CM Punk is a figure who sparks controversy, and according to one WWE executive, that controversy was already there when the company decided to make him World Heavyweight Champion.

Back in June 2008, CM Punk won the World Heavyweight Champion in WWE for the first time. This accomplishment came about when he capitalized on his Money In The Bank contract.

During a discussion on his Something To Wrestle podcast, WWE executive Bruce Prichard shed light on CM Punk's initial World Heavyweight Championship win, noting that it was met with intense controversy.

"Very controversial (CM Punk cashing in Money in the Bank on Edge). It was controversial because I don’t think that Punk had a lot of people in the locker room that were really pro-Punk. He’s a polarizing figure. I thought if he’s that polarizing in the locker room then, what’s the general audience feel about him? And I really felt the general audience was intrigued.

“He was different and there was something about Punk, especially at that time… it was a groundswell. People were getting behind him. I thought then, I think now, later on when he did the whole X Division, I thought that he was a much better heel, a natural heel. The idea at the time was for him to eventually turn heel. The way that they did it, that was after I was gone, I thought was superb.

“I thought it was really good for him but again, in an effort to shake things up, you wanna see surprise on people’s faces? You wanna see genuine reactions? Have a camera backstage when Punk won the title. There were those that were like, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ There were those who were happy for him and again, it was a moment that no one was going to call, and I thought it was a good one."

Bruce Prichard further elaborated that he, too, encountered "philosophical differences" with CM Punk. Despite this, he believed that the wrestling star was simply misunderstood.

"Hopefully, if you listen to the beginning of this show, you heard me talk about and praise CM Punk and talk about how he was misunderstood and how people felt about him and the fact that I thought that we just needed to explain who the hell he was… and people have a habit of you look at somebody and immediately form an opinion of who they are by the way they look and you can’t do that.

"That just doesn’t work in life, and I think Punk was a victim of that… The interactions that I had with Punk during that time were all good and we had great discussions. Look man, we had philosophical differences at times that we were able to talk out and that’s why I learned so much about him and figured out that, wait a minute, this guy’s just misunderstood."