Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal winner and “WWE SmackDown” star Royce Keys is shown in attendance.
CM Punk makes his way out through Gorilla with no theme, no pyro, just the split crowd receiving him. He stands there, saying nothing, before finally taking a knee and saying “It’s-” for the crowd to reciprocate “CLOBBERING TIME!” sparking his true entrance complete with music.
He smiles as the crowd cheers for him, fixing his face into a more lamentive. He said he’s dealing with a lot of loss over the past few months, name-checking Duke Roufus and Larry among several other colleagues and dear friends to have passed away.
He uses that as a segue to his loss at WrestleMania on Sunday, although he admits the losses out of the ring stung him far more. He says that the support the fans provide him day in and day out is why he doesn’t just break down from all his losses, and he knows with their support he’ll find a way to deal with this one too.
He says he could have just stayed at home after losing the World Heavyweight title the first time around, but because he stayed ready he landed himself another opportunity and become the champion again. He says that if he had just broken down and given up then the crowd would be listening to Jey Uso in his position right now. The crowd boos, and he says he doesn’t understand why, he likes to “YEET!” too.
He says he will not be taking vacation after this, because he never knows when an opportunity is going to fall out of the sky.
Cody Rhodes’ music hits to precede the WWE Champion’s arrival, rocking a gnarly black eye from his punt at the hands – or foot – of Randy Orton on Saturday.
Rhodes gets in the ring and Punk can’t help but have a look at the eye, prompting a laugh from the champion.
Punk offers to leave as to not step on his toes, but Rhodes says this is Monday night “Raw” and this is his time.
Rhodes says he’s the one that feels and looks like a loser, Punk jokes around as to whether that was intended to be a dig at him. But he continues to talk Rhodes and his victory up, making the case that it was easier for him to beat Reigns than Rhodes beat Orton due to the nature of their relationships.
Punk admits he was a loser, and Rhodes wasn’t, but he will stay ready; he turns his attention to the WWE Championship, “Because you never know when an opportunity is going to fall out the sky.”
“Hey Punk,” Rhodes calls after him as he leaves. “You say when.”
A vignette plays for Finn Balor after his victory over Dominik Mysterio at WrestleMania. He says that he expected the betrayal from Mysterio, but it was JD McDonagh that surprised him. He talks about their history together and how McDonagh had a choice, and he chose Mysterio.
He says that tonight, he will take him out.
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