CM Punk has offered insight into his creative mindset and the philosophy behind his promo work as his rivalry with Roman Reigns continues to intensify. The World Heavyweight Champion is on a collision course with Reigns for the main event of WrestleMania 42, and following a widely praised face-to-face segment on Raw, Punk pulled back the curtain on how he approaches verbal storytelling in WWE.
Appearing on You Better You Bet, Punk explained that his creative process never truly shuts off. According to Punk, his mind is constantly rehearsing and refining promos, even when he’s not on television, with authenticity and simplicity guiding everything he does.
“I’m constantly thinking. I can’t shut my brain off, so I’m constantly cutting promos, a lot of people on the outside might think I’m just talking to myself, and in a way I am, but it’s really, it’s constant,” Punk said. “The creative process to me, I can really distil it down to; simple is better, and draw on real life situations and human emotions you know are going to pull on people’s heart strings.”
Punk also discussed how his current feud with Reigns operates differently than traditional wrestling storylines. While he typically prefers a clear hero-versus-villain dynamic, Punk believes their rivalry exists on a higher plane—one where audience reactions shift depending on location and circumstance.
“To me it’s better when there’s a good guy and a bad guy. When it comes to me and Roman, we kind of transcend that a little bit, and different situations are gonna lend yourself to different reactions and different crowds are going to cheer or boo more or less based on whatever,” Punk explained. “So when you get me and Roman in the ring together, all you know is it’s going to be real loud, it’s going to be electric and it’s gonna be good.”
With WrestleMania 42 rapidly approaching, Punk emphasized that neither competitor needs to change who they are to make the match resonate. Instead, he sees it as a rare clash between two elite performers at the top of their game—drawing comparisons to legendary encounters from wrestling’s past.
“I can’t speak for him, but I can assume he feels the same way, I don’t care if me and him are in front of each other and they pick a side, because more often than not they will, but at this level, it’s not good guy vs. bad guy, it’s superstar vs. superstar, and I don’t want Roman to change who he is, and I’m not gonna change who I am,” Punk stated. “So it really is, as Gorilla Monsoon famously claimed, the irresistible force vs the immovable object. So you’re getting these two top guys, arguably the best guys in the business, and you put them in the ring and it’s gonna be magic.”
As Punk and Reigns move closer to their WrestleMania showdown, the rivalry continues to feel less like a standard storyline and more like a generational collision—driven by realism, emotion, and two performers unwilling to compromise who they are.
