The Undertaker’s long-standing reputation as a locker room leader was highlighted recently by CM Punk, who revealed how the WWE icon helped calm his nerves ahead of WrestleMania 41.
Speaking with Complex News, CM Punk reflected on the pressure he felt going into the match and how Undertaker’s blunt approach cut through the emotion surrounding the moment.
“Oh no. All that was exactly what I’d imagined it was going to be. But it comes with a lot of pitfalls. It’s a super high-pressure situation,” Punk said. “And especially with me, because I was so vocal about it for so long, it was pretty heavy. Taker, bless his heart, brings the mood right back down, snapped me back into it. He grabbed me and went, ‘Well, don’t f*** this up.’ That’s actually what I needed right now.”
Punk added that while others were offering emotional encouragement backstage, Undertaker’s words helped ground him and put things into perspective.
“Everybody’s giving me these heartfelt speeches, hugging me, people are emotional, I’m crying… and [Taker] kind of brought the levity, like, ‘Oh yeah, okay,’” Punk said. “Sometimes we take ourselves too seriously. Even though this is a pretty heavy moment and I was feeling the pressure, I’m essentially just wrestling in front of thousands of people in my underwear.”
Looking back, Punk described the night as everything he hoped it would be.
“To me, it was a perfect night. It was everything I thought it was going to be. And it was everything it needed to be.”
What Match Did CM Punk Have At WrestleMania 41?
CM Punk was in the main event of Night One of WrestleMania 41, where he had a Triple Threat match against Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns. After a hard-fought battle, Rollins emerged the victor in a match that went over 30-minutes.
This match was Punk’s first-ever main event match at WrestleMania in his career, despite having been in the main event picture for many years prior to his departure from WWE in 2014.
