CM Punk speaks about Jerry Lawler and The Undertaker

The Nerdist had a 90 minute interview with CM Punk, and the WWE Champion showed some poor character as he explained about Jerry Lawler’s heart attack and talked about whether it was a planned one. He also spoke on the evolution of a wrestler in the WWE and about The Undertaker‘s longevity.

Jerry Lawler’s heart attack and if it was exploited:

“Lawler ran Memphis for years and years and years. If this was still Memphis, if we weren’t PG, I would have been claiming I killed Jerry Lawler with a heart punch. He would have been all over that and we would have built for some big CM Punk – Jerry Lawler cage match or something like that.

“People nowadays think that we exploited the heart attack. Yeah, of course we did, look [at] what we do.”

What the line is for what’s acceptable in a storyline:

“That was a serious deal, I mean the guy did have a heart attack at ringside doing commentary right after I got done wrestling him… Everybody thought that was it, that was the last we were going to see of him. If it was a planned thing, I don’t think anything’s too silly. I think that if you don’t plan on going too far in a lot of ways in life, then you’re not going to go far.”

If you have to keep turning heel and babyface to stay fresh:

“You have to evolve, it’s just evolution of your character. I don’t think there’s been anybody who’s been on TV doing the same thing for a sustainable amount of years. I think the average career in WWE is like three years maybe? There’s a big turnaround.

“The guys who I think make it to the top and stay there are the ones who constantly evolve their character, and it’s not necessarily flipping from good to bad. There’s just changes, you know what I mean? The perfect example would be a guy like The Undertaker. He was like this total cartoon character when he started, he was essentially a zombie, that was the whole reason why I thought he was cool. He’s been here for over 20 years, he couldn’t have been that same guy that debuted in 1991 or whatever for 20 years. He evolved… You gotta evolve.”