Madison Square Garden saw Punk and Rhodes win a tag match, then nearly come to blows backstage after Punk's championship belt caught Rhodes in the face during the postmatch celebration.
The flare-up came after Rhodes raised Punk's arm in the ring; Punk said the belt shot was accidental, but Rhodes shoved him and challenged that explanation in a tense interview interruption.
The tag bout had raised the stakes: a loss would have turned their SummerSlam title fight into a fatal four-way with Gunther and Sami Zayn, but Rhodes pinned Gunther after Nick Aldis pulled the referee from a count.
The confrontation keeps their Undisputed WWE Championship feud boiling ahead of SummerSlam on August 1-2 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis.