A geography lesson broke out on ESPN as former World Champion Seth Rollins was happy to provide it at WWE World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk's expense.
Appearing on ESPN's Get Up the day before WWE Elimination Chamber, 'The Visionary' was shown a clip of Punk making his case for being the bigger Chicago sports fan. The setup was straightforward enough as Punk, a Chicago native, claimed Rollins couldn't compete with his hometown credentials. He just got one key detail wrong. He said:
Seth was born and raised in Idaho. I understand there's no football team there. There's maybe just potatoes.
Rollins caught the mistake immediately and milked it.
Idaho. Idaho. Potatoes. Come on, man. He knows — it's Iowa. Iowa. Not Idaho. We're in different regions of the country. Different vegetables, different starchy vegetables. They've got the potatoes, I've got the corn. All right.
Rollins Concedes Punk's Birthright — Then Flips the Script
After correcting the record, Rollins wasn't looking to strip Punk of his Chicago identity entirely. He acknowledged "Chicago's favorite son" would get a "raucous reaction" from the United Center crowd when he defends the World Heavyweight Championship against Finn Bálor on Saturday. But then he drew a firm line.
I'm not going to take anything away from CM Punk's Chicago fandom. He was born and raised there. He's Chicago's favorite son. He's going to go there tomorrow and get a raucous reaction. But this man does not believe in the Chicago Bears. He is not a Bears fan. He may be a Cubs fan, he may be a Blackhawks fan — but I tell you, he is not a Chicago Bears fan. He's certainly not a Bears fan on the level of Seth freaking Rollins.
Rollins then addressed the Bears' potential move to Hammond, Indiana, framing it the same way San Francisco fans think about the 49ers playing in Santa Clara. This technicality doesn't change the team's identity.
Hammond, Indiana? Not that far away. Look, the San Francisco 49ers — they don't play in San Francisco, but we don't call them the San Jose 49ers. It's still the Chicago Bears. It doesn't matter if they're on this side of the border. It's malarkey, so I'm fine with it.
The Deep Cut That Sealed It
Seth Rollins closed the bit by casually name-dropping Bears tight end Colten Lovelin's college, which, fittingly enough, is the University of Idaho. Host Mike Greenberg called it "genuine proof" of Rollins' fandom. Rollins had a simple response: "Get in the state."
Punk and Rollins have been on a collision course since their wives' feud ignited at Wrestlepalooza last fall. The real-life rivalry between the two WWE stars has carried into sports talk television, with both appearing on ESPN in the days leading up to Elimination Chamber 2026, which takes place Saturday, February 28, at the United Center in Chicago at 7 PM ET on the ESPN App.
