2. Cody Rhodes and CM Punk tease world title match
It’s often been said that you don’t need to get ready if you stay ready, and CM Punk is staying ready.
On Raw after WrestleMania, Punk noted he was dealing with a lot of loss lately, including the loss of his title. But he couldn’t be sad because he was never even supposed to win that second title in the first place. He simply stayed ready after his three-minute title reign and waited for another opportunity to arise. That opportunity came when Seth Rollins got injured. Punk became champion and did everything in his power to make his run on top meaningful. It all culminated with him getting the chance to live out his dream by main eventing WrestleMania 42. He gave everything he had to that match, and Sunday just wasn’t his night. That didn’t mean he was going away, however, or that he was going to wallow in his loss. Nope, he was just going to stay ready for the next chance that came his way.
Enter the next chance to come his way, one Cody Rhodes.
Rhodes was surprised Punk wasn’t crashing out, as Rhodes acknowledged he felt like a loser, and he won his match. Punk challenged the assertion, saying he didn’t feel like a loser even if technically he was. Rhodes shouldn’t feel like one either, but Punk understood. Rhodes battled his friend, his mentor. That’s hard. Punk got to beat up someone he hated. That was easy. But Punk told Rhodes he knew what it was like to shoulder the responsibility of being champion, as heavy is the head that wears the crown. Rhodes’ path forward was simple: just keep winning and keep holding that title. Punk’s was to stay ready. He eyed Rhodes’ title as he told his friend, ” You never know when the next opportunity will fall out of the sky. Rhodes told Punk the opportunity was his, and all he had to do was “just say when.”
A Rhodes/Punk title match is certainly blockbuster and fitting of a PLE in its own right, but it’s given even more gravity when you consider these two haven’t gone head-to-head since 2008. And that match, a count-out victory by Rhodes after just four minutes, really didn’t have much to it. Both Rhodes and Punk were vastly different wrestlers back then. In all, it’s hard to believe Rhodes and Punk, who have shared time in two different companies, have only had two singles matches, both 18 years ago.
