Seth Rollins Reached Out To CM Punk After His WWE Exit In 2014

Seth Rollins says he tried to reach out to his friend CM Punk after the latter left the WWE in 2014.

CM Punk famously walked out of the WWE the night after the 2014 Royal Rumble. His near-decade-long run in the company came to an end that night and he wouldn’t return for another nine years.

Survivor Series 2023 was the site of that return and he quickly ignited tension with some top WWE stars, namely Drew McIntyre and Seth Rollins. Punk and Rollins’ beef seems to go way back, although Seth Rollins recalls the pair being friends up until the Best in the World walked out of the company.

Seth Rollins recently appeared on Insight with Chris Van Vliet and spoke about his relationship with CM Punk. He revealed that the pair used to be friends and that he reached out to Punk when he first left WWE. However, CM Punk’s lack of response marked the end of their relationship and tensions soon boiled between the two, leading to their current rivalry in the WWE.

Seth Rollins On Being Friends With CM Punk

“We were friends until he left.” Seth Rollins said (h/t Fightful). “We had a mentor-mentee kind of relationship at that point because I was a lot younger. I sent him some texts and called him after he left. I wasn’t comfortable enough with him. We were peers, but he was [up here] and I was [down here]. I didn’t want to push that envelope,” he said.

“After a while, I just let it go. Even over the years, I reached out to him a couple of times to try to engage and see where he was at and if he was interested in coming back. Nothing. No response, except whenever he would get a chance, he would talk as much crap as he could. I had all this stuff bottled up for ten years.”

“To finally get out there on a microphone and say it, and it’s probably not even articulated the best it can, but there is so much real, hatred is a strong word, but it’s as close to hatred as you can get. Resentment, animosity, just anger. It’s really palatable. The reason people are attached to the promos is they can see real emotion behind them from me. It’s a really cathartic experience for me.”