Seth Rollins is set to clash with CM Punk and Roman Reigns in the main event of WWE WrestleMania 41 Saturday.
The story between the three men dates back over a decade when The Shield (Rollins, Reigns and Dean Ambrose aka Jon Moxley) debuted at WWE Survivor Series 2012 as mercenaries for Punk, and includes personal elements that played out off camera when CM Punk left WWE in 2014 and made disparaging comments about the company for nearly ten years before he returned at WWE Survivor Series 2023.
Appearing on Not Just Football with Cam Heyward, Rollins was asked who he hates more between Punk and Reigns.
"Easily CM Punk. Easily. I have a problem with Roman's ego and his vision of what a good WWE looks like. I don't have a problem with him as much as a person. He's gone through a lot to be part of our organization. Say what you will, but he has sacrificed a lot to help this place grow. At some point, whether it was Heyman in his ear or his own illusions of grandeur about how big of a star he was or wanted to be, he kind of lost the plot a little bit. Trying to get him to understand a little bit of what we came in here to do 12 years ago is still part of the mission as we begin to pass this company onto the next generation. If everybody wants to be Roman Reigns and nobody shows up for work but four times a year, then we're not going to have a show to run. You have to have people who want to be here and put in the work. Getting him to understand that he is maybe not the best influence on the future of the business is difficult.
"That pales in comparison to how I feel about CM Punk. This is a guy who is a thief. He's a scavenger, he's a fake martyr, he's a snakeoil salesman, he's a con artist. He will sell you a false bill of goods at every turn with no apologies, with zero responsibility. He's a guy who left this place, ghosted all of his friends. If you have your own personal crap to deal with, that's life, I get it. To then ask people to leave their jobs, leave their security, leave their dreams behind out of loyalty to you, and when they don't, you start to tear these people down in the media anyway you can. Then you take money from some billionaire's kid to come back to the business that you've forsaken and continue to try to tear down our company until that billionaire's kid doesn't want to pay you anymore, and now you want to come back and take our money and wave the flag. I cannot tell you the absolute disgust in my veins that I have for CM Punk. There is no comparison."
Rollins is referencing Punk's time in AEW, which began when he returned in August 2021 and lasted for two years before he was fired following AEW All In 2023 after a backstage altercation with Jack Perry.
Fans can check out the lineup for WrestleMania 41 Saturday by clicking here.
If you use any of the quotes above, please credit and link to the original source with a h/t and link back to Fightful for the transcription.
