Taking to the AEW Unrestricted podcast, CM Punk has spoken about the backstage reaction to his iconic pipebomb promo on the June 27 episode of WWE Monday Night Raw in 2011.

The pipebomb is one of the most iconic promos in WWE history, with many fans still questioning whether or not Punk's iconic segment was scripted.

The former WWE Champion noted that he decided not to walk through the usual curtain when going to the back after his promo, to keep people guessing about how real the promo actually was:

“When I was done with that, I remember walking back up the ramp, on the fly thinking, ‘Well I can’t go through the curtain because I just did this promo – if I go through the curtain, kayfabe-wise, I’m fistfighting somebody’. So I went sidestage, which was just another little tiny thing that made people go, ‘Hmm… this is weird’.

Punk went on to speak about the immediate reaction to his promo backstage from his peers and higher-ups working within WWE at the time.

“And when I got in the back, nobody anywhere. Backstage is normally buzzing, people in the hallways. It was empty. And I remember looking around like, ‘Jeez, what’s going on’. And then I walked past the curtain through Gorilla and everybody in the company was jammed into the tunnel waiting to see me come through Gorilla, because they figured the same thing, they were like, ‘Ah man, this is gonna get real’.

Punk said that the first person he saw backstage was chef Robert Irvine, who the AEW star claims said his promo was "amazing":

“And the first person I see is chef Robert Irvine, because he’s there with Gail Kim, and he looks like he just got through a Dorian Yates chest workout, and he’s just like, ‘(flexing noises), That was amazing!’, and he’s like all fired up. He’s a guy that maybe doesn’t necessarily watch a lot of pro-wrestling, but it was just like it resonated with him.

CM Punk said that the first wrestler he saw was Chris Masters, with Masters telling Punk that he was likely going to get fired for his comments on Monday Night Raw.

“And then I saw Chris Masters and Chris Masters looks at me and goes, ‘Did you just hear what Punk said?’, and I was like, ‘Chris, it’s me’, and he was like, ‘Oh. Oh it is you! You’re gonna get fired dude’. And then I just walked up. It was a weird scene. I didn’t know it was gonna become as big as it did, but I knew just based off those reactions, I knew we had something. I think everybody back there has gamefaces on and they wanna no-sell stuff. But I had texts from some pretty lofty people in the business that I looked up to and respected, so I knew I did some good television, let’s just say that.”

For those that haven't seen the segment, CM Punk 'shattered the fourth wall' in his explosive promo where he came after Vince McMahon for not pushing him to the top of the card. 

Vince McMahon wasn't CM Punk's only target in his promo, with the former WWE Superstar also coming after John Cena, Triple H and Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson'.

Thanks to WrestleTalk.com for the transcription.