Adam Cole Rejects the Idea of CM Punk Joining the Undisputed Era

Now that CM Punk is (somewhat) back in the world of wrestling with his new position on WWE Backstage, wrestling fans have already come up with dozens of dream booking ideas for his return to the ring. One such idea is for him to ignore the Raw and SmackDown rosters and jump to NXT, where he could align with four fellow former Ring of Honor Stars in the Undisputed Era. However in a new interview with Sports Illustrated, group leader Adam Cole promptly shut the door on that idea. Roderick Strong was the last member to join the faction after turning heel at NXT TakeOver: New Orleans in April 2018.

"Everyone who has followed me knows that CM Punk has been a major influence of mine, especially on the independent scene," Cole said. "He was a guy I looked up to and studied, and someone I really, really enjoyed watching. It was so cool to be there and see him on Backstage, and I had no idea that was going to happen."

While both men made a name for themselves on the independent scene via the Ring of Honor promotion, Cole and Punk never shared the ring together. The former WWE Champion made his jump from ROH to the WWE in 2006, three years before Cole arrived in the promotion.

Since arriving on WWE Backstage, the one person that has pushed the hardest for a match with Punk is Seth Rollins. Punk responded to his challenge by saying Rollins needs to search for "relevancy" elsewhere.

"This isn't the show where you come on and shoot your little angles," Punk said. "Seth needs to stop tweeting and realize that sometimes it's better to be viewed at as the fool and shut your mouth [than] you open your mouth and remove all doubt."

Rollins, ignoring Punk's advice, called him a coward on Twitter. He even brought up their Twitter feud on Monday Night Raw last week in Chicago.

"I tried to get CM Punk here, I'm sorry, he didn't want to show up. He wants to sit behind a desk in Los Angeles and talk about a change that he's too afraid to make himself," Rollins said.

While Punk hasn't completely shut the door on the idea of stepping back in the ring again, he did note that there were some "hurdles" that would need to be crossed first. Punk's last official WWE match was the 2014 Men's Royal Rumble match.