Cody Rhodes seemed to leave the door open for CM Punk at AEW during an interview earlier this week, although he claims the former WWE star made his promotion "look like dumbasses" after talks earlier this year.

We can't be sure what Cody's stance is now that Punk has appeared on WWE programming, but The Wrestling Observer Radio's Dave Meltzer has declared that AEW will "never" work with the Straight Edge superstar because of comments he made in a July interview with ESPN.

Punk claimed that AEW only made him an offer by means of a group text, something Rhodes quickly denied. And, speaking to Collider Live this week, the AEW exec revealed that there was a formal meeting that took place between the two parties at a coffee shop.

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“He did kind of make us look like dumbasses, saying we sent him a text offer. I’m sure we texted him, but we also called him'" Rhodes said (h/t 411Mania). "Someone also met you in a coffee shop. We made genuine efforts. But in this case, 2019, it’s been quite some time away from the ring. We gotta focus on who really wants to be on board with us versus going out and finding someone who perhaps doesn’t really want to be part of this.”

Rhodes did not rule out signing Punk in the future, however.

“I didn’t really communicate with him further after that. I expected to see him at Starrcast. He gave this great live show that he did with Mike Johnson, where he was really great with his answers, he added. "I’m sure we’ll run into each other at some point. If he ever wanted to be part of this and he had the passion to come back to wrestling, that door is always open. No ego, no situation would ever prevent us from having him come in because the fans have never given up on Punk. Ever. It’s crazy.”

via forbes.com

So What's The Deal With Punk Now?

Cody's interview happened before Meltzer reported that AEW no longer wants to work with Punk but his claims are based on Punk saying the company made him an offer via a text, not that he appeared on WWE programming.

If Punk's going to sign somewhere right now, it's going to be WWE. But it doesn't appear that AEW will refuse to sign the former wrestler if the text message story is all they're going on.

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