Sami Zayn’s world title reign was never built to last — WWE was apparently just waiting for CM Punk to come home.
After CM Punk beat Sami Zayn for the Undisputed WWE Championship on the July 6 episode of RAW in Chicago, Sean Ross Sapp revealed on the post-RAW show that WWE had already mapped out where this was going. According to him, Sami was always meant to drop the title once Punk returned to television.
“Well, this was the plan all throughout that. Like they knew that they were leading to this. They always knew that Sami Zayn was going to drop this title to CM Punk because they have known when CM Punk was going to come back for a while.”
That explains a lot about how fast everything moved. Sami shocked fans by beating Cody Rhodes at Night of Champions, but his reign only lasted nine days before WWE pulled the trigger on Punk in Chicago.
RAW got there by taking Cody out of the picture first. GUNTHER attacked him backstage, powerbombed him through a table on the concrete floor, and Cody was later ruled unable to compete. Adam Pearce still promised Sami would defend the title, but he kept the replacement opponent quiet.
By the time the main event came around, Chicago already knew who it wanted. CM Punk walked out to a huge hometown reaction, and Sami suddenly had to defend the biggest title in WWE against a returning Punk with zero notice.
Sami fought hard and even used Punk’s own GTS against him, but the night belonged to the Second City Saint. Punk hit a Helluva Kick, followed it with a GTS, and pinned Zayn to become the new Undisputed WWE Champion. Afterwards, Punk celebrated in Chicago and looked into the camera with a message for AJ Lee: “I’ll be home in twenty minutes, babe.”
So while Sami’s title win felt like a major shock at Night of Champions, it sounds like WWE already knew where the road was going. Zayn got his moment, Punk got his hometown coronation, and now the Summer of Punk II is officially underway.
Do you think WWE made the right call by keeping Sami Zayn’s title reign short for CM Punk? Let us know in the comments below.
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