Cody Rhodes did an interview with Alex McCarthy of talkSport where he addressed the negotiations between AEW and CM Punk.
AEW President Tony Khan has been interested in bringing in the former WWE Champion. Punk has claimed that he has had contact with the promotion, but he didn’t get a serious offer.
Last week, Konnan stated on his podcast that Punk had asked for an ‘astronomical amount’ of money in order to sign with the promotion. Obviously, that deal wasn’t made and instead Punk joined WWE Backstage on FS1.
Rhodes started out by putting over Konnan for being a smart and great guy before addressing Punk.
“As far as the CM Punk negotiations go, everyone heard the famous ‘he got a text from us’. Yeah, of course, there were negotiations and he did ask for a great amount of money and Punk is worth a great deal of money.”
Rhodes continued by stating that a lot of people who think that wrestlers are running AEW. He noted that the wrestlers are doing everything they can to run the creative, the brand, the marketing, and other things. However, there are also some smart and conservative people who surround them and flank them because it’s not all his money.
He stated that he doesn’t want AEW to turn into what happened with WCW or Jim Crockett promotions where those companies were flying so high that they thought they could do anything.
Rhodes made it clear that AEW is a business and they have to turn a profit. He thinks the fact that they were able to turn a profit as a company within only two years of launching is good because there are only a handful of companies that have been able to do that instead of bleeding money.
“But in that situation the negotiations, I don’t think they ever got too serious. Doesn’t mean they won’t one day, but they never got entirely too serious. I think there is a good relationship there. I think I have a good relationship with Phil, I believe Tony does too and I’m not sure really when it comes to him, it’s not so much about the money. It’s about are you interested in doing this?”
Rhodes added, “Because the price tag becomes a lot more justifiable if you’re genuinely interested in what we’re doing at the high speed we’re doing it. And again, that’s not even specific to him, just in general, if the passion is not there, the money is not there.”
So there you go, that is the latest on the possibility of Punk joining AEW. As of this writing, there’s been no interest from WWE in bringing Punk back.
Rhodes also talked about AEW signing talent and how recent signings have settled in. You can check out the full interview here.
