For the longest time, there was a rumor that The Undertaker and CM Punk did not get along.
Why did this rumor come about? Well, considering they haven't work together for the better part of a decade and only worked one major program around their match at WrestleMania 29 period, any legitimate issues at the time have surely been spun out into something bigger, which, considering the men involved, is pretty common for their respective runs in WWE.
And yet, in 2024, The Undertaker shared during the Q&As section on his podcast Six Feet Under that he has no ill-will towards the “Second City Saint,” asserting that they may have had a minor disagreement or two in the past but nothing worthy of legend.
“The only thing that ever was ever done or said between me and CM Punk that might have been, and this is just how stupid things are and how everything that ever happens gets out. This is the thing that frustrates me the most. So we had an initiative at one point where they wanted us, the wrestlers when, you know, [traveling] to dress a little bit nicer. They wanted us in business casual with a really relaxed [viewpoint] on the casual. I think we might have been in Europe. I'm not sure where we're at, I want to say we were somewhere in Europe, and we were getting off the buses, and getting ready to go into the arena, and I just stopped him. Because he was, you know, he was dressing like Punk did back in the day, whatever it was,” The Undertaker explained on Six Feet Under via Fightful.
“I was like, like, ‘Hey, man, none of us, like, having to dress like this, but I think you're getting a little bit of heat with the boys. You just might want to think about dressing a little better.' If I recall correctly, he says, ‘Well, what about Cena?' I may have replied, ‘You're not Cena.' There's nothing wrong with that.”
Asked about their match at WrestleMania 29, Taker put over Punk for his efforts, noting that while they weren't best friends the match was solid.
“I guess, you know, he thought he should have been the main event when we worked [at WrestleMania] against somebody else, not against me,” The Undertaker explained. “Then, when he works with me, I'm not sure if he thought that he should have went over, but I mean he's got confidence in himself, so I don't — working wise, I mean, perfect, and that's all I care about. At the end of the day, you don't have to like me. You don't have to be best friends, but somehow or another, it all got blown out of proportion that like, ‘Undertaker hates CM Punk.' No. I don't, I try not to give people the power of hate.”
Would The Undertaker still be putting over Punk if he was still working for AEW, or does this have more to do with the duo now being co-workers, appearing on the very same night of WrestleMania 40 as supplemental performers in their respective world championship match? Either way, it's safe to say this feud is officially over, if it was ever an actual feud at all.
Paul Heyman reveals why CM Punk didn't win at WrestleMania 29.
Speaking of WrestleMania 29 and the controversial decision to put The Undertaker over the “Second City Saint,” Paul Heyman revealed to Rick Rubin on his Tetragrammaton podcast why he didn't get the win at MetLife Stadium, which had more to do with Phil Brooks than CM Punk.
“I thought when we were going with Punk versus Undertaker, and Paul Bearer had just passed away, and we had done the out-of-the-box and way over-the-line story on television that we laid out the Undertaker, and then we poured the ashes of Paul Bearer out of the Undertaker's urn onto the Undertaker, which was just the heaviest thing we could think of doing. I was like, ‘Okay, if there's a guy that could be anointed as a top-tier star, if there's someone that could become equal to Cena at this point in time, the Macho Man to Hogan, The Rock to Steve Austin, a clear 1 and 1A, that if we give Punk this victory, we've established someone for the next 20 years as a star,'” Paul Heyman asserted via Fightful.
“I thought the case could be made for that. CM Punk was ready to beat The Undertaker. In Vince's mind, and a lot of other people's minds, and most likely in Taker's mind, Phil Brooks was not going to get that victory. CM Punk, yes. Phil Brooks, no. That was their decision. That was their judgment. But Brock Lesnar going against the streak. The moment Vince came to us and said, ‘Hey, here's what I have in mind for Mania. When he said Brock versus Undertaker, first thing in my mind was, ‘Oh, my God, we're getting the streak.' I didn't see it any other way. I couldn't fathom it any other way.”
Is this a new story? Nope, Heyman made these comments last summer, when Punk was still a member of AEW and thus wasn't being invited to sit with Paul E. Dangerously's son at his Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Still, if that was the feeling at the time, it explains why Punker didn't score a career-changing win over a decade ago and why he isn't considered on par with John Cena today.
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