AEW revived the career of CM Punk and Cody Rhodes, says Hall of Famer (Exclusive)

CM Punk and Cody Rhodes are two of the biggest former AEW stars currently found in WWE. Both of them had left the Stamford-based promotions under varying circumstances in 2014 and 2016, respectively, and only returned to the promotion after spending some time in AEW.

Cody was one of the founding fathers of the promotion, while Punk joined in 2021, and both of them had a majorly enjoyable run in AEW. Hall of Fame journalist Bill Apter claims that the All Elite promotion helped revive the careers of the two World Champions.

During an episode of The Wrestling Time Machine on Sportskeeda WrestleBinge, Apter claimed that CM Punk's new lease of life in WWE came because he returned to wrestling due to the existence of All Elite Wrestling. He stated that Tony Khan's promotion helped bring both wrestlers back into the eyes of wider wrestling fans.

"CM Punk was in AEW, and they brought him. The CM Punk fans were going crazy seeing him there. So he got a brand new career out of that in WWE also. So you know what? I'll give a definite yes because they got them both [Punk and Cody] back in the eye of the wrestling fans, both on TV, in print media, and more importantly, of course, on the internet." Apter said.

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Both Cody Rhodes and CM Punk have become even bigger stars since returning to WWE. They even won their World Championships at the same event. Cody won back his Undisputed WWE Championship at Night 2 of SummerSlam 2025, while Punk won the World Heavyweight Championship a night before, but immediately lost the title to Seth Rollins, who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract.

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About the author

Faiz is a WWE writer at Sportskeeda Wrestling. He is a BBA graduate who is passionate about sports and wants to make a career in that field. This passion led to a postgraduate degree in Journalism, which helped him pivot into becoming a sports writer. When writing, he puts the utmost importance on accuracy and thorough research.

Faiz has six years of work experience across four companies. He started his career with Zomato and then moved to Amazon. He shifted to becoming a football writer at TV9 Digital and is now with Sportskeeda. He covered the Wrestling Xtreme Mania event in Gurgaon in 2025, where he had the opportunity to interview Raj The Maharaja, fka Jinder Mahal. At the same event, he also got quick interviews with former WWE Superstar Dijak and Japanese Joshi legend Emi Sakura.

When it comes to his favourite wrestlers, Faiz has two names in mind. He loved to watch Triple H before the current WWE CCO retired, and he is a huge fan of Roman Reigns. Being a loyal fan since the Tribal Chief's SHIELD days, Faiz credits Roman's mic skills and unmatched in-ring storytelling for his mega success. When he was young, one in-ring story left a lasting impression on his mind and eventually got him hooked on WWE. That match was Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24. Apart from that, he is also a fan of RAW.

When Faiz is not writing for Sportskeeda, he loves to keep up with other sports. He is an avid cricket and football fan, a huge gamer, and loves playing some RPGs on the PlayStation.

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Edited by Faiz Ahmed