00:00 CM Punk and The Rock, they had quite the rivalry a decade ago.
00:05 That's right, it's been a whole 11 years since that rivalry came to an end and we're
00:11 all a lot older now.
00:12 And in reality, the feud between them culminated in just 2 matches that were 3 weeks apart.
00:18 Yet over 11 years later, we're still talking about it.
00:22 What was the history behind this tense and combustible feud?
00:26 And why were there legitimate issues behind the scenes?
00:30 Dive in with us as we look into the explosive rivalry between CM Punk and The Rock.
00:36 The story goes back to that period before the summer of 2011.
00:42 After what can only be described as the most mediocre Wrestlemania of the decade in Wrestlemania
00:47 27, WWE had picked up steam and was entering its hottest period in years.
00:54 While there were many to thank for that, CM Punk was arguably the single biggest driving
00:58 force behind this.
01:00 It all began during the famous Pipe Bomb promo where he targeted everybody he possibly could.
01:06 While John Cena was the primary target of his frustration because he happened to be
01:10 lying in the ring at the time, Punk made sure to take a shot at The Rock as well.
01:16 But before that, we have to give you a little context.
01:20 Just a couple months earlier, The Rock had interfered in the main event of Wrestlemania
01:24 27 between The Miz and John Cena, allowing The Miz to win.
01:30 The following night on Raw, he made an unprecedented move of setting up the main event of next
01:36 year's Wrestlemania almost a full 365 days in advance.
01:42 Knowing that nobody was going to take that main event spot from The Rock or Cena, CM
01:46 Punk let his frustrations be known.
01:49 His exact words to John Cena were "There's one thing you're better at than I am and
01:54 that's kissing Vince McMahon's ass.
01:56 You're as good at kissing Vince's ass as Hulk Hogan was.
01:59 I don't know if you're as good as Dwayne.
02:01 He's a pretty good ass kisser.
02:04 Always was and still is."
02:07 CM Punk also went on to say that the fact that Dwayne was in the main event of Wrestlemania
02:12 and not him made him sick.
02:15 And so, that was ultimately one of the big sources of his frustration.
02:20 He had been busting his backside for years and someone who he deemed as undeserving could
02:25 simply strut in and take the main event spot at Wrestlemania.
02:29 This is something that would be a source of frustration for fans as well for many years
02:34 to come.
02:35 But getting back to it, The Rock actually responded to CM Punk's pipe bomb on Twitter
02:40 saying quote "CM Punk, it's simple business.
02:44 The Rock is in the main event of Wrestlemania cuz it draws more money in one night than
02:49 you will in a lifetime."
02:52 As bitter as it was to accept, it was certainly the truth.
02:56 But that didn't stop CM Punk from continuing to bust his backside and have a career defying
03:01 run in 2011, one where he actively pursued the WWE Championship and came out on top at
03:08 Survivor Series to kickstart his historic 434 day championship reign.
03:15 434 days may not sound like a lot when you look at superstars like Brock Lesnar, Roman
03:21 Reigns and Gunter who have since exceeded that, but at the time he was embarking on
03:27 the longest WWE Championship reign in nearly 30 years.
03:32 Speeding forward a bit, Wrestlemania 28 came and CM Punk knew that he was never going to
03:38 headline over Cena and The Rock.
03:41 But that didn't stop him from having a good WWE Championship match against Chris Jericho
03:46 and walking out with his title intact.
03:49 By this point, he was a full blown hero and loved by the masses, but only a few months
03:55 later that would change.
03:57 July 2011 marked the 1000th episode of Monday Night Raw and The Rock would come out and
04:04 challenge CM Punk for the WWE Championship at the Royal Rumble a whole 5 months in advance.
04:11 Punk didn't take kindly to this and after attempting to save John Cena from an assault,
04:16 he attacked The Rock and turned into a villain.
04:19 It was a rare move at the time and still is to some extent.
04:23 How many long championship reigns in WWE history can you think of where the champion changes
04:28 character in the middle of their run?
04:31 It was a good way to get things hot for their eventual feud months later, but once the time
04:35 for their feud came, it was… interesting.
