A simple tweet formed the basis of this column.
After Kenny Omega defeated MJF to win the AEW World Title, my good brother, Matt, asked about the last time two major promotions featured a World Title change on television in the same week.
Because I’m a nerd for statistics and things like that, I did the research on it. What I found was two different scenarios…
If you consider TNA to be a “major promotion,” then the answer was January of this year. On the January 15th episode of Impact, Mike Santana defeated Frankie Kazarian to become the TNA World Champion, and this came six days after Drew McIntyre defeated Cody Rhodes to become the Undisputed WWE Champion on an episode of Smackdown.
If you don’t consider TNA to be a “major promotion,” then the answer will take you back to January… of 1999. That, of course, was one of the most infamous days in pro wrestling history. On Raw, Mick Foley, as Mankind, would win his first WWF Championship by defeating The Rock with help from “Stone Cold” Steve Austin and one of the sport’s all-time loudest pops. Only a few minutes later, Nitro featured the “Fingerpoke Of Doom” that saw Hulk Hogan defeat Kevin Nash to win the WCW World Title.
Then I started thinking some more about the World Title matches on television. I’ve seen some people say it’s a bad thing, but I disagree. One line of thinking is definitely that you should “save” the big matches for pay-per-views to get people to try and buy the shows, and I get that line of thinking, but pro wrestling is in such a different place right now than it was a decade ago, or two decades ago, and so on. Television rights deals are seemingly gazillion-dollar bets from corporate entities, and when you’re putting that much dough on the line, your needs and desires become very important things for companies like WWE and AEW to try and satisfy if they can. If that means putting more big matches like World Title bouts on television, then that’s what needs to happen. It doesn’t happen on a weekly basis, and pay-per-views continue to feature plenty of pay-per-view worthy matches, so they aren’t hurting for high quality product.
What about these most recent televised World Title matches, though? Sami Zayn vs CM Punk featured a ton of controversy, and a mere 48 hours later, MJF vs Kenny Omega featured a ton of controversy, as well.
Did both promotions make the right call by having the matches on television? Even more importantly, did both promotions make the right call by having the titles change hands on television? Hell, did both promotions make the right call by having the titles change hands, period?
Let’s go in chronological order and talk about the Undisputed WWE Title switch first.
After 24 years as a pro wrestler, and 13 years under WWE contract, Sami Zayn finally became a World Champion. He has won the NXT Championship and the PWG World Title, but both titles aren’t generally viewed as “official” World Titles.
It was a long journey, but he finally made it to the top of the proverbial mountain. Almost immediately, there were reports and hints from different news sites that the title reign wasn’t scheduled to be a lengthy one, but hey, plans can change, if the plans were true to begin with. Sami’s fans and supporters carefully put their guards up as they waited to see what the company was going to do.
Right away, a match was made to crown the next #1 Contender for Sami’s title. Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso were announced for a match, and that had a bunch of people complaining right away. No matter what his live crowd reactions are, Jey isn’t exactly the internet’s favorite wrestler these days, so people were upset at the possibility he could end up with another World Title shot, and REALLY upset at the possibility he could win another World Title.
Fortunately for those upset over those scenarios, it wouldn’t matter in this instance, as Jey lost to Cody, making “The American Nightmare” the new #1 Contender for the Undisputed WWE Title that he just lost to Sami in the first place. Cody wouldn’t need to wait long for his shot, either. He won the shot on the July 3rd episode of Smackdown, and would be facing Sami for the title three nights later on Raw.
On paper, it sure did look like Cody would win that match. Cody is someone that doesn’t exactly rack up a ton of losses, and this would give him two pinfall losses in the span of nine days. The last time Cody was pinned twice in that short a period of time was all the way back in 2018, when Cody took the pin in a six-man tag match for Ring Of Honor, and then took the pin in another six-man tag, this time for New Japan, nine days later.
