Predicting How CM Punk Cashes in the Roman Reigns 'Favor' at WWE WrestleMania 41

Now that the WrestleMania 41 plans have fully leaned into the massive showdown featuring CM Punk, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, this era of superb WWE storytelling can pull on a hanging thread that continues to float there. 

The thread? That pesky favor that Paul Heyman, and technically Reigns, owe CM Punk. 

Rewind time: While cornered in the Bloodline saga in late 2024, Heyman enlisted the help of his old friend Punk to even the odds and help out Reigns. The only hitch was a favor that the Tribal Chief was none too happy to owe Punk after his Wiseman didn’t let him in on the plans. 

Punk has yet to cash in that favor, either. It was easy to think that it might happen during the Royal Rumble. Visions of Reigns clearing out the ring for Punk en route to a rumble win were layups when it comes to ideas. Ditto for him just calling in Reigns to take out Rollins during a one-on-one match. 

But the focus now fully turns to WrestleMania 41, where one has to think that this is finally, finally the point in time Punk uses the favor to his advantage. 

This could end up being something really basic during the triple threat, too. Simply put, Punk could link up with Heyman, who then calls it in with Reigns. Maybe the Best in the World gets to simply put his feet up and watch as the match really becomes a singles encounter between the two former Shield brothers. 

Still, this is Heyman we’re talking about and he’s a scheming borderline pro wrestling genius who survives through shifty schemes. This is also the Triple H era of WWE storytelling that does a pretty consistently great job at subverting expectations. 

Given those qualifiers, maybe the outcome is a little more complex. Think, Punk and Reigns teaming up for a two-on-one that effectively takes Rollins completely out of the match. 

From there, the match would essentially become a one-on-one between Punk and Reigns, which was pretty heavily hinted at and implied as a possible ‘Mania main event in its own right, especially once WWE saw the downright shocking numbers the segments featuring both were doing. 

For better or worse, Rollins has sort of felt like the third wheel in the main-event scene for two years in a row now at ‘Mania time. Which is a shame, because a compelling, final Shield-based showdown with Reigns would be really great right now.

But Rollins getting wrecked in an unfair two-on-one would at least keep him looking strong. Somebody in a triple threat this big will need to eat a pin and this is one way to do it. If the plan is to have him be a babyface, anyway, this is a good way to garner goodwill from fans.

Speaking of character motivations and long-term plans for said characters, this whole favor ordeal feels like a good way to fully, finally split Heyman and Reigns. 

As hinted, Heyman is a snake who latches onto the big thing. Right now that’s Punk, especially with the Bloodline tale all but finished for now and Reigns secondary to Cody Rhodes and John Cena overall right now. 

This could easily devolve into Heyman betraying Reigns (one can see him in a future promo calling him a “pitstop” until Punk came home) and siding with Punk again. The idea being, the Tribal Chief is well on his way to super-over babyface status once more, with a betrayal the final fuel in the fire that cements it. 

Funnily enough, this result would probably get cheered, too, because Punk has transcended the traditional stuff in the sport. He’s not going to get booed by fans regardless of what he does. 

The fallout? A long-term feud between Punk and Reigns while Cena-Rhodes likely occupies the overall top spot. And spinning off that, once Reigns eventually goes back to Bloodline drama, Rollins will have major beef with both guys. 

It’s not a perfect solution by any means. But the favor is a narrative tool here to clean up a triple threat where all guys need to look great and major stories need to have paths established for after ‘Mania. 

That means a favor trashes Rollins while Heyman and Punk reunite after a betrayal of Reigns. From there, the must-see stories write themselves.