CM Punk’s Heated History With Seth Rollins, Explained
In the unpredictable world of professional wrestling, few stories captivate fans quite like the resurrection of past vendettas. Survivor Series 2023 witnessed a seismic moment as CM Punk, a figure synonymous with controversy, made an unexpected return to WWE. The echoes of Punk’s entrance music still resonate, setting the stage for a conflict that transcends the squared circle. Caught in the crossfire was none other than Seth Rollins, whose visceral reaction at the event hinted at a history fraught with animosity.
At the RAW on Netflix Kickoff, WWE built anticipation for the impending arrival of their flagship show on the streaming giant. They promise big things on the debut episode. Roman Reigns will battle Solo Sikoa in a Tribal Combat match. Rhea Ripley will face Liv Morgan for the WWE Women’s World Title, and, in arguably the biggest match of the night, Seth Rollins will face CM Punk. It is a match that is years in the making. They have traded wars of words with each other. But, on January 6, 2025, they will finally have a sanctioned in-ring battle which promises to be an epic war of two of the best in the world.
The culmination of Survivor Series 2023 left the WWE Universe in awe as Seth Rollins’ team emerged triumphant in the grueling men’s War Games match. The cheers echoed, celebrating Rollins’ team’s victory, but the atmosphere shifted dramatically when the unmistakable sound of “Cult of Personality” blared through the arena. The shockwave reverberated as CM Punk ignited a frenzy of emotions among fans and wrestlers alike. Punk’s return to WWE after an extended hiatus since 2014 was nothing short of a seismic event. Seth Rollins, however, supposedly didn’t know that Punk was coming back, with his wife, Becky Lynch, telling Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour that Rollins felt disrespected for not being told.
The aftermath of Survivor Series unfolded with a viral clip capturing Seth Rollins expressing his unfiltered emotions. From the ring, Rollins vehemently flipped off and unleashed a barrage of expletives towards Punk on the stage. The intensity of Rollins’ reaction, combined with the genuine surprise of Punk’s return, laid the groundwork for what promised to be a deeply personal and heated conflict. As the wrestling community processed Punk’s shocking return, the intrigue only deepened at a non-televised live event following Survivor Series. In a candid moment, captured and circulated widely on social media, Rollins voiced his strong opinion of Punk, saying:
“You guys watch WarGames last night? [Fans chant ‘CM Punk’] You already know how I feel about that. I said as much last night. I’m not gonna waste any more breath on somebody who’s been gone for eight years, has done nothing but try to tear this place down. Instead, I want to take my time… use my breath on talking about the people who’ve been here all along.”
The duo’s in-ring history includes a tag team match together where they teamed, only a single one-on-one clash which Punk won, and multiple tag team encounters against each other where CM Punk teamed with various WWE stars to battle The Shield.
In 2019, the wrestling landscape experienced a peculiar intersection of reality and entertainment when CM Punk made a brief return to the WWE fold, not as an in-ring competitor, but as a pundit on the WWE Backstage show airing on Fox. This unexpected move set the stage for a verbal joust between Punk and Seth Rollins that spilled over from the television screen to the Twitterverse. Rollins publicly challenged him to a match, reigniting simmering tensions.
Punk, true to his outspoken nature, didn’t shy away from firing back. On the WWE Backstage show, he dismissed Rollins by saying:
“I want my journalistic integrity to be intact, so this isn’t the show where you come on and shoot your little angles. Seth (Rollins) needs to stop tweeting and realize that sometimes it’s better to be viewed as the fool and shut your mouth, or open your mouth and remove all doubt.”
Seth called him a coward in response. It should be noted that CM Punk is often credited as the one who formed The Shield. In an interview with Colt Cabana, he revealed that WWE wanted him in a heel stable back when he was a competitor there, but he didn’t like their choices, so he gave his own. He said: “I’m willing to do the heel stable thing, but why don’t we pick three guys from FCW that are ready instead of using two guys, you know what I mean?….Ambrose, Rollins and Chris Hero [Kassius Ohno]. They wanted Roman Reigns. They came to me, and they were like, ‘What about Leakee?’ I didn’t… it wasn’t my hill to die on. I said, ‘Sure,’ because it made sense to me.”
