CM Punk will appear on tonight’s “Tribute To The Troops” edition of SmackDown, which will be his first appearance on the blue brand in 10 years.
WrestleVotes reported the following about plan for Punk for tonight’s show:
“I’m told CM Punk’s in-ring segment tonight on SmackDown will focus on his desire to ‘main event’ WrestleMania 40.”
As we have reported before, Punk is expected to main event Night 1 of WrestleMania 40 against Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Championship.
Earlier today, Rollins explained why he isn’t a fan of Punk during an interview with Sports Illustrated:
“A lot of it is personal. A lot of it is stuff I don’t really want to get into. For the most part, I just think he’s been really selfish when it comes to his perspective on the industry.
I think he’s been extremely self-serving, has played the martyr role to a tee and has, for someone who, when I met the guy, and look, I have a lot of good things to say about parts of my relationship with him. He helped me in places when he didn’t have to, whether that was for his own good or not, I’m not entirely sure. Regardless, it helped me get where I needed to go and do the things I needed to do.
For a guy who, when I met him, made it seem like he was all about giving back to the business, he really turned into a pretty selfish guy and wanting to take more from the industry. Look, he said some really bad things about me. Talked down about me for years, and the company, for years.
I’m talking some really bad stuff. Called me a bootlicker and crap like that. You don’t know me. You don’t know what I stand for. I’m a loyal person, and I felt pretty insulted by a lot of the ways he treated me, treated the place I work for, treated friends that I worked with. I don’t need to get into any of the stuff with Colt Cabana if you want to look at that kind of stuff, that’s out there. Just the way he treated people.
The way I felt like he’s only looking out for himself, and then the way he talked about me and my friends and the people who are here putting the hard work in at WWE, trying to make this thing as good as we possibly can because we love the industry, truly love it, not just what it can do for us, we actually love it and want to give back to it and make it the best it could possibly be.
I also felt like he’s a fraud in that sense, or at least turned into one at some point in the last decade. That’s the long of it. It’s a deep-rooted, I wouldn’t call it hatred, but there’s animosity there.”
RAW General Manager Adam Pearce will try to sign Punk to the red brand next week and Rollins warned Pearce about Punk.
Also Read: WWE Is Officially Advertising Former Champion’s Return For Tonight’s SmackDown
WATCH: Nikki Bella Exposes Her Buns (Part 2):
