CM Punk Plans After Undisputed WWE Championship Win Update

WWE

CM Punk’s immediate plans after winning the Undisputed WWE Championship have now been confirmed with a new announcement.

The July 6 episode of Monday Night Raw saw SmackDown’s main event picture turned upside down, with CM Punk returning from a near three month absence to dethrone Sami Zayn for the Undisputed WWE Championship.

While Punk’s return to WWE TV was heavily rumored to take place on the night, few expected it to happen in this manner given that Zayn was advertised to defend his Undisputed WWE Title against Cody Rhodes in the show’s main event.

GUNTHER’s backstage assault on Rhodes saw “The American Nightmare” ruled out however, and Punk was chosen as his replacement by suspended SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis.

With Punk seizing that opportunity to capture his eighth world title in WWE in the process, an announcement has now been made on social media regarding Punk’s first appearance on TV as the new champion.

Confirmed with a “breaking news” post on WWE’s official Twitter account, it was announced that CM Punk will be appearing live on the July 10 episode of SmackDown in Oklahoma City.

Accompanied by a picture of Punk with his newly acquired WWE Championship, as well as a link to the event listing for this Friday’s SmackDown, the post reads:

BREAKING NEWS New Undisputed WWE Champion @CMPunk will be live in Oklahoma City this Friday!

WWE has not yet confirmed what Punk will be doing on the show as of the time of writing.

WWE Don’t See Sami Zayn As “The Guy”

In the aftermath of CM Punk bringing an end to Sami Zayn’s Undisputed WWE Championship reign after just nine days, Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that WWE don’t see Sami Zayn as “The Guy” – something that seems abundantly clear given how swiftly they took away the title he worked over a decade to finally capture.

While history has proven we should have a little patience and see how things play out, it’s hard to not currently view Zayn’s Undisputed WWE Title win at Night of Champions as both a way to inject some excitement into their SmackDown main event picture, and throw Zayn a bone by finally giving him the distinction of being a former world champion.

It was previously reported that WWE’s past plans for SummerSlam (from some time before Rhea Ripley’s knee injury at Clash in Italy) included a blockbuster clash between CM Punk and Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship, with Zayn nowhere to be found on that version of the card.

While it’s likely that some of the planned card will have changed since then, it’s hard to imagine WWE not going with Punk vs. Cody following this title change.

GUNTHER seems perhaps likelier to step into the ring with SmackDown GM Nick Aldis at SummerSlam based on their recent interactions, and WWE just did a three-way for the Undisputed Title at their last PLE Night of Champions, making it perhaps more unlikely that they do the same again at SummerSlam with Punk vs. Rhodes vs. Zayn.

For Sami Zayn’s sake, and his “Ride or Dies” hopefully there is a place for him on the card, otherwise it may signify an impending drop back to the mid-card for the Canadian star.

To make sure you stay up to date with all the biggest wrestling and WrestleTalk news, follow us on Threads by clicking this link!

• wwe
• cm punk
• Smackdown

Share this article with friends