World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk is set to defend his title against Roman Reigns in the main event of night two of WrestleMania 42, and for weeks, the pair have been trading verbal barbs both in the ring and on social media. Longtime fans of WWE are well aware of the real-life animosity between them, ever since Punk's 2014 comments on the "Art of Wrestling" podcast. Paul "Triple H" Levesque commented on it further in an interview with Joe Tessitore. He said the intensity between them doesn't stop when the cameras aren't on."There is a palpable, you can cut it with a knife feeling of intensity," Levesque said. "That intensity does not stop backstage. When they have to be in the vicinity of each other in backstage environments, it is on epic levels of tension. Where at any point in time, you feel like this will go incredibly unprofessionally at any moment... You can smell the gas in the air and there are sparks everywhere and you're trying to get through it and get it in the ring at WrestleMania before it blows up."Levesque mentioned WWE's reality series, "WWE Unreal," and said that Punk and Reigns' feud is very real in a way that many fans cannot fathom how much "f*** you" energy there is between them. He said that both men aren't trying to wow the crowd with some of the scathing lines in their promos."There's a moment where it ceases to be 'watch what the crowd does when I say this,'" Levesque explained. "I don't know that when they're out there they give a damn. If there's 20,000 people watching them live in that moment, I don't think they give a damn."If you use any quotes from this article, please credit WWE and provide a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
