CM Punk Claims He Manipulated Roman Reigns Into Challenging Him

Roman Reigns won the Royal Rumble 2026 men’s match and challenged CM Punk for the World Heavyweight Championship.

The OTC’s previous world championship run ended at WrestleMania 40 when Cody Rhodes dethroned him. Since then, he has not truly pursued a championship until now.

While it was supposed to be Reigns vs. Rhodes, Triple H scrapped that plan. Now, the main event is Reigns vs. Punk, which has been a story in telling since WrestleMania 41.

CM Punk had demanded that Paul Heyman be by his side at WrestleMania 41 instead of Roman Reigns. This infuriated The OTC, but the former Wiseman chose Punk because he had given him his word, and also he owed Punk a favour for helping The Bloodline at WarGames 2024.

CM Punk wanted Roman Reigns to pick him

Roman Reigns claimed that he picked Punk for WrestleMania 42 because he hates him.

Now, speaking on Up & Adams Show with Kay Adams, the Second City Saint revealed that he played Reigns like a fiddle and ensured that The OTC picked him because that is what the World Heavyweight Champion wanted.

Uh, that’s exactly what I wanted. You know, I feel like I played the little Samoan like a fiddle. Got what I wanted out of it. Um, we’re headed towards Las Vegas. I think single tickets are on sale. And you can see me right there. Is that me beating him up? Yeah. I love it.

Uh, yeah. Listen, um, I didn’t cause I’m the champ. So, I feel like everybody’s chasing me. It’s the way it should be. And he made the right decision, right?

At WrestleMania 42, both Punk and Reigns need to watch over their shoulders during the main event because Seth Rollins is due for a return sometime around that time, and he will interfere to ruin the match if he can!

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