What CM Punk Said To Cody Rhodes After WWE Royal Rumble Injury

The two interacted backstage on the post-Royal Rumble WWE Raw. What was said?

Cody Rhodes CM Punk
WWE.com

CM Punk encouraged Cody Rhodes to see through his longstanding WrestleMania plans during an emotional meeting of the minds on Monday's Raw.

In a backstage moment caught seemingly before Rhodes went to the ring for his segment with Seth Rollins but after Punk's own show-opening angle with Drew McIntyre, Punk simply said "Finish your story, bro" and the two hugged. WWE uploaded the footage to their various social media platforms to maximise the minute ahead of Rhodes' trip to SmackDown on Friday and CM Punk's rehabilitation for a torn tricep.

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Punk suffered the injury in his first televised match back for the company during the titular main event of Saturday's Royal Rumble Premium Live Event. He had been tentatively scheduled to face World Heavyweight Champion Rollins, who subsequently dared Rhodes to choose him for 'The Show Of Shows' instead of a likely face off with Roman Reigns.

Punk is expected to be out between four to six months with the injury, confirming on Raw that WrestleMania is "not in the cards". He'd made no secret of his desire to headline the show during his original run with the company and recent promos following a Survivor Series return.

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Contributor

Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation nearly 8 years. He primarily produces written, audio and video content on WWE and AEW, but also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot in the UK's wrestling podcast charts with well over 62,000,000 total downloads. He has been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, and has covered milestone events in New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in sports, music and culture magazines The Crack, A Love Supreme and Pilot. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it singing far too loud watching his favourite bands play live. Follow him on X/Twitter - @MichaelHamflett