As is always the case in pro wrestling, for reasons of both the work and shoot varieties, the card is subject to change. As Cody arrived to the venue, he was viciously attacked by Gunther, and wouldn’t you know it… he was beaten so badly that he wouldn’t be medically cleared to compete in the match with Sami. Raw General Manager Adam Pearce, a true man of the people, said that they were going to deliver an Undisputed WWE Title match, and that Sami had to prepare for an unnamed opponent. The fans in attendance already knew where this was going, and they began to chant for CM Punk, who was heavily rumored to be making his return to the company on Raw after being out since April for whatever reason is being reported and gossiped about on a day-to-day basis.
Sure enough, Sami was in the ring, awaiting the arrival of his new opponent, and we got the return of CM Punk. After a fantastic match, Punk got the pin and the win to become the brand new Undisputed WWE Champion.
Just like that, the entire WWE presentation was turned on its side. We went from Cody Rhodes as the Undisputed WWE Champion to Sami Zayn to CM Punk over the span of nine days. Punk, a member of the Raw roster, is now the top champion on Smackdown. The main event scene for SummerSlam, less than a month out, was shifting.
The online reaction to the title change was immediate. It was visceral, from all sides of the debate. Recently, the “So-and-so Hogan” thing has become overdone online, and it happened again here. Clearly, this was some sort of power play by Phil Brooks, the devious scoundrel that he is. He spent the last few months at home, and perhaps he made it known he wouldn’t return without another time at the top. It was certainly no coincidence that he returned and won the Undisputed WWE Title 30 minutes later.
Then, you have the Sami Zayn fans, who, as I said before, had their guards up about a potentially short title reign for him. Most hoped he could at least walk into SummerSlam as the champion, and even if he lost the title there, he could still say that he held the title for 35 or 36 days, which is longer than names like The Iron Sheik, Andre The Giant, Kane, Buddy Rogers, Rob Van Dam, and Rey Mysterio could say they got to hold the title during its incredible lineage, and just as long as Mankind and Batista did. Instead, his title reign is tied for the fifth-shortest in the 63-year history of that particular championship.
Was it the right decision, though?
In a word? Yes.
Do you remember how red hot the Sami Zayn character was in late-2022 and early-2023? This, of course, was back when Sami was a member of The Bloodline. Do you remember the crowd pop inside of the Alamodome when Sami hit Roman Reigns across the back with a steel chair after Roman defeated Kevin Owens at the 2023 Royal Rumble? It was one of the loudest crowd pops of the modern era. Do you remember the frenzy in Montreal the following month when Sami faced Roman for Roman’s Undisputed WWE Universal Title? Not only were those also some of the best crowd pops of the modern era, but Sami’s momentum had people… myself included… saying that Cody Rhodes could wait a little bit longer to “finish his story.”
If THAT Sami Zayn had become the champion, a nine-day title reign would’ve caused riots to break out in the streets.
It wasn’t THAT Sami Zayn, though, was it?
Over the last three-and-a-half years since Sami hit Roman with that steel chair, Sami has been firmly positioned at a lower spot on the card. He lost to Roman at Elimination Chamber that year, but he did win the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles with Kevin Owens in the main event of WrestleMania 39 Saturday. They had a five-month title reign, which is decent enough, but what about everything else he’s done? During his reign, he was unsuccessful in taking the NXT North American Title from Dominik Mysterio. He and Owens had two attempts to win the Tag Titles back after they dropped them, first losing to the team that defeated them, Damian Priest and Finn Bálor, and then losing to the next champions, Cody Rhodes and Jey Uso. Before 2023 came to a close, Sami was unsuccessful in taking the World Heavyweight Title from Seth Rollins in a match on Raw.
His 2024 started off with a bang, as he ended Gunther’s 666-day reign as the Intercontinental Champion at WrestleMania 40, in a match that was portrayed as a massive upset. Sami’s reign lasted until SummerSlam that year, when he dropped the title to Bron Breakker, and then lost to Breakker again a week later in a title rematch. He would then lose to Gunther a couple months later, this time with Gunther’s World Heavyweight Title on the line.
