CM Punk explains how his mindset about The Rock being involved in WWE is different now.
CM Punk and The Rock memorably feuded in 2013, and now, over a decade later, they have both returned to WWE. The Rock recently got back into the mix when he appeared on the February 21st episode of WWE SmackDown and told Cody Rhodes that he wanted his soul.
Speaking with Mail Sport, The Rock’s return came up in the conversation. When it was noted that The Rock’s storyline with Rhodes could affect him, Punk said that it would likely impact everyone. He went on to state that he had a different perspective on The Rock.
“I’m sure it will. I’m sure it’s going to trickle down and impact everybody. I think one of the difficult parts of this being so big, there’s so many moving parts. You’re seeing it with [John] Cena now. Definitely, I have a different perspective on it now than I did 10 years ago when I was working with The Rock.
“It’s easy for everybody to say, ‘You’re not here, we’re grinding, we’re doing this.’ The schedule now is so much more limited than it was 10 years ago. I can’t point a finger at anybody else and say, ‘Well, you’re not here.'”
CM Punk On John Cena
Punk then brought up John Cena’s part-time schedule as an example and said that he had earned that right. He noted that Cena’s retirement tour was good for business as well.
“A guy like John Cena, he’s a busy dude. He’s earned that right,” he said. “He’s stated that he’s retiring, this is going to be his final run, so I’m less inclined to say, ‘You should be here doing this, doing that.’ Sometimes the tickets sell themselves when we’re in these international markets and you hear John Cena retirement tour, that’s going to put butts in seats.’
“‘John Cena doesn’t necessarily need to show up every week. He’s busy, he’s filming a movie. I understand that, but there is a flip side to that coin. There is still a locker room full of pro wrestlers. They are the people that will get a chip on their shoulder and there will be resentment because there are people that feel, ‘Oh, I’m here every week. I’m doing this, I’m doing this.’
“But at the end of the day, I think everybody just constantly wants to rise to the level. So along the way, yeah, we’re going to poke, we’re going to prod, we’re going to say, ‘”‘Hey, Rock, you showed up here, how come you’re not here? Why aren’t you doing this?'”‘ I think the fans do that too, and I think they enjoy it when they see us do it.”
CM Punk On The Rock
Punk went on to say that The Rock was a giant box office star, and his “Final Boss” character it more real regarding navigating his schedule.
“There’s no denying what a giant box office star The Rock is,” Punk said. “I think peeling back a little bit and being Final Boss instead of happy-go-lucky Rock, I think that is a character that can say, ‘Yeah, I’m not here all the time. So what? I’ll show up for eight minutes every six months and it’ll still be the biggest thing.’
“I think there’s freedom and there’s an air to play with that a little bit, and it makes it better and more real and more exciting for everybody.”
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