Mick Foley On How CM Punk Felt About WrestleMania 29 Match With The Undertaker
According to Foley, CM Punk was bummed going into his match with Undertaker at WrestleMania 29.
On that night, CM Punk and the Undertaker were third from the top. Their match was seventh out of nine, ahead of Triple H vs. Brock Lesnar and the main-event of The Rock vs. John Cena II.
And because CM Punk wasn’t in the show-closing spot (even though he felt it was worthy of that spot), he was said to have been rather unmotivated, despite Mick Foley’s best efforts to make him see things in another light.
Speaking on his Foley Is Pod podcast, Foley tried to rationalize how being in the show-closing spot isn’t necessarily the main-event as the fans may see a different match lower on the undercard as the real main-event, hoping that could motivate CM Punk ahead of his big match.
“I was pretty tight with Punk at that point. Punk was having a hard time getting excited for that match with The Undertaker because it was not the main event. I told him, I said, ‘Phil, you decide what the main event is. The fans decide.’
I think that Edge and I had a right to say that we had the match of the night in 2006, and by no means, way, shape, or form were we advertised as the main event. You go out there and try to steal the show.
In wrestling, and in life, I think we, and if I’m getting into DDP area, cut me off immediately, if not sooner, but I think in life, we do get to decide what our own great moments are, and so I think, you know, if Phil had been able to do that, I think he would have been happier and would still be on national TV. That was the way I looked at things.
I was proud to be Mr. In Your House, you know, like, I’m okay with being the number one name in secondary pay-per-views, and if I’m okay with that, then I think Punk should have been okay with having what could have been the match of the night and several people thought it was at that Mania against The Undertaker, and he wasn’t, and that’s a shame. So I think there’s a cautionary tale there.”
CM Punk left WWE less than a full year later under acrimonious circumstances. He made a brief return to the company for a backstage discussion show but never appeared on any major show or in any major angles.
h/t WrestlingNews.co for the transcription