CM Punk and Kevin Owens aren’t just pretending to hate each other for WWE television. According to Dave Meltzer, the tension between the two goes beyond their current SmackDown storyline, and there appears to be legitimate bad blood behind what fans are seeing on screen.
Punk and Owens went face-to-face on SmackDown in a heated confrontation that felt noticeably more personal than the usual wrestling promo exchange. While discussing the segment on Wrestling Observer Radio, Bryan Alvarez pointed out how convincing the hostility between the two came across. Meltzer didn’t dance around the subject.
“I don’t think they like each other.”
That real-life tension has history behind it, and Meltzer explained that Kevin Owens became connected to one of the biggest falling-outs of Punk’s career years ago. The situation traces back to the lawsuit involving Punk and Colt Cabana after Punk’s infamous podcast appearance discussing his WWE departure. Meltzer said Punk believed WWE was ultimately behind the legal battle and decided he needed to distance himself from people connected to the company. That included longtime friends.
“Punk basically said, ‘These guys at WWE, they may go back to WWE. We have to break away. We cannot talk to anyone from WWE.’ So Punk cut off everyone from WWE. Kofi Kingston was a good friend of his. There were others. He cut them off cold. They were all stunned. It’s like, ‘I thought we were friends.’ Cut him off cold because of the lawsuit.”
According to Meltzer, Punk expected Cabana to do the same thing. That became a problem when Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn came through Chicago while they were working in WWE developmental and met Cabana for pizza. Punk found out about it, and Meltzer said that became a major turning point.
“He told Cabana to do the same thing, and Cabana agreed to do the same thing. At the time, I believe Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens were in developmental, so they were not main roster guys. And they were coming through Chicago, and they went out for pizza with Colt Cabana, and Punk found out, and that was it.”
Meltzer went as far as saying that moment became part of the chain reaction that eventually led to Punk and Cabana’s fractured relationship and the drama that followed years later. He continued by stressing just how far back the connection between Owens and Punk’s issues goes.
“Everything that’s happened in wrestling, everything that happened in AEW, it all came because Colt Cabana went out to pizza with Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. So Kevin Owens is a big part of this story.”
“Colt Cabana went out to pizza with two of his buddies, and everything that happened in AEW was because of that. Everything stemmed from that. And here we are. And now Kevin Owens is doing a program with CM Punk for the first time in their careers.”
Alvarez also noted that Punk and Owens had issues dating back to their Ring of Honor days, though he said that history was nowhere near as significant as what happened later involving Cabana. That makes WWE’s current Punk vs. Owens program much more interesting. The company may be presenting a storyline rivalry on television, but if Meltzer’s assessment is accurate, the anger viewers are seeing isn’t entirely manufactured.
Punk and Owens now have the chance to turn years of legitimate tension into a WWE feud, and judging by their first major confrontation, neither man needs much help making the animosity believable.
Do you think CM Punk and Kevin Owens’ legitimate dislike for each other makes their WWE feud better, or could the real-life tension become a problem? Let us know what you think in the comments.
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