After two hours of anticipation, CM Punk and Cody Rhodes were finally afforded a chance to stand across the ring from one another and shoot on their converging roads heading into the 2024 Royal Rumble.

Would the duo remain cordial? Would they shoot on their respective exits from AEW? Or maybe they'd address the elephant in the room, that they both want to win the Rumble and headline WrestleMania in a few short months in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania?

Well, after opening things up with a conversation of their shared time in OVW, where Punker revealed that Dusty Rhodes asked him to look out for his son, the “Best in the World' asked his friend one simple question: would they remain friends on Sunday morning if the Royal Rumble went the “Second City Saint's” way?

“But what about Sunday morning, Cody? I know there're no friends in the Royal Rumble, I've been in more of them than you have – editorial note: he has not – but what about Sunday morning? Because I can separate business from personal, can you? Because I wasn't born into this business, you very much were. You grew up in this business, personal to you is this buisness. You were the son of one of the most legendary professional wrestlers of all time, one of the greatest,” CM Punk told Cody Rhodes on RAW.

“And I said to start this all off, you and I traveled very different paths. I didn't have a famous dad. When you showed up to OVW, other people saw Dusty, I saw Cody. I didn't necessarily see a nepotism hire, because where everybody saw that you were born on third base, and you were afforded all these great things, and you had the head start that I didn't get because I had to scratch and claw and fight to get to where I was, I saw the burden of your last name. I saw how hard it was going to be to come out of that shadow and congratulations, you have done it with flying colors. But for all of our differences, you in your expensive suit, me in what I worse to the gym today. Two very different paths, one very similar goal. I didn't have the famous dad, I didn't have the ‘American Dream' Dusty Rhodes, ‘The Son of a Plummer.' Global international heavyweight champion superstar wrestler recognized on the streets, dined with kings and queens, slept in alleys, and dined on pork and beans. I didn't have the famous dad, my father was blue collar, my father was just a regular guy, he was an electrician, which makes it ironic, I'm more of the ‘American Dream' than you are.”

Having clearly been antagonized in the way that only CM Punk can, Rhodes decided to fire back at his fellow RAW Superstar and proved that, in many ways, the student has become the master.

Cody Rhodes takes credit for finishing CM Punk's revolution.

Having been clearly antagonized by his fellow babyface, Cody Rhodes fired back by discussing CM Punk's own sore spot in his WWE career, the “Pipebomb,” before reminding the “Best in the World” who really revolutionized professional wrestling last decade.

“Okay, okay ‘American Dream,' here's what I want to talk about: let's talk about the ‘Pipebomb,'” Cody Rhodes asked. “You sat up there, you said a few words, you rattled off the formula for a revolution. There are countless wrestlers who got into this today because of said interview, count me as one of those who was inspired. But then, you left, and when you left, you really left. You didn't pass the torch off, you dropped it on the way out. And I don't think you cared who picked it up, but I think you know who did: I did. Everything that you spoke about, I literally did. So where you talked, I walked, and what is actually ironic is that that makes me more CM Punk than you.”

“It's getting a little hot in here? You're more CM Punk than I am!?” CM Punk asked. “Well allow me to give you the full road to WrestleMania CM Punk experience, see Cody Rhodes, you have held this company on your back for a soul-crushing two years and you are right around the corner and they hand you the cover of the WWE 2K video game… and right when you're about to cross the finish line and finish your story wait, what's that in the distance? It's a much bigger Superstar who hasn't been around in a very long time coming to take it all away from you. And I'm talking about me.”

Dang, Punk, cry me a river, dude… is what Rhodes should have said if he wanted to break the internet. Instead, he decided to reference his father's favorite quote from John Wayne before finding himself in a straight-up staredown with the “Second City Saint.

“There you are, looking out for me again,” Cody Rhodes told Punk. “You might be right; you talk all about the ‘American Dream,' but he was my best friend, and he regularly quoted John Wayne the quote I heard the most is, ‘Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyways.' You may be right, but I only have one direction I can go; I have to go, and that's forward. And that's in the Royal Rumble. That direction goes through you.”

Oh snap, after watching Drew McIntyre and Gunther declare that they are going to win the Royal Rumble earlier in the show, it now appears as though Rhodes and Punker, both favorites to win the match, are going to pay extra special attention to each other if they are in the ring at the same time. Is this shaping up to be the best Royal Rumble of all time? It certainly feels like things are pointing in that direction.