CM Punk Wins WWE Title After 9-Day Sami Zayn Reign Ends on Raw

Q: With CM Punk and Cody Rhodes on a collision course, who will truly emerge as the face of WWE at SummerSlam?

Cody Rhodes is better positioned to emerge as WWE’s true standard-bearer at SummerSlam, even though CM Punk enters as champion and the hotter short-term attraction. Punk’s title win over Sami Zayn in Chicago instantly made him the center of WWE television. He has momentum, crowd energy, and the prestige of ending Zayn’s brief reign. The match with Rhodes is also being framed as one of WWE’s biggest available marquee bouts, which underlines Punk’s value as a headline act. If the question is who feels most important right now, it is Punk. But being “the face of WWE” is broader than holding the belt for a few weeks. Rhodes has been positioned for years as the company’s long-term franchise figure: a consistent main-event presence, a central character in the title picture, and the star around whom WWE has built major premium-event stories. Even this angle protects him, since Gunther’s attack took him out of the Zayn match and created the opening for Punk rather than having Rhodes lose his spot cleanly. That makes SummerSlam less about whether Punk is a major star and more about whether he can displace WWE’s established centerpiece. Unless WWE is planning a prolonged Punk-led era, Rhodes remains the safer bet to leave SummerSlam as the company’s defining face, especially if he wins the championship back. If Punk wins, he becomes the top champion; if Rhodes wins, he likely reclaims both the title and the symbolic role.

3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 13

CM Punk returned on Raw in Chicago as Cody Rhodes’ late replacement and beat Sami Zayn for the Undisputed WWE Championship, ending Zayn’s reign after just nine days.
Gunther’s attack on Rhodes forced the switch, and Raw general manager Adam Pearce inserted Punk into the title match moments before Zayn learned he had a new opponent.
SummerSlam plans moved quickly into place: Punk and Rhodes are booked for a title match, but first must team up against Zayn and Gunther at Saturday Night’s Main Event in New York City.
The title change capped a week of major wrestling shakeups, with AEW also crowning a new world champion when Kenny Omega beat MJF on Dynamite ahead of All In.