The historic first WWE RAW on Netflix centers around a big fight between Seth Rollins and CM Punk – two stars with a history of real-life dislike for one another.
The stage is set for a historic milestone in WWE history – and a clash of giants with explosive history is at the center of it.
In five days, the first edition of the Monday Night RAW TV show will air in the U.S. on the streaming provider Netflix, ushering the show fight league into a new era. Various big matches are on the program for this important occasion. On Monday night, the last RAW on linear US television ended with the last hype for the main attraction on January 6: the match between Seth Rollins and CM Punk.
The fight, which was supposed to have been scheduled for the year’s highlight WrestleMania 40, is surrounded by a special tension: a real conflict has been brewing between Punk and Rollins for many years.
There is apparently real dislike
Rollins is said to be one of not a few colleagues with whom Punk, who is known to be argumentative, has a strained relationship. The 38-year-old Rollins is said to have once felt mistreated by Punk, who is eight years older, when he was still a young talent in the independent scene.
Rollins had already attracted attention with public taunts in 2019 when the first comeback rumors about Punk, who divorced in a dispute in 2014, had arisen. He challenged Punk to a fight via social media – and was reportedly called back by ex-WWE boss Vince McMahon, with whom Punk was still out of favor at the time.
Punk instead famously ended up signing with competitor AEW. When he also had a first big falling out with the league’s leaders at the end of 2022, Rollins responded with a vitriolic public reckoning in early 2023.
Rollins called Punk an “idiot” and a “cancer” in 2023
“Philly Phil, stay away, you cancer,” Rollins said at a promotional event for the WWE video game series, referring to the man born Phil Brooks: “Stay away from me forever. I don’t like Phil. He’s a jerk. They found out there, we already knew here. I don’t want him back. Do something else, bye-bye.”
CLIP: Seth Rollins calls CM Punk a “cancer” and tells him to stay away from WWE. @WWERollins @Nick_Hausman @WWEGames WWE2K23 RoyalR umble pic.twitter.com/m9QC71bunL
— WrestlingINC.com (@WrestlingInc) January 28, 2023
Even then, there was speculation as to whether Rollins had a potential WWE transfer of Punk in mind and wanted to drum up publicity for a match between the two. In fact, today we can only speculate about how much real “beef” is still in play – because since the day Punk actually returned to WWE in the fall of 2023, it was clear that a match between the two was planned.
So everything they say and do since then must be read as a “worked shoot”, an artful blend of reality and fiction designed to hype the match.
Reality and fiction merge
Rollins started playing the game as early as Survivor Series 2023, the show where Punk made his unannounced comeback, by showing Punk the middle finger and angrily telling him to go back to where he came from.
WWE did not stage the outburst as an obvious part of the story at the time, but left it to the fans to make it go viral and make it look “real”. In fact, it came out the next day that Rollins had been privy to Punk’s comeback in advance and that it had all been staged.
At RAW, there was a final debate between the two, in which the real story of the two was intertwined with the script: Rollins accused Punk of being an egotist who abandoned WWE 11 years ago. Punk hit back just as sharply, justifying himself by saying that he had “always loved” WWE and only left because he hated “the man upstairs”.
The big match is being hyped – it just remains to be seen whether it will deliver in the ring.
