While not on the WrestleMania 40 card, CM Punk became the talk of pro wrestling this week after making a variety of comments on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani about his time in AEW. Nothing was off limits except for the “Brawl Out” NDA he signed. The discussion dove into various topics, including what happened with Jack Perry at All In, Adam Page’s unscripted promo about Punk in 2022, and his desire to depart AEW before his return in June 2023.
Perhaps the harshest comments took aim at Tony Khan and AEW’s management. Punk described AEW as “not a real business” and criticized Khan, stating he’s a nice guy but “not a boss.”
On Wednesday, Cody Rhodes became the next WWE superstar to appear on The MMA Hour and promote WrestleMania. Naturally, Punk’s comments about AEW were brought up. Rhodes didn’t address the Straight Edge Superstar’s opinion of the company directly, but he discussed the pride in what he accomplished there.
That’s his assessment. It is not my assessment. It’s always important for me to remind people that I am so proud of what me, Matt, Nick, Kenny, Tony, Bernie, Brandi, Dana, and Chris, and I name all these people because I was in those meetings. As much as the internet will spin a narrative one way, if one of those people had not been at that startup level, the company would not have happened.
It’s not my assessment. In my time there, the infrastructure was just being built up. We were trying new things, and doing things. It was a startup company, a big-time startup company but a startup company and I wish them nothing but the best.
Helwani also asked Rhodes about Punk’s beef with The Elite, which he attributed to “a ton of misunderstanding, a ton of miscommunication.”
I just think what happened there was a ton of misunderstanding, a ton of miscommunication.
I love Matt, Nick, and Kenny and I love CM Punk. I don’t know how, but I do. I’m just happy for everyone involved. I just think it was a ships in the night thing. I wasn’t there, though.
Rhodes offered the most diplomatic responses possible when tackling these situations. While not non-answers, he addressed these topics and gave some semblance of substance. This story has enough fuel, especially after Adam Copeland’s reference to it on Dynamite, so Rhodes not igniting the fire further is for the best.
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