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Envy
The last back and forth between CM Punk and Roman Reigns got back to their first encounter. What do I mean by that? Glad you asked. It stripped both men of their facades. It was all about raw emotion—pun intended—and honesty. Better yet, it expanded on what was obvious then and even more obvious over the course of what feels like six months: These two hate each other because they envy what the other has. Better yet, that deadly sin is rooted in character.
Punk envies that Roman was “born on third with a silver spoon in his mouth” while also envying the amount of work it took to hold the championship for 1,316 days. I loved that moment particularly. Punk simultaneously respects Roman for holding the title that long but envies that he got the chance to do so. Punk, for all his complications and hypocrisy, is consistently petty. His envy bleeds right into that because everything he cited are things he resents. He loves the idea of finding his family in back alleys and on the independent scene. He loves being a guy who worked hard for everything he currently has because no one even thought about giving him anything close to a leg up. He hates that there are people who didn’t work as hard but got twice as many rewards.
What makes the Roman thing more complicated is he recognizes it’s more than just nepotism at work there; Roman is dope at what he does.
As far as Roman, it always goes back to his insecurity. Despite all the accolades, the money, the easy schedule, the WrestleMania main events, and the royal family, he still needs acknowledgment. He envies that the crowd has always and will always acknowledge Punk. The man left WWE for a decade and they never forgot him. Pick a city in any country on any month over the past few years, and you’ll more than likely find a crowd that went nuts for a guy who had no intentions of ever coming back until he did. Audiences clamored for Punk in a way that Roman isn’t sure they’ll clamor for him.
Punk’s biggest issue is that chip on his shoulder the size of a golden nugget. Roman’s is his fear of being forgotten. They hate each other because one has something the other wants. Punk wants that easy lifestyle despite using his background as a selling point. Roman wants the affirmation Punk gets on a regular basis, despite walking around like he owns every arena in the world. Fittingly, Punk entered the ring through the crowd, illustrating just why Roman hates him so much. He wasn’t quite at “flames at the side of his face” level, but he might there.
Obviously I dug this. They got little touches right, like the aforementioned moment of Punk coming through the audience, or Roman warning Punk not to get in the ring only for Punk to slowly make his way into the ring after disarming the Tribal Chief with a sincere apology for mentioning his father’s name in vain. The championship is important, as Roman noted the business will boom again with him on top, but it feels small compared to the emotional stakes. Like another feud I’ll get to later, sometimes simple goes a long way.
B-Sides
- Sometimes, writing these things is very easy. When an announcer provides the words that perfectly summarize the match and the story counts as one of those times. “Turnabout is fair play” encapsulated the end of Lyra Valkyria vs. Charlotte Flair. Thanks, Corey! That’s exactly what happened here as a prelude to Mania’s big tag match. Bayley helped Lyra get the win over Charlotte after the latter helped Alexa get the win over Bayley on the most recent SmackDown. Sometimes storytelling is as simple as two wrongs making a right. And it wouldn’t be Mania week without the two teams getting into it and showing each other a bit to illustrate tensions running the direction they usually do this time of year.
- I loved Liv Morgan attacking Stephanie Vaquer before the champ’s in-ring interview even started. Liv owed Stephanie after last week, so not attacking when La Primera least expected it or, worse, waiting until after the interview would fall flat for me. A real person would do exactly what Liv did. I’ll admit that Liv calling Stephanie a “bitch” did nothing for me because it’s 2026. The shock value for that kind of thing depleted many moons ago. But I get it’s just another insult directed at Mama Vaquer. I preferred them brawling uncontrollably, even if it meant Cathy Kelley catching a stray bullet. The violence was enough and justified.
- GUNTHER finally told the world why he instigated this whole thing with Seth Rollins. And you know what? It made complete sense for his character. For one, of course he doesn’t like anyone else walking around like they’re the best. That’s just a general rule for the Ring General. But the second explanation is what really caught my attention: GUNTHER doesn’t like that Seth won the championship and became a “useful idiot” for Paul Heyman. Essentially, rather than embrace competition, Seth ducked it and hid behind his Oracle. GUNTHER’s always preached about the mat’s sacredness, For that guy, all of that tracks. It’s not the strongest motivation for a match but it at least works to enough of a degree to give GUNTHER some stakes here. He’s not doing this for money; just wants to say he’s better than a guy who thinks he’s the cock of the walk. Sometimes simple is enough.
- Speaking of simple, the same goes for IYO SKY vs. Kairi Sane. This is all about Asuka exerting control over her former kohai, while still sticking it to Rhea Ripley. The question was how would Rhea find her way into a match she loomed so larger over, and what would happen as a result of that insertion? Well, almost on cue at a certain point during the match, Asuka interfered behind the ref’s back. The Empress ricocheted IYO’s body off the ring post like a basketball. That brought Rhea to the ring to even the odds. But Rhea, so focused on saving IYO, forgot to save herself. Jade Cargill attacked Rhea and put her out of commission. That left IYO by herself, which gave Asuka another opening to make sure Kairi got the win. Asuka tripped IYO during her Over the Moonsault attempt, and Kairi reaped the benefits. Chaotic segment but a lot of fun and handled a lot of business. Is Rhea properly focused?
- Oba Femi is right: he’s the one. The reaction this man got from the crowd was insane. He stood his ground against Paul Heyman on the mic, but the crowd just wanted to cheer him. It didn’t matter what he said. If he tried that sufferin’ succotash thing Roman did oh so many years ago, I think it works if only because he’s so caught everyone’s imagination. This is a special cat and if WWE is smart, he defeats Brock Lesnar at Mania and gets his hands on a championship within the next few months. Don’t cool him off, don’t put him in meaningless matches; let him cook with gold around his waist. He’s become so much more effective at his promos because he not only fully inhabits this character, but he knows how to play off of the crowd now. He modulates them rather letting it be the other way around like it felt during his first few months in NXT. It was an awesome segment.
- We got an IShowSpeed training montage with The Vision. Meh
- LA Knight & The Usos defeated The MFT. There’s some history here, obviously, but this was all about advancing the MFT storyline and getting LA, Jimmy, & Jey on tv before their Mania match with Vision and Speed. Nope…SpeedVision.
- The territory let Rusev look dominant! Je’Von Evans & Dragon Lee teamed against Rusev & JD McDonagh as a preview to the ladder match. This was a fun match and one of the few that felt like it got an unvarnished finish. I really liked Dragon Lee getting the win for his team via the Styles Clash. Great way to shoutout his former partner and remind us (me) that AJ Styles is going into the Hall of Fame. But how did we get to Rusev standing tall even after his team took an L? Well, post match, Rusev went agro on Je’Von and Dragon, only for Rey Mysterio to make the save. Then Penta saved Rey from Rusev. That devolved into Rusev taking out everyone, including JD. I’m always pulling for the big man. I don’t think this means he’s winning the ladder match but hey, I’ll take what I can get these days.
This was a proper go home show. The Oba Femi segment, and Punk vs. Roman in the end put it over the top for me. They kept everything moving with a nice bit of momentum leading into Friday. I’m still not high on Mania as a whole but this gave me hope that the actual execution may turn it into something memorable.
What say you, Cagesiders? Should Oba get the rocket strapped to his back?
