CM Punk‘s big televised return match took place at this year’s Royal Rumble PLE where he had a stand off with Drew McIntyre and during which he ended up tearing his tricep. He’s been out of action since rehabbing the injury but he’s made several appearances on WWE television since. Initially when he came back, footage of Seth Rollins’ outburst at Survivor Series went viral and it set the foundation for what appeared to be a title feud.
They would meet face-to-face on WWE Raw several times and by all accounts if Punk had won the Royal Rumble or the Elimination Chamber, that looked like the likely route. Punk confirmed as much during an interview with Ariel Helwani, noting that when he came back he didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes and take anybody’s main event spot away from them.
Videos by ComicBook.com
“It changed a lot you know because I came back in and I told Triple H, ‘look man, I’m not here to steal anybody’s spotlight, take anybody’s main event like I get it,” Punk said on the MMA Hour. “I was p–sed 10 years ago when I had to sit through Rock/Cena two years in a row and now everything’s different. Mania’s two nights now so more people get that opportunity and for me it was always just about the booker. In my head, you cannot become main event talent unless you work with other main event talent. You can’t be a main event talent if you don’t work in the main event spots normally afforded only for the main event talent. And that’s what I craved was more knowledge, more experience. I want to be that guy; I want to see if I can be that guy. I know I can, I know there’s people that don’t think I can, so that’s even more motivation to show them that yeah, I am that guy.”
He continued, “The plan I think was going to be Seth and I,” Punk then confirms the match was for the World Heavyweight Championship. “I believe so. Again, I came in and said I’m not asking questions.” Helwani asks if that match was something that he wanted or if there was something else that he would have liked to do instead. Punk states he was content with a match against Rollins. “Yeah, there’s history there, there’s story there.”
Rollins will defend the title against Drew McIntyre who won this year’s men’s Elimination Chamber match.Punk will still be involved in the WrestleMania festitives however, as he will be a guest commentator for the title match.
