"I loved the place I worked, I just hated the guy in charge and he loved you"

Seth Rollins: "HOUSTON! [Crowd cheers] Welcome to [crowd says along with Seth] Monday Night Rollins! I am your host, I am a visionary, I am a revolutionary, I am SETH... [crowd responds
'Freakin' Rollins!'] Tonight, right here, last episode of Monday Night Raw in 2024, last episode of Monday Night Raw on the USA Network, what do you say we go out with a bang? [Crowd cheers] One week from tonight, the biggest fight in our sport, 10 years in the making.

The Voice of the Voiceless vs the Visionary, the Second City Saint versus the Monday Night Messiah, the self-proclaimed Best in the World vs the real Best in the World! [Crowd cheers] CM Punk one-on-one with Seth [crowd says along with Seth] Freakin' Rollins! And here's the deal, after next week, you know where you're gonna be able to find me, I will be here on Monday night, I will be here the Monday after that, the Monday after that, the Monday after that, I will be fighting in this ring 'cuz that's what I do! [Crowd cheers] But if things don't go CM Punk's way, you can't say the same for him. What's he gonna do? He gonna cry about it, he's gonna whine about it, maybe he'll take another 10 years off, pick up his ball, go home."

[CM Punk's music hits, interrupting Seth, crowd cheers as Punk makes his entrance]

CM Punk: "Took his ball and went home?! The most industry plant, cliché, bootlicker line I've ever heard in my entire life! What paragon of virtue did you get that from, huh? Who originally said that, that wanted to turn the people against the boys when he got told no, or when he got told you're wrong? Did 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin take his ball and go home? [see Note 1] You know, I haven't seen 'The Man' around these parts in quite some time, did she take her ball and go home too? [Note 2] Or is it just me, Seth? You wanna tell these people that I turned my back on them? You wanna tell 15,000 strong in Houston that I abandoned them? [Crowd cheers] When in ra- reality, you just wanna cry because I abandoned you! I was sick and tired and I left this place and you stayed and you ate it, we both made our choices, we both made our decisions, I have no regrets! None, I don't wanna talk about the last 10 years, let's talk about the last 10 months, Seth. How's your neck?"

Seth Rollins: "Good."

CM Punk: "How's your knee, Seth? [Seth starts hopping on one leg at a time, showing he can bend both knees] How's that knee? How's your insides? 'Cuz I watched Big Bronson Reed hit you with 6 tsunamis! How's your pride? Because you didn't get a modicum of revenge on him and you saw me break his ankle in WarGames! [Seth laughs, points to one of the corners of the ring] Self-proclaimed Best in the World?! Yeah, because I believe in myself. Self-professed martyr? You're damn right! I came back, I didn't wanna make friends, I said very publicly, I'm here to make money. And next week, baby, I get to make a boatload of cash, making you the victim you so badly wanna be, little brother."

Seth Rollins: "Oh, [laughs] cut that crap, man, cut that little brother crap, that don't work no more, you know the difference between you and everybody else that left? They actually did leave, alright? My wife, she's taking a break to raise a kid. I know you don't know what that's like. Stone Cold, he said it was the biggest mistake he ever made, he understands about change, alright?

You-- you left, you wanted this place to die with the echoes of those CM Punk chants, you went on your buddy's podcast, tried to tear this place down. When that didn't work, you took every single shot you could to try to kill this place, and you still couldn't do it and then you took a big chunk of change to go join the competition, how'd that work out for you? [see Note 3]

You, you wanna call me a martyr? Nah man, I never felt bad about anything that I did, I never felt ashamed, I ought and I stayed because that's how revolutions are made, alright? That's how they're made! They're made in the trenches, not by cowards who abandoned their families. You stay in the trenches, you fight, that's how we win the war and we won the war, and you wanna come back in here and you wanna wave the flag with us? No way, you can't big brother me anymore 'cuz I'm the damn big brother! [Crowd cheers] So you will, you will, you will take another 10 years off after the 6, but it's not gonna be a decision you make, it's gonna be one I make for you!"

CM Punk: "You can recognize the pioneers because of the arrows in their back, I was the first one through the wall and I got bloodied for it, you wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me. I love the place I worked, I just hated the guy in charge and he loved you. And in situations where you should have had my back, all you did was shoot arrows in it! [Seth says 'Me?'] And then I leave, and lo and behold, he shows his true colors, and he stabs Roman Reigns in the back. And now he's dressed like an idiot, trying to play victim in a situation that he created.

Those arrows? Kill weak people, The greats? Above all odds, find a way to march forward and I left because I had to, and I got far enough away until those arrows couldn't reach me anymore and after a few years, I started to be able to pull them out. And after a few more years, I pulled them all out and I came back because for 7 years, they chanted-- mostly during your television time-- my name! [Crowd chants 'CM Punk'] I should be dead, Seth, but I'm not, and ohhhh aren't the arrow throwers mad? Next week, those same arrows that were supposed to do me and I carry to this day, and I'm walking into LA. Netflix -- live and in living color with a fistful of arrows -- and I'm gonna jam them down your corporate throat!"

Seth Rollins: "You know, I've never said this to your face, maybe, once upon a time, you were a pioneer. What you have become is a cancer, you are a cancer to that locker room, [points to his head] you are a cancer in my brain, you are a cancer to this business and cancer does not cure itself, the only way to defeat it is to cut it out. So, in 1 week, you bring your fist full of arrows, I'll bring my eyes of fire and my heart full of HATE AND RAGE AND I WILL BURN YOU TO THE GROUND!" [Throws mic]

- Credit: Thanks to inmate JediSaiyanMaster1203 for transcribing this promo.

- Note 1: Steve Austin walked out of WWE in 2002, Jim Ross referred to Austin "taking his ball and going home" on commentary following his departure. Austin returned in 2003.

- Note 2: Becky Lynch is currently unsigned following her contract expiration in June 2024.

- Note 3: CM Punk aired his many grievances about his first tenure in WWE on Colt Cabana's Art of Wrestling podcast in 2014. Punk made his return to professional wrestling working for AEW from 2021 through 2023, being terminated following All In London 2023.