CM Punk says he’d book Women’s World title match to main event WrestleMania 41
If CM Punk was booking WWE WrestleMania 41, he’s not sure if he’d put his match in the main event slot on night one.
Punk vs. Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns is scheduled to headline the first night of this year’s two-night event, with the story focused on Punk finally achieving his goal of main eventing a WrestleMania. But if it was up to him, the Women’s World Championship match would go on last on one of the two shows.
“If it was up to me, believe it or not, Rhea, Bianca and IYO would be the main event,” Punk said during an appearance on The Ringer Wrestling Show. “I’m not saying which night, but I can tell you that if I was in Triple H’s spot, I would gravitate towards that.”
“I think all three of those ladies are so supremely talented, I know they are going to steal the show. And I want to see my friends and my colleagues accomplish things. And it doesn’t so much matter to me if I accomplish them. I know what it feels like to have that chip on my shoulder, to be like, ‘This is my year, right?’”
“Nobody is going to tell me that John Cena shouldn’t be main eventing WrestleMania in his last Mania, you know? So, stay vigilant everybody, bust your ass, and if it’s meant to be it will come to pass—and I’m obviously living, breathing proof of that.”
Punk would go on to say that a big reason he always wanted to headline WrestleMania was the money involved, but with wrestlers now being paid flat rates, the financial incentive to headline the show is no longer there.
“I also need to kind of broach the subject of the reason I think why I was so obsessed with the main event of WrestleMania is pay scale,” Punk said.
“So if I’m in the main event, I get paid more money; that does not exist anymore. Everybody’s on flat salary, and we get paid stupid money for what we do. And yes, I do think we should all get paid more based on things I see the company doing and shouting from the rooftops of how much money TKO is making and all this other stuff, you know? But I’m 46—I don’t need money at this point in my life.”
Earlier in the interview, the topic of WWE executives and talent making political statements was brought up, and Punk was asked if he had any “shocking or surprising political affiliations” he wished to reveal.
Punk responded:
“You say Free Palestine and people are mad about that. You want marginalized groups of people protected; people get pissed when you talk about that. You know what people I would like to slander? Is the people who try to tell people that you are not doing enough?”
The topic of politics came up again later in the conversation when Punk spoke about people being fans of politicians.
“I don’t talk about politics with Triple H. I don’t talk about politics with Paul Heyman. I don’t talk about politics with Roxanne Perez, you know what I mean? it’s just 24/7 wrestling. I think it’s pretty obvious what my ‘politics’ are. I’ve never understood—Democrat or Republican—like, glazing the president.”
“And we have very much seen recently that all these people have voted against their best interests because they thought this president was going to just do bad, stupid sh-t to the people that they don’t like. I can sort of draw a line in the sand and say, when Elon Musk is throwing Zieg Heils up at the podium—and I could just see people make excuses for that.”
“And it’s just a fucking strange, ugly world out there. And the only thing I can do is be true to myself and implement and be a voice for myself and my family, my community, then the world. I don’t know what people want from us as entertainers. Like, I’m just supposed to quit my job because what? Somebody on Twitter says WWE is a ‘MAGA company?’ Okay—you’re on Lord Elon Musk’s f—ing Twitter saying stupid sh-t. Like, what have you done? Because I’ve done a lot—I just don’t broadcast it.”
Punk’s full appearance on the show is available below: