Cody Rhodes and CM Punk in AEW

[RedTwoster]

Since Cody Rhodes left AEW, he’s gone on to become the face of the company for WWE. 

While CM Punk had some incredible moments and stories in AEW - the MJF and Eddie Kingston feuds being career highlights for him - he also caused quite a bit of damage to the perception of the company that took a long time for it to recover from.

With that in mind, I have two hypothetical questions. If you were Tony Khan and somehow had the chance to go back in time and reverse your decisions with the benefit of hindsight, would you:

1. Keep Cody Rhodes rather than let him go?

2. Sign CM Punk in the first place?

And in each case, why? A bonus supplementary WWE-question, if Cody had stayed with AEW, who would have ended Roman Reigns’ title reign?

[DavidB6937]

1. Absolutely let Cody go. I feel like it was inevitable he'd end up back in WWE which it definitely wasn't with Punk.

2. I'd still sign him. I think a wrestling world with CM Punk is a more interesting one, and they'll always be the ones that allowed him a safe path back into the business. I don't particularly think the damage has been significant or lasting so probably worth it overall.

And who would've ended Roman Reigns' title reign? Sami Zayn.

[tiger_rick]

16 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

1. Keep Cody Rhodes rather than let him go?

No. Absolutely the right thing for both companies and, most importantly, Cody. Nothing he gets involved in makes AEW any bigger or better. I don't think they've lost anything but WWE and Cody did great out of it. You'd only keep him, hindsight or not, out of spite, and that's the other lot's MO.

16 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

2. Sign CM Punk in the first place?

Yes, all day long. One of the greatest moments in the company history. Got them great coverage, produced great TV. Should have cut their losses after the first scrap, with hindsight, but, it can't take away the rest. There was a post-Punk slump but that was as much to do with poor booking and dreadful luck with injuries to top talent. 

There's a YouTube vid from AEW with all of the big company debuts. I wondered if Punk's would be left out. It wasn't. And shouldn't be. It was great and now the dust has settled, none of the nonsense matters.

17 minutes ago, RedTwoster said:

And in each case, why? A bonus supplementary WWE-question, if Cody had stayed with AEW, who would have ended Roman Reigns’ title reign?

Seth Rollins. They even made him his own belt.

[Supremo]

1 hour ago, DavidB6937 said:

And who would've ended Roman Reigns' title reign? Sami Zayn.

Holy shit. That’s all I’ll think about for the rest of the day, now. Would have rivalled Hangman winning the belt from Moxley at All In. The ultimate, “what if?”

Pro-wrestling has a funny way of working itself out and returning to the Sacred Timeline. Things happen how they most probably should. Life finds a way. A whopper like Seth Rollins will try and work an injury, smugly think he’s convinced everyone including his own colleagues, only to stupidly attempt a Coast to Coast Headbutt and injure himself for real. A horrible prick like Triple H can find huge success, only to be exposed and humiliated as a one-trick pony as time goes on.

With both Cody and Punk, I think their runs happened exactly as they should have. It worked out best for everyone involved.

In AEW, Cody provided the original vision and momentum with The Elite, made a big fuss at the start, then fucked off when the time was right. He was never going to become what he became in AEW. He and WWE were tailor made for each other. In retrospect, everyone got exactly what they wanted and needed.

Same with CM Punk. AEW managed to bring him back and get that amazing return and seminal original run. But as time goes on, it’s clear those botched Buckshot Lariats were the Ghosts of Wrestling Future. The first signs that Punk was practically done from a physical standpoint, never mind his head falling off mentally. AEW managed to get the Work Rate God for the last year or so that he had it in him, and then WWE got what they wanted from Punk; the shock return, the name value, the smugness of him coming crawling back and the Hypocritical Humiliation Tour. They never wanted nor needed the CM Punk who was trying to tear Eddie Kingston’s eyes out or writing Shakespeare with MJF. They needed Corporate Punk to headline Night Four of a Boy One Get One Free Extravaganza.

