WWE World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk spoke with Complex News in an interview posted on Sunday to promote his appearance as the cover star for the standard edition of WWE 2K26.
Among the topics Punk discussed with Complex’s Jamie Iovine was main-eventing WrestleMania 41. The Second City Saint had long been outspoken that one of his major career goals was being on top of the WrestleMania card, and his wish came true when he wrestled Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins in a triple threat match last year.
Punk admitted that being in the main event was “pretty heavy” and a “high-pressure situation.” He received messages backstage from various people prior to entering the match, including from one of his idols, Bret Hart. However, he said it was The Undertaker’s words that really landed with him.
“Taker, bless his heart, like brings the mood, like just snapped me right back into it, because he grabbed me, and he went, ‘Well, don’t f*** this up,’” Punk said.
He added, “I was just like, ‘That’s actually what I needed right now.’ Because everybody’s giving me these heartfelt speeches and hugging me. People are emotional, and I’m crying. He kind of just brought the levity like, ‘Oh yeah, okay.’ Sometimes we take ourselves too seriously, and even though this is a pretty heavy moment, and I was feeling the pressure, I essentially am just wrestling in front of thousands of people in my underwear.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Punk recalled the controversial angle for his WrestleMania 29 match with The Undertaker in which he mocked his opponent with the urn of recently-deceased manager Paul Bearer.
“It was heavy, because while I knew Percy [Bearer], I didn’t know him or have a connection to him like a lot of people in the company did, like Undertaker did,” Punk said. “So, I was careful to make sure, and his family members—I think his son—signed off on it. Because I was like, ‘I don’t want to do this unless everybody’s okay with it.’ Because at that time, my deal was being a bad guy and trying to just get people to pay to see me beat up.”
Punk continued by saying that “people that were super close” to Bearer told him that the late manager, who died only weeks before the angle, “would have loved it.”
“It’s a privilege, and it’s an honor to be able to be respected enough to be handed this gift almost,” the World Heavyweight Champion said. “It’s a shame that he died, obviously, but to me it’s the magic of what we do is we can pivot and use real life stuff, and kind of blur the line. I was grateful that I was allowed to be able to do that.”
