CM Punk: I Think Cody Rhodes Surpassed What I Did

CM Punk is ready for Cody Rhodes.

On the marquee for night one of the 2026 SummerSlam Premium Live Event is CM Punk defending his Undisputed WWE Championship against Cody Rhodes.

The match was discussed by Punk during his sit-down chat with Dave LaGreca of WWE Radio. Punk said the following:

“I’m very psyched for the match (against Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam). There’s a huge part of me that — and I think of all wrestlers, maybe in men — maybe it’s a male trait. They don’t want to seem weak. Cody might not want to admit that at some point in time, maybe even currently, he has looked up to me. I have no problem admitting, no shame in saying, like, damn, I’m proud of where he came from because I think he’s surpassed what I did. When he came in, I was already here. I got to here, he was here. He did the same thing I did. He left, and he came back a bigger star for it, and then he accomplished things that I never did at that point, and it’s fun to see. It really is. It really makes me feel like I’m that old fourth liner on an NHL team now that was like the star captain center (at the) beginning of my career and I’m still on the team and I still can contribute but, the new kid comes in and you make room for him, and you can help guide him and all that but, ultimately, we’re gonna find out who the better man is at SummerSlam and I’m very, very excited about it. This is gonna be a lot of fun for me.”

SummerSlam will be the first singles match between Punk and Rhodes since September 2008.

If the quote in this article is used, please credit WWE Radio with an H/T to Fightful for the transcription.