Roman Reigns and CM Punk Promo Battle from Raw Pulls in Outrageous Numbers

It wouldn't be remiss to assume that the fans are most looking forward to CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 42 after their incredible segment on Raw.

Roman Reigns and CM Punk Promo Battle from Raw Pulls in Outrageous Numbers

Roman Reigns and CM Punk on Raw [via- WWE]

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The Roman Reigns that won his second Royal Rumble match this past weekend in Saudi Arabia wasn’t even a popular fan choice for it until the intense trading of the barbs he had with CM Punk a couple of nights later on Raw. In what could be deemed as staggering numbers, the Punk/Reigns promo battle had raked up over 42 million views across WWE’s digital platforms in the first 15 hours itself.

As of writing, the Instagram reels alone uploaded by WWE featuring these superstars from this week’s Raw have well over 16 million views and counting. Numbers don’t lie, and they suggest that there’s an overwhelming fan response to CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns being one of the main events at this year’s WrestleMania in Las Vegas.

The internet is also amazed at this being the feud for the world heavyweight title for WrestleMania compared to the heavily criticized direction of Jey Uso challenging and eventually dethroning Gunther for the same title belt in 2025. The WWE Universe is also massively pleased with the efforts that Reigns put in going toe-to-toe with one of the greatest trash talkers in history this Monday night.

The fans are sincerely hoping for ‘The OTC’ to appear more often on the road to WrestleMania, as this build-up has a real shot of outweighing the actual match, which, in all likelihood, is expected to be a blast as well. It would be very interesting to see if the former Bloodline boss would take the world title off ‘The Best in the World’ in just over 70 days’ time.

One must not forget that Reigns revealed in an interview with Vanity Fair last April that his current WWE contract is up shortly after WrestleMania 42. Although he did say that wouldn’t be totally it, Reigns clarified having just a couple more years left in him as an active wrestler before taking up a less physical form of entertainment.

Jonathan Coachman and Tommy Dreamer review the Roman Reigns/CM Punk Raw segment

The fans were completely blown away by the heated exchanges that Roman Reigns and CM Punk had on Raw. But how did the wrestling pundits see it? Just as the fans did is the answer to that. Speaking on the Busted Open Radio, Jonathan Coachman used the “there are levels to this” phrase to describe the war of words between Reigns and Punk.

CM Punk and Roman Reigns will main event WrestleMania 42
CM Punk and Roman Reigns will main event WrestleMania 42 [via- WWE]

‘The Coach’ affirmed that those men showed to the entire locker room and the rest of the wrestling space that they would have to deliver at that level if any of them are gunning to share the spotlight with either Reigns or Punk. Coachman asked his co-host Tommy Dreamer the rating he would give to that promo on a scale of 1-10.

The ECW great said that Reigns and Punk produced tens with what they were able to pull off. Dreamer underscored that both men had merit to their arguments, most of which stemmed from their real-life past. ‘The OG of Extreme’ brought up that specific bit from the segment where Roman Reigns dug up CM Punk‘s first public interview, which he did in late 2014 after walking out of WWE earlier in the year.

‘The Second City Saint’ joined his former best friend Colt Cabana and talked about his grievances with the company at length. Punk revealed getting frustrated over the management repeatedly asking him to make Reigns look strong in a 3-on-1 handicap match with the Shield at TLC 2013. The former AEW star had to do it despite being penciled in as the winner.

The fact that the 47-year-old let it out in the public domain made the fans aware that WWE was about to cement the Anoa’i family wrestler as the next top guy of their promotion. It developed a natural resentment within the fanbase as WWE was basically shoving Reigns down everyone’s throat at a time he wasn’t technically adept at holding the fort.

‘The Head of the Table’ mentioned this week on Raw that Punk’s comments made his life more difficult than it should’ve ever been. Circling back to Tommy Dreamer, he was taken aback by WWE deciding to incorporate that infamous podcast outing of Punk in his ongoing feud with Reigns. Dreamer said that he was completely sold on WrestleMania based off that incredible promo exchange.

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