CM Punk Reveals First Impression Of Roman Reigns, Recalls Where Their Animosity Started – ‘He Had Management & An Entire System That Was Gonna Shove Him Down Everybody’s Throat, By Some Miracle He Finally Figured It Out’

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WWE World Champion CM Punk has opened up about his first impression of Roman Reigns and discussed where their animosity stemmed from.

Punk defends his champonship against Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania 42 night two on Sunday, April 19.

In a new interview with WWE announcer Corey Graves, Punk was asked to recall his first impression of Roman Reigns when The Shield debuted in 2012.

He said:

“I remember sitting all three of those guys and saying, ‘Okay, everything you’ve done up until this point doesn’t mean anything, forget about it. People don’t know who you guys are, I need you to go out there and make them never forget who you are.’

“I went down the line and I asked each single one of them, ‘What is your goal? What do you wanna accomplish here?’ And the first thing he said is, ‘I wanna provide a life for my daughter.’

“And I said, ‘Okay, bingo, you get it. But in order to do that, you’ve gotta leave your mark on this business, if you wanna be one of the greats, if you wanna make sure you can provide for your daughter and your family.’

“My initial impression of Roman was, he’s a second generation superstar who, upon face value, maybe has what it takes. His spirit is gonna get tested, he’s gonna have to do things that I never had to, and that’s both good and bad.

“When your dad is a famous pro-wrestler, you will be afforded opportunities. You will also not have to – regardless of what anybody tells you – you will not have to grind to prove yourself.”

If you use this transcription or any portion of it, please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.

Graves then asked where the animosity between Punk and Reigns first stemmed from. Punk replied:

“I think myself and guys like me… this business has changed and evolved so much, but there’s still always going to be resentment towards people who are born on third base.

“I have been friends with and seen dozens of people that I thought had talent, that were never afforded a single opportunity Roman got. And I have watched him get opportunity after opportunity after opportunity and frankly fail. And failure is your best teacher but I don’t think he really learned anything from that.

“He had management and an entire system that was gonna shove him down everybody’s throat and by some miracle he finally figured it out.”

If you use this transcription or any portion of it, please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.

CM Punk Calls Out Part-Time Roman Reigns

During the interview, CM Punk also commented on Roman Reigns being a part-timer in WWE and how as champion he should have a duty to appear on TV consistently.

Punk even praised Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes as names who have struck the right balance of being fathers without taking considerable time away from TV like Reigns does.

He said:

“I don’t wanna say anything nice or positive about Seth Rollins, but Seth seems to balance things perfectly fine. My good friend Cody Rhodes seems to balance everything super fine. Why can’t Roman?”

If you use this transcription or any portion of it, please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.

Roman Reigns Did Get Countless Opportunities – But It Finally Worked

Roman Reigns’ fortunes turned around during the pandemic ThunderDome era of WWE – in the years prior to that, the company had attempted to make him the top babyface but he was simply being rejected by fans too much for it to really happen.

When he returned as a heel in 2020, that’s where things changed, and the whole Bloodline storyline that really kicked off WWE’s latest boom period took off in a major way, with fans eventually taking to Reigns in 2024.

Even in the build-up to this match, fans have been more on the side of Reigns than CM Punk, and it’ll be interesting to see if that trend continues in Las Vegas at WrestleMania.

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• wwe
• Roman Reigns
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