WWE WHW Champ Seth Rollins Would Have Picked CM Punk As His NXT Pro

Earlier this year, WWE star Seth Rollins stirred up a little bit of controversy when he referred to AEW performer CM Punk as "a cancer." It seems likely that Rollins' comments were a playful, if particularly sharp, barb, referencing reports from wrestling media of an anonymous source within AEW calling Punk the same thing. Now, speaking on "SHAK Wrestling," the WWE World Heavyweight Champion revealed that it's none other than Punk who he would've picked as his chosen "WWE NXT" pro back in the day if given the option.

"2011, 2012? I mean, at that point in my career ... I would've been very closely aligned with CM Punk," Rollins said. "He would've probably been the guy, if he was going to be involved with 'NXT,' that they would've paired with me based on our personality types and our upbringing."

Though it's an entirely different beast now, "NXT" started off as a faux-reality show, with WWE prospects competing for a spot on the roster. According to Rollins, he was very nearly featured on a season before it wound up being scrapped, with "NXT" soon re-tooled into something very different.

"All we did was film ... the pre-tape stuff," Rollins stated. "We went to Full Sail University, and ... they had the cameras set up and went around you. ... [We] did the poses and kind of talked about who we were and where we came from and all that, so all that pre-production type stuff. We did all that, and they just never did the season."

Rollins is long past his "NXT" days now, however. The World Heavyweight Champion is preparing to defend his title against Finn Balor of The Judgment Day at WWE SummerSlam this Saturday.