When CM Punk returned to WWE at Survivor Series: WarGames at the end of 2023, Seth Rollins was shown to be visibly upset in fan-shot footage. It didn't take long for a feud to kick off, with the idea being that they'd eventually square off in the WrestleMania main event.
Unfortunately, Punk was injured during the 30-man Royal Rumble match; as a result, Rollins teamed with Cody Rhodes to face The Rock and Roman Reigns and Punk - on commentary - cost Drew McIntyre the title in what ended up being the start of an epic feud.
Talking to Chris Van Vliet, Rollins opened up on what WrestleMania could have looked like had Punk not been injured.
"That’s a great question. It would have been Seth Rollins and CM Punk I believe. But then you’ve got The Rock and his introduction into that story right after Royal Rumble. But he comes in and kind of didn’t really understand the scope of what he was messing up I don’t think. So I don’t know what would have happened if Punk won the Rumble or not got injured. Yeah, I don’t really know."
"I don’t know where Cody would have landed in all of that. I don’t know where Roman, I don’t know where anyone [would have landed]. There were just a lot of players and somebody would have been on the outs. I don’t know who that would have been. I have no idea. So, I mean, all the stars were pointing towards CM Punk and Seth Rollins at WrestleMania. But it’s a tough business and things get in the way."
Talk then turned to whether Rollins ever believed Punk would return to WWE and the fact his reaction to the Second City Saint's surprise return went viral on social media.
"When he joined the broadcast team on Fox, when they were doing that Backstage show I thought to myself okay, maybe there’s an opportunity here. Then when he joined AEW I kind of thought maybe he’ll have a twilight run here. But there were then a lot of times where I just thought, you know, because I know he makes it out like he didn’t really like the other guy that was in charge, but the truth is he didn’t really get along with the current guy that’s in charge either. It wasn’t like they were pals as well. So I think that even when Triple H took over, I didn’t think there would be an olive branch to be had, so kind of 50/50, but I would waver more towards no, I never thought it was gonna happen."
"You know what I wasn’t happy about was Randy had just come back from a long hiatus. That was his moment. It was a great moment. The reaction for him when he came through the curtain was unreal. We went out there, there was 10 of us out there, and we went out there and had a hell of a contest. [We] just didn’t really need him, but you know, it was Chicago, it’s his city, it’s just the most classic make everything about me CM Punk moment I’ve ever seen. So I was just, you know when you’re in that moment, your adrenaline just going through the roof, you’re on the top of a cage celebrating with your pals, sold out All State arena going bananas."
"Then that happens and it’s no longer about the performance. It’s no longer about Randy. It’s no longer about what you had done to get to that point. It’s just, hi guys, it’s about me. Remember I’m the guy that you that you miss, remember me, guys? So yeah, just another kind of throw that on the pile of disgusting CM Punk moments. But don’t worry, he’s not selfish. He’s in it for helping everybody else."
WWE had planned for Punk and Rollins to do battle at this year's Show of Shows. The match was instead brought up to RAW's January 6 premiere on Netflix, with that seemingly marking the end of their long-running rivalry (for now, at least).
You can watch the full interview with Rollins in the player below.