The Art of Being a Awful: CM Punk and the Importance of Body Language

Punk showing how it's done Photo Credit: WWE.com

CM Punk is often hailed as a master of character, and it's a reputation that's well-deserved. The way he rains fire and brimstone down with nothing but a microphone and his vocabulary puts him in a rarefied category. Last night, his awful antics were on full display as he made the urn he stole from the Undertaker talk and dropped said urn as he was carelessly fumbling around with it. His words, well, a singular four-lettered word got the most attention, but it was his body language that spoke loudest.

Let's take the act of fumbling the urn around in his hands like it was a pigskin, and he a nervous football player waiting for his friends to get ready to toss it around. That sort of activity is normal for a football, but for precious heirlooms and artifacts, a little more deference and care is required for its transport. The urn has been the Undertaker's symbol of power off and on for over twenty years, and it's the single representation of his late manager and mentor, Paul Bearer. The fact that someone would play with the urn in such a clumsy manner is one thing. The fact that Punk was goofing off with it after stealing it from the possession of Kane and Undertaker personifies his intentions even more loudly.

The dropping of the sacred item was the exclamation point on the physical sentence written by Punk during that segment. Even before he started playfully tossing it around, he certainly did not treat the urn with the same deference that Bearer did as its handler. Bearer would clutch it close to him, always upright, always as if it were something precious. When he displayed it for the world to see, he would raise it high to the sky, a beacon that meant to be knelt to. Punk's handling of it like a football throughout the segment drove home the idea of his lack of respect harder than anything he could have said, which is amazing given the power that Punk wields when he opens his mouth.

However, even the most earnest and effective words can seem hollow relative to actions. It's rare to find in WWE storytelling that doesn't bash you over the head with words. Their narrative structure oftentimes is divergent between what's said and what's presented with actions. Of course, Punk is a transcendent wrestler, a performer who gets what it means to be an effective character. You could see it in all facets of his appearance last night. It wasn't just the words, it was the handling of the urn and even his facial expressions as Undertaker promised nothing short of graphic doom. It's one thing to say you're skeptical that all of Undertaker's magic demon bullshit can have an affect him. It's another to sell it to me with actions. Stealing the urn is a bold action, but what Punk does with it is just as important.

Body language and facial expressions are two underrated but important ways of getting stories over, but they're also two of the most effective. If Punk's interplay with the urn last night didn't show you that, I think you weren't paying attention.