CM Punk’s hotel controversy isn’t fading away anytime soon, and now another fan says the entire situation reminded him of an experience he claims to have had with Punk during WWE’s trip to Perth, Australia.
The conversation started after the Second City Saint posted—and later deleted—an Instagram Story following WWE’s live event in Las Cruces.
“Ahi for breakfast. Breakfast of champions. Please do not follow me to my hotel. Las Cruces, you were lovely—loud and fun. See you all soon. Albuquerque on deck. Thank you.”
Punk never said who he was referring to or what exactly happened. Not long after, the mother of a six-year-old fan came forward, insisting her family hadn’t followed Punk at all. She said they simply arrived at the hotel around the same time as several WWE Superstars and that her sons were hoping for nothing more than a smile or a wave after recognizing him.
That story caught the attention of YouTuber Smartest Mark Alive, who says it immediately reminded him of an encounter he claims happened during Elimination Chamber weekend in Perth in 2024. Before getting into it, he made something very clear. He wasn’t trying to defend people who stalk wrestlers or invade their privacy, and he admitted nobody outside the people involved knows exactly what happened in Las Cruces.
“This is not about stalking wrestlers or hounding them or getting in their private space or anything like that. This is a completely different scenario… I don’t know if they hounded him… Nobody really knows that because the video was after.”
He says his group happened to be staying at the same hotel as WWE’s roster, so running into wrestlers became a normal part of the weekend. According to his account, the moment happened when he and his friends walked over to an elevator and suddenly realized several WWE stars—including CM Punk, Bayley, Raquel Rodriguez, Giulia and Roxanne Perez—were already inside.
“The elevator door opens. We start to walk in. We lift our heads and we see quickly that there is a lot of wrestlers in the elevator… I said, ‘Hey guys, sorry, are you guys going up or are you guys going down?’ They said, ‘No, we’re going up.’… which was fine. We get it.”
He says Roxanne Perez stepped out, and one of his friends took the opportunity to ask Punk for a photo. According to Smartest Mark Alive, nobody argued or asked again.
“Punk, we love you. You’re still the best in the world. Do you mind if we have a photo?’ He just looked at him and said, ‘No. This is a hotel room.’ We said, ‘Okay, yeah, we know. We’re staying here too. We’re not hounding you.’ We literally just asked.”
He says the rejected photo wasn’t what bothered him. Instead, he claims the awkward part came after his friend told Punk there were no hard feelings.
“CM Punk steps back in and my friend goes, ‘Punk, it’s all good. You’re still the best in the world. We love you.’ And he just looked at him… put his head down. Didn’t even say hello. Didn’t acknowledge us. Nothing.”
According to Smartest Mark Alive, Bayley then broke the silence by joking that she—not Punk—was “the best in the world,” which led to a lighthearted exchange with the rest of the group while, in his telling, Punk remained quiet.
“Bayley had to step in and say, ‘No, no, no, no. I’m the best in the world.’ She started laughing. We started having a little joke with her… and CM Punk was just completely having his head down.”
He says that’s why the moment has stayed with him. In his version of events, they weren’t waiting around for wrestlers, chasing Punk through the hotel or repeatedly asking for pictures. He says it was simply a chance encounter between hotel guests.
“We’re literally going into the same elevator on our level. Nobody else is around… My friend asked him for a photo, he said no, and that was it. Other than that, we didn’t ask anyone for photos. We were just, ‘Hey, how you going? How do you like Australia?’ CM Punk didn’t respond to anyone.”
At the same time, he repeatedly said he walked away with a completely different impression of most of WWE’s roster. He praised Bayley, Raquel Rodriguez, Drew McIntyre, Bron Breakker, The Miz, Grayson Waller, Dominik Mysterio, Tama Tonga, Otis and Cathy Kelley, saying they were all happy to exchange a greeting or have a quick conversation whenever their paths crossed.
“Everyone else spoke to us that entire weekend… We’re not asking. We’re not hounding you for photos… We were just, ‘Hey, how you going? How do you like Australia?’ That type of thing. And they responded. Raquel Rodriguez is probably the nicest person you will ever meet in the entire world. She was an absolute superstar.”
For Smartest Mark Alive, the issue isn’t whether wrestlers should stop for photos everywhere they go. He says they shouldn’t. His point is simply that, in his opinion, there’s a difference between saying no to a picture and acknowledging someone who happens to cross your path.
“It’s not hard to say hello to someone. It’s not people getting in your private space or people hounding you. If you’re just saying, ‘Hey mate, how you going?’ No response. That is the issue here.”
CM Punk has not publicly responded to Smartest Mark Alive’s account, and it reflects the YouTuber’s own version of events. Even so, with the Las Cruces incident already leading to plenty of debate, his story has become another part of the wider conversation about fan interactions, personal boundaries and what people expect when wrestlers and fans unexpectedly find themselves in the same place.
Do you think wrestlers should acknowledge fans during chance hotel encounters, or should hotels remain completely off-limits? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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