CM Punk’s Hated WWE Rival Finds Nice Things To Say About WWE World Champion
A man who claims to hate CM Punk did find ways to compliment the WWE World Champion.
Ever since CM Punk returned to WWE in November 2023, there have been two men who have made it clear they don’t like him – Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins.
Over the two and a half years since Punk returned, he has had a legendary rivalry with McIntyre in 2024 and has wrestled Rollins many times as well.
Whether McIntyre and Rollins “really” hate Punk is another story, but they certainly talk about him a lot, just like Punk talks about them. Part of the reason for that is that they get asked about eachother as well.
When Seth Rollins made a recent appearance on UnSportsmanLike, he was asked to try to say some nice things about his hated rival, CM Punk. To the surprise of some people, Rollins was able to do so.
“I’ve said some nice things about (CM) Punk, occasionally. Look, there’s no secret, he was a major influence on my career. First of all, he was a pioneer. So, there’s a nice thing I said about him.
What he did for guys like me who came from the same kind of independent background as he did. You mentioned the meal that I talked about — AJ Styles — who’s recently retired — another one of those guys. But Punk was a guy — who from the Midwest — him and his ex-friend I suppose, Colt Cabana, were two guys who really — they helped pave the way for young guys like me to be able to find a path to WWE when it didn’t seem possible before.
So, and he was there to support me in his own way for many years in different kinds of situations but at the end of the day, at some point, it became too much for him and he changed and he left. And I grew and he sort of stagnated, and so, there’s a great divide there between the two of us but yeah, I can say a couple nice things about who he used to be.
We’re decades apart here. He leaves in 2014 or something like that. I don’t see him again for another 10 years. I don’t talk to him for another 10 years. He talks a lot about me, I talk a lot about him. But we’re two different people.”
Seth Rollins Feels Like CM Punk’s Bitterness Is Hard To Ignore
When CM Punk left WWE in January 2014, he was bitter and angry about many things. At the same time, Rollins was a part of The Shield stable with Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose (Jon Moxley), so Rollins was a guy on the rise who was hoping to work with a veteran like Punk down the road. Instead, Punk was gone.
As Rollins continued talking about Punk, he explained his issues with Punk and Punk’s bitter attitude.
“The problem with him was the person he became was this — I mean, he’s always been a curmudgeon and he’d probably admit that himself — but, he was not helpful when it came to moving the business forward.
He was so bitter and he was so self-centered, that it was about him and it was about how do I make this right, and he did that at the expense of the industry, and at the expense of the people who were trying to make the business big, and trying to do the right thing.
We butted heads on that and I don’t know if we’re ever gonna be able to reconcile those differences, but sure, I can say some nice things about CM Punk pre-2014.”
In the main event of WrestleMania 41 Saturday, Seth Rollins defeated CM Punk and Roman Reigns in a match where Paul Heyman turned on Punk and Reigns to align with Rollins.
One year later, at this year’s WrestleMania 42 event in Las Vegas, CM Punk is defending the World Heavyweight Title against Roman Reigns while Rollins is recovering from shoulder surgery, and hoping to be cleared in time for a WrestleMania match.