Triple H Says the ‘Real’ Tension Between CM Punk & Roman Reigns Extends Backstage

Triple H says that the tension between WrestleMania 42 opponents Roman Reigns and CM Punk is real, and in fact extends into the backstage area. Punk and Reigns have been in a deeply personal feud leading into the PLE, which has featured the World Heavyweight Champion and his challenger engaged in worked shoot promo battles each week where they discuss their animosity toward each other.

Triple H weighed in on the rivalry in an interview with Joe Tessitore ahead of this weekend’s big event. He spoke about how there is a legitimate tension between the two when they are backstage and doesn’t believe their promos are done to pop the crowd, but to affect each other. You can see highlights below:

On Reigns and Punk’s Feud:

“This is one where — when you break down the sport and entertainment aspect of what we do, very rarely does it criss-cross into both. This one criss-crosses into both. There is a — obviously, there’s a tension when they’re in the ring with each other. There is a palpable ‘you can cut it with a knife’ feeling of intensity. That intensity does not stop backstage. So when they have to be in the vicinity of each other in backstage environments, it is on epic levels of tension, you know? Where at any point in time, you will feel like this will go incredibly unprofessionally at any moment. You are just sitting there, it’s — you can smell the gas in the air and there are sparks everywhere, and you’re trying to get through it and get it in the ring at WrestleMania before it blows up. Before the fire ignites and it goes really, really badly.

“It’s — you know, when you talk about Unreal, this one is real. And real in a way that I don’t think many people can fathom the amount of -— you’ll beep this, but the amount of ‘F**k You’ between the two of them is f**king palpable.”

On Punk & Reigns’ Promo Segments:

“In any sport, there’s moments where people trash talk. And there are moments where you think, ‘Ah, he’s just trash talking. He’s selling a fight, he’s talking s**t ’cause that’s his job, in this moment is trash talk.’ And there are moments where the trash talk happens where you’re like, ‘Ooh. This is going — like that almost went really badly.’ There’s no showboating, there’s no, ‘I’m putting on a role to sell tickets.’ There’s none of that. You can feel that between Punk and Roman.

“And even to some of the lines where fans — and I’ve heard fans say it. ‘Well, they tried too hard on that one. That was reaching to get to a place where people went ooh.’ No, they weren’t reaching in a place for anybody to go ‘Ooh’ other than the person standing across the ring. There’s a moment where it ceases to be, ‘Watch what the crowd does when I say this, they’re gonna go crazy.’ I don’t know that when they’re out there, they give a damn about the — if there’s 20,000 people watching them live in that moment, I don’t think they give damn. ‘I’m saying this to get to you. I’m saying this to light you on fire. I’m saying this to get a reaction out of you.’ And it’s a different level.

“And to me, maybe because I know them so well, both of them. To me, I feel — like, I sit at Gorilla watching them cut their promos. And I’m thinking to myself, ‘Am I gonna have to hit the button and tell everybody to get in there and pull ’em apart for real?'”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit WWE with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.