04:40 When we say interesting, we're specifically referring to the dynamic between CM Punk and
04:45 The Rock during their promos together.
04:48 The most famous one of course was 3 weeks before the Royal Rumble where The Rock found
04:53 himself absolutely decimated on the microphone.
04:57 He was once considered to be the greatest superstar in WWE to ever hold a mic, but fans
05:02 were quick to realize that what they were seeing wasn't the brash, lovable smack talker
05:07 from the Attitude Era.
05:09 It was Dwayne Johnson the Hollywood star, and he wasn't nearly as cool as people thought
05:14 he was.
05:15 While CM Punk was cutting promos that were coming from the heart, The Rock was making
05:20 poopy jokes for children.
05:22 It was such a massive mismatch on the mic that it's still kind of painful to watch
05:27 to this day.
05:28 It was also the same promo where Punk had the famous "your hands are too short to
05:33 box with" guideline.
05:36 It was during a phase when John Cena always had to get the last laugh, and that wasn't
05:41 gonna be sacrificed for anything or anyone.
05:44 It's not hard to see why CM Punk felt like he had gotten screwed over during this whole
05:49 ordeal.
05:50 He had real issues with the fact that he was the one holding the industry's top title
05:54 day in and day out and wasn't getting the respect he felt he deserved.
05:59 Main eventing WrestleMania had long been a goal for CM Punk, and he desperately pitched
06:04 the idea of making the WrestleMania 29 main event a triple threat elimination match between
06:09 himself, The Rock and John Cena.
06:13 There is no doubt that CM Punk deserved his WrestleMania main event moment, but from WWE's
06:18 perspective, the whopping 1 million plus buy rate of WrestleMania 29 suggested that twice
06:24 in a lifetime wasn't such a bad idea from a commercial perspective.
06:30 This was ultimately the reason why CM Punk considered his career one big failure up to
06:35 this point, the fact that he couldn't get to headline the grandest stage of them all.
06:40 The feud between CM Punk and The Rock would end before WrestleMania 29 at Elimination
06:45 Chamber and surprisingly, Punk hasn't really taken any shots at The Rock since then.
06:50 Even during what can be considered a bitter period for him after leaving WWE, he didn't
06:55 really bad mouth The Rock or spit venom his way.
06:59 Perhaps he always understood the bitter reality of his situation, that the "bigger" names
07:04 were always going to get bigger spots and that it was just business.
07:09 In reality, The Rock himself wasn't to blame for the whole ordeal of Punk not headlining
07:14 WrestleMania.
07:15 It was really more of an issue with The Office and how things operated at the time backstage.
07:21 If anything, Punk actually admitted that he enjoyed working with The Rock.
07:25 By this stage in his life, The Rock was a huge star and had a team for everything, which
07:30 was one of the biggest driving forces behind why he was able to operate like a machine.
07:36 Punk said that he had to have a one on one conversation with The Rock in a room full
07:39 of people and was a bit staggered to find that every step of the promo was being planned
07:44 out.
07:45 CM Punk, who had a different approach, asked The Rock if they could do things differently
07:50 without outright refusing what he had to say.
07:53 The Rock, for his part, seemed to respect the fact that CM Punk wasn't backing down
07:58 and they had a good program together, as short lived as it was.
08:02 Since coming back to WWE in 2023, CM Punk has been kept away from The Rock because there
08:08 hasn't really been any reason for them to interact.
08:12 There was that one hilarious moment though, at the Las Vegas WrestleMania 40 press conference,
08:17 when CM Punk said he wanted Cody Rhodes to punch The Rock in the mouth, all while The
08:22 Rock looked on in the background perplexed at what he was saying.
08:26 Punk even referenced the "your hands are too short to box with God" promo when he
08:31 returned to Raw before WrestleMania 40, but we don't expect any interaction beyond that.
08:36 The difference between The Rock now and then is that he's taken a more old school approach
08:41 to his character, rather than being the Hollywood megastar who doesn't want to be hated.
08:47 We can dream right?
08:49 Thank you for watching.
08:50 [outro]
09:02 [outro]
09:12 (upbeat music)
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