Biggest food for thought is which of them is more likely to go back to AEW. And what the hell that would look like. CM Punk vs. Will Ospreay or Takeshita. Imagine that! Punk likes to talk about, “going until the wheels fall off.” I feel like trying to keep up with those lads might actually see his limbs literally detach from his sad, old, knackered body.

Saddest thought is the same as it always will be. If everyone could get along, with their combined minds for the business, CM Punk and Hangman Adam Page could probably tell the greatest story ever told.

Edited January 12 by Supremo

[RedTwoster]

I’ll answer my own questions here:

1. I’d look to keep Cody. He was a very positive presence at press conferences and was a great ambassador for AEW. He may have been stuck in the Codyverse, but as other new talents emerged, I think we’d have ended up with a lot more brilliant Cody moments in AEW - Cody vs Swerve, Cody vs Ospreay, Cody vs Takeshita and Cody vs Okada all come to mind as exciting options. Then you have the potential for another round of Cody/MJF - and the benefit for MJF of having someone around who can help in reign in his worst instincts. Plus, if you keep Cody, you have a better chance of retaining the likes of Jade Cargill and Ricky Starks. Ultimately, I think the pros outweigh the cons with Cody.

2. No. This is a difficult one, as Punk’s run since returning has been, on the whole, excellent. But ‘Brawl Out’ proved to be very damaging for AEW, and I don’t think its role in their duff spell can be understated. The whole situation at All Out created a really negative feeling around AEW which seriously affected their momentum. Looking beyond the ‘if you were Tony Khan’ side of this - I liked Punk in WWE at first, but his hypocrisy and even his sincerity comes into question because of his decision to wrestle in Saudi Arabia. I think I prefer the perception of Punk that I had before his return in 2021, than the perception I have of him in 2026.

1 hour ago, RedTwoster said:

if Cody had stayed with AEW, who would have ended Roman Reigns’ title reign?

As for this question - I’d say Drew McIntyre. He did a good job as the face of Raw during the pandemic, and without Cody in his way, I think they’d have kept up with his babyface character, and attempted to make him their next top guy, which I think would likely have worked. There’s also a chance that they might have simply put the belt on The Rock, before quickly putting it back on Roman and making that second run go on for quite a bit longer than it actually did. 

Edited January 12 by RedTwoster

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, RedTwoster said:

A bonus supplementary WWE-question, if Cody had stayed with AEW, who would have ended Roman Reigns’ title reign?

The Rock, I’d have thought. Around the time of Cody re-signing they were pitching Rock vs Roman for Mania 38 but he turned it down because he wanted to do it at 39 near Hollywood…. then gave notice he wouldn’t have chance to be match fit in time. That’s the only reason Reigns vs Cody at 39 happened in the first place, on top of Reigns vs Cody at 40 nearly getting iced for Reigns vs Rock.

Dwayne’s a funny onion. He leaked through Gewirtz that he wanted to wrestle Cody at 41 and save the Reigns match for 42, now it’s starting to look like he won’t end up having wrestled at either.

Edited January 12 by air_raid
Adrenaline in my soul…

[BomberPat]

I can't see a world in which Cody Rhodes stays with AEW and they make it work without him turning heel, and he seemed completely dead set against doing that - even if he had stuck around rather than going to WWE, and turned heel a month or two later, it still would have felt too little too late. The impression I was always got was that Kenny and the Bucks genuinely wanted to make a place where people could earn money and wrestle at a high level for a living outside of the WWE system, while Cody Rhodes - while I'm sure he was happy to help people out and get work for his mates along the way - was only ever interested in using his career outside of WWE as a vehicle to prove his worth to WWE, and he ultimately succeeded in that. Almost all of the weirdest and worst booking in early AEW was either Cody's stuff, or was at least Cody-adjacent, and I don't see any way in which that stops happening if he had stuck around.

