At a pre-Royal Rumble press event for the upcoming release of WWE 2K23, Seth Rollins delivered some blunt remarks about the possibility of CM Punk returning to the company he walked out of back in 2014.
Because Rollins was very much in his cackling, over-the-top character when he called Punk a “jerk” he hoped would “stay away from me forever”, some questioned whether he was working the media and fans with his answer.
On a recent edition of his The Hall of Fame podcast, Booker T weighed in. According to Punk’s old WWE Backstage co-host, not only was Seth being truthful, he was speaking for others like Book:
“He was shooting 100%. I’m just glad I didn’t have to say it. I’m just glad people can’t look at me now, and be like I’m a hater. I keep my mouth shut, because my momma always told me if you ain’t got something good to say about somebody, don’t say nothing at all.
“So I’ve alway tried to put myself in that position, but you hear other guys that have been around the business, that feel and speak the same way about Phil Brooks, and it’s because of being around him. You know, nothing personal… nothing to make it out to be something that it’s not or anything like that, but when you’re around people, you kind of like get a feel of what they’re about.”
A listener asked if Rollins comments could be set-up for a match with Punk down the line, and the two-time Hall of Famer was quick to shut that down, too:
“No. No, that’s not a program guys. That’s not a program, that’s a guy stating how really felt. People stop thinking everything is a work. If I say something negative to the point about somebody being ‘a cancer in the locker room,’ I’m not playing, okay? That’s not stuff you play around with… that’s not an angle, okay? That’s just not. I know a lot of people out there that’s not in the business that want to think that. But sometimes it’s real, it’s real talk.”
Now Book’s been known to work a work largely for the sake of a working a work, but there is a difference between that and the point he’s making here. So if nothing else, it seems we’ve identified at least a couple of those voices at WWE who don’t ever want to hear “Cult of Personality” on Raw or SmackDown again.
