On several occasions during their recent feud, Seth Rollins and CM Punk dropped hints about the origin of their beef, but the full story is still somewhat murky. In a recent sit-down interview for WWE's YouTube channel, Rollins tried to shed more light on where the friction between the two men comes from. Rollins wasn't shy about acknowledging his past admiration for Punk, suggesting they were quite close at one time, and when WWE backstage correspondent Jackie Redmond asked Rollins if the hatred stemmed from a place of love,he agreed.
"I started as a CM Punk fan and I'm not ashamed of that," he said. "He was somebody that I thought I could root for. And at some point in the future, maybe there's a version of me that's a CM Punk fan again. ... [but] everything that he's done has indicated to me that in no way has he changed, that it's just this facade that he's putting on."
Rollins said Punk ghosted many of his WWE friends when he left the company in 2014. He suggested Punk projected the contempt he felt toward WWE onto everyone who still chose to work there.
"I struggled for so many years after that betrayal," he said. "And I never got an apology. You could have even just said, 'Hey man, I need some time. I need some space.' I would have [understood], but he just never - he never gave us that."
Punk abruptly walked out of WWE following the 2014 Royal Rumble, citing, among other things, inadequate treatment from WWE's medical staff. When he returned at Survivor Series 2023, many fans noted Rollins' negative reaction in the ring, though WWE cameras mostly focused on Punk and the fans. Post-match comments by Punk after his victory over Rollins on January 6's "Raw" hinted their feud might be over, but that remains to be seen.