Punk brought so much great stuff in his run with AEW, and that return was a masterpiece of promoting - never saying that CM Punk was going to be there, but making it abundantly clear that he was, so there was enough of a sliver of doubt in people's minds that they could still pat themselves on the back for being right about it? Perfect work. Everything after the All Out press conference, bar the Wembley match with Samoa Joe, wasn't worth the hassle, though, and the falling out between the two sides undid all of AEW's work in presenting themselves as an alternative and a place that gave the fans what they wanted. It's hard to say if bringing Punk in was worth the shit storm that came of losing him again.

There are some What Ifs? there - what if Punk had been able to get it together and actually work with The Elite? What if Cody had turned heel? What if Cody hadn't left and they still brought Punk in? Cody and Punk both in AEW is a very different dynamic to Cody and Punk both in WWE now.

[Supremo]

I do wonder if the reason they haven’t headlined Wrestlemania with CM Punk vs. Cody, despite it being so obviously one of the biggest matches at their disposal, is the weird belief - even subconsciously - that it, “legitimises,” AEW. They’re all so deeply online and tribal, I can genuinely imagine they don’t want to give the fans such ammo. AEW is the baddies, don’t you know. Fumblers. Taking food off everyone’s plate.

Edited January 12 by Supremo

[LaGoosh]

2 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

1. Keep Cody Rhodes rather than let him go?

He absolutely had to go. Both had changed to the point that they were not compatible with each other. I don't think a heel turn would have saved it either. Cody's act just couldn't work in AEW long term. You could argue that it only worked for about three months before the company moved on from him.

[The King of Old School]

50 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

 What if Cody hadn't left and they still brought Punk in? Cody and Punk both in AEW is a very different dynamic to Cody and Punk both in WWE now.

They were in AEW together for a good six months or so weren't they?

Not much of a crossover though to be fair.

[Supremo]

Both companies need to be shot into the sun for never pulling the trigger and doing the match, but at least WWE have had Cody and Punk cut promos and interact with one another. Did they ever interact in AEW?

I feel the closest we ever got is when Cody referenced doing all the things Punk threatened to do in the Pipebomb, during that final, mad, rambling, “Brodie Lee and Brodie King have the same first name,” promo he cut before losing the ladder match to Guervara.

Edited January 12 by Supremo

[Lorne Malvo]

3 minutes ago, Supremo said:

 

I feel the closest we ever got is when Cody referenced doing all the things Punk threatened to do in the Pipebomb during that final, mad, rambling, “Brodie Lee and Brodie King have the same first name,” promo he cut before losing the ladder match to Guervara.

I liked Codys AEW run more than most but this promo was truly indefensible - the aforementioned 'Brodie' stuff, him putting over Jay Lethal as having the best cutter in the business (??) and vague allusions to contractual disputes. Truly baffling. 

[WyattSheepMask]

24 minutes ago, The King of Old School said:

They were in AEW together for a good six months or so weren't they?

 

I don think it was even as long as that.

Punk came in late August and Cody was gone from TV by the end of January.

[LaGoosh]

12 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said:

I liked Codys AEW run more than most but this promo was truly indefensible - the aforementioned 'Brodie' stuff, him putting over Jay Lethal as having the best cutter in the business (??) and vague allusions to contractual disputes. Truly baffling. 

He didn't even promote the upcoming ladder match he was in. Just spouted weird bollocks. Strange guy.

[Infinity Land]

1. I'd let him go. This is the tough one, but he and Brandi seemingly weren't happy there and it wasn't working with their in-ring presentation. While fantasy booking the heel turn would have been phenomenal. What we would have seen is more reality shows and Go Big Show type attempts to gain some more mainstream exposure to AEW and themselves. 

2. I'm going to hedge my bets on this one and say don't sign him when they did. Starting touring again there was a real buzz about AEW. Rampage was brand new. People looking forward to the Hangman title win. Danielson & Cole would have to have been worked on behind the scenes. They didn't really need Punk at that point. When WWE would start sniffing around. That's when I would make the play. At worst it drives the price up if Punk chooses WWE. But maybe he still signs and that bit of a delay helps smooth things out so it plays out differently.