The wrestling world finally got what it has been waiting for. Following a weekend of teases regarding his WWE future, CM Punk declined offers from WWE SmackDown and WWE NXT in favor of making himself a full-time member of the WWE Monday Night Raw roster. Punk signed his name on general manager Adam Pearce’s contract this past Monday, and seconds after the ink dried, “Burn It Down” echoed throughout the Rocket Mortage FieldHouse. WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins hit the ring to stare down Punk, sizing him up for a good minute before asking for a microphone.
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Rollins took exception with Punk calling WWE Monday Night Raw “home,” bringing up the fact that Punk had spent the past ten years actively trying to tear his former employer down. Like past great gritty promos, Rollins’s words had an extra kick of vigor within them, and he made an extended effort to make sure his distaste for Punk came across crystal clear: “I hate you.”
Seth Rollins and CM Punk Work Without a Producer
The Visionary was spitting off the dome on Monday.
As reported by Fightful Select, Seth Rollins and CM Punk’s WWE Monday Night Raw promo segment was internally listed as not having a producer. Just about all of WWE’s segments, whether it be a quick ringside interview or a full-length match, have a backstage producer assigned to them.
This note indicates a couple of things. For starters, WWE trusts both Rollins and Punk to carry a segment on their own. Beyond that, the company is making moves to ensure this Rollins vs. Punk feud retains as much authentic animosity as fans know it has behind the scenes.
“Philly Phil [Brooks, Punk’s real name], stay away. Stay away, you cancer,” Rollins said in January when asked if he would welcomed Punk back to WWE. “Get away from me forever. I don’t like Phil. I don’t like Phil, he’s a jerk. Did we just figure that out? Everybody in the room is like, ‘Did he say that?’ Yeah, he’s a jerk. Come on. We figured it out over there [in AEW], we knew it over here. I don’t want him back. Go do something else. Bye bye. See you later.”
Rollins and Punk’s bad blood dates back to 2019 when Punk joined WWE Backstage as a correspondent. This half-return to wrestling prompted Rollins to attempt to get Punk back in the ring, as he regularly called him out on social media. Punk brushed off Rollins’s taunts and eventually took some shots of his own, which snowballed into the two fully resenting one another.
