John Cena vs. CM Punk, the rivalry that refuses to get cold. Despite the fact these two greats have had several matches over the years, the fans still want “one more match” between the two. They demanded, and WWE complied, with the fans giving them a match on a silver platter at Night of Champions, where the two men will get their hands on each other for the Undisputed WWE Championship.
However, this time the tension is real because the Last Real Champion manipulated Punk for a title match if he agrees to follow him to Saudi Arabia. The challenger is infamous for his past comments about the country.
Hence, many believed he’d turn it down, but he agreed, and there’s an intriguing reason behind it.
CM Punk has moved past his Saudi Arabia comments
The RAW event after Money in the Bank has been a thrilling one, which has started to set the stage for the dramatic and over-the-top matches that are going to take place in the WWE premium live event, Night of Champions, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. From hearing from a returning R-Truth to Nikki Bella getting destroyed by Liv Morgan, the show had it all.
What became the highlight of the night was the promo face-off between John Cena and CM Punk. The former decided to give him a shot at his title, which was pure evil of him, especially because of his past comments about the country. The controversy took place in 2020 via X when The Miz took a dig at him by mocking his “change the culture line.”
This resulted in Punk calling him out in a tweet, telling the Awesome One to “go s*ck a blood money covered d**k in Saudi Arabia you f**king d*rk.” The wrestling enthusiasts were curious to learn why he hated the country so much on one of his Instagram Live (via Fightful), where he merely answered, “I don’t hate coming to Saudi, I’ve never been to Saudi.“
Now, new developments on the issue emerged exclusively from Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio (via Cultaholic), mentioning that the Voice of the Voiceless never turned down the proposal to go to Saudi Arabia in the first place, regardless of being removed from the promo package.
He said,
He could not go if he really wanted to not go. He was going months ago, I had already asked about that, it was a couple of months ago when the show was first talked about. And he was in the original promo package and then he was taken out of the promo package and I asked am I supposed to see when Seth Rollins replaced him in that promo package that he’s not going and it’s like, ‘Nope, he’s going.’
Meltzer continued that the superstar never raised any objections, and he knew that he would be performing in Saudi Arabia and never made any statement against the country since his return to World Wrestling Entertainment in 2023.
So it’s been known he’s going for months, probably all along. I don’t know if he ever voiced any issue with going at any point since he signed but he has not in months, I know. So he’s going.
Perhaps this was the reason the 17-time Champion gave a sly smirk to the Best in the World because he knew that he was going.
CM Punk is working without any pressure from WWE
While every fan was praising Cena for being a creative genius and making a storyline out of Punk’s disparaging comments about Saudi Arabia in the past, they also felt that the lucrative idea of a title shot and once again becoming the face of the company was too hard to resist.
However, that was not the case at all because, in the same report, Meltzer mentioned that CM Punk was a part of the top-tier talents in the wrestling promotion. This information meant that he was big enough to say “no” to performing in Saudi Arabia without facing any repercussions that a mid-level guy would face. He said,
He is big enough he could have said no and it wouldn’t have impacted him. If you’re a mid-level guy and you said no, you would be able to not go, but it would impact you.
That pops the drama out of the storyline, as fans were hoping this would be another one of those heated story arcs, where the two would engage in a war of words before they squared off at the Kingdom Arena.
Nevertheless, watching a good ol’ Cena vs. Punk with the possibility of Seth Rollins cashing in his MITB briefcase and pulling off another heist keeps fans on their toes and looking forward to the match.
Night of Champions will take place on June 28, 2025, at 1 PM ET on Peacock in the U.S. and Netflix internationally.
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