Backstage News On Internal WWE Reaction To CM Punk's Line About Hulk Hogan On Raw

CM Punk has his sights set on the upcoming Royal Rumble, at which he intends to walk away with a victory and get a ride straight to the main event of either Night 1 or Night 2 of the upcoming WrestleMania 41. During his crowd interview with Jackie Redmond on "WWE Raw," Punk took aim at Hulk Hogan — who was recently booed out of the inaugural "Raw" on Netflix — saying: "You can put Hulk Hogan in the Royal Rumble — I'll throw his dusty a** over the top rope and I'll kill HulkaMania once and for all."

Some fans assumed the line was a shot at Hogan that Punk came up without it getting cleared backstage, and speculated that it might cause some issues. However, according to Fightful Select, that's not exactly what happened. "Those we spoke to claimed that CM Punk's Hulk Hogan line wasn't scripted, but there was no heat for it and people laughed about it backstage," the report said. Based on this, it's safe to assume there's no heat on the "Second City Saint" for mentioning Hogan, but that begs the question: will this lead to anything onscreen between Punk and Hogan?

Bully Ray addressed this question on "Busted Open Radio," painting a picture of Punk eliminating Hogan from the Royal Rumble, adding that this would get a massive pop from the fans. Bully also noted that Hogan might get a pop of his own by entering the Rumble, but admitted that as crazy as the scenario sounds, the 71-year-old is likely far from ring-ready, and that it does nothing for anyone besides getting a cheap pop.