Roman Reigns & CM Punk Told To ‘Be Careful’ By Former WWE Star

Published: Mar 17, 2026 by Dave Adamson | Last Updated: Mar 17, 2026 by Dave Adamson

Dave has been a website writer for WrestleTalk since October 2022, having previously written for Den of Geek, among a number of wrestling, movie and television-related sites. Dave has been around the independent wrestling scene for more than a decade, including behind-the-scenes.

Roman Reigns & CM Punk Told To ‘Be Careful’ By Former WWE Star

A former champion has told WWE’s Roman Reigns and CM Punk to be careful, following their promo segment on Monday Night Raw.

The March 16 episode of WWE Raw saw CM Punk and Roman Reigns engage in a heated battle of words ahead of their match at WrestleMania 42.

The heated exchange would see Punk drop a subtle reference to AEW star Samoa Joe, with Reigns also criticizing the age of the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

With the promo segment ending with Punk dropping Reigns after Reigns called the champion “old”, Tommy Dreamer has explained why the duo need to be careful if this is the direction they’re taking their rivalry in.

Speaking on Busted Open After Dark, Dreamer said:

“Promo class 101, when you’re insulting your opponent, when you’re doing things like the way they’re going, the biggest thing you’re never supposed to do, you’re never supposed to call your opponent fat and out of shape, or old.

“You know why? Because when you get punched in your face, and you get dropped, the ‘old’ guy just dropped you.

“Then it also goes to, if you’re saying somebody is old, and you’re in the main event of WrestleMania, you’re going toe-to-toe, and you can’t beat an old guy.

“I know it’s just, I don’t care about that, but it’s also the last line that you’re saying, which then gets you punched.

“No one would say that to The Undertaker, no one would say that to Shawn Michaels, Cody’s not going to say that to Randy. No one’s going to say that to Brock, so when you go that route, you’ve got to be careful.

“To the people going ‘Oh, you don’t call somebody old, especially if they’re going to drop you.’ However, I loved all of it.

“Everything he said before that was wonderful, in the sense of, ‘I’m faster than you, I’m better looking than you, I’m everything you’re not.'”

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Reigns had described Punk in less than glowing terms, saying, “You’re old. You’re a try-hard. You’re living off nostalgia. You haven’t main-evented anything this year”, with the WWE World Heavyweight Champion punching The OTC.

WWE Raw General Manager would be among those to restrain Punk following the punch, although Reigns himself didn’t seen phased by the moment, smiling and still talking as the show went off air, as can be seen in this footage.

Language would also feature in Dreamer’s praise of Michael Cole, who has heard saying “holy s**t” after Oba Femi put Brock Lesnar on his match.

The Salesmanship Behind The Showmanship

Arguably, one of the key points of any promo is for a star to make their opponent appear legitimate, even when the odds may be stacked against them, and to make all participants feel like they should be in whatever situation they find themselves in.

In the case of this promo, there were many paths to go down, but highlighting that ‘old’, at just 47 years of age, perhaps wasn’t the best option.

Could Punk be described in other terms? Definitely, and he most certainly has been in other promos that didn’t hit with the resonance of this one.

During their feud of 2024, Rollins made it clear that he believes that Punk is ”fragile’, laying the claim at the star’s mind, body and ego.

Very much like casting doubt on someone’s resilience by simply stating “don’t they look tired to you?”, there are other ways to approach this other than taking a pot shot at the age of a man closer to the opposite side of the same decade as Roman Reigns.

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