Add as a preferred source on Google CM Punk believes Cody Rhodes has surpassed what he accomplished in pro wrestling ahead of their Undisputed WWE Championship match at SummerSlam.
Speaking with Dave LaGreca on Busted Open on WWE Radio, Punk compared Rhodes’ path to his own.
“I’m very psyched for the match (against Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam). There’s a huge part of me that — and I think of all wrestlers, maybe in men — maybe it’s a male trait. They don’t want to seem weak. Cody might not want to admit that at some point in time, maybe even currently, he has looked up to me. I have no problem admitting, no shame in saying, like, damn, I’m proud of where he came from because I think he’s surpassed what I did. When he came in, I was already here. I got to here, he was here.
He did the same thing I did. He left, and he came back a bigger star for it, and then he accomplished things that I never did at that point, and it’s fun to see. It really is.
It really makes me feel like I’m that old fourth liner on an NHL team now that was like the star captain center (at the) beginning of my career and I’m still on the team and I still can contribute but, the new kid comes in and you make room for him, and you can help guide him and all that but, ultimately, we’re gonna find out who the better man is at SummerSlam and I’m very, very excited about it. This is gonna be a lot of fun for me.”
Rhodes left WWE in 2016 and returned at WrestleMania 38 in 2022. He then won the 2023 and 2024 Royal Rumble matches before defeating Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Championship at WrestleMania 40.
Punk returned to WWE at Survivor Series 2023. Rhodes eliminated him last to win the 2024 Royal Rumble, their most significant previous confrontation.