As the 2024 Royal Rumble rapidly approaches, two of the favorites to win the whole darn thing, CM Punk and Cody Rhodes, were afforded an opportunity to address each other face-to-face for the first time this decade on WWE television in a sort of babyface summit on the go-home edition of RAW.

With weeks of build-up, strong grassroots support from the WWE Universe, and a sort of unspoken mutual respect between the two long-time grapplers, you'd think the duo would address why they want a spot main-eventing WrestleMania all the while taking a shot or two at each other's pasts or maybe even a blink-and-you'll-miss-it nod to their AEW runs that would fly over a normal audience's head but would pop the IWC in a major way?

Unsurprisingly, that all came up, but when asked what he wanted to talk about by the “American Nightmare,” Punk began the 15-minute segment with a little storytime, unearthing an absolute gem regarding the late, great Dusty Rhodes and former WWE developmental territory OVW.

“I wanna talk about your dad. And I don't know if you know this story, I've never told it, I know they don't know it. In 2007, your father calls me on the telephone and tells me he's sending his youngest son Cody to Ohio Valley Wrestling to start his journey as a professional wrestler, and he tells me, ‘I want you to keep an eye on my kid.' And at the time, I don't know if I'm the guy for the job but I certainly didn't know you yet; I wasn't aware if you needed a guardian angel. I didn't think you did, but when the ‘American Dream' asks you for a favor, New Orleans, you say yes,” CM Punk told the fans in New Orleans.

“It wasn't a hard job; I stayed out of your way, you didn't get into any trouble that you couldn't talk your own way out of. You didn't fall into the same vices I saw a lot of our contemporaries do, and I watched you grow from a preliminary wrestler into this bonified, main event, championship-caliber Superstar that stands in front of me today. And it might sound a little bit condescending coming from me, I am proud of you. I bring this up, I bring this story up, I bring your father up because on Saturday, I feel like I'm breaking a promise.

“In the Royal Rumble, if me and you cross paths, I'm not going to be looking out for you, I'm going to be looking for you. I'm going to do what I have to do, I'll punch you in the face, I'll throw you over the top rope because CM Punk is going to win the Royal Rumble and he's going to go on to main event WrestleMania.”

Whoa, is that real? Did CM Punk and Rhodes actually spend time together in OVW, let alone have a mentor-mentee relationship? Well, while it's impossible to know how much the duo interacted, they did both call the Ohio Valley home in 2006 and thus, certainly shared more than a few locker rooms as a result. How will this newly unearthed connection impact the 2024 Royal Rumble? Well, Rhodes had something to say on the matter, too, and needless to say, it was incredibly interesting.

Hey CM Punk, Cody Rhodes doesn't want to be defined by his father.

Clearly amused by what CM Punk had to say, Cody Rhodes responded with a story of his own, revealing that, while he's grateful to have been given a foot in the door, that hasn't stopped him from working his behind off to become the sort of man fans flock to support to this day.

“Your not alone in that feeling in being somebody who is talking to me but thinking about my him. I work with countless legends and luminaries and dignitaries in our industry, ‘Freebird' Michael Hayes, Bruce Prichard, Triple H, even Mr. Heyman, that when they see me, they can't help but think about the ‘American Dream' Dusty Rhodes,” Cody Rhodes explained to CM Punk and WWE fans around the world.

“It's a very large shadow, but I think you know I've done everything in my power since I left here to not just be in the shadows but to be the light in the shadows, to subvert expectations on my own last name and be my own man. You're talking about OVW, you're not lying; I showed up to OVW, folkstyle wrestling experience only, no matches under my belt, a completely nepotism hire. And there you were, CM Punk, who had toiled on the independent scene for 10 years, who had made a name for himself; you could have treated me poorly and you did not, you treated me like a peer and after that, we became friends. And that's what makes all of this so bittersweet, it's because in the Royal Rumble, there are no friends.”

As the segment went on, things naturally got more and more hostile, with Punk declaring himself somewhat of an “American Dream” and Rhodes responding by saying that he took up the cause the “Second City Saint” abandoned in order to revolutionize the professional wrestling world for the better truly. Still, those words wouldn't have been nearly as biting if Punk hadn't made the connection to Dusty earlier in the segment, as their mutual connection and previously unknown relationship reveals the roots of a storyline worthy of a stage as big as the Royal Rumble… or maybe even WrestleMania.