Shelly Martinez is weighing in on CM Punk’s WrestleMania hotel drama, and she believes Punk crossed a line when he knocked a fan’s phone away.
While speaking on Monte and The Pharaoh, Martinez reacted to the incident involving Punk during WrestleMania week, where he was seen knocking a fan’s phone away near Bayley and AJ Lee. Martinez said the situation points to a bigger issue with how talent access is handled during major WWE weekends. Martinez said WWE should already know how to manage these situations because the company has done it before at WrestleMania hotels.
“Yeah, you bring up some really good points. I just think they don’t care enough to put that much thought to being like, ‘Okay, there might be some fans there, so let’s let our talent come through a separate way.’ Like, and that’s a shame because the only time I ever recall that being a thing is really — oh, because the hotel situation was at the WrestleMania hotel that the WrestleMania was in. Like, because that was the WrestleMania hotel and that’s where the WrestleMania after party was and all the talent was there. They had a certain elevator that was just for us or whatever. So, they’re aware enough to make that work at WrestleMania back then. I don’t know why that — like, here we are another WrestleMania. That’s where it happened, right? The WrestleMania. Okay. So, I don’t know why. You make a really good point.”
Martinez explained that these situations can be complicated because both fans and talent may be dealing with their own emotions in the moment. Still, she said she personally would not knock or hit someone’s phone.
“It’s hard because it’s very complicated, I guess I would say, because you have the fan. So, you don’t know what they got going on. Then you have the talent. Everyone handles things differently because you don’t know what they got going on. And so, like if I was annoyed, I’m the type of person I have no problem with being like, ‘Dude, put your camera down right now,’ blah blah blah, and say something. Now, I wouldn’t ever swat or hit anything like that or anything like that. And if I was real annoyed, I could be like, ‘You know, that’s really effed up that like, you know, da da da.’ I could see myself saying something like that, too.”
After the host clarified that Punk knocked the phone out of the fan’s hand, Martinez made it clear she did not think that was acceptable at all to knock the phone away no matter what.
“The phone. Okay. You can’t do that. You can’t do that. But, going back to my point of the talent, you don’t know how they handle things. Everyone has their own stuff. So, it’s just like all of these different scenarios that could or couldn’t happen. It’s complicated. And I feel the only way to try to avoid it as best as possible is, like you said, have a separate entrance.”
Martinez then pointed back to her own WrestleMania experience, saying WWE had controlled access for talent in the past and kept fans away from certain areas.
“And then I’m here to vouch, the WrestleMania I was in, that’s exactly what they did. So, and I don’t remember hearing any situation because we all used that. And then the way the hotel was, the fans couldn’t get to certain levels because that’s where we were all at. So, it was very controlled, you know?”
She also argued that wrestler safety should be taken more seriously now, especially because WWE talent are viewed more like major celebrities than ever before.
“And it’s unfortunate that the wrestlers’ safety isn’t being taken serious because I feel now more than ever WWE in particular wrestlers are kind of looked more like rockstars now. It’s different, you know? And so it’s kind of upped the ante. They’re like rockstar status now, let’s be real. And so it’s like you got to take care of your people, at least on your time with them, hello?”
The comments come after TMZ released the 9-1-1 call tied to an earlier confrontation involving Punk at the MGM Grand following WrestleMania Night Two. Billi Bhatti had previously claimed on the Dirty Sheets Wrestling Informer podcast that Punk was involved in two separate confrontations that night, with one allegedly happening before the viral phone video surfaced.
During the 9-1-1 call, the caller spoke Spanish through an interpreter and alleged that he approached Punk for an autograph before Punk shoved him in the chest when he got too close. Bhatti previously claimed the earlier incident happened in the lobby and was captured by hotel surveillance, even though no fan video surfaced publicly at the time.
Police were called to the MGM Grand after the incidents, but no confirmed charges have been publicly announced. Martinez’s reaction now shifts the conversation beyond Punk’s actions and toward WWE’s responsibility to protect talent during major event weekends.
Whether fans think Punk was provoked or not, Martinez’s point is clear: knocking a phone away is not acceptable, and WWE should be doing more to prevent talent from being placed in those situations in the first place.
Do you agree with Shelly Martinez that WWE needs better security setups for talent during WrestleMania week? Sound off in the comments and let us know what you think.
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