SmackDown Before WrestleMania 42 Sees Cody Rhodes and CM Punk Engage in an Emotional Segment

Cody Rhodes and CM Punk shared a warm hug on SmackDown before WrestleMania ahead of their respective world title defenses.

SmackDown Before WrestleMania 42 Sees Cody Rhodes and CM Punk Engage in an Emotional Segment

Cody Rhodes hugging CM Punk on SmackDown before WrestleMania [via- WWE]

Just 24 hours before walking into his fifth straight WrestleMania main event, Cody Rhodes shared a special moment with CM Punk on SmackDown. He didn’t want to talk about the conspiracy theories of someone needling him every year when WrestleMania comes around with outside forces like The Rock in 2024, Travis Scott last year, and someone he didn’t want to name standing between him and his wrestling mentor Randy Orton‘s way.

Addressing Orton’s comments from earlier on in the show, Rhodes said it was an interesting choice of words from ‘The Viper’ when he lashed out at ‘The American Nightmare’ for only taking from him. The former AEW EVP quipped that Orton had never taken responsibility in his life. He also mentioned the ’09 version of Orton that burned everything in his path to get to WrestleMania and eventually lost.

Before the WWE Champion could get some more words in, CM Punk made his way out. Rhodes wondered almost jokingly if Punk would also kick him in the balls if they hugged. ‘The Best in the World’ said that there were a lot of people back there who deserved that, but Rhodes wasn’t one of them. Apart from wanting to bestow some advice on the ‘Prodigal Son’, Punk wanted Rhodes to not mention someone who was a mere tourist in this business.

It was Pat McAfee whom CM Punk was referring to, and he didn’t want Cody Rhodes to waste both his and the fans’ time on him. After mentioning their wrestling history that has seen both men chasing each other in different phases of their careers, Punk stressed Rhodes to focus on the real task at hand. After all, the latter had been under the learning tree of the likes of John Cena, his late father Dusty Rhodes, and even Randy Orton for a good part.

But Orton is no longer a teacher to Rhodes, emphasized Punk. And no matter the result, Punk knew that Rhodes would be there on Monday, like the Chicagoan, for the next adventure and hoped for the fans to join them along the way. The 47-year-old added that he was proud of Rhodes and backed him to combat Randy Orton at WrestleMania.

As they shook hands and Punk was walking away, ‘The American Nightmare’ stopped his counterpart and imparted some wisdom about the man he was going up against in his first singles main event at WrestleMania. Rhodes said Punk would stand across from Roman Reigns, for whom WWE created new terms, as he was that good. ‘The QB1’ said that Punk wasn’t born into this business, unlike Rhodes and Reigns.

Punk entered it purely based on his penchant for it and went on to train with legends like Harley Race and became friends with Terry Funk. The erstwhile EVP of AEW reminded the ‘Best in the World’ that WWE wanted to have him so bad that they let him keep his name. The fans never stopped chanting his name even after he left because he had captured their imagination in the time he was there.

Giving Shawn Michaels and Randy Savage their due respect, Rhodes thought that CM Punk would make an argument for being a new Mr. WrestleMania. At last, Rhodes thanked Punk for teaching him well and sharing the ring with him. Rhodes choked on the part where he said that his late father would be so proud of Punk, who took a great deal of counsel from him.

They hugged after that in an emotional moment just before heading to their respective battlefields at WrestleMania. Punk got out of there and said he’s going to save his tears for Sunday and will let them fall after putting Reigns in his place. Punk and Rhodes then went over to celebrate with the fans.

What did John Cena say about coming back to WWE for WrestleMania?

John Cena caught up with Peter Rosenberg and Jackie Redmond on the WWE Hall of Fame 2026 red carpet event after SmackDown. ‘The Cenation Leader’ was asked how he was feeling to be back in WWE as a retired wrestler. Cena said he felt there was so much less pressure on him than before when he’d be stressing over the usual WrestleMania weekend proceedings.

John Cena
John Cena [via- WWE]

The 17-time world champion revealed that he was backstage for SmackDown and even did some stuff for Club WWE. Rosenberg joked that it was starting to feel like Cena was still working for WWE, to which the Hollywood mogul answered by saying he actually is.

The only difference is now he doesn’t have to worry about carrying the weight of WrestleMania main events on his shoulders. He reminded the people that he’s the WrestleMania host this year, and even if he flopped, the show could still be great. Speaking of a potential WrestleMania 42 faceoff, Danhausen has been internally discussed for a segment with ‘The Franchise Player’.

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