On Saturday night, CM Punk made his shocking return to WWE during the closing moments of Survivor Series. We'd heard that it wasn't going to happen, but WWE kept the surprise under wraps and the roof was blown off the building when the Best in the World's music hit.
Punk will next appear on RAW this evening but Cody Rhodes was first to share his reaction to the former AEW star's WWE comeback at the PLE's post-show press conference.
"I don't want to be short with my response, but it truly is this. If he can help with where we're going and what we're doing, absolutely. Welcome aboard," the American Nightmare said. "I have a feeling that the CM Punk that potentially we're getting is hungry, and that's the best."
"When someone is hungry, and someone wants it. That's when it's real. I'll give kudos and flowers to Triple H and Nick Khan for getting that done," he continued. "You can ask all the boys and girls until they are blue in the face, 'How do you feel?' You might get up, you might get down, you might have a wide range of emotions, but the first thing, always, is business. We're doing record business. It feels like everybody wants to be here. The more the merrier."
Given the apparent challenges faced by Rhodes in AEW as an EVP, there's a very good chance he can relate to what Punk went through more than most of us might realise.
While Punk has made headlines since returning to WWE, he wasn't the only one to surprise fans at Survivor Series because Rhodes' old Legacy stablemate, Randy Orton, also stepped back into the ring following more than a year on the shelf after double back fusion surgery.
"At the end of the match, Randy said to me, 'Thanks for the phone call.' And I wanted to tell him, 'Thanks for my career,'" an emotional Cody said of his reunion with The Viper. "I keep thinking this is going to end, right? I couldn't have got to where I got had I not been around Randy. Randy...you hear all these funny stories about him and all this nonsense."
"But as a performer, a professional wrestler, a WWE Superstar, what an astounding mentor he was to me. Truly. I'll never forget standing in the ring at the Royal Rumble when he won, pointing at the star WrestleMania sign and just thinking like, 'I want to be like him.'"
You can hear more from Rhodes in the videos below.