Former AEW EVP Cody Rhodes broke his silence about CM Punk’s backstage brawl with The Elite following the 2022 All Out PPV during an appearance on The MMA Hour.
“I woke up the next morning and I had no joke, I think 63 messages. So I was very worried that something was said about me or Brandi. I did everything I could. I gave a lot. I have great memories with AEW, I do. So I hope it’s respected mutually, right? So I was worried. I was like, ‘I hope somebody to take a weird shot, something like that.’ That wasn’t the case. It was about this press conference and all that. I had a great relationship with Matt, Nick, and Kenny still do. It definitely was tested by being young executives. It was tested by having different opinions on wrestling, but our different opinions is what made it strong. That’s what made us work. I want to do Crockett and old school and they want to do PWG and West Coast and damn, I loved it. That contention is what made us bond. We’re bonded forever because of the things we did. I also had a great relationship with Punk. He was my dinner buddy. They’d order dinner for me at AEW every week, it was one of my management perks or whatever. I don’t think he knew, I always just put it on my tab because I wanted to make sure he was getting something. So we didn’t talk a lot, but I got a great relationship with him. I was so excited to have him back, and like even if you remember when he came back, everyone was fired up about that, everybody. So when I watched it just from me sitting there, I was not — there was some people texting me. I remember somebody texted me, ‘Man, you’re the smartest guy in the room. I wanted to write back like, ‘F— you, man.’ I don’t feel that way. I feel this thing we built got damaged. I’m not putting any blame on anybody. Sorry, super Switzerland.”
“I’m not putting any blame on anybody. I just hated seeing that. Because as the company grows, and I hope it continues to grow. I hope people remember the mission in the first place and why we were there. If you bring in people who don’t know the mission, then things like that can happen. I’m not saying he didn’t know the mission or anything of that nature, but I was just bummed out. That’s how I felt, I was bummed out. because I have — you win the title, it’s a feather in your cap. You win the Royal Rumble, it’s a feather in your cap. Building an alternative wrestling promotion is definitely a feather in the cap. I don’t want that to be erased. I don’t want that to go away. Plus, there’s not as many jobs in wrestling as people think. There’s about 1000 people who work there structurally, infrastructure and talent. I’m proud of them. I want to make sure they’re able to feed their families and that was a situation that was so big and heavy. I don’t think it was helpful. I don’t know, maybe you could make it helpful. Maybe you can do something with it. That’s how I felt. No heat on Punk. No heat on Matt, Nick, Kenny, or Tony, I was just bummed out when I saw it. That’s not how we envisioned it. The spirit of ‘All In,’ if you ever lose the spirit, you’re lost. I think the spirit was gone in that moment, doesn’t mean can’t get it back, but it was just a bummer.”
You can check out the complete show below:
(h/t to Fightful.com for the transcription)
