Mark Henry & Bully Ray Discuss CM Punk & Cody Rhodes' Respective AEW Exits

WWE Hall of Famers Bully Ray and Mark Henry have discussed the exits of Cody Rhodes and CM Punk from AEW, and how they handled it differently. 

Two of the biggest names to leave AEW and eventually return to WWE were Rhodes and Punk, who left the fledgling promotion in 2022 and 2023, respectively. On a recent edition of "Busted Open," Henry and Ray stated that the high-profile exits may have been because of how things were run behind the scenes in AEW.

"You think Cody just left because he wanted to 'finish the story' in WWE?" began Henry. "Cody left because ... [he thought] talking to this wall right here is not helping me. And I'm not bashing nobody. I'm just saying what was real. You have to be able to give and take."

Bully Ray also delved into the topic, explaining how Punk may have had similar reasons to leave, but Rhodes did it in a different way to leave AEW.

"CM Punk saw the exact same writing on the wall that Cody Rhodes saw; he just handled it differently," said Ray. "They had been around long enough to see how things were run the correct way. Forget about the push, the guy was Stardust, for chrissake. It's about seeing the internal workings of how a real professional wrestling/sports entertainment company works. When you're in WWE, you see how it's supposed to work the right way. You get to get a look at the machine work from inside the machine. When you get to work someplace else you realize, 'Wow, this does not run the same as the other machine. What suggestions can I give this place to help it run better,' and sometimes it just falls on deaf ears."

Henry added that Rhodes is more of a politician, highlighting how "The American Nightmare's" father, Dusty Rhodes, taught him how to handle such situations.