The first eight months of 2025 saw Sami just… there. He was blending into the background, but then he beat Solo Sikoa for the United States Title, and just when Sami was building momentum with strong performances in his Open Challenge series for the title, he dropped it to Ilja Dragunov out of nowhere seven weeks after winning it.
Sami kicked off 2026 by being unsuccessful in his attempt to take the Undisputed WWE Title from Drew McIntyre at the Royal Rumble, but then he rebounded by taking the United States Title from Carmelo Hayes, only to drop the title to Trick Williams at WrestleMania three weeks later. In the two-plus months between WrestleMania and Night Of Champions, Sami would wrestle on television a total of three times, losing two of them, with his only win coming against Matt Cardona, who even I’ve beaten on WWE television in 2026.
As you see, he was pushed as someone who was certainly capable of winning a midcard title at any point, but was never going to advance beyond that point, no matter how hot his character was at any point, and then, when he finally did advance beyond that point, there was no real thought or effort put into building him up. It SCREAMED “the Saudis want Sami to win the title there, and they’re paying us a shit ton of money, so we have to do what they want.” Sure enough, as soon as WWE returns to the United States, Sami drops the Undisputed WWE Title to CM Punk.
Does anyone truly see Sami as being on a different level now that he has finally won a World Title? I don’t see him as being anything different than what he was… a candidate for a midcard title, and someone who isn’t going to be positioned as anything beyond that.
SummerSlam is WWE’s second-biggest (or third-biggest, depending on your thoughts on the Royal Rumble) show of the year. It’s a huge deal to be in the main event of SummerSlam, even with the event changing to the WrestleMania-like two-night model starting last year. Can anyone honestly and truly say that they feel Sami Zayn… the mid-2026 Sami Zayn that we’ve been seeing… belongs in one of the two SummerSlam main events?
Don’t lie to me.
Right now, we have Roman Reigns vs Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight Title, CM Punk vs Cody Rhodes for the Undisputed WWE Title, and Oba Femi vs Brock Lesnar inside Hell In A Cell as official SummerSlam matches that could be in a main event spot without fans even thinking twice about it. We don’t know where Sami will be on the SummerSlam card, but barring a last-minute terrible decision by WWE… which, frankly, is always a possibility for them… the main events of the show are bigger and stronger than they would’ve been if he were involved.
Should WWE have switched the title from Sami Zayn to CM Punk? Yes, but mostly because it never should’ve been placed on Sami to begin with. Again, the mid-2026 version of Sami Zayn, with zero build or focus, shouldn’t have won the Undisputed WWE Title in the first place. WWE had a handful of opportunities through the years to really make Sami someone they could push to the moon as a top-tier guy, and, for one reason or another, they never committed to him in that manner. Now, when some consider it “too late,” and others are unhappy at how “cold” he was before the title switch, he finally gets the big win? As I said, this was all about what the Saudis wanted, not what WWE wanted, and you can’t tell me otherwise. It’s not like this was a situation where they needed Sami to be the “transitional champion” so that they could find a way to get Punk and Cody to have a match at SummerSlam. If Cody retained his title at Night Of Champions, you still could’ve had Punk make his return and get a title shot. It’s not like it hasn’t been teased. Think back to the night after WrestleMania 42… a dejected Punk talked about how he needs to stay ready because you never know when title shots are just going to fall out of the sky, which led to Cody, who was fresh off of retaining the Undisputed WWE Title against Randy Orton at Mania, to utter “just say when” to Punk. Sami wasn’t involved then, and he didn’t need to be involved to get to where we’re going at SummerSlam.
Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, it’s time to talk about AEW and their World Title situation.
In a lot of ways, it’s a very similar situation to everything I just mentioned with WWE, Sami Zayn, CM Punk, and the build for SummerSlam.
