WWE World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk appeared on ESPN’s Elimination Chamber preview to discuss various topics, including potentially risking his WrestleMania 42 match against Finn Bálor.
Punk said, “I think every match that — my next match is the biggest match of my career at this stage. Do I think I’m jeopardizing anything? Maybe a little bit, but I wouldn’t be CM Punk if I wasn’t trying to throw a monkey wrench into somebody’s plans. I think people are not giving Finn, what he deserves and he deserves respect. He deserves a beating obviously but like, I put Finn up there with a lot of people that — and look, if you don’t agree with me, that’s fine. But I’m the champ and I do have a little bit of clout. I do get to call a shot or two. And why am I doing it? Well you know, ladies and gentlemen, we’re in Chicago. There’s absolutely no way I’m missing a show in Chicago. We need to sell that place out. We need to sell some tickets and we need to send people home happy. And the only way to do that when you’re in Chicago is have CM Punk on the show.”
On whether he views Roman Reigns as his ultimate opponent:
“Yeah, I think so. I think it’s fair to say. You know, that Roman didn’t exist when I left. He likes to say that they called him, they said, ‘Save this place, yada yada yada.’ There wasn’t that Roman Reigns when I left. So, my absence allowed him to grow into what he became and who he is now. So, yeah, in NBA terms, imagine if you could see MJ versus LeBron in a one-on-one game.”
You can check out the complete podcast in the video below.
(H/T to 411Mania.com for transcribing the above quotes)
