Ever since his WWE return roughly 22 months ago, CM Punk has had one recurring enemy in Seth Rollins. While they have not feuded for the entirety of Punk’s WWE return, the Rollins feud has lingered incomplete in the back of Punk’s head during his entire run with the company so far. Even during feuds with other wrestlers, such as Drew McIntyre and Gunther, the story either started with the inclusion of Rollins or circled back to the Rollins feud.
Case in point, after Punk finally won the World Heavyweight Championship from Gunther at this year’s SummerSlam, who else but Rollins showed up to spoil the celebration and snatch Punk’s first WWE Championship in 14 years from under his nose?
🚨 AND NEW
Seth Rollins has cashed in his MITB contract on CM Punk to become the NEW World Heavyweight Champion!#SummerSlam pic.twitter.com/3hvU4WbFZJ
— Wrestle Ops (@WrestleOps) August 3, 2025
Unfortunately, at this point, the feud between Punk and Rollins had grown quite stale and was not helped by Seth’s new faction called The Vision, consisting of himself, Bron Breakker, Bronson Reed, and Paul Heyman. Endings of Raw devolved into less-heated versions of Bloodline-era SmackDown endings of 2022 and Judgement Day Raw endings of 2023, and many were hoping that the feud would not stretch out to WrestleMania season so that both men could focus on others and create variety in their stories.
The main gripe people have had about Punk and Seth’s feud was the lack of evolution in subject matter and talking points. Since Punk’s return, the overarching theme of his feud with Rollins has been the latter’s frustration with Punk walking out of WWE in 2014 and, in his own words, leaving everyone high and dry. This wouldn’t be a problem if the feud ended on the inaugural Raw on Netflix when Punk defeated Rollins in the main event.
In fact, Punk and Rollins had a fantastic promo exchange on the last Raw of 2024, where Rollins accused Punk of wanting WWE to die following his departure, and Punk accused Rollins of shooting arrows in his back when he was at his lowest. Sure enough, the two followed this up with a good match, where Punk soundly defeated Rollins to end their feud, presumably.
Alas, the feud didn’t end here, and the events of the Royal Rumble and Elimination Chamber assured that Punk and Seth would be joined at the hip until at least WrestleMania. At WrestleMania, Rollins seemingly put an end to the feud for good by defeating Punk and longtime rival Roman Reigns, as well as taking Paul Heyman from under their noses to take his own side in the aforementioned “The Vision” four-way stable. Surely, this would be the end of the feud, right?
Wrong, as Rollins won the Money in the Bank briefcase and cashed in on Punk to become World Heavyweight Champion at SummerSlam, re-igniting the feud. In his first defense of the belt at Clash in Paris, Punk was close to regaining the championship as he had Rollins on his shoulders for the GTS, when Becky Lynch appeared to deliver a low blow and helped Rollins retain the championship.
To many, this seemed like a new low point in the feud, as Lynch and Rollins together brought back unfavorable memories of their run at the top in 2019 as babyfaces, while also drawing comparisons to Jon Moxley’s Death Riders stable during the first half of his uninspiring run as AEW World Champion last year, with Rollins’ faction being given the name “Seth Riders” by online fans.
WWE unintentionally makes the Sethriders Meme reality lmfao
-> Dominant World Champion from the Shield
-> Strong Women next to his side
-> Young prospect
-> Monster who destroys everyone in his way
-> Middling four way match for the beltOfc the deeper you go, the less same are… pic.twitter.com/kCXHVtzx82
— Peps🪭 (@Peps_Wrestling) August 31, 2025
Somehow, this ended up being the catalyst for the best possible turn the feud could take, as only five days after this apparent low point, Punk and Rollins’ feud trajectory was at an all-time high, and it was one moment that did it.
What was that moment? Well, nothing more than one of the best wrestling returns in recent memory!
AJ Lee’s wrestling return has long been the stuff of legends, basically ever since she abruptly left the company in April 2015. Following Punk’s return to WWE in November 2025, some speculated that Lee would follow suit eventually.
However, this seemed more and more unlikely as time went on, as Lee did everything possible to distance herself from the ring in her 10 years away from wrestling, becoming a New York Times bestselling author and writing for comic books. Wrestling was the last thing on her mind, and for a while, the closest fans would get to her return was the odd mention or two from Punk during a promo to get the crowd going.
This all changed on the September 5 episode of SmackDown, where AJ Lee made her return to WWE programming, joining her husband’s side and attacking Becky Lynch to set up her return to the ring in a mixed tag team match at September 20’s Wrestlepalooza.
In the two weeks since AJ Lee’s return, the feud between Rollins and Punk has received new life, as the dynamic between them has increased to more than complaints about walking out and fluctuating chemistry. The added wrinkle of AJ Lee mixing it up with the new blood in the women’s division that took over after her departure, Becky Lynch chief among those names, has become a new hook for the feud, and their exchanges have arguably become the most entertaining parts of their respective shows.
In the most recent confrontation between the two couples, Punk brought up that Lynch and Rollins may not have the ego to be on the same page during their upcoming tag team match, as he questioned Rollins’ willingness to take the back seat for his wife like he is.
Since his return, Punk’s best feuds and moments have been the ones he can emotionally attach to, going back to the Drew McIntyre feud and the bracelet that had AJ’s name on it, as well as his dog Larry’s. This seems like almost a continuation of that, with Lynch and Rollins accusing Punk of using his wife as a human shield to hide from his own actions and hypocrisy.
Additionally, Rollins’ response that tied in his original gripe of Punk leaving WWE 11 years prior to him potentially leaving his wife following the Wrestlepalooza match may have been his best line in the entirety of their near-two-year-long feud. For the first time in almost a year, CM Punk and Seth Rollins are given another reason to fight, that being for the honor of their respective wives.
Additionally, with Lee being a beloved figure in wrestling circles, essentially being the female version of Punk, down to her departure from the company and cult-like fanbase, her return to the ring has brought up multiple avenues for not only this feud, but the rest of her run in WWE, however long that may be.
As we may remember, her first act upon returning to WWE on SmackDown was stealing Becky Lynch’s Intercontinental Championship and holding it hostage for a week before literally throwing it at her on the following episode of Raw. Lee vs Lynch has long been a dream match for wrestling fans, and with her return being full-time instead of part-time, there is a very high chance we may see it sooner rather than later.
As for Punk and Rollins, they still need to have their blowoff match in the future, but with the added wrinkles of their wives’ involvement, the road to said blowoff match will be much smoother and more entertaining than if they were bickering with each other.
Welcome back, AJ Lee!
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