Seth Rollins on CM Punk returning to WWE: Stay away, you cancer

When CM Punk’s wrestling comeback began with his gig as an occasional host of FS1’s short-lived WWE Backstage back in 2019, Seth Rollins talked a lot of trash about his old co-worker.

It seemed like he was angling to be first in line should Punk decide to make a “never say never” return to the WWE ring. But this was when Rollins was defending his company against whoever he deemed to be a WWE hater, whether that was a bot, a blog, or someone who called themselves The Best in the World.

Nothing ever came of it. Backstage was cancelled, Seth’s “Stand Up for WWE” routine helped lead to a heel turn, Punk went to AEW for a while… you probably know what ended up happening there. And because of that, the long shot possibility of Punk returning to the company he walked out of in 2014 is again a talking point.

Punk’s gripebomb tag partner Nick Hausman asked Rollins about that at a Royal Rumble weekend event, and, well… The Visionary’s not developed any warmer feelings for Phil Brooks over the past four years:

“Oh Philly Phil, stay away. Stay away, you cancer. Get away from me forever… Yeah, I don’t like Phil. I don’t like Phil — he’s a jerk. Did we just figure that out? Did we just figure that out? Everybody in the room is like, ‘Oh no, did he say that?’ Yeah, no, he’s a jerk. Come on. We figured it out over there, we knew it over here. I don’t want him back. Go do something else. Bye bye. Bye bye, see ya later.”

Seth’s in character here, but that certainly doesn’t mean he’s working. And there may be no reason for him to, either. Last we heard, Tony Khan wasn’t looking to let Punk out of his AEW contract, and “Philly Phil” seems content to call mixed martial arts, take acting gigs, and update his Instagram Story.

Let us know what you make of this soundbite, Cagesiders.