Published: Oct 28, 2025 by Liam | Last Updated: Oct 28, 2025 by Liam
Liam has been reporting & analyzing wrestling news since early 2018. Immersed in wrestling for 18 years, he has over 11,000 published articles and led WrestleTalk.com's coverage from 2022 until mid 2026.
WWE
A WWE legend has come out with some praise for Cody Rhodes and CM Punk, two of the company’s biggest stars.
Back on good terms with WWE are Demolition, with Barry Darsow, known as Smash, praising the company’s current Undisputed WWE Champion Rhodes and potential soon-to-be World Heavyweight Champion Punk.
In an interview with The A2theK Wrestling Show, Darsow recalled going to the Hall of Fame after not being on good terms with WWE for so long, and spoke highly of the people he met, including CM Punk.
He said:
“Two years ago we were invited to the Hall of Fame and WrestleMania, and we already had our schedule all fixed so we couldn’t go.
“Then Vince left and Triple H came in, and when they asked us to go to the Hall of Fame to see it we right away said yeah for sure, because Triple H was in there, and the Undertaker had a lot to do with it, so we were pretty excited to go there.
“When we got there, we didn’t know what to think because we haven’t really talked to anybody for 20 years. We get there and we get off the elevator and we get into a room where everybody is at; Triple H and his wife, Linda McMahon, (Nick) Khan, all the top guys are filming the pre-show before the Hall of Fame.
“The first person who greets us, I shouldn’t say the first one, but Stone Cold Steve Austin. Brother Love, Bruce Prichard, he sat and talked to us for about 15 minutes, he really set the tone and made us comfortable.
“Then right away CM Punk comes over. I was never a CM Punk fan or anything, but after I sat and talked to him, he was a gentleman, he was incredible, and it was like wow, what a man he is.”
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He also went on to praise Cody Rhodes, saying:
“Cody’s a really nice guy, I met him when my son was wrestling down in Florida Championship Wrestling, I met him down there. What a gentleman, came right up and introduced himself.
“Nice guy, hell of a worker, and he can talk. When you see him on TV he doesn’t look as big as he is in real life, he’s kind of a tall guy, and he should be in the position he’s in, because he’s good.
“He’s a hell of a worker and definitely needs to be where he’s at. I’d love to wrestle him, I mean I couldn’t now but I would have loved to in my day. Might as well wrestle all of them.”
If you use this transcription or any portion of it, please credit WrestleTalk.com and link to this page.
Punk and Rhodes are both in action at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event on November 1.
Punk faces Jey Uso to decide the new World Heavyweight Champion, while Rhodes defends the Undisputed WWE Title against Drew McIntyre.
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