CM Punk is one of the more extensively tattooed Superstars in WWE history. But the Pepsi logo inked on his left shoulder has never drawn a shortage of questions.
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However, Bruce Prichard, a former WWE backstage official and current co-host of the WWE Network Show Something Else to Wrestle, happens to know the origin of Punk’s wish to be branded with a Pepsi stamp.
“He really liked tattoos. He got into tattoos and what have you,” Prichard said. “There’s a story of the big Pepsi tattoo where he was reading an article about one of his favorite music stars, who got a Coca-Cola tattoo because they liked Coke. And he says, ‘Well, you know what? I like Pepsi so I’m going to get a Pepsi logo on my arm,’” he recalled.
Prichard noted that Punk has an eccentric personality and his motivations are simply different than most people’s.
“CM Punk’s a different cat, he’s a different type of person that goes along life to the beat of his own drum, and he has a very, really simplistic way of looking at things. People a lot of times want to complicate it. It’s not that hard – he doesn’t drink, he doesn’t do drugs, and he wants to do things his way, and be the best. It all boils down to that simple of a philosophy,” he said.
This all comes back to Punk’s straight-edged creed, something Prichard says stems from his childhood.
“CM Punk, growing up his father was an alcoholic and Punk did not get along, did not have a good relationship with his father growing up, and hated… everything around him is in disarray and he credited that to his father being an alcoholic,” Prichard said.
This provided ample motivation for Punk to adopt such a clean lifestyle.
“Punk swore that he wasn’t going to let that affect him and that’s where he really adopted the straight-edge… which is, you don’t drink, you don’t do drugs and you live your life on your terms and your rules, but you don’t need any strenuous substances in your body,” explained Prichard.
WWE fans will remember that Punk would use his straightedge commitment on WWE camera’s when he became the figurehead of the Straight Edge Society. Even though the idea of being clean and sober is inherently a positive trait, Punk turned it into a self-righteous faction that easily triggered anyone who’d ever enjoyed a sip of beer.
[H/T Wrestling Inc.]