Lil Yachty’s longtime wrestling fandom has been well-documented, but what may be surprising is that CM Punk was once his favorite wrestler.
The Grammy-nominated rapper — and manager to WWE United States Champion Trick Williams — shared this surprising fact on the latest episode of the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast released on Tuesday (September 15).
During the interview, Yachty spoke about his real-life friendship with Trick, working with Baron Corbin, and his goal of being the second-best manager
ever (after Paul Heyman).
At one point during the discussion, Van Vliet asked the star who his favorite wrestler was when he was growing up.
“CM Punk,” Yachy answered. “In high school, I used to draw the X’s on my hand, and I was going to tattoo them, and I just never did it. But I got so many pictures for me with these two X’s on my hands, and I was sober because of CM Punk for a long time until I became an adult.”
He continued, “I didn’t do any drugs in high school. I didn’t drink. I didn’t do drugs. I was sober. You couldn’t influence me to do anything because of CM Punk. Punk was sober. I was sober. Punk is still sober, but he was my guy.”
Yachty went on to name Jeff Hardy and the tag team Cryme Tyme as other favorites during his youth.
“Punk was my favorite though,” he said.
“When did you have a chance to finally meet him?” Van Vliet asked.
“I think I met him at WrestleMania, but when he came over to Smackdown, I finally. actually got to have like a little conversation with him,” Yachty said, before adding with a laugh, “He was like, ‘You’re regular here (in WWE).’ He said that to me in the hallway. I was like, ‘Yes, sir, Mr. Punk, ’cause that’s literally how I kind of am with him.”
He went on to say that while he’s also a celebrity to most of the world, when he’s working in WWE, he feels like a “kid” and “these are the celebrities.”
What do you think of Yachty’s CM Punk fandom? Who was your favorite wrestler when you were young? Let us know in the comments.
