Roman Reigns Makes His WrestleMania 42 Choice Clear with a Fiery Promo on Raw

Roman Reigns didn't delay the inevitable and picked CM Punk for the world title match at WrestleMania 42.

Roman Reigns Makes His WrestleMania 42 Choice Clear with a Fiery Promo on Raw

Roman Reigns on Raw [via- WWE]

Roman Reigns indeed turned up to this week’s Raw after having won the Royal Rumble match for a second time in his career last Saturday. The fans were anticipating Reigns to mull over his choice of the world champion he would want to face at WrestleMania 42. CM Punk didn’t waste much time coming out.

Punk first decided to address what Finn Balor had to say about wanting to do bad things at this stage of his career after condoning constant disrespect of late. ‘The Best in the World’ affirmed that he’s the baddest when pushed, and Balor would find out about it soon. Punk eventually circled back to Reigns and asked him to take the easy way out by picking Drew McIntyre as his WrestleMania opponent.

‘The Tribal Chief’ took slight offense to Punk downplaying McIntyre, with Reigns telling the former AEW star that the Scot was like four times his size. ‘The OTC’ found it amusing that McIntyre had Punk stressing over a plastic bracelet the last time they were feuding.

The Chicago-born wrestler clapped back at Reigns by affirming that he opened up a wound so severe on Drew’s forehead that it almost ran WWE out of staples to put him back together.

Punk countered Reigns’ claim of beating up ‘The Scottish Psychopath’ for three years straight by bringing up that it took all his cousins to do that. ‘The Straight Edge Superstar’ eventually brought up those controversial comments that Roman Reigns made on The Pat McAfee Show before the Royal Rumble.

Punk chuckled, thinking Reigns meant everything he had said about other stars not stepping up and filling in his shoes while he graciously stepped aside for them in the past couple of years. ‘The Second City Saint’ reminded the former Bloodline leader of the time he once held the WWE Championship for 434 days with Paul Heyman by his side. Punk wondered if that sounded a bit familiar to what Reigns did almost a decade later.

The 47-year-old stated that just because Reigns was the world champion for 1316 days doesn’t necessarily mean that he did it better. Punk also broached how Reigns has been a part-timer while the ‘Cookie Master’ just capped off a 10-country tour on the road with WWE in three weeks.

‘The Voice of the Voiceless’ added that he chose to be a fighting champion just like he chose to bring ‘The OTC’ to WWE as part of the Shield back in the day. Punk asserted that it was Reigns who followed in his footsteps, and he was proud of him, almost sarcastically.

What was Roman Reigns’ response to CM Punk that made the fans rave about their segment?

Having let CM Punk trash-talk for a while, Roman Reigns started scoffing at the world champ, especially at the latter saying that Reigns learned from him.

But first of all, the Samoan wrestler quipped that he would’ve been willing to do as many shows as possible, too, had he taken a decade-long vacation from WWE as Punk did. And secondly, ‘The Head of the Table’ affirmed that the only thing he learned from Punk was what not to do.

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

Reigns dug up that CM Punk podcast appearance with his former best friend, Colt Cabana, a few months after he infamously walked out of WWE in 2014.

During the conversation, the ‘Best in the World’ vented about how the WWE management was hellbent on establishing Reigns as the top star right from the get-go to a degree where they specifically asked CM Punk to “make Roman look strong” in a 3-on-1 handicap match.

In response to that, Reigns told Punk that it made his life more difficult than it should have ever been. The 40-year-old revealed that he still decided to allow Punk back in WWE all those years later. Reigns said that the company’s top brass consulted him before giving the ‘Second City Saint’ the call to return in late 2023. But despite showing a bigger heart, what did ‘The OTC’ get in return?

Punk swept his Wiseman, Paul Heyman, away from him. If that wasn’t bad enough already, the ‘Red-Headed Stepchild’ even brainwashed his cousins. Reigns affirmed that he showed respect to Punk by shaking his hand at the conclusion of the WarGames match last year. But Punk mocked Reigns behind his back as if he were a young boy.

At last, Roman Reigns said he could pick CM Punk as the one to fight with at WrestleMania in Las Vegas just because he was the biggest star available and he was on Netflix. But it’s neither of those. Reigns, in fact, picked Punk purely because he hated him. ‘The Tribal Chief’ predicted WrestleMania 42 to be the greatest day of his life because of CM Punk acknowledging him.

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