Seth Rollins, who is scheduled to headline Night 1 of WrestleMania 41 in a triple threat match against CM Punk and Roman Reigns, recently addressed the idea of stepping into the MMA cage with Punk. While the animosity between Rollins and Punk has been well-documented—stemming from Punk’s 2014 WWE departure and subsequent criticisms of the company—Rollins didn’t dismiss the notion when asked about it during an appearance on Outta Pocket with RGIII.
Rollins confirmed that he would be open to the idea of a legitimate MMA fight with Punk, provided he had proper time to prepare. “Sure. Yeah, I would,” Rollins said. “I’m not going to just bust into his locker room backstage and start lighting him up. But like, if Dana White wanted to book CM Punk vs. Seth Rollins… I’d put on the gloves and give it a go. Might be the only one I do.”
He added that while he wouldn’t be interested in fighting professional MMA fighters generally, he’d make an exception for Punk. “You put me in there with like any of the other guys in my weight class… I’m out. Dana, you want to make some money? Book it, brother. Just give us a few months, you know, give me a few months. Give me like a training camp. But I feel like I could handle myself.”
While the comment was made with some humor, Rollins appeared serious about his willingness to go toe-to-toe with Punk under the right circumstances—another sign of the deep-rooted tension between the two heading into WrestleMania.
