When The Shield, consisting of Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, and Dean Ambrose (Jon Moxley), debuted at WWE Survivor Series in 2012, they made headlines by serving as mercenaries for CM Punk.

A year later, The Shield found themselves on opposing sides from Punk, entering into a feud that lasted through late 2013 and into 2014, coinciding with Punk’s departure from WWE.

Over the more than ten years since Punk left WWE, many things have evolved, including Roman Reigns rising to prominence as “The Original Tribal Chief” and the leading figure in WWE.

During a recent appearance on the “Cheap Heat” podcast, Punk discussed his relationship with Reigns.

He said, “We’re on different shows and with my injury and his time off, I saw him at WrestleMania, that’s the last time I saw him. The Shield came here and made a ton of waves in a short amount of time. My relationship with all of those guys was pretty good. I just had to get the hell out of here for my own sanity. Absence makes the heart grow fonder. I think a lot of the questions you have, ‘What is Punk’s relationship with Roman? What does Punk feel about Seth?’ All of that stuff is going to play out on television because that’s what I do. Wrestling fans love drama. When you tune into Raw and SmackDown, you want to see the big names and big money stuff. What is Rock going to do? What is Punk going to do? What is Roman going to do? John Cena is coming back. You throw Cody (Rhodes) into the mix, he’s the champ. GUNTHER. You get all of those big names and superstars revolving in the same area and sparks are going to fly.”

Punk has not appeared on WWE television since the RAW after WWE Bad Blood 2024, where he triumphed over Drew McIntyre within Hell in a Cell.