Cody Rhodes Reveals What He Told CM Punk Before Controversial Promo

AEW

The American Nightmare Cody Rhodes has reflected on his final promo in AEW prior to his departure from the company, revealing a conversation he had with CM Punk prior.

A week prior to Cody’s final AEW match on January 19, 2022, Cody would address the live crowd one last time, in a controversial promo that peeled back the curtain and referenced the infamous June 2011 pipe bomb promo from CM Punk in WWE.

In a recent appearance on Sam Roberts’ Not Sam Wrestling, Cody detailed his final promo and whether he knew that it would be his last in an AEW ring.

Cody said:

“I think it’s easy for me now to say ‘Oh, I definitely knew,’ but it wasn’t the case. I didn’t know.

The last thing I did at AEW, no one really knows, the last thing I did was coach a match — and I wasn’t the best coach, I’m more of, ‘Let you do what you want to’ and then we talk about it after — with Ruby (Soho) and Nyla Rose.

That was the last thing. I remember walking out the door, they did fine, it wasn’t anything to do with them. I remember thinking, ‘I think I’m leaving.’

Cody continued to discuss the content within the promo itself, that being Punk’s Las Vegas ‘pipe bomb’, his ‘building the forbidden door’ that led to the eventual formation of AEW, and his lack of heel turn despite some fans turning on him.

Cody explained:

“That promo, I remember I mentioned it to Punk as well, ‘Hey, I think I’m going to say this,’ I’m not a fan of blindsiding anybody.

“Where we’re terrible at is social media. ‘My opponent just nuked me,’ then you nuke him back. Alright, no trust and we’re at the peak level of fervor. I look at it now and I call it the ‘exit interview.’

“Maybe, selfishly, egotistically, I wanted to remind them, ‘I appreciate the company has changed, I do. Please know though, there is no company had these things not have happened.’

“Other things had to happen; (Chris) Jericho had to do his stuff, Bucks had to do their stuff, Kenny (Omega) had to do stuff, (Jon) Moxley had to do stuff, he’s a big part of it too, I don’t give him credit enough.

“I just wanted to let them know. The other part was sincerely, this is being a heel, saying you’re not going to be a heel. It was just too meta.”

The  promo and TNT Championship ladder match the following week on the January 26 Dynamite would in fact be Cody’s final contributions in AEW, of course, later re-emerging in WWE for WrestleMania 38 on April 2, 2022.

The precursor to the formation of AEW, that being the All In event in September, 2018, was recently confirmed to be covered in the upcoming Cody Rhodes Peacock documentary, including footage of the Being The Elite YouTube series.

For the latest details on this and the release of the documentary click here.

Transcript courtesy of Fightful

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• Promo
• cm punk
• Cody Rhodes
• AEW

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