BREAKING: WWE Officially Announces CM Punk’s First Challenger, It’s Not Cody Rhodes
WWE has officially announced CM Punk’s first challenger for the Undisputed WWE Championship, and it’s not Cody Rhodes.
Punk returned to WWE on the July 6 edition of Monday Night Raw in his hometown of Chicago. He competed as a replacement for Cody Rhodes, who was attacked by Gunther on the show, and defeated Sami Zayn to become the new Undisputed WWE Champion.
Last week, it was announced that The Second City Saint will defend his world title against The American Nightmare at SummerSlam on August 1-2 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Just a few hours ago, another announcement regarding CM Punk’s title was made.
PPL Center, via its official Instagram account, has shared that ahead of CM Punk’s title defense against Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam, the Undisputed WWE Champion will put his title on the line against Gunther at a 2026 WWE Summer Tour live event on Thursday at the PPL Center.
PPL Center annouced: “BREAKING NEWS…CM Punk will defend the Undisputed WWE Championship against GUNTHER in the main event THIS Thursday night at PPL Center! 🎟️: PPLCenter.com
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Backstage Reaction to CM Punk’s World Title Win
Speaking in a recent Fightful Select Q&A session, Sean Ross Saap revealed the backstage reaction to CM Punk’s World Title win, stating that WWE talent reacted mostly positively to it.
“It didn’t cause some big uproar like a lot of times it is online. That’s just it. If it would have come in 2023, immediately upon him arriving, yes, it would have. There are still some people with sour feelings to this day, but the large portion of talent just work with him amicably and know he’s going to be a big part of the company. There’s just not a lot to really go off of here. Maybe some eye rolls—nothing too bad.”
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