During the March 25, 2024 edition of WWE RAW in Chicago, CM Punk had a verbal showdown with World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins and Drew McIntyre. One of the most talked-about moments came when Punk taunted McIntyre about being WWE’s “Chosen One,” trying to get him to say Vince McMahon’s name on live television.
“Chosen one? Who chose you? Who? What was his name, huh? You got the balls to say you’re the chosen one? Tell me, what paragon of good virtue chose you? It wasn’t the people in Chicago.”
Back in 2009, it was McMahon himself who introduced McIntyre as “The Chosen One”, making Punk’s jab a direct callback to McIntyre’s early WWE career.
While speaking to ITRWrestling.com, McIntyre revealed what he wanted to say in response to Punk’s taunt, but ultimately held back:
“What’s going through my mind is: ‘The same person that fired you on your wedding day.’ But I’m a professional. I think by that point, people started seeing what I was capable of on the microphone like it was a new thing. If you watched my stuff outside of WWE, you know when I’m comfortable and the reins are taken off me. I don’t care who it is, I can go toe to toe with anyone. Even Punk.
If you watch the first interview we had, the look in his eyes throughout the promo and how much it changed, you realise this is not the same kid that was an arse so many years ago. He was ready that night, I was ready that night and we went back and forth and back and forth, just hitting each other with these lines.
And again, this is not something that’s written on a piece of paper like you say this and I’ll say that. This is just two guys going for it, two guys that have got some banter, and two guys that genuinely don’t like each other in a place as hot as Chicago where Punk’s from.
Then that one line, once we’d finally go back and forth so much, it was a choice for me to make. Do I go back and then we see where we end up? Or do I bite my tongue and say OK, this round belongs to you. I’ll be a professional. I’ll do it for the company as well as the de facto babyface, even though I’m really the real babyface of the situation. So I let him have it. For the company, not for him.”
