50 Greatest WWE Raw Moments Ever
45. Cody Vs Punk 2 (January 27th, 2025)
12 months on from their last blockbuster promo exchange, Cody Rhodes and CM Punk once against stole the year with the stakes just as high even if they'd shifted somewhat.
In their original back-and-forth (available to read elsewhere in this list), the two addressed the three-initialed elephant in the room, going through the necessary checkpoints of the Pipe Bomb and everything that had led them both to being unexpectedly back in a WWE ring. A year later, and the fiction was easier to discuss than the fact.
Cody was now WWE Champion, story finished and role established, but Punk's 2024 had been swallowed to injury and hatred respectively. He was now the chaser, and his friend was the target. Punk explored the contrast between himself and the likes of AJ Styles and Kevin Owens; men that had back-jumped Rhodes to get a title shot, but in the looming shadow of his blood feud with Drew McIntyre, the prospect of 'The Best In The World' taking one continuous high road had an unlikely, unnerving air.
For the second consecutive year, the dynamic did an absolutely spectacular job of selling a match the company didn't have any intention of paying of yet. Great for the heat around the Royal Rumble, if not audience anxiety that this modern era dream match may never come