CM Punk just summed up wrestling fandom in one brutal sentence — nobody hates wrestling more than wrestling fans, and nobody loves it more either. Punk knows exactly how insane that sounds because he says he becomes the same kind of fan when it comes to the stuff he’s obsessed with outside the ring.
During a new Hot Ones: Extra Heat interview on Netflix, Punk was asked about his love of Friday the 13th and whether he had any ideas for rebooting the horror franchise. That question quickly turned into Punk explaining why he understands wrestling fans who constantly complain about something they clearly can’t stop watching.
Punk said being a hardcore fan means constantly picking apart the thing you love, and wrestling fans might be the perfect example.
“Yeah. I mean, give me a pen, a paper, and a budget and I’m your huckleberry. That’s one of those… because I’m such a fan, I’m constantly… this makes me relate with the wrestling fan, right? The wrestling fans who’s like, ‘Ah, this stinks’ and they just, you know, like nobody hates wrestling more than wrestling fans. Nobody loves wrestling more than wrestling fans.”
That wasn’t Punk taking a shot from the outside either. He immediately included himself in the same category because he knows what happens when something you genuinely love starts going in a direction you don’t like. Punk said Friday the 13th does that to him, which is why he understands wrestling fans sitting around complaining about booking decisions while still showing up for the next show.
“So, I am one of them and I get it when it comes to the properties that I really like. I’m cautiously optimistic, we should be getting a new Friday The 13th movie like once a year, every two years. It’s been a drought, it’s time to end the drought.”
Punk has gone after the darker side of wrestling fandom before. In January 2026, he ripped fans who become furious when WWE doesn’t follow the fantasy booking they created in their own heads, questioning why people allow rumors and imaginary expectations to completely ruin a show for them. At the time, Punk said some fans seem determined to stay angry when wrestling doesn’t play out exactly how they expected.
“People just seem to want to be angry about everything because it didn’t happen the way they fantasy booked it in their head.”
He followed that up the very next day by calling out the extreme negativity surrounding wrestling online, where everything seemingly has to be either the greatest thing anybody has ever seen or complete garbage.
Punk has also defended wrestling fans when he thinks they’re being unfairly lumped together. During a July interview, he pushed back on stereotypes about wrestling fans and pointed out that many of them are hardcore sports fans who spend serious money traveling around the country to see WWE.
That makes his latest take a little different from just another rant about toxic fans. Punk clearly understands that the constant bitching can actually come from the same place as the obsession — people care enough about wrestling to get angry when they think it sucks, then tune right back in because they still love it.
And Punk apparently knows the feeling all too well. Wrestling fans can spend three hours trashing a show, swear they’re done forever and then be right back arguing about the next episode before the week is over — and Punk thinks that strange mix of love and hate is exactly what makes hardcore fandom what it is.
Do you agree with CM Punk that nobody hates wrestling more than wrestling fans? Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comment section below.
