CM Punk Responds To His Joke About Roman Reigns Being Booed

By Jason Ounpraseuth

CM Punk has been a special analyst on WWE Backstage since the show debuted last November. Punk has made several appearances on the FS1 show, and he was asked about it on the Swings & Mrs. show.

"I absolutely adore the show for what it is," Punk said. "I do wish there were things that we could do differently. We talk to the producers all the time about changing some things. It's still kind of a work in progress. I've only done about five or six shows. I was supposed to be there tonight, but this coronavirus thing killed like three of my jobs. I love the show. I really do.

"I think there's a lot of people on there that get on there and say nothing but great things about the product, and then you have me, who will tell you straight up it is what it is. If there's something I don't like, I have the freedom to say, 'no I don't like it.' I think I'm a different dude where no matter what I say about the product, someone's gonna think it's a personal attack because of my history with the company and Vince, but you need a dissenting voice. You need a dissenting opinion. I'm not disagreeing with people just to disagree. I think I bring valid points to the table."

WWE Backstage recently drew record low viewership. Punk addressed that saying the network is more focused on the discourse about the show and what the talent can do and say. He also discussed the talent that he has gotten to meet on the show who were not wrestling with WWE when he was there.

"It's an interesting show. I know a whole bunch of people don't watch it, but I'm not so sure they're concerned about ratings. I think they just want to have a discourse about the show and see what we can talk about to make things better in a way. I have a ton of fun with the show," Punk said. "Me and Booker get along great. I love working with Renee.

"It's cool to have met some people who weren't even wrestling there when I was there. I got to meet people like Ember Moon. I knew Charlotte Flair when she was Ashley from when Ric would bring her to WrestleMania so it was cool to catch up with her. She's been on the road for five years now. It's been a re-learning experience in a lot of ways, but I'm having fun with it."

When WWE announced that WrestleMania would be held in the Performance Center this year, Punk took to Twitter to give his reaction, which included a joke about Roman Reigns not being booed with an empty arena. Punk addressed some of the backlash he received for the tweet.

"Sometimes if I haven't eaten in two hours, I get crabby, and I can take things the wrong way," Punk said. "It's not meant as a personal attack on anybody. If anybody is super offended, I didn't do it on purpose. Sometimes I get Twitter fingers, but it's not the way I would've done things. It is what it is."

One of the hosts, Cody Decker, talked about how it was not a secret that Roman Reigns gets booed. Punk acknowledged that and said that it was not a bad thing since it allows for more storylines to be created, but noted that it is not a direction that is being taken.

"I don't think it's a bad thing that he gets booed," Punk said. "People immediately bring that to a negative connotation. I don't think it's bad at all.

"I think that's one of the great things about pro wrestling is that you can take that situation and you can take that guy who's supposed to be this ultra babyface and a lot of people push back and reject him and you can use that to create really layered storylines, but I don't think they do that. I just think they go, 'no. No. You're supposed to cheer for this guy. Oh, you don't want to cheer for him? Now we're gonna make you cheer for him.'"

You can listen to Punk's interview below. If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Swings & Mrs. with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription

Comments

Recommended