CM Punk shares honest reaction to confrontation with Cody Rhodes on WWE RAW

CM Punk has commented on his intense confrontation with Cody Rhodes from this past Monday's edition of WWE RAW. Both men will compete in the Men's Royal Rumble match this Saturday night at Tropicana Field.

The two former AEW stars have taken very different paths to get to the position they are in today. Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, and The Young Bucks helped launch All Elite Wrestling, and the promotion has now become a direct competitor to WWE. However, The American Nightmare opted to leave AEW and return to WWE at WrestleMania 38 as Vince McMahon's handpicked opponent for Seth Rollins.

Rhodes won the Men's Royal Rumble match last year but lost his Undisputed WWE Universal Championship match against Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 40. Punk spent seven years away from wrestling before arriving in All Elite Wrestling 2021. However, his tenure in AEW did not go as planned, and he was fired after a backstage incident with Jack Perry ahead of All In 2023.

The promotion shared a new video featuring CM Punk today on social media. The 45-year-old reacted to his promo with Cody Rhodes and noted there was some tension between the two of them. He added that he hoped they could still be friends following the Men's Royal Rumble match:

"I felt some tension there, and that is what the Royal Rumble is about. There are no friends, right? Doesn't necessarily mean that we have to be adversaries or enemies, but something about it just feels like on Sunday morning we might be. I'm hoping that is not the case, but I don't know," he said.

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Vince Russo comments on WWE creating a system for big names like CM Punk

Former WWE writer Vince Russo recently praised the promotion for creating a system that allows big names to miss time on television.

Speaking on Sportskeeda's Writing with Russo show, the wrestling veteran complimented the promotion for the way they are using stars such as Brock Lesnar, Roman Reigns, and CM Punk. Russo noted that it was a great move by the company to rotate the big stars in and out on television:

"You know what they have done that is a positive? They have now created a situation where there are three big names that they can rotate in and out. Roman Reigns does not have a full time schedule anymore, CM Punk does not have a full time schedule, Brock Lesnar does not. So if they schedule this the correct way, over the course of the year, they can always have one of those guys in play. And that to me is a great move." [From 3:32 onwards]

You can check out Russo's comments in the video below:

CM Punk has never headlined a WrestleMania throughout his career as a professional wrestler. Only time will tell if he wins the Men's Royal Rumble match on Saturday night and finally gets the chance to do so at WrestleMania 40.

Have you enjoyed CM Punk's return to WWE so far? Let us know in the comments section below.