Bruce Prichard Details Why CM Punk's 2008 Money In The Bank Cash-In Was Controversial Within WWE

CM Punk became just the third man to cash-in his Money in the Bank briefcase on the June 30, 2008 episode of Raw.

The Straight-Edge Superstar took advantage of a Batista beatdown on Edge to win the World Heavyweight Title for the first time. According to backstage mainstay Bruce Prichard, the decision was controversial within WWE.

Discussing the cash-in on a recent edition of his Something to Wrestle podcast, Prichard said:

"Very controversial (CM Punk cashing in Money in the Bank on Edge). It was controversial because I don't think that Punk had a lot of people in the locker room that were really pro-Punk. He's a polarising figure. I thought, if he's that polarising in the locker room then, what's the general audience feel about him? And I really felt the general audience was intrigued. He was different and there was something about Punk, especially at that time…it was a groundswell. People were getting behind him. I thought then, I think now, later on when he did the whole X Division, I thought that he was a much better heel, a natural heel. 

"The idea at the time was for him to eventually turn heel. The way that they did it, that was after I was gone, I thought was superb. I thought it was really good for him but again, in an effort to shake things up, you wanna see surprise on people's faces? You wanna see genuine reactions? Have a camera backstage when Punk won the title. There were those that were like, 'What the hell are you doing?'. There were those who were happy for him and again, it was a moment that no one was going to call, and I thought it was a good one. 

"Hopefully, if you listen to the beginning of this show, you heard me talk about and praise CM Punk and talk about how he was misunderstood and how people felt about him and the fact that I thought that we just needed to explain who the hell he was…and people have a habit of you look at somebody and immediately form an opinion of who they are by the way they look and you can’t do that. That just doesn't work in life, and I think Punk was a victim of that…The interactions that I had with Punk during that time were all good and we had great discussions. Look man, we had philosophical differences at times that we were able to talk out and that's why I learned so much about him and figured out that, wait a minute, this guy's just misunderstood".

Punk would repeat the cash-in a year later in the climax of Extreme Rules 2009, this time on Jeff Hardy (who had just won the World Heavyweight Title from Edge in a Ladder Match).

H/T POST Wrestling

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