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SummerSlam’s WWE title feud has been criticized for lack of heat, and even with shades of gray the rivalry between Undisputed champ CM Punk and Cody Rhodes has been a face vs. face one so far. Those are challenges even for booking teams and writing rooms that don’t seem to be mired in a bit of a creative slump, as WWE’s does these days.
We’ll see if Triple H and team opt to fully turn either of Punk and Rhodes during their program. Just like telling stories traditionally based around good vs. evil without an evildoer, making one of your top-drawing main event babyfaces an actual villain is a risky proposition.
But old friends Cody and CM have been demonstrating the friction between them on the fringes of their story. We saw a bit of it before their match at the July 18 Saturday Night’s Main Event, where the teammates-for-the-night questioned who would enter first for their tag match against Gunther & Sami Zayn/ The decision was made for them, and the American Nightmare then did what seemed like some good-natured mocking of the Best in the World during their entrances.
Turns out, those scenes were a continuation of what fans in Albany saw after SmackDown went off the air the night before. There, each man wanted the other to get the honor of closing the show. That one ended peacefully. However, like the above and other small interactions we’ve seen between the former AEW co-workers lately, Punk seemed to be having fun while Cody is almost biting his tongue to play along.
Inspired by the stipulation interim SmackDown General Manager Adam Pearce gave their SNME match on Friday in the state capital (Zayn and Gunther would have been added to SummerSlam’s WWE title clash to make it a 4way had they won), the champ and his SummerSlam challenger played nicely during their match in New York City. In fact, it was Der Ring General who hit Rhodes with Punk’s belt before suspended SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis arrived to distract the man who lured him out of retirement, which soon led to a victory for Punk & Cody.
Afterwards, the plumber’s grandson handed the champ the prize he’s coming after in Minneapolis a couple weekends from now. Punk flipped it over his shoulder, and flicked his “pal” in his left eye with the actual strap.
WWE posted the above so they wanted us to see it. And the reason why is because Rhodes didn’t bite his tongue about a possible slight from Punk this time. He went backstage at Madison Square Garden, interrupted the WWE champion’s interview with Jackie Redmond to confront him about if the belt to the eye was intentional. And the company posted that too.
Punk and Rhodes had to be separated — by Robert Roode and Trick Williams, no less! It took a while for filming to stop, but each angrily told the WWE cameraperson to stop before the end of the scene. Check it out:
Looks like we may be addressing this more directly the closer we get to SummerSlam. Is that enough for you, if you were even concerned in the first place? Does this feud need a true heel? Would turning either even result in more heat?
Let us know your answers to those questions, or just what you thought of how Saturday Night’s Main Event built to Cody Rhodes and CM Punk’s SummerSlam WWE title match, in the comments below.
