Warning: Spoilers for Heels episode 3.
CM Punk plays a significant part in auditioned for Jack Spade, the lead role played by Stephen Amell. Punk does, however, still have a notable presence in the show. He makes his debut in Heels episode 3 as Ricky Rabies, a well-known grappler with a decidedly odd gimmick. Here’s why the character is so great.
In the episode, titled “Cheap Heat,” Ricky’s arrival looks to stir up some conflict for the show’s main characters. Ace Space (Alexander Ludwig) is promised the main event of Duffy Wrestling League, the wrestling promotion which Heels is centered around. Ace’s older brother, Jack Spade (Amell), went ahead and booked Ricky for the event in hopes that it would boost ticket sales. Ace worries he’ll be overshadowed by Ricky’s star power, which represents the latest disagreement between the two siblings. It quickly becomes clear, however, that Ricky isn’t the sort of wrestler to worry about main events and big spotlights. In fact, viewers get their first peek at Ricky when he’s on the toilet conducting his business.
That nonchalance carries throughout Ricky’s scenes. He shows up to Duffy Wrestling with his longtime valet Vicky Rabies (Bonnie Sommerville) and his son, repeatedly thanking Jack for the booking and coming across as a veteran grappler that displays his bumps and bruises with a smile. His gimmick is delightfully strange too, as Ricky models himself after a rabid animal. Plus, in a later scene, his son flies a drone that’s programmed to spew blood all over his opponent. In an interview with Variety, Punk noted that he drew inspiration from wrestlers that he’s shared locker rooms with. “I got to kind of cherry pick and choose different attributes and personality traits from wrestlers that I have known over the years,” the AEW star shared.
It’s understandable that Punk would feel the need to look outside of himself in order to portray Ricky. For most of his career, from working his way up in the indies to becoming one of the top acts in WWE, he’s been known as a starkly serious performer. In arguably his most memorable moment, and his most memorable WWE feud with John Cena, Punk’s character had a sizable chip on his shoulder: he was the best wrestler, the "Best in the World," as he liked to call himself, and it didn’t sit well with him that other superstars like Cena received more opportunities largely because they were better at playing the corporate game. Punk’s character, his gimmick, was not all that far removed from Punk himself. He saw a myriad of problems with the way WWE presented itself, and he positioned himself as the one to call those problems out as ostentatiously possible. In other words, he was at no point just a seasoned veteran that felt happy simply to be included.
Punk’s character, when he was villain, was even more removed from Ricky. During one stretch of his career, as a heel, Punk’s gimmick was that of the Straight Edge Savior. He berated the crowd, mocking the attendees of WWE’s shows and the viewers at home for their reliance on drugs and alcohol. The fact that the character was so loathsome was exactly what made Punk so compelling to watch, and it led to a very creatively fruitful period in Punk’s career and an unforgettable rivalry with Rey Mysterio.
In most iterations, however, whether he’s giving voice to the fans’ frustrations with WWE’s mistakes or mocking those very same fans and claiming his moral superiority over them, Punk’s wrestling personas are often fighting for what they believe to be right. To see him stepping into the boots of the advice-dispensing, easygoing Ricky Rabies for Heels is quite the ironic, humorous shift. Unlike the actor portraying him, Ricky’s only objective seems to be collecting a paycheck and having a good time. It's exactly this dichotomy that makes Punk's Ricky fun to watch.