Watch: CM Punk vs. Dustin Rhodes on This Week's AEW Dynamite Was One Long Tribute to Bret Hart

By Connor Casey

CM Punk is one of the most vocal Bret Hart fans in all of AEW. So when he was paired up with Dustin Rhodes for their first-ever singles match, he decided to pull out some of Hart's moves from when he took on Goldust back in the 90s. Twitter user @PromoJoeYT compiled those moments into a highlight reel on Thursday, which you can see below. The finish was even a Hart reference as Punk's roll-up of Rhodes was similar to how the British Bulldog managed to beat Hart for the Intercontinental Championship in the main event of SummerSlam 1992. 

Punk talked about his appreciation for "The Hitman" following his Dog Collar Match with MJF at the Revolution pay-per-view — "I didn't get to do this for seven years. This didn't exist for seven years. Obviously, the truth is that I love professional wrestling very much. So to come back and to be able to, for six months, it's not just doing whatever the f— you want, it's doing whatever the f— you want and being cocky enough to know that your way is, not the right way (since) there's never only one right way, but to have somebody who listens to you, and can take an idea and make it even better, and just to have an open dialogue."

"I love Bret Hart. Bret Hart's career got cut short and it's a goddamn tragedy [he had to retire]. And there's people who go over to Saudi Arabia and get paid millions of dollars [to wrestle], and it should've been Bret," he later added. "And I'm just super grateful that I got a second chance. And I'd give it up in a heartbeat to give it to Bret. He's the greatest and he was right. Bret Hart was right. Bret Hart is always right."

Following his victory, Punk was approached by AEW World Champion Adam "Hangman" Page. Punk has been climbing the ranks of the AEW singles division over the past few months (ranked No. 3 as of this week) and many believe he'll be challenging Page for AEW's top prize at next month's Double or Nothing event in Las Vegas.

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