Cody Rhodes grabs the microphone as he tries to recover from the kick Sami Zayn gave him. Once standing, Cody talks about the titles that are suspended over the ring, for which he will compete against Kevin Owens this Saturday, at WWE Royal Rumble 2025. CM PUNK INTERRUPTS! The Chicagoan asks how Cody is feeling because he thinks that everything he is going through is overwhelming him. CM Punk knows that the WWE Championship can be difficult to carry; he himself began to burn out when he was champion, he lost friends, and he lost many things for wanting to be like Bruno Sammartino or John Cena, but they must realize that they are not superheroes.

Cody Rhodes questions CM Punk’s friendship right after . Punk reminds him that he promised he’d always be friends with Cody Rhodes, because of the promise he made to his father and because he loves him. No one could have prepared Cody for this whole situation, and when you’re a champion, you miss a lot of things, even the moments to reason. Cody says they met last year, and he predicted what would happen, so he asks Punk to do it one more time. CM Punk bets that Cody won’t be able to sleep tonight despite being in his hometown because he has to get up early for media duty , and if he makes it through the Royal Rumble against Kevin Owens, then another round of media, another RAW, another SmackDown, and all of that takes up time to be with his family.

Someone is going to win the Royal Rumble, and when Cody finds himself on the downswing, others are going to rise, and whoever wins the Battle Royal is going to challenge him to face him at WrestleMania. The bad news? CM Punk will be the winner of the 2025 Royal Rumble, he’s going to challenge Cody Rhodes to a WrestleMania match, and he’s going to stab him in the face. Rhodes thanks him for the honesty, and remembers the best moment of Punk’s career; then came his 10-year layoff, a period in which everyone kept shouting his name. Cody concludes that the relationship with Punk has changed because he’s the one chasing Rhodes, not the other way around.

Cody tells Punk that he hopes he wins the Royal Rumble, because he wants him to catch him. CM Punk stops Cody to tell him that a lot of men were hoping he would be the one to catch them, and because of that, there is now a huge career graveyard. Now it’s Cody who stops Punk, to tell him that he hopes to see him win the Royal Rumble and choose to face him, to show him that ‘The Best in the World’ is no longer the best in the world.