punk.
H/T: Fightful
