At the time of his demotion, Punk figured he’d spend “six months tops” in OVW before returning to WWE’s main roster. Instead, “The Second City Savior” spent more than a year in WWE’s developmental territory before debuting in WWE’s version of ECW in June 2006. To Punk’s credit, he viewed the demotion as a blessing in disguise, as he got to pick the brains of the likes of Danny Davis and Paul Heyman, both of whom were overseeing the OVW territory at the time.   

“The best thing about being in OVW was I got to work with Danny Davis,” Punk admitted. “I don’t know why Danny liked me. All these old school guys, I don’t know why they put up with me, I don’t know why they liked me. Paul Heyman would allow me to the Davis Arena on Tuesday nights and help write the television show because my thing was, ‘I’m never getting called up.’ That was my one chance.” 

Punk revealed he planned to use the lessons he learned from Heyman and Davis and apply them elsewhere, seeing as he had little hope to make it — let alone thrive — in “the shark tank” that was WWE’s main roster. “Paul taught me how to write a television show, how to time a television show, how to second out to commercial. Danny Davis and Paul Heyman let me sit in the control room with them, and learn how to edit the television show. This is when I started drinking coffee — I developed insomnia, and that is not a joke, it’s real life.” Despite his skepticism of ever making the WWE main roster, Punk did get the call-up thanks to a recommendation from Heyman.