CM Punk Discusses His Relationship with Dusty Rhodes and Comments on His Passing

In a recent edition of Jon Anik and Kenny Florian’s MMA Podcast, former WWE Champion and UFC trainee CM Punk discusses his relationship with Dusty Rhodes and comments on his passing, which took place on June 11. The late WWE Hall of Famer was 69 years-old.

Punk talked about training for UFC, when he would possibly be having his first match, the fact that he’s flattered that fans still chant his name during WWE events, and that he doesn’t watch or keep up with WWE’s product. He then went into the passing of the late great American Dream, saying that he had kept in touch with Rhodes following his WWE departure, and that they were friends.

Punk says,

“I loved Dusty and Dusty loved me. For some reason, early on in my career I was branded an old soul and I had a lot of older timers tell me ‘You should have been born 20 years earlier, you would have been great in my time.

I developed a rapport with guys like Harley Race, Dusty Rhodes. A lot of these guys like Dusty, got hired with WWE and he always went to bat for me. I wrestled Dusty in one of my last matches on the indies in 2005 and it was pretty bizarre. He was always super good to me.

He was one of the guys I’d still text after leaving, and it wasn’t about the business. It was, “Hey kid, how you doing?” like how you’d talk to your friends. I think it [Rhodes passing away] sucks. I don’t think there is a single person in the wrestling business he didn’t influence. He’s going to be missed for sure.”

You can listen to the entire episode here.

Editor’s Note:

As Punk said on Twitter following the news that Rhodes had passed, Rest in Power Dream.