In the latest drama from the WWE NXT Battleground, CM Punk, the patron saint of unsolicited wisdom, decided to sprinkle some of his seasoned advice on the fresh and fiery Roxanne Perez. Spoiler alert: It didn’t go well. Picture this: Punk swoops in like a wise old owl, and Perez swats him away like an annoying gnat.
Perez, the reigning “NXT” Women’s Champion, fresh off a victory over TNA’s Jordynne Grace, was basking in her triumph during a backstage interview. With her championship belt gleaming brighter than Punk’s past glory days, Perez was in the zone. Enter CM Punk, the man, the myth, the self-proclaimed sage.
Interrupting Perez mid-celebration, Punk couldn’t resist dropping his two cents: “Listen, you’re the champion for a reason. You’re head and shoulders above all these other women here. But tonight you got lucky. Focus on this [the title]. Be who you are, be the protege. You don’t need anything else.”
To which Perez, clearly not in the mood for Punk’s unsolicited sermon, responded with the finesse of a seasoned shade-thrower: “Thanks for the advice. What a hypocrite, huh?” Mic drop.
As Perez stormed off, leaving Punk to ponder his life choices, he turned to the NXT interviewer Sarah Schreiber, asking if Perez always had a chip on her shoulder. Schreiber’s affirmative response was the cherry on top of this awkward sundae.
Perez, who snatched the title from Lyra Valkyria at Stand & Deliver in April, solidified her reign with the win over Grace. The match, already a rollercoaster, featured some interference from NXT’s Tatum Paxley attempting a heist of the TNA Knockouts Championship, only to be thwarted by Ash by Elegance (formerly Dana Brooke).