CM Punk - Professional Wrestler, Career and Childhood

CM Punk was born was Philip Jack Brooks on October 26, 1978 in Chicago, Illinois to an engineer father and a homemaker mother. He was one of the five children of the couple. Brooks was raised near Lockport in Illinois. Academically, Brooks attended Lockport Township High School.

Interestingly, Brooks venture into wrestling came in almost unexpected fashion. Along with his friends and brother Mike Brooks, he made his stint in backyard wrestling federation called Lunatic Wrestling Federation in mid 1990s. While his friends thought of it as a fun activity, Brooks seriously thought of it as a career option.

Brooks first used the ring name, CM Punk, when he was put into a tag team named The Chick Magnets, with CM Venom , after another performer skipped out on the card. The name stayed with him for the rest of his life and gave him an individuality of his own.

CM Punk left the federation soon after and instead enrolled as a student at the ‘Steel Dominion’ wrestling school in Chicago. He trained to become a professional wrestler. There, he befriended Scott Colton aka Colt Cabana. Punk spent much of his early life fighting both as opponents and tag team partners with Colt Cabana.

Early in his career, Punk fought from the Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South (IWA Mid-South). Slowly, he rose at the top of the roster winning the IWA Mid-South Light Heavyweight Championship title twice and the IWA Mid-South Heavyweight Championship five times, non-consecutively.

He joined the Ring of Honor (ROH) in 2002. His days in ROH were mostly popular for his feud with Raven that gained utmost limelight. The rivalry between the two heightened so much so that it became one of the top feuds of the year.

Simultaneously with ROH, Punk joined the wrestling promotion NWA: Total Nonstop Action (TNA). During this time, he won the ROH Tag Team Championship together with Cabana. He performed for ROH and TNA until 2005 after which he signed a deal with Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW), World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) developmental territory.

In OVW, Punk’s big success came with his win as the OVW Television Champion. Following this, he won the OVW Heavyweight Championship once, the OVW Southern Tag Team Championship along with Seth Skyfire and Second OVW Triple Crown Champion. After he lost the OVW Heavyweight Championship to Chet Jablonski, Punk was removed from the OVW roster and brought up to the WWE roster instead.

In June 2006, Punk made his debut in ECW Championship. He started with a six-month unbeaten streak at ECW which finally ended when he lost a fight to Hardcore Holly. During the ECW Championship tournament, Punk made several tryst to win the title but every time lost to Johnny Nitro aka John Morrison. He finally defeated Morrison to earn an ECW Championship title on September 1, 2007. He successfully defended his title thrice before losing it to Chavo Guerrero.

On June 23, Punk was drafted to the Raw brand during the 2008 WWE draft. He gained an early breakthrough and won the World Heavyweight Championship title. He successfully defended his title until September 7, when he was attacked by The Legacy during which he suffered from punting in the head. His title was forfeited as he could not participate in the match. Chris Jericho succeeded him.

On June 23, Punk was drafted to the Raw brand during the 2008 WWE draft. He gained an early breakthrough and won the World Heavyweight Championship title. He successfully defended his title until September 7, when he was attacked by The Legacy during which he suffered from punting in the head. His title was forfeited as he could not participate in the match. Chris Jericho succeeded him.

On January 19, 2009, Punk became defeated Stephanie McMahon to become the 19 Triple Crown Champion. At WrestleMania XXV, he won the Money in the Bank ladder match and became the first person to win the match twice.

He retained the World Heavyweight Championship title by defeating The Undertaker in a submission match. However, not the one to submit early on, Undertaker took away the title from Punk in a Hell in a Cell match.

He retained the World Heavyweight Championship title by defeating The Undertaker in a submission match. However, not the one to submit early on, Undertaker took away the title from Punk in a Hell in a Cell match.

In June 2011, Punk was reinstated by the WWE. Two weeks later, he defeated John Cena to become the WWE Champion. However, he lost the title minutes later to Alberto Del Rio, who had cashed in his Money in the Bank contract after Kevin Nash attacked Punk.

On October 31, 2011, Punk finally won a match against Del Rio at Survivor Series, thus regaining the WWE Championship at the event. He successfully defended the title through the end of the year before being defeated by Dolph Ziggler on December 26 in a gauntlet match.

In the following months, a series of high-end drama followed. Punk’s retaining his WWE Championship title from Mark Henry, Jericho dousing him with alcohol but ultimately losing to Punk, Punk’s rivalry with Daniel Bryan and John Cena, his match with Cena which he won and so on.

On December 5, 2012, Punk became the longest reigning WWE Champion in the past 25 years, hitting 381 days, surpassing John Cena's record reign of 380 days. On January 27, 2013, he failed to defend the WWE Championship title against The Rock thus putting an end to his 434 days reign.

In March 2013, Punk aimed at overthrowing Undertaker from the latter’s undefeated Wrestlemania streak but instead lost to him on April 7, 2013.

Punk’s exit from the world wrestling forum was as dramatic as his active years in it. Without notice, he did not appear on a couple of episodes of Raw following which he was removed from the promotional videos. It was on July 15, 2014 that WWE.com officially removed Punk from the active roster to the alumni page. Later next month, Punk thanked his fans but broke their hearts with the message that he would never return to wrestling.

After retiring from professional wrestling in 2014, Punk pursued a career in mixed martial arts and was signed by the UFC in December. His first professional fight took place on September 10, 2016, at UFC 203 against Mickey Gall, where he lost via submission in the first round.

Punk married April Mendez aka AJ Lee on June 13, 2014.

Punk is an atheist. He is an avid reader as well. He is also a dedicated fan of Chicago Blackhawks and Chicago Cubs.