CM Punk And Former WWE Champion In Huge Money In The Bank Qualifier

CM Punk will be in action against a longtime rival who happens to be a former WWE Champion.

An interesting match was announced for WWE Monday Night Raw on June 2nd, especially for longtime wrestling fans.

In the final Money in the Bank qualifying match, former WWE Champion CM Punk will be in action against former WWE Champion AJ Styles, along with the “newcomer” El Grande Americano. The graphic was shown during Friday’s SmackDown broadcast.

There is a long history between Punk and Styles, both of whom began their careers in professional wrestling over 25 years ago. They had a legendary rivalry in Ring of Honor in 2004, while also competing in TNA during its early days and on numerous independent wrestling shows.

In WWE there isn’t much history between them because when Punk was in WWE from 2006 to 2014, Styles was still in TNA. When Styles came to WWE in January 2016, Punk was out of wrestling. Since Punk returned to WWE in November 2023, they have only competed in the same match at the 2025 Royal Rumble.

For many wrestling fans of this generation of pro wrestlers, CM Punk and AJ Styles stand out as two of the best overall performers. Knowing they’ll be in the ring in the same match on Monday Night Raw is a big deal and will make that Money in the Bank qualifier all the more interesting.

The first five men to qualify for Money in the Bank so far are Andrade, Seth Rollins, LA Knight, Solo Sikoa, and Penta. Obviously, Punk wants to get in there to compete against his arch-rival Rollins, which is also why Punk should be considered the favorite in his triple threat match.

CM Punk Was The First Wrestler To Win Money In The Bank In Back To Back Years

It has been over a decade since CM Punk last competed in a Money in the Bank match, but it’s also a match that he knows very well.

CM Punk won the Money in the Bank Ladder Match at WrestleMania 24 in 2008 at a time when he was in just his second year on the WWE main roster. Punk went on to cash in his MITB contract on Edge to win his first World Title in WWE.

One year later at WrestleMania 25 in 2009, CM Punk won Money in the Bank again and would go on to cash in successfully against Jeff Hardy later that summer to become the World Heavyweight Champion again.

In Money in the Bank history, Edge was the first man to hold the briefcase twice since he beat Ken Kennedy for it, but Punk will always be the first man to win Money in the Bank twice in a row.

Tune in to WWE Monday Night Raw on June 2nd in Tulsa to find out if CM Punk can win Money in the Bank again when he competes against AJ Styles and El Grande Americano.