Punk’s subsequent venture into AEW in 2021 was met with fanfare, but controversy soon followed. After AEW All Out in 2022, reports surfaced of a legitimate altercation between Punk and AEW executives Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks, resulting in suspensions for all parties involved. Seth Rollins, speaking to Wrestling Inc, didn’t mince words when asked about his opinion on CM Punk possibly returning to WWE. He said:
“Oh, Philly Phil. Stay away. Stay away, you cancer. 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? Do we just figure that out? No. Everybody in the room is like, ‘Oh no, Did he say that?’ Yeah, no. He’s a jerk. Come on. We figured it out over there, we knew it over here. I don’t want him back. Go do something else. See you later.”
CM Punk has earned his fair share of criticism as he did eventually get fired from AEW after another backstage incident. With his heated history with WWE and falling out with AEW, no one expected him to ever return to either again, but now he’s back in WWE.
Seth Rollins recently spoke to Sports Illustrated Media and revealed the real reason why he despises CM Punk. He said:
“For a guy (CM Punk) who, when I met him, made it seem like he was all about giving back to the business, he really turned into a pretty selfish guy and really wanted to take more from the industry. He (CM Punk) said some really bad things about me. Talked down about me for years, and the company (WWE), for years. I’m talking some really bad stuff. Called me a bootlicker and crap like that. You don’t know me. You don’t know what I stand for. I’m a loyal person, and I felt pretty insulted by a lot of the ways he treated me, treated the place I work for, treated friends that I worked with. I don’t need to get into any of the stuff with Colt Cabana if you want to look at that kind of stuff, that’s out there.” “I also felt like he’s a fraud in that sense, or at least turned into one at some point in the last decade. That’s the long of it. It’s a deep-rooted, I wouldn’t call it hatred, but there’s animosity there.”
Seth Rollins also said he’s 37 now and has no place in his life left for such petty grudges. He credited his wife, Becky Lynch, for calming him down amongst others backstage at Survivor Series, and he regrets shouting expletives. He expressed he would like to bury the hatchet.
On an episode of RAW, CM Punk returned to confront both Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre. At Money in the Bank 2024, CM Punk cost both McIntyre his cash-in attempt and also ended up costing Rollins an opportunity at the World Heavyweight Title so long as Damian Priest was the champion.
As Punk was addressing his foes, Rollins came out and spoke directly to him. He told him that Punk’s actions have consequences and that he is going to have to pay for them once he is 100% and ridiculed him for sticking his nose in his business.
Since CM Punk was getting involved in Rollins’ business, the latter took it upon himself to get involved in Punk’s business. At SummerSlam 2024, Rollins was the special guest referee for the match between CM Punk and Drew McIntyre. Punk lost the match, in large part because Punk saw Rollins wear the famous bracelet that was such a key part of the feud between McIntyre and Punk.
After that match, Rollins took care of his own business, but Punk was still involved in the feud with McIntyre. After two more PLE matches, CM Punk prevailed over McIntyre. On a recent episode of RAW, Punk said that he was going to take a break. Enter Rollins, who came out and smiled at CM Punk.
After months of anticipation, Monday Night RAW will finally be making the move to Netflix on January 6, 2025. It is a truly exciting time to be a fan of professional wrestling. In the last couple of weeks, Rollins and Punk have reignited their feud and brawled with one another. This led to WWE finally making it official by scheduling the match between the two rivals for the premiere of RAW on Netflix. In anticipation of it, WWE held a kickoff show on December 18, 2024.
Rollins and Punk came face-to-face and things went as expected. Rollins yelled that CM Punk was a “bootlicker.” They also began to push each other before Triple H and Adam Pearce got involved and broke it up. It is a match that is years in the making and one that fans will not want to miss, but it almost certainly will not be the end of their rivalry.
Test mules are fascinating—the skin of a production car draped over sometimes half-baked and always high-cost development parts. If you live near a major automaker’s headquarters or test site, you’ve probably seen a test mule and didn’t even bat an eye. However, this BMW M2 test bed might have piqued your interest if you saw it quietly moving through traffic.
In the second episode of its YouTube series, BMW M Electrified, the brand showed off more of its upcoming EV sports-sedan tester. The episode picks up where the last left off, and it turns out the board of directors likes the engineering team’s work—not a huge surprise to see from a brand’s official video series.
What is surprising is that the company shows off some of its older work, namely an EV-swapped M2. This car was used to test vehicle dynamics and the battery-electric powertrain. According to Michael Sailer, functional development BMW M driving dynamics, this test bed earned the nickname the “Beast.”
As we see in the video above, Sailer outlines that the Beast wasn’t exactly refined. He says it lacked calmness and describes it as “really hard to control.” He peels the curtain back further and explains that this project started with a small team back in 2018.
