Seth Rollins Was Asked To Speak Positively About CM Punk: “Him & His Ex-Friend Colt Cabana Helped Pave The Way For Young Guys Like Me”

Rollins further speaks about Punk.

CM Punk and Seth Rollins have minced no words about each other in their programs on WWE television and in media appearances.

During Rollins’ appearance on UnSportsmanLike, he was asked to speak positively of Punk and stated that Punk and Colt Cabana helped pave the way for guys like him.

“I’ve said some nice things about (CM) Punk, occasionally. Look, there’s no secret, he was a major influence on my career. First of all, he was a pioneer. So, there’s a nice thing I said about him. What he did for guys like me who came from the same kind of independent background as he did. You mentioned the meal that I talked about — AJ Styles — who’s recently retired — another one of those guys. But Punk was a guy — who from the Midwest — him and his ex-friend I suppose, Colt Cabana, were two guys who really — they helped pave the way for young guys like me to be able to find a path to WWE when it didn’t seem possible before. So, and he was there to support me in his own way for many years in different kinds of situations but at the end of the day, at some point, it became too much for him and he changed and he left, and I grew and he sort of stagnated, and so, there’s a great divide there between the two of us but yeah, I can say a couple nice things about who he used to be… We’re decades apart here. He leaves in 2014 or something like that. I don’t see him again for another 10 years. I don’t talk to him for another 10 years. He talks a lot about me, I talk a lot about him. But we’re two different people… The problem with him was the person he became was this — I mean, he’s always been a curmudgeon and he’d probably admit that himself — but, he was not helpful when it came to moving the business forward. He was so bitter and he was so self-centered, that it was about him and it was about how do I make this right, and he did that at the expense of the industry, and at the expense of the people who were trying to make the business big, and trying to do the right thing. We butted heads on that and I don’t know if we’re ever gonna be able to reconcile those differences, but sure, I can say some nice things about CM Punk pre-2014.”

Punk is the reigning WWE World Heavyweight Champion, and he’ll be defending the belt against Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania 42.

It’ll be the second year that Reigns and Punk will have main-evented WrestleMania. At WrestleMania 41, they were in a Triple Threat with Seth Rollins.

If the quote in this article is used, please credit UnSportsmanLike with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.