Sami Zayn’s First Undisputed WWE Championship Defense Confirmed For Raw

WWE

Sami Zayn’s first Undisputed WWE Championship defense has been confirmed for this coming Monday’s July 6 episode of Raw in Chicago.

Zayn won the WWE Title this past Saturday at Night of Champions in Riyadh, defeating GUNTHER and former champion Cody Rhodes in the three-way main event.

Zayn opened tonight’s episode of SmackDown (taped this past Monday after Raw), but was cut off by Rhodes who joined him in the ring.

Rhodes congratulated Zayn on his win but they were then both interrupted by Jey Uso, who has been sent after the WWE Title by World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns.

In WWE SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis’ absence – due to being placed on “administrative leave” after his post-Night of Champions confrontation with GUNTHER – Raw GM and now-Acting SmackDown GM Adam Pearce came out onto the stage.

Pearce announced a #1 contender’s match for tonight’s main event between Rhodes and Uso, with the winner challenging Zayn on Monday’s episode of Raw.

It was Rhodes who picked up the win against Uso, so Zayn vs Rhodes is the title match for Monday.

Will Sami Zayn Be WWE Champion At SummerSlam

WWE SummerSlam 2026 is now less than a month away, but it appears there’s a real chance Sami Zayn might no longer be WWE Champion when we get there despite only just winning the title.

The Zayn vs Rhodes match on Raw is highly expected to include another major factor – the return of CM Punk.

With the show taking place in Chicago, it seems like the perfect setting for Punk to make a comeback, and reports are that he’ll be heading into a feud with Cody Rhodes.

Earlier today it emerged that, a few weeks ago, the planned SummerSlam match for the WWE Championship was to be Rhodes vs Punk, so unless WWE has changed its plans, it seems there’s a good chance Rhodes could win the title back on Monday to set up that match against Punk at SummerSlam.

It would be a real shame for Zayn’s only world title reign to be cut short like that, but it can’t be ruled out, as it seems WWE is trying to run its originally planned WrestleMania 42 main events at SummerSlam – Roman Reigns vs Seth Rollins, which is already confirmed, and Rhodes vs Punk.

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• Sami Zayn
• wwe
• cm punk
• Cody Rhodes
• RAW

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