“The Second City Saint” returned to WWE on Monday night in “The Second City.”
Heading into the July 6 episode of WWE Raw at AllState Arena in Rosemont, Illinois, newly crowned Undisputed WWE Champion Sami Zayn, just nine days removed from his shocking title win over Cody Rhodes and Gunther at WWE Night of Champions, was scheduled to make his first title defense against the former title-holder in “The American Nightmare.”
That didn’t happen.
At the start of the 7/6 Raw in Chicago, Zayn and Rhodes crossed paths in the parking garage, where Rhodes was then attacked from behind by Gunther. This led to Rhodes not being medically cleared to compete as scheduled, which resulted in a show-long tease about who would step-in to face Zayn for the title on short-notice.
And thus, a championship opportunity fell out of the sky.
Punk made the “out of the sky” remark during his Raw After WrestleMania appearance in a promo with Rhodes, which was the last time WWE fans saw him for months.
On Monday night, that all changed.
“The Best in the World” emerged as the surprise fill-in opponent for Zayn’s first title defense, and after an excellent two-break match, Punk managed to get his hand raised with a Helluva Kick and a GTS for the championship-earning victory.
Zayn’s nine-day run ended in his first defense, making his title reign the shortest since The Miz’s title run back in 2021.
Punk is now in his eighth run with the title, and according to one source, Punk vs. Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Championship is the expected direction heading into “The Biggest Party of the Summer” at the two-night WWE SummerSlam 2026 premium live event on August 1 and August 2 at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, MN.
Following his title win on 7/6, Punk surfaced via social media to recreate the infamous image from his past WWE title run, which shows his title belt in the refrigerator at his home. He also posed backstage at AllState Arena for the obligatory “pointing photo” with WWE Chief Content Officer Paul ‘Triple H’ Levesque.
If that wasn’t enough, the MLB’s Chicago Cubs franchise also reacted, sharing an image of Punk and dubbing his current run “The Summer of CM Punk Pt. 2.”
The Summer of CM Punk pt. 2 💪
And NEW Undisputed WWE World Heavyweight Champion! pic.twitter.com/45puwXC0MT
— MLB (@MLB) July 7, 2026
