CM Punk Touches On Full-Circle Effect Of WWE WrestleMania 41 Match

In the present day, CM Punk, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins are en route to the main event of WWE WrestleMania 41. As Punk recently pointed out "The Rich Eisen Show," however, their history extends way back to 2012, as Reigns and Rollins (alongside Dean Ambrose) were up-and-coming WWE stars, positioned as mercenaries for him, the-then WWE Champion.

"I was on what at the time was a historic run with the belt for 434 days, obviously shattered by Roman Reigns since I've been gone, and what I needed was guys to work with. I was always looking towards the future. Yeah there's the now, there's the me and there's [John] Cena, but outside of that, I would look at the landscape and be like what do we need to do to get money, talent in the position that I'm in now. How do I bring guys up? How do we elevate superstars? So the idea of The Shield was that simple.

"I need guys to work with, for good or for bad, whether I like them, whether I hate them, whether I'm going to wind up having personal problems with them. I need talented individuals to work with or I have nobody to work with in the future," he continued. "And lo and behold, who am I working with at WrestleMania? So life's pretty funny the way things work out."

While initially acting as hired protectors of Punk, Reigns, Rollins, and Ambrose — together known as The Shield — eventually began feuding with "The Second City Saint" in late 2013. Before leaving WWE in January 2014, Punk notably wrestled The Shield in a string of unaired, three-on-one handicap matches as well as televised six-man tag matches alongside The New Age Outlaws on "WWE Raw" and "WWE SmackDown."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "The Rich Eisen Show" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.