CM Punk ‘dying’ to work with Dave Bautista in acting role

CM Punk is hoping that he’ll someday get to share the screen with Dave Bautista in a film project.

Speaking with Deadline after WrestleMania 41 for a feature story published this week, Punk said he’s “dying” to work with WWE legend Bautista in an acting role. Punk teased that he’d like the two to appear in a romantic comedy together.

“I would love to do that,” Punk responded when asked if he’d be interested in acting in a rom-com. “Me and Dave Bautista are trying to do a rom-com, maybe not together, but it’s a race. He really wants to do one, and I really want to do one too. Dave and I are two emotional b**ches. We would absolutely kill that genre, guaranteed, him especially. I’m dying to work with him. What if we were romantically involved? Who’s not going to pay to see that?”

The interest in working together is reciprocal, with Bautista telling Buzzfeed last year that he believes Punk has unlimited potential as an actor.

“His potential in acting is pretty unlimited,” Bautista said. “So I really want to see more from him in acting. I’d actually love to work with him. Because I think he has a passion for acting, but I think still his heart is in professional wrestling. Until he’s able to let that go a little bit, he’ll never be able to fully envelop himself in acting.”

Punk, 46, signed with Paradigm Talent Agency in June 2024 as he looks to expand his presence in Hollywood. His upcoming roles include parts in a horror movie named “Night Patrol” and a Syfy series titled “Revival.” He told Deadline that it’s easier to get time for outside projects than it used to be in WWE.

“It’s a lot easier now. It was harder back in the day because wrestling was the lion’s share of what I did, and I wasn’t allowed to do other stuff,” Punk said. “I have pre-existing relationships and projects I work on that are grandfathered into my contract. I typically do Monday Night Raw live on Netflix every week. But if I need to dip out for two weeks to shoot an independent film, I can always do that. We’re trying to petition Netflix to do a third season of ‘Heels.’ I have two projects coming down the line that I’m very excited about. One is the TV show ‘Revival’ that will air on Syfy, and a really, really fun movie called ‘Night Patrol,’ written and directed by Ryan Prows. I don’t want to give away too much but it’s night patrol, LAPD, Bloods, Crips, vampires.”

Punk and WWE are in talks for a new five-year contract. Following Paul Heyman’s WrestleMania betrayal, Punk is set to feud with Heyman’s new faction of Seth Rollins and Bron Breakker. They laid out Punk and Roman Reigns on the Raw after Mania.