The Rock uses WWE's "secret rule", CM Punk reveals

CM Punk has revealed a secret rule in WWE that The Rock has used to his advantage. The Brahma Bull has not been part of television programming since Elimination Chamber earlier this year, but was heavily involved last year in the buildup to WrestleMania XL, even competing at the PLE.

Ahead of Netflix's docuseries WWE: Unreal, which will give fans an insight into how shows and matches of the Stamford-based company are put together, CM Punk and Rhea Ripley sat down for an interview with SPORTbible.

During the interview, Punk talked about the level of detail and effort that goes into producing a single episode of Monday Night RAW, where he features regularly. He also mentioned that talent could get an earful if they end up going over their allotted time, but they could possibly get away with it if their segment were of great quality.

"It’s one of the secret rules. As long as it’s really, really good, you can get away with it. Going 20 minutes over and you suck, that’s no good. I don’t want to cut into anyone else’s segment and there’s a lot of times I have x amount of time for something and I don’t think I need all that time, I’ll just go out there and go short," Punk said. [H/T SPORTbible]

CM Punk then mentioned that wrestlers can help each other out by giving the other person some time from their own to work with, and how a good segment cannot be rushed. He used The Rock as an example of someone who did use this secret rule.

“That’s the way a lot of the talent work together. I know there is a lot of Bloodline segments or stuff with The Rock, when it’s really good and the crowd’s going absolutely banana for it - you can’t really rush through it," Punk added.

It is obvious when someone like The Rock is going through a segment and has the crowd in the palm of his hands, going a little over the allotted time won't be an issue.

The Bloodline storyline was also one of the most intriguing angles from WWE in recent years and was a must-watch on TV every week. If the wrestlers can draw the crowd's attention and garner a positive reaction, they are likely to get away with going a few minutes extra.

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The Rock's segment on SmackDown last year led to changes

Last year, the post-Elimination Chamber episode of SmackDown saw The Bloodline kick off the show. Soon, they were joined by The Rock, who talked about Cody Rhodes's challenge to him.

According to a report from Fightful Select, The Rock's segment went over time by 10 minutes. As a result, WWE had to cut time from Tiffany Stratton and Naomi's segment on the show.

While this may have been harsh on other stars, the fact that The Final Boss' segment did great numbers for WWE on YouTube meant he was able to justify the extra time he used up.

Edited by Sayantan Niyogi