Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
But probably his highest profile storyline was when he joined Luke Gallows and Serena as the Straight Edge Society, with Punk leading the cultlike group under the premise that their drug-free, alcohol-free philosophy put them above the fans and other wrestlers. That angle has its roots in a feud Punk had very early in his ROH run, where he feuded with Raven over the exact same thing. The feud with Raven made Punk in ROH, and solidified his spot as possibly the best promo guy and worker in the company.
CM Punk came to ROH in late 2002 and mostly worked undercard matches to start, but that all changed when he was signed to wrestle Raven at Expect The Unexpected in March of 2003. Instead of the humble Punk we had seen up until now, he came out early in the show and went on a long diatribe against Raven, running him down for his history of substance abuse and debauchery while putting himself on a pedestal for being drug and alcohol free. He said that because he's straight edge, that made him better than Raven, who had no place in Ring of Honor.
Raven came out to confront Punk, and Punk said he knows Raven likes his Raven's Rules matches, and was scared to wrestle Punk without them because he knows he can't beat Punk under normal rules. Raven was able to goad Punk into wrestling under Raven's Rules anyway, but Punk still beat Raven bloody and won the match. Punk extended his hand to Raven as the Code of Honor required, but when Raven went to shake it, Punk suckerpunched him and ran off.
Punk was clearly disgusted with Raven 's lifestyle, but he would also turn his anger on the fans before too long, mocking them for needing a drink to unwind after work or a mouthful of pills to make the pain go away. He kept going like a runaway train, lashing out at them for living a lie by worshiping a God he didn't believe in, working for people they can't stand, and marrying people they don't love. In just one or two promos, Punk proceeded to vent about all the ills of society that were torturing his soul, while simultaneously patting himself on the back because he never woke up in the morning unable to remember what he had done the night before or who he had woken up next to. He considered himself a paragon of virtue, and vowed to lead the Straight Edge Revolution to show Raven, the fans, and everyone else the error of their ways.
No matter what Punk's reasoning was, Raven wasn't about to let him off the hook after the way he had disrespected him, and challenged Punk to a tag match at Night of the Champions with Raven teaming with Punk's training partner and recent rival Colt Cabana, while Punk would team with Ace Steel, who had trained both Punk and Cabana. Raven pinned Ace Steel to win the match, but then Punk got into Cabana's head and told him that Raven had been manipulating him into turning on himself and Steel. Punk ran off again when Raven went after him, so Raven repeatedly gave Steel the Raven Effect DDT until he came back. Punk returned and the two of them brawled until Cabana rejoined his friends and turned on Raven, beating him down 3-on-1 and forming the Second City Saints in the process. Punk finished the beatdown by giving Raven his own trademark drop toehold into a chair and Raven Effect DDT just to add insult to injury.
Raven continued to try and enlist other tag team partners who were motivated to help him in his war with Punk, but always ended up on the losing end no matter who he showed up with. Raven got BJ Whitmer to team with him at Night of the Grudges, since Punk had put Whitmer through a table and had been running him down on commentary ever since, and they and the Saints brawled out of the ring and all over the building. Raven had been waiting months by this point to shut Punk's mouth, and bashed him in the head with a garbage can until his face was covered with blood. Despite the beating Punk absorbed, the Saints still managed to get the win and then Punk destroyed both men with a chair and legdropped Raven through a table on the floor for good measure.
Raven came back at Wrestlerave to challenge the Saints again, and this time teamed with Christopher Daniels, who had offered Punk a spot in the Prophecy, only for Punk to say he'd do it if Daniels shook his hand. Daniels had always refused to shake hands in ROH because he thought the Code of Honor was a joke, and felt disrespected by Punk's response. Beside that, Punk suspected Daniels of being behind an attack on his valet Lucy, and would welcome a chance to get his hands on Daniels. Punk got the win yet again after hitting Raven with a chain, but then Punk completely lost control and nearly choked Raven to death with the chain while Cabana held Daniels and forced him to watch.
Punk seemed to be going further and further off the deep end, and after the chain incident, we finally found out why: Punk said that his father was an alcoholic who came home every day smelling like booze and had thrown everything away because he couldn't keep the bottle out of his mouth, and when he saw Raven, he saw his father because Raven had pissed away all the success he had because of pills, booze, and women. He told a story about how his dad came home one night and passed out on the couch, then threw up in his mouth and forced a young Punk to turn him on his side to keep him from choking in his sleep. Punk spent years wondering why he had allowed the man who was ruining his life to live, and now also wondered why he did the same for Raven when he should have put him out when he had the chance.
