CM Punk Opponent At WWE Worlds Collide 2026

WWE

This past weekend, WWE confirmed that CM Punk is heading to the upcoming Worlds Collide event in his hometown of Chicago.

Worlds Collide is set to feature names from the WWE main roster, NXT and AAA, with Punk using his Straight Edge Society mask in the announcement video as a reference to the AAA tie-in.

Here are five names Punk could face at Worlds Collide

5. Jackson Drake

It was a night of title changes at WWE NXT Heatwave yesterday , and that included Jackson Drake winning the NXT North American Championship from Myles Borne.

Drake is someone who Punk is well aware of and has made comments about on social media before, so he evidently sees potential, just like WWE does as he’s previously been the Evolve Champion as well.

Punk vs Drake would be the perfect way to have Punk work with a young heel on the rise in WWE’s developmental system with a view to him potentially become a big star in the future.

4. El Grande Americano

By the time Worlds Collide comes around, El Grande Americano may well be the AAA Mega Champion after facing Dominik Mysterio at TripleMania.

If that’s the case, this match could be on the cards simply because it would be the WWE Champion vs the AAA Champion.

Where the idea for this one falls down is that Americano has transformed into a massive babyface, and Punk is of course guaranteed to be a massive fan favorite in Chicago, so it would be a bit of a conflict of interests to put them up against each other.

But, to throw a potential tag match out there, Punk and Americano could perhaps team together against a duo like Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh.

3. Zilla Fatu

Zilla Fatu made his WWE in-ring debut at Heatwave in the NXT Championship main event that was won by Grayson Waller.

Fatu is very clearly someone the company is likely to fast-track through NXT onto the main roster to be involved in the Bloodline storyline.

While he’s still very new, working with someone like CM Punk this soon would already be a big sign of intent, and he’d likely learn a lot more from working one match with Punk than he would from working an entire year against NXT rookies.

2. Grayson Waller

Grayson Waller got in CM Punk’s face following his appearance at WWE NXT’s live event in Petersburg on Saturday 😳

“Next time you come to my house, you call me and you ask for permission.”pic.twitter.com/1sthPHNsYn

— WrestleTalk (@WrestleTalk_TV) August 17, 2026

As mentioned, Grayson Waller won the NXT Championship at Heatwave, defeating Cruz Montana, Zilla Fatu and defending champion Tony D’Angelo.

Just a few weeks ago, CM Punk worked an NXT live event and a video clip went viral of Punk and Waller getting into a confrontation backstage.

While that could have just been a one-off, hopefully the idea is for it to lead to a match, and Worlds Collide could host it with it being WWE Champion vs NXT Champion.

However, December’s Wrestlepalooza event in Waller’s home country of Australia could also be a good host.

1. Dominik Mysterio

Another possibility for a AAA themed opponent for CM Punk would be the current Mega Champion, Dominik Mysterio.

Mysterio may not be champion anymore by Worlds Collide, but positioning him against Punk would put him right back in a prominent position.

The only argument against this is that while Mysterio is on the AAA roster, he’s a star on the main roster as well, so perhaps this should be something WWE saves for a bigger storyline rather than something that is essentially a novelty show.

However, Chicago may be the perfect place for it as Punk is guaranteed a major reaction, and in turn, Mysterio would be booed out of the building.

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• AAA
• nxt
• wwe
• cm punk
• Worlds Collide

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