Report: Change was made to the creative direction of Roman Reigns’ promo segment with CM Punk

The March 16th 2026 edition of WWE RAW concluded with a promo segment involving Roman Reigns and world heavyweight champion CM Punk. Reigns referred to Punk as “old” and Punk responded by knocking Reigns to the ground with a punch.

According to Bodyslam.net, the segment that aired was not the originally planned version. The original creative direction reportedly called for Reigns to respond to Punk’s comments about his father with a darker reply involving Punk’s dog Larry. It remains unclear why the direction was changed or at what point during the day the decision to alter the segment was made.