CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns needs to happen sooner rather than later according to a top WWE Superstar.
With Punk now back in WWE, many have been fantasy-booking who they want to see the former World Champion face off against in the near future. While Seth Rollins looks to be the first rivalry given the reactions seen by fan footage and by Rollins himself, another report stated that a future opponent lined up for CM Punk is the top star in WWE; Roman Reigns.
It is unknown when The Best in the World and The Tribal Chief will face off, but it is not set to be anytime soon. As reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, when the rivalry begins it will be “gigantic.” There is also the additional factor of where Paul Heyman’s allegiances will lie:
Right now, the plan is to take a lot of time before getting there. The feeling right now is that will be gigantic at the time they choose to get there. Whether it results in Heyman leaving Reigns for Punk and Punk going heel and Reigns face, which was the speculation we got, there are multiple different ways to approach that. The key is to peak it timing wise, although it’ll probably work big whenever it happens.
However, not everyone is convinced with this tactic. In a continuation of the report, a top star has cited both Punk’s risk to injury and the alleged reports in general, noting that it would be wise to have the match within the first half of 2024:
One major star who saw the situation said that they’d better get there within six months because of the injury risk or uncertainty with Punk. Even though the dynamics are different in WWE in the sense Punk knows full well he won’t have the power he had in AEW, it wasn’t like it was one issue in AEW it was over-and-over.
But AEW also never nipped it in the bud. In the end, if he were to go into business for himself on a live mic, in AEW he got people hot at him which was clearly his design to prove his point knowing he was above punishment. In WWE, they may take it once, but not without repercussions, and doubtful it would happen twice.
The Newsletter goes on to cite Matt Riddle as an example of how WWE punished people. Riddle went off script during a live broadcast and went into too much detail about the nature of Randy Orton’s back injury. It was stated that the company viewed this very negatively, and was affected as such in the way that Riddle was booked.
Details Revealed Regarding CM Punk’s Termination
One of the biggest questions fans had when Punk was fired was the nature of the no-compete clause. While a 90-day non-compete is known to be a standard procedure in WWE, AEW’s policy was still unknown as few stars had actually been released from their contracts, as Tony Khan generally opts to let contracts expire unless there is cause for termination. It is also stated in the Newsletter how long CM Punk’s no-compete was following the AEW firing.