WrestleMania 41 marks a full-circle moment for CM Punk.
On the weekend of April 19th, CM Punk will finally achieve his 20-year WWE dream of headlining WrestleMania 41. On the Grandest Stage Of Them All, Punk will face Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns in a Triple Threat match. The bout has been a long time coming, with all three men having issues with one another going back years.
Punk was the man behind Rollins and Reigns making their way to the main roster in 2012. The Straight Edge Superstar brought them in as his protectors in The Shield alongside Dean Ambrose – now AEW’s Jon Moxley.
Speaking on the Rich Eisen show, Punk explained that The Shield idea came about because he was looking for new stars to work with during his 434-day WWE Championship reign.
“I’ll give a bit of an uncharacteristic answer. I think everybody’s always trying to navigate, like, ‘How do you deal with media different from what we present on our television show?’ In 2012, I was the WWE Champion. I was on this what, at the time, was a historic run with the belt. Four hundred thirty-four days, obviously shattered by Roman Reigns since I’ve been gone, and what I needed was guys to work with.”
“I was always looking towards the future. Yeah, there’s the now, there’s me, and there’s Cena. But outside of that, I would look at the landscape and be like, ‘What do we need to do to get money-talent in the position that I’m in now? How do I bring guys up? How do we elevate Superstars?’
“So the idea with The Shield was that simple. I need guys to work with, for good or for bad, whether I like them, whether I hate them, whether I’m going to wind up having personal problems with them. I need talented individuals to work with, or I have nobody to work with in the future.”
The Shield took the opportunity and ran with it, with both now well-established as top guys in the company and on their way to another headline match at WrestleMania. Punk says it’s “pretty funny” how it’s worked out, saying he brought them to this point and now can take them out.
“Lo and behold, who am I working with at WrestleMania? So, life’s pretty funny the way things kind of work out. I just don’t want those two guys to forget that they were picked for a reason. I brought them into this and at WrestleMania. I get the chance to take them out.”
Drew McIntyre Mocks CM Punk’s UFC Run
Drew McIntyre has taken a jab at CM Punk’s brief UFC career. Punk infamously had only two fights inside the octagon, losing to both Mickey Gall and Mike Jackson (although the Jackson result was later overturned and ruled a no contest due to the fighter testing positive for marijuana). With that record, McIntyre claims he would easily do “1,000 times better” than Punk.
H/T to Fightful for the above transcription.