Cody Rhodes has admitted he was surprised not to encounter CM Punk in AEW.
Cody Rhodes played a major part in the foundation of AEW back in 2019, and remained with the company until his surprise departure in February 2022. CM Punk joined the company in August 2021, ending a seven-year retirement that began when he walked out of WWE after the 2014 Royal Rumble.
Although the two men were part of AEW at the same time for several months, the pair never met in the ring. The closest fans got to a rivalry between the pair came when Cody Rhodes claimed he had done everything CM Punk only spoke about. The promo where Rhodes said those words proved to be his last in the promotion.
With both men back in WWE, they finally faced off on the January 22nd edition of Raw, where a tense standoff saw Punk claim he was more like Dusty Rhodes than Cody, while Rhodes reiterated that he had done everything Punk claimed he wanted to.
At the Royal Rumble, the pair were able to outlast everyone else to become the final two in the match. While Punk seemed to get the upper hand with a Go To Sleep, Cody was able to counter a second attempt and dump the star out of the ring to win the match and stamp his ticket to the main event of WrestleMania 40.
Speaking at the press conference following the event, Rhodes said it was “funny” that he and Punk met back in WWE rather than AEW.
“It’s funny that we meet back here. When we were at AEW, I thought we would encounter one another there and it didn’t happen. For whatever reason it didn’t happen. but I think both him and I had different personal experiences.”
Cody Rhodes Comments On Reason For Leaving AEW
Turning to his 2022 departure from AEW, Rhodes warned people not to listen to anything written about why he left the company, noting that “nobody” knows. For Rhodes, it was a personal matter.
“Don’t believe anything that Wade Keller put out about why I left or anything like that. The truth is, nobody knows. [It was a] personal thing. And probably a personal thing for Punk and that happens. People come, people go. It’s not a huge thing.”
H/T to SEScoops for the above transcription.