The now infamous piece of audio has been the gift that keeps on giving for Punk over the years, as it not only highlighted his grievances with WWE, McMahon, Triple H, Ryback, and others, but it also led to a lawsuit against him and Cabana that torpedoed their friendship, and served as the catalyst for his AEW problems. It also was what caused the fissure between Punk and Reigns, although not in the way most would remember. That’s because Punk didn’t actually say much about Reigns during the initial podcast, instead saving his remarks for the follow up Punk and Cabana did just days later. The follow up featured less of Punk taking shots at people, but did feature a now famous story where Punk told Cabana about WWE’s plans to have Punk defeat Reigns, Jon Moxley, and Seth Rollins in a three on one match, while stressing to Punk that he had to make Reigns “look really, really strong” in the process.

Ironically, Punk’s tone during this story would suggest his issues were less with Reigns, and more with WWE’s inexplicable booking decision and subsequent micromanaging of the situation. Nevertheless “gotta make Roman look strong” became a rallying cry for fans fed up with Reigns’ push over the next few years, and many continued to believe that the quote was Punk taking aim at the future “Tribal Chief.” That was certainly how Reigns took it in those aforementioned media appearances where he returned fire at Punk. And so, the heat between Punk and Reigns was born, perhaps from a misunderstanding.