CM Punk Admits WWE Unreal Gives Away A Lot, But There Are Positives Too
CM Punk has been outspoken against “WWE Unreal” in the past, but he acknowledges there are good things about the show, too.
The WWE World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk has been a big part of WWE Unreal on Netflix. The first season focused on the first few months of 2025, leading up to WrestleMania 41, and then the second season was all about the summer of WWE programming, which featured Seth Rollins cashing in Money in the Bank on Punk to win the World Title at SummerSlam.
In the past, CM Punk has admitted he was the wrong person to put on WWE Unreal because of his history in pro wrestling.
“I’m probably the wrong guy to put on this show to try and talk it up. It’s not that I’m so much against it. It’s that my entire existence in my profession, professional wrestling, you’re taught and you’re brought up, and you’re old school, you protect the business.
It’s always been that way. Since the 1920s or 1930s, everyone knew that wrestling was predetermined. They talk about how they didn’t know, and how in the 1980s we just kind of blew it wide open, and now we’re exposing the business. If you’re living under a rock, you don’t know, but most people do know.”
While speaking with ESPN’s This is Football about WWE Unreal, Punk said that in today’s WWE, you have to be even more creative in how you build stories.
“Little bit of a history lesson, I don’t think the general public ever really didn’t know that what we do — like, the winking. I think if you’re smart about it, you gotta get even more creative.
I always say it’s what I do, I put the toothpaste back in the bottle. I make people go, ‘Oh, gosh, that, okay.’ And what I’m doing with Roman [Reigns] is absolutely no different. He has his stans [passionate fans]. I have mine. They see what we do on TV and they analyze everything: ‘Oh, he really got mad at that.’ And therein lies the magic, therein lies the blurring of the line.”
CM Punk Likes That WWE Unreal Shows Talent Behind The Scenes
Even though CM Punk still has issues with WWE Unreal, he also likes that it shows WWE superstars behind the scenes.
“Yeah, I do think we give away too much on ‘Unreal.’ To me, the positive side is how it shows the human people behind the scenes. I like that as pieces on individual athletes.
It’s the same reason why I enjoy watching [NFL’s] ‘Hard Knocks.’ Whereas I’m not the biggest football fan, I’m not totally invested in the season, I’ll watch the Bears, I’ll root for the Bears. But ‘Hard Knocks’ is fascinating because you get to see these guys. You see them interact with their kids, their wives, and you see all that.
There’s that human element, and I think ‘Unreal’ is great for that. I don’t necessarily need a camera showing you guys talking to each other about a match.”
At WrestleMania 42 in Las Vegas, CM Punk will defend the World Heavyweight Title against Royal Rumble winner Roman Reigns, most likely as the main event of WrestleMania Sunday on April 19th.