CM Punk vs. Roman Reigns headlined WrestleMania 42 on Sunday.

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CM Punk Vs. Roman Reigns At WrestleMania 42 | Key Points

• Roman Reigns beat CM Punk in a great WrestleMania main event. Surprisingly, there was no outside interference amid rumors of a Bloodline reunion.

Roman Reigns beat CM Punk in the WrestleMania Sunday main event. For the second year in a row, Punk lost in the main event. The crowd was mostly behind Reigns early, but the two pros worked Allegiant Stadium into a frenzy to where fans were split right down the middle. The match featured stair steps, table spots and even Punk absconding the Ula Falla and wearing the sacred necklace. Reigns outlasted Punk with multiple spears, and Reigns is once again a world champion.

CM Punk and Roman Reigns had easily the most deeply personal feud of any this WrestleMania season. CM Punk is the greatest of all time at making fans believe his feuds are real, because sometimes his feuds end up being just that. Roman Reigns offered up a fresh canvas for Punk to shower with insults as the two future Hall of Famers finally faced off in a one-on-one match to close out WrestleMania.

Punk attacked Reigns for being a “plastic” nepobaby who had everything handed to him, while Reigns held his own with scathing insults of Punk’s hypocrisy and shortcomings in UFC.

“You’re just a buck-tooth nepobaby who ate dog food for a weird old man,” Punk said on the April 6 broadcast of Raw in arguably his best promo since coming back in 2023. Punk is an all-world promo who feeds off the energy of a live audience, which gave him a stark advantage over Reigns during live promos. But Reigns used his cool, calm demeanor to flame Phil Brooks in backstage segments and vignettes. Reigns’ best promo on Punk came from the backseat of his towncar.

“It blows my mind that you think we’re f—king equals. In which way?” Reigns began. “The whole industry coddles you just by having you in it. You talk about the old-timers? Those are tough guys. We’ve seen what happens when you try to be a tough guy,” answered Reigns who mocked the “hundred thousand internet marks that love [CM Punk.]”

Reigns vs. Punk has brought out the best in both living legends with each blaming the other for WWE’s struggles to sell out WrestleMania, a first-world problem that WWE has extrapolated into an unnecessary talking point in multiple storylines.

Similar to Roman Reigns blaming Punk for not being able to sell enough tickets as world champion, Pat McAfee’s heel run was partly defined by his side-feud with CM Punk. Reigns co-signed an anti-IWC WrestleMania tweet from Pat McAfee saying “Shopping indy real estate now.”

Reigns has since deleted the tweet.

CM Punk and Roman Reigns have two of the most dedicated fanbases in the world. A key ingredient that enhances every great feud is when the wrestlers’ grown adult fans take their scripted insults seriously. This creates a civil war dynamic where fans tweet each other to death over something a writer told their favorite wrestler to say about his co-worker.

Either way, this feud worked like a charm. Not only did Punk and Reigns go to hell on each other, but it intertwined with the WrestleMania Night 1 main event while taking on similar themes of babyface WWE Superstars being frustrated with TKO meddling. Among all the possible finishes, a finish that created a supergroup featuring Roman Reigns, Randy Orton, Pat McAfee and The Rock was not out of the question.

When the dust cleared, there was no outside interference necessary for what will go down as one of the better WrestleMania main events in its decorated history. WrestleMania Night 2 saved WrestleMania weekend with a good card that lived up to lofty expectations.