WWE: CM Punk vs Seth Rollins more pipe dream than pipe bomb with Vince McMahon ‘furious’ at Raw promo
- Rollins teases fans with put-down of Punk on WWE Raw after Chicago chants its hometown hero’s name
- But don’t get your hopes up, because McMahon reportedly thinks dream match is a non-starter
At WWE’s big NXT Takeover and Survivor Series events last weekend, the Chicago crowd was never going to stay quiet about its hometown hero. Especially now he is back on WWE programming.
“CM Punk, CM Punk” chanted the All-State Arena in lulls of excitement, and moments of displeasure. The crowd even tried to torpedo Seth Rollins’ opening promo on Monday night’s episode of Raw with the same chant.
“I tried to get CM Punk here, I’m sorry, he didn’t want to show up,” Rollins said, adapting smartly to the situation. “He wants to sit behind a desk in Los Angeles and talk about a chance he’s too afraid to make himself.”
Rollins was, of course, talking about his fellow former WWE champion’s sudden re-emergence on Fox Sports 1’s news magazine programme, WWE Backstage.
Punk has stunned the professional wrestling world by signing an exclusive contract with Fox to be an analyst and special contributor on the show alongside hosts Renee Young and Booker T. The cable television network has been looking to enhance traction to its WWE coverage to go with Smackdown on Friday nights.
Punk has been his usual brutally honest, box-office, pipe-bombing self; he called WWE’s product “overproduced” and “micromanaged”, and Baron Corbin’s recent mongrel mascot segment “garbage”. While it’s not the in-ring comeback many fans were hoping for, it’s still the first time Punk has stepped back into the professional wrestling scene in any capacity since he walked out of WWE in acrimoniouscircumstances back in 2014.
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Apparently, WWE does not know how to burn bridges, and granting it makes sense from a business standpoint, they are willing to let bygones be bygones. WWE has no qualms in sitting down and doing business with a former talent, regardless of whether his or her exit from the company was amicable or not.
But before we get too far ahead of ourselves by daydreaming of the potential feuds he could have in WWE, it looks like Punk will only be bringing his wit to the table for now.
“I have not spoken to him. We have not had that conversation,” WWE executive Paul “Triple H” Levesque said. “I know he’s working for Fox and it's a bit of an arm’s length from us. Be happy that he’s on WWE Backstage and doing something with the business again. The rest of it, I’ve said it a million times, never say never.”
Sadly for his ardent followers who still unapologetically chant his name, and hope and pray for him to rekindle his desire to lace up his boots, Punk revealed in his first appearance on the show last week it’s going to take some enormous work to get him back into the squared-circle.
It also appears Punk still has legitimate beef with Levesque, however. After announcing Levesque would appear on Tuesday’s episode of WWE Backstage, the WWE on Fox Twitter account confirmed Punk would not be on the show.
Vince McMahon was also reportedly “furious” that Rollins ad-libbed a response in-ring to the CM Punk chants on Raw, according to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer.
But hold on – that doesn’t mean McMahon was ruling anything out. Meltzer said the WWE chairman and CEO was angry because he doesn’t like teasing matches he has no plan to deliver, which would indicate he also thinks Punk getting back in the ring is unlikely.
But we’ve seen it with Hulk Hogan, Jeff Jarrett, The Hardy Boyz and Kurt Angle. The doors are wide open, always have been and always will be.
It’s a matter of time before McMahon gives one of his prodigal sons a warm, big hug, especially as Punk is within the promotion's premises.
