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On-screen, John Cena and Roman Reigns are among the most polarizing WWE Superstars of the last decade. Off-screen, however, that honor definitely belongs to CM Punk.
During his nine years in WWE, CM Punk perfected the art of getting audiences to cheer for him as a good guy and boo him as a bad guy. But, for various reasons, the man behind the CM Punk character, Phil Brooks, divides opinion amongst WWE fans and his former colleagues.
Some WWE Superstars regard CM Punk as one of the best performers of his generation, while others have been known to take digs at The Best in the World in media interviews and on social media.
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Simply put, whether he is loved or loathed, everybody seems to have an opinion on CM Punk.
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With that in mind, let’s take a look at two WWE Superstars who dislike CM Punk, as well as three who like him.
#5 Roman Reigns dislikes CM Punk
The inspiration for this article comes from Roman Reigns’ comments about CM Punk on the Load Management podcast.
During a discussion about possible WWE opponents, Reigns name-checked The Rock and CM Punk as two people who he can see himself doing business with in the future.
The former Shield member also revealed that he does not like CM Punk in real life.
“Just by doing one of these things [a podcast], he [CM Punk] made my job a lot harder. If it's something that the fans can get behind, and that it can really make them sink their teeth into this product, and really dive into the creative with us, I'm willing to do it. I don't like the guy, I don't know many people who do, but I'm willing to put business first and make really good content if that's the case.”
Reigns added during the podcast appearance that CM Punk “would probably have to be slapped around a few times in order to get his mind right” if he ever returned to WWE.
Regarding Reigns’ “one of these things” comment, that was in reference to CM Punk taking a dig at The Big Dog on Colt Cabana’s Art of Wrestling podcast in November 2014.
CM Punk recalled that he was repeatedly told before his 3-on-1 handicap match against The Shield at TLC 2013 that he “had to make Roman look strong”. He also revealed that he recommended Kassius Ohno as The Shield’s third member alongside Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins.
#4 Kofi Kingston likes CM Punk
CM Punk mentioned on his Best in the World WWE DVD in 2012 that he enjoyed working with Kofi Kingston during their Tag Team Championship reign in 2008. The DVD also showed Kingston traveling with CM Punk on his personal bus.
Speaking to Fightful in 2019, the New Day member said he has not kept in touch with CM Punk since the five-time World Champion left WWE in 2014, but he will always be grateful for the advice that he received from his former WWE colleague in the early days of his career.
“Punk, like you heard with a lot of people who were on the active roster, just didn’t talk to a lot of people on the roster. To me, we spent so much time together, I’ll always consider him to be one of my brothers. He’s a guy that took me under his wing when he didn’t have to.”
Kingston also told a story about one time when he was doing push-ups before a WWE show to get the nerves out of his system. CM Punk walked up to him and offered some tips on how to control his nerves before matches.
#3 The Rock likes CM Punk
Speculation about real-life heat between former WWE opponents The Rock and CM Punk appears to have been blown way out of proportion.
CM Punk explained during his Starrcast Q&A in September 2019 that the two men had a disagreement after he found out that The Rock’s team had written promos for both Superstars around the time of their Royal Rumble 2013 rivalry.
This frustrated CM Punk, who is known as one of the best talkers in WWE history, but they quickly worked things out.
As you can see from the tweets above, The Rock has had nice things to say about CM Punk in the past. He also once tried to call his former WWE Championship rival in the middle of a WWE ring to stop fans from chanting “CM Punk! CM Punk!” during the filming of the Fighting With My Family movie.
CM Punk did not answer because he was out walking his dog when The Rock called. He did, however, receive a voicemail with thousands of fans shouting his name.
#2 AJ Styles dislikes CM Punk
It is unknown why there is so much animosity between AJ Styles and CM Punk, but their real-life heat has hit the headlines on multiple occasions in 2020.
The first online dig between the former WWE Champions came when CM Punk claimed on Twitter that some people were “snitching on themselves” by not commenting on the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.
When a Twitter user told CM Punk that Styles had been promoting his Twitch streams and not talking about ‘Black Lives Matter’, he decided to take a shot at the WWE Superstar.
“Well. Come on. That one has been obvious for years.”
Styles has been asked about CM Punk on several Twitch streams after that since-deleted tweet was posted.
His latest comments regarding CM Punk came in September 2020 when he ruled out ever facing The Best in the World in WWE.
“Nope. That will never happen... I don't have to go into detail about that one. I think it's pretty obvious where things stand. I'm not a fan.” [H/T Wrestling Inc.]
Styles and CM Punk faced each other in 10 matches in the early stages of their careers, with Styles winning five times and CM Punk winning four times (Christopher Daniels won the other match).
The two men never worked for WWE at the same time.
#1 Samoa Joe likes CM Punk
Samoa Joe is one of the few Superstars who has been friends with CM Punk since before both men were part of WWE.
Like AJ Styles, Samoa Joe faced CM Punk in lots of matches between 2003 and 2005, with their most memorable encounters coming in Ring of Honor.
The two men fought to a 60-minute time limit draw at the ROH World Title Classic event in June 2004.
Four months later, Joe put his ROH World Title on the line again against CM Punk in what turned out to be another time limit draw at ROH Joe vs. Punk II.
Speaking on Eyes on the Game in February 2017, Joe said CM Punk wanted him to join WWE several years earlier when The Best in the World was still there.
“When I came here, I remember for years he was kind of championing my cause to be here in WWE. To see me now, he’s kind of like, ‘Oh, of course, now that I’m not here.’ Between me and him it’s always been a very interesting relationship. We’re kind of like brothers who fight all the time. There’s never a dull moment when it comes to our conversation.”
CM Punk made his final WWE appearance in January 2014, one year before Joe debuted as a member of the WWE NXT roster in May 2015.
