CM Punk gives honest reaction to The Rock’s last-minute WWE return for Elimination Chamber and if he’ll grab another WrestleMania main event – after they worked together in 2012

CM Punk and The Rock were once rivals, colleagues, friends – and could soon be any of those three once again.

It was back in 2011 when the rivalry between two of the greatest WWE stars of all time started. When Punk, in his infamous pipe bomb criticising the company, suggested that The Rock owed his success to Vince McMahon’s favouritism.

Fast forward 18 months, and the duo were feuding for the WWE title, where Punk’s 434-day reign came to an end. Speaking in 2021 of working with the wrestler-turned Hollywood actor, he said he had a ‘f***ing uncomfortable’ conversation with the star, but that he was ‘great’ and ‘fun to work with’.

Both back in WWE – somewhat staggeringly after Punk’s bitter exit a decade ago and The Rock’s frequent movie appearances – they could now cross paths again. That could be at WrestleMania – or along the way at least, with some fans suggesting Punk could become the corporate champion that The Rock has asked Cody Rhodes to be.

Punk acknowledges that’s a possibility. The story at the top of the card will likely impact everyone. How often? It’s hard to tell, due to the sporadic nature of ‘The Great One’ in terms of his appearances.

Speaking exclusively to Mail Sport from what seems to be a public cafe, the interview saved amid wifi struggles from the self-proclaimed ‘The Best in the World’, Punk explains he has no issue with some of the biggest stars not turning up each week – including one other Hollywood name.

‘I’m sure it will,’ he says of whether The Rock’s storyline with Rhodes will impact him. ‘I’m sure it’s going to trickle down and impact everybody.

‘I think one of the difficult parts of this being so big, there’s so many moving parts. You’re seeing it with [John] Cena now. Definitely, I have a different perspective on it now than I did 10 years ago when I was working with The Rock.

‘It’s easy for everybody to say, “You’re not here, we’re grinding, we’re doing this”. The schedule now is so much more limited than it was 10 years ago. I can’t point a finger at anybody else and say, “Well, you’re not here”.

‘A guy like John Cena, he’s a busy dude. He’s earned that right. He’s stated that he’s retiring, this is going to be his final run, so I’m less inclined to say, “You should be here doing this, doing that”.

‘Sometimes the tickets sell themselves when we’re in these international markets nd you hear John Cena retirement tour, that’s going to put butts on seats.’

Punk, by and large, since his jaw-dropping return to the company at Survivor Series in 2023, has been on WWE television weekly. He had some time off injured with a torn tricep, but enjoyed stints as a commentator and on-screen pundit, while also progressing his storylines in a mostly non-wrestling capacity.

There are others in the men’s locker room, so they call it, who turn up week in, week out. The likes of Seth Rollins, Jey Uso, Drew McIntyre, Gunther, and Bron Breakker. Rhodes, meanwhile, is often working on multiple shows in a week as champion.

The same can’t be said for the likes of Cena, who hasn’t been seen since the Royal Rumble despite it being his final year wrestling, or The Rock, who appeared for the first time in months last week.

For Punk, though, that’s not an issue. As he enjoys his time at WWE more under Triple H rather than Vince McMahon, playing a mentor role to some wrestlers, and also still growing his own career, he wants to see other stars kick on – and some, who may have ‘a chip on their shoulder’, will use any ammo they can. 

‘John Cena doesn’t necessarily need to show up every week,’ Punk continues. ‘He’s busy, he’s filming a movie. I understand that, but there is a flip side to that coin.

‘There is still a locker room full of pro wrestlers. They are the people that will get a chip on their shoulder and there will be resentment because there are people that feel, “Oh, I’m here every week. I’m doing this, I’m doing this”.

‘But at the end of the day, I think everybody just constantly wants to rise to the level. So along the way, yeah, we’re going to poke, we’re going to prod, we’re going to say, “Hey, Rock, you showed up here, how come you’re not here? Why aren’t you doing this?” I think the fans do that too, and I think they enjoy it when they see us do it.’

The Rock has received praise for his ‘Final Boss’ character, a role that sees him abuse the power he has due to his legendary status and legitimate position on the board at TKO – WWE’s parent company – to get what he wants.

Last year, he embraced the role of a heel, something not many saw coming at this stage of his career, to team up with real-life cousin Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania night one to try and prevent him from losing his title to Rhodes.

He would target Rhodes and his family, embrace his villainous side and bend rules. It’s what fans wanted to see – rather than a ‘happy go lucky Rock’, as Punk calls it.

And Punk agrees. He appreciates the star power Dwayne Johnson brings, and acknowledges that the character itself plays into his schedule.

‘There’s no denying what a giant box office star The Rock is,’ Punk adds. ‘I think peeling back a little bit and being Final Boss instead of happy go lucky Rock, I think that is a character that can say, “Yeah, I’m not here all the time. So what? I’ll show up for eight minutes every six months and it’ll still be the biggest thing”.

‘I think there’s freedom and there’s an air to play with that a little bit, and it makes it better and more real and more exciting for everybody.’

Recently, Punk has been feuding with Logan Paul. You read that right. It may be the direction for WrestleMania, it may not. But, on Saturday, he will be inside the Elimination Chamber alongside Rhodes and four other wrestlers where the winner will earn a ‘Mania match against Rhodes.

‘I’ll main event WrestleMania one day,’ Punk adds, smiling, as aware of the narrative around that topic as his and WWE’s fans are. Whether that will happen – and if it will involve The Rock – will be revealed soon.