CM Punk, Cody Rhodes SummerSlam showdown should not end with a handshake
The history between Cody Rhodes and CM Punk is well documented. We know the background, the stories about Dusty, Punk following Rhodes to AEW when the coast was clear and it was safe to come out to play again, and ultimately their returns to WWE where they both originally made names for themselves and became multi-time world champions.
Between the two of them they hold 11 world championships recognized by WWE, four more if you include Punk’s WWE-ECW reign and ROH title reign, Cody’s own ROH and NWA reigns, and then if you wanted to, Punk’s uneventful AEW title reigns.
My point is when you add up their world championships, whether WWE acknowledges them or not, they’ve been at the top of the shows’ and a given company’s programming wherever they’ve gone. Their shared history notwithstanding though, I keep thinking back to Cody Rhodes’ exit promo prior to his last AEW match where he ran down Punk in a matter of speaking. He referenced Punk’s 2011 pipe bomb promo, and to sum it up, without blinking highlighted that everything Punk claimed he would do in 2011 — including leaving the company and wrestling elsewhere — Rhodes did. And it was the truth; no one can argue otherwise, because as Rhodes inferred that night, the receipts are ready for everyone to check.
This was at the point too where the AEW crowd had seemingly turned on him, throwing his weight belts back at him, and even booing him in this promo at the the beginning before turning back to him as the promo wore on. But I recall even now as he was saying it, even if there was only a twinge of truth to it in terms of vindictiveness, you could audibly hear the chip on his shoulder. You could sense heel Cody clawing to escape, and frankly as someone who followed him through ROH, I’ve been waiting for him to return to that tone since AEW was formed. Heel Rhodes is something else; dare I say he’s a narcissistic egomaniac, and I’m very much here for round 2 of that guy on a bigger stage.
The question we always have to ask though with him is does it make sense, and the answer is often “no.” There are a number of reasons for that, ranging from his own desire or want to be a heel again, his merchandise sales being up toward the top since his WWE return and it not making sense for him in that regard. I think everyone understands that perspective, but I also think everyone who watches wrestling from any company understands that staleness is real and the status quo eventually wears thin. There’s an argument to be made that Rhodes is at that point, and given his own unraveling in front of our eyes since Punk’s return and title win and in the subsequent weeks, it’s worth considering whether or not we’re at that critical mass point.
Conversely with Punk, his credo since his return to WWE — and really since his post-injury return in AEW — has been that he’s here to make money, not friends. He certainly has the more abrasive history character wise, and has ducked and weaved between face and heel for years under the guise of being an unapologetic straight-shooter. Considering that though he’d be the more sensible person between them to flip because there’s a precedent for it. However, much like Cody, the question is whether or not there’s a desire at this point to firmly become a bad guy in base terms.
The question of how this plays out by the end of their match at SummerSlam is worth asking because I think both are staling despite their best efforts to cling to their face personas and something has to give. Whether that means Punk cuts loose his inclination to ask how it feels on any given night to be alive wherever, or if Rhodes can allow himself to turn after fighting against it as far back as his AEW run, the way this is being approached implies something is going to shift. It can be small, or something wider scale, however between both characters acting like petulant children I think one of them turns partially heel if not fully by the end of night 1. I think that’s more likely if the match goes last as opposed to giving that spot to Brock Lesnar and Oba Femi given the location of the weekend showcase being Lesnar’s birthplace.
Where we are from my perspective is that Punk is still being that abrasive version of himself where you can either like him or hate him, but either way he’s self righteous and feels justified in his actions. On the flip side it seems like Rhodes is becoming unraveled. If you look at developments like how he appears desperate, or is arguably overreacting to actions like how Punk half-ass whipped him with the belt to his face. Or it’s small like the juvenile tone of, “no turn that music off, play the one you’ll hear when I beat you. Mine, I mean mine. Turn mine on, now” exchange from the last week. Taken separately on their own I wouldn’t put much stock in them, but a trend is starting to emerge here where I’m not sure SummerSlam closes with them on good terms. This probably doesn’t even just end at SummerSlam.
I think there are things in play that maybe haven’t fully been considered yet, like how it seems Paul Heyman has left the Vision behind. I think the match order dictates this, but who’s to say Heyman doesn’t align with one or the other and turn heel in the process? Both are equally possible considering Punk’s own history with Heyman, and it’s not like Rhodes and Heyman have not had multiple interactions in the past inferring a potential link up.
For example, I keep coming back to an interaction in May 2026 when Heyman “brokered” the deal and set up the contract for Clash in Italy where Rhodes defended the WWE championship against Gunther. In the promo during the lead up to that show where Heyman presented Rhodes with that contract, Cody asked him point blank whether or not he had run out of options considering at the time that Lesnar, Reigns and Punk had all either retired (again, at that point) or discarded him. Heyman’s response was blunt:
“Sooner or later they all need the wiseman.”
I keep coming back to this promo because the tone felt foreshadowing even then when you had no reason to think otherwise for a moment that a) Rhodes would turn heel, and b) much less would he align with Heyman in the process. I’m not even saying it’s a definite conclusion, but it’s something we need to consider when looking at what the outcomes might be. This match could very well end with a hug and a handshake as much as it could a knife in the back and a tonal shift for one of the two biggest babyfaces in the company. We probably should know better than to put too much stock in segments from 3-4 months ago and act like everything is long-term storyline building.
However, Heyman, Rhodes and Punk are masters at what they do, and it wouldn’t be the first time something like this happened under HHH’s watch. It’s so much so that, as loose and inconsistent as some of WWE’s writing can be, we have to entertain that potentiality; especially when all WWE programming over the last year has highlighted the importance of big, sweeping viral moments. This match outcome could be that, or it can easily not. Regardless though CM Punk and Cody Rhodes can’t really occupy the same space anymore, and one thing that is certain is that it would be foolish to maintain the status quo.