This led to what was supposed to be the final match between the two as they met in a chain match at Death Before Dishonor. Punk came out before the match and mocked former ECW wrestler Danny Doring, who had to buy a ticket to get into the show, asking him where the extreme lifestyle had gotten him. Doring got a little revenge later in the match when he went after Colt Cabana after Cabana interfered, but Punk again got the win over Raven and proceeded to tape Raven to the ropes and pour a beer down his throat. Unfortunately for Punk, another ECW star would intervene when Tommy Dreamer ran into the ring and laid him out, then taped Punk to the ropes so Raven could now pour a beer down his throat.
Punk was absolutely livid because alcohol had never touched his lips, but Raven had taken that away from him and he wanted to make Raven pay. The feud continued, and they next met in a Clockwork Orange House Of Fun Cage Match at Beating The Odds, an appropriately named show since Raven had lost to Punk so many times that it became questionable whether he was capable of beating him. Punk bled heavily from almost the very beginning and continued to take heavy punishment throughout the match, and he tried to handcuff Raven to the ropes at one point, but Raven got free and ended up hitting a DDT off the top rope and through a table to finally score a win over Punk. We were again led to believe that the feud would end here, but the lights went out after the match and, when they came back up, Raven was tied to a giant straight edge X in the middle of the ring with barbed wire as Punk celebrated maniacally.
Even though Raven had finally beaten Punk, the feud continued at Glory By Honor II where they would get to pick each other's opponents for the night. Punk chose Steve Corino for Raven, with the idea being that Corino had never beaten Raven and would be willing to do whatever he needed to finally do it. Punk got involved and led to Corino hitting a superkick for the win, and Punk again attacked Raven after the match.
Later that night, Punk came out to face Terry Funk, whom Raven had chosen simply because he was the toughest guy Raven had ever fought and he wanted to enjoy watching Funk give Punk a beating like the ones he used to give Raven in ECW. Punk did a prematch promo saying that he was four years old when Funk retired for the first time in Japan in 1984, but Funk is still here because he gets all pilled up just so he can wrestle, then mocked Funk's original retirement speech by saying that he was going to put Funk out FOREVER! FOREVER! FOREVER!
Funk was getting older by this point, but still gave Punk a hell of a fight, beating him senseless and putting him through a table, but Funk missed a moonsault and came down hard on his knee. Punk smelled blood, and pounced on Funk's knee like a shark and trapped him in his own spinning toe hold, then bashed the knee repeatedly with a chair and locked him in the figure four. Funk made the ropes, but Punk had a point to make and refused to break the hold even after he was disqualified. Cabana came out and the two of them continued to beat Funk down until Raven and Tommy Dreamer ran in to make the save.
It was now November, and the Raven-Punk feud was still going even though it was supposed to have ended twice already. ROH officials decided the feud needed to end, so one final match was signed between the two at the Conclusion, and it would be another cage match. After yet another violent brawl, Punk tried to climb out over the top of the cage while Raven tried going out through the door, and Punk slammed the door in Raven's face to block his escape, then dropped down to the floor to win the match and claim victory in their months-long feud.
* * *
CM Punk's anti-drug, anti-alcohol message would have undoubtedly made him a major babyface in the 80s, but by 2003 both the message and the condescending tone in which he delivered it turned him into one of the biggest heels in the company. Despite that, the Punk-Raven feud was overwhelmingly regarded as ROH's Feud of the Year for 2003 because of the heated, emotionally charged interviews and the violent matches they led to. Punk's hatred for Raven was obsessive and borderline fanatical, but made sense because of his past family issues and, like all of the best heels, thought of himself as the babyface in the feud even though everyone else thought he was out to lunch.
The Raven feud elevated Punk into a spot as a regular main eventer, and he rode that momentum into 2004 when he and Cabana had a run with the ROH tag titles, as well as Punk's famous trilogy of title matches with Samoa Joe. The straight edge persona gave him a built-in edge and motivation that would fuel his character through not just the rest of his ROH run, but his WWE career as well, as did the way he became the cult leader of the Second City Saints, a role he would reprise during his time with the Straight Edge Society and Nexus.
But for as good as his first major angle in ROH was, his last would be equally exciting. Next time: CM Punk holds the ROH World Title hostage during the Summer of Punk!
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
