CM Punk Opens Up About Headlining WrestleMania 41 Night One

CM Punk’s dream to headline WrestleMania became a reality last April when he closed out Night One of The Show of Shows in Las Vegas alongside Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns, battling in a Triple Threat Match.

It was a pretty emotional night for The Best in the World, one he had yearned for for years. A year on, as he gets ready to walk into WrestleMania 42 as reigning World Heavyweight Champion, CM Punk reflected on that magical night during a recent conversation with Jamie Iovine of Complex News.

Punk admitted that headlining WrestleMania was a “super high-pressure situation,” and he received plenty of heartfelt messages from several people backstage, including WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart, before the match. However, it was The Undertaker’s word of caution that drove him back to reality, and he admitted that it was something that he needed in that moment.

The World Heavyweight Champion described the night as “perfect,” stating that it panned out exactly how he had imagined.

“All that, all that was exactly what I’d imagined it was going to be. But it comes with a lot of pitfalls. It’s like a super high-pressure situation, and especially with me, because I was so vocal about it for so long. It was pretty heavy. Bret (Hart) grabbed me right before I went out and, like, had some words for me. And then Taker, bless his soul, like, brings the mood, like, just snapped me right back into it because he grabbed me and he went, ‘Well, don’t fu*k this up!’ I was just like, ‘That’s actually what I needed right now,’ because everybody is giving me these heartfelt speeches and, like, hugging me, and people are emotional and I’m crying. He kind of just brought the levity, like, ‘Oh, yeah, okay!’ Sometimes we take ourselves too seriously, and even though this is a pretty heavy moment, and I was feeling the pressure, I essentially am just wrestling in front of thousands of people in my underwear. But yeah, to me, it was a perfect night. It was everything I thought it was going to be, and it was everything that needed to be.” Punk said.

Check out his comments below (from 8:15 onward):

The match saw Paul Heyman, who was in Punk’s corner that night, betray both Punk and Roman Reigns and join forces with Seth Rollins. The Visionary eventually pinned Roman to win the Triple Threat bout.

Elsewhere in the interview, CM Punk talked about a controversial angle from his feud with The Undertaker during the Road to WrestleMania 29. You can check out his comments HERE.

Please credit Complex News and give an H/T to 411Mania for the transcription if you take quotes from this copy.