CM Punk

Phillip Jack Brooks (born October 26, 1978), better known by his ring name CM Punk, is an American professional wrestler and actor. As of November 2023, he is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand. Regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he is known for his outspoken and confrontational straight edge persona, which is based on his real-life experiences. His 434-day reign as WWE Champion is the 10th-longest world title reign in the company's history.^[a]

Brooks began his wrestling career on the independent circuit in 1997. He signed with Ring of Honor (ROH) in 2002, where he won the ROH World Championship once and was one of the inaugural inductees into the ROH Hall of Fame. Brooks signed with WWE in 2005 and during his first run with the company, he became a six-time world champion, winning the WWE Championship twice, the World Heavyweight Championship (2002–2013 version) three times, and the ECW World Heavyweight Championship once, and he also won the Intercontinental Championship and WWE's original World Tag Team Championship once each. He also won the Money in the Bank ladder match in 2008 and 2009, making him its only back-to-back winner. He was named Superstar of the Year at the 2011 Slammy Awards and was voted PWI Wrestler of the Year in 2011 and 2012. After acrimoniously leaving WWE in 2014, Brooks took a seven-year retirement from wrestling. He returned in August 2021 when he joined All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he won the AEW World Championship twice, but was fired in September 2023 after backstage controversies. He returned to WWE two months later and has since headlined multiple major pay-per-view and livestreaming events, including WrestleMania 41 – Night 1, as well as winning WWE's newer World Heavyweight Championship (introduced in 2023) once, making him thus far the first and only wrestler to have held both versions of the title.

Outside of wrestling, Brooks pursued a career in mixed martial arts and joined the welterweight division of Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), losing via submission to Mickey Gall in his professional debut at UFC 203 in 2016. He lost his second fight to Mike Jackson via unanimous decision at UFC 225 in 2018, which was later overturned to a no contest; he never fought again and officially retired in August 2021. He worked as a pundit on WWE Backstage (2019–2020) and has been a part-time color commentator for Cage Fury Fighting Championships since 2018. He also starred in the horror films Rabid (2019), Girl on the Third Floor (2019), and Jakob's Wife (2021), as well as the wrestling drama series Heels (2021–2023).

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