Cody Rhodes On Why WWE SummerSlam Match With CM Punk Feels Like a ‘First Time Ever’ For Him

Cody Rhodes says despite their having faced off before, he feels as if his match with CM Punk at WWE SummerSlam will be a “first time ever” for him. Rhodes will challenge Punk for the Undisputed WWE Championship at the two-night PLE. The two previously had a couple of matches on WWE Raw back in 2008 when Rhodes was much earlier in his career, but haven’t had a singles match since.

Rhodes appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and spoke about his match with Punk. he noted that this feels like a first time in terms of who they are now, and commented on their post-match incident at Saturday Night’s Main Event after they beat Gunther and Sami Zayn. Punk wen t to put the title over his shoulder and it hit Rhodes in the eye. You can see the highlights below:

On His Match With Punk:

“Well, I feel like we never faced each other. Because 18 years ago, I had come to WWE. And my dad, which was unbeknownst to me — and often in pro wrestling, where the fact and the fiction is hard to figure out — Punk had said to me in the ring when we did a promo together recently, ‘Your dad told me to look out for you. He told me to watch out.’ And I know that to be sincere. So he’s filled in a very ‘big brother’ way this whole time.

“But to me, American Nightmare, the Best in the World — CM Punk and the current WWE champion — we’ve never really had a match. So what we’re doing at US Bank in Minnesota [at] SummerSlam, the main event, that’s really a first-time ever for me. And with a big brother or a little brother situation.”

on the Dynamic Between Them Now:

“Also you know, I’m 41, you know? Like, ‘You don’t have to big brother me anymore.’ You know what I’m saying? Yeah, I grew up.[laughs] ‘Hey, buddy, I’m grown up now.” I’m gonna show him what’s what. And I think we both — We want to find out.”

On Their Incident at WWE Saturday Night’s Main Event:

“All the respect in the world [to] CM Punk. Even though just down the street recently, Madison Square Garden. Big, good-guy tag-team. You end the match with a big high five, ‘Yeah!’ All that. Dude goes to put the title on. This is the Garden, you can’t get embarrassed in the Garden. And he flips it and it hit me right in the eye. Right in the eye… It’s clearly not an accident.

“But this isn’t — God bless, but this isn’t Des Moines, Iowa, you know? This was Madison Square Garden. This is New York City. That’s not how you want it to go… So he’s got a receipt coming, right? You got to tag him back, brother style. He got me, and this one, I’ll be at least looking at him for it.”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.