While WWE builds to one of their biggest shows on the annual calendar, AEW is doing the same thing with All In(nit), returning to London’s Wembley Stadium after a year away, thanks to Coldplay booking Wembley for a show during the August Bank Holiday weekend.
WWE had a pathway to the SummerSlam main event scene that fans had been speculating on for months, just like AEW had been building a pathway to the All In(nit) main event scene that fans had been speculating on for months.
In Sami Zayn, WWE decided they wanted to make what seemed like a pivot in the plans, only to show their cards just over a week later with yet another pivot, this time to CM Punk. Now, AEW seems to have taken the plans that everyone was so sure about for All In(nit), and shake it up by pivoting to none other than Kenny Omega.
It felt like AEW was building and building and building to MJF defending the AEW World Title in the All In(nit) main event, with London’s very own Will Ospreay in the opposite corner as his challenger. Everything made sense. MJF is the cocky prick heel, and Ospreay will be the hometown boy babyface that is looking to win his first AEW World Title.
Then they decided to pivot, and the next thing you know, Kenny Omega is the brand new AEW World Champion.
Once again, the online reaction to the decision was swift.
There were the “Kenny Omega is pretty much at the very end of his career and is a shell of his former self” fans, upset that he was even in line for a World Title again, let alone that he won another one leading up to AEW’s version of WrestleMania.
Then there were the “MJF is the best heel in the business, and that should almost automatically qualify him to be in the main event of AEW’s biggest show” fans, upset that… well… MJF has, barring yet another pivot, not qualified to be in the main event of AEW’s biggest show.
There were the “MJF is cool and all, but Kenny is the ‘Best Bout Machine’ for a reason” fans, happy in the thinking that Omega vs Ospreay for the World Title at Wembley might be the best chance the company has for an all-time classic here.
You even had the “there have been too many World Title changes recently” fans, upset that the title went from MJF to Darby Allin on April 15th, then back to MJF on May 24th, then to Omega on July 8th, where it will probably go to Ospreay on August 30th. As an added bonus, you have the spin-off of this group of fans… the “Darby Allin never should’ve been the World Champion to begin with” people. I guess that doesn’t exactly have to do with the topic at hand, but those people were certainly there in strong numbers nonetheless.
Was it the right decision, though?
In a word? Yes.
I’ll be the first to admit that the Kenny Omega in mid-2026 isn’t the same Kenny Omega as the one we saw a couple years ago, let alone from nearly a decade ago, when he was setting the internet ablaze with his matches and helping to rewrite Dave Meltzer’s star-rating scale. He’s approaching the age of 43, which, at face value, isn’t bad, but years of an insane schedule and some rough stretches recently with injuries have put a ton of miles on his proverbial tires.
At the same time, I think he has proven he still has the ability to go out there and rise to the occasion, especially in “big fight” situations. Perhaps he’s not someone you, as a promotion, want to run ragged by having him wrestle 30-minute bloody wars on a weekly basis, but in the aforementioned “big fight” situation? I’d be willing to put my money down that he’d be able to deliver for the company in a major way.
That is not a negative take on MJF, mind you. I don’t even know how many times I’ve said this in my columns over the last several years, but when he is “on” and has something to actually sink his teeth into, he is as good a character as the pro wrestling world has seen in a long time, and although it took a while, his in-ring work has caught up with his character work and his promo ability. If he were in the main event of All In(nit), especially against Will Ospreay, I have zero doubts about the quality match they would give us. MJF and Ospreay have faced each other twice before, including the last time AEW ran at Wembley Stadium, and both matches were fantastic, Match Of The Year candidates.
It’s what I just mentioned… MJF and Ospreay faced each other at All In(nit) 2024… that really stands out to me right now. Could that be a reason why we aren’t getting those two in the main event of this year’s event? You have to assume it has at least crossed Tony Khan’s mind at some point. Right off the bat, if I put myself in the position of someone who was trying to put the All In(nit) card together, my first instinct would be to put both Ospreay and MJF in a different match than what we ran the last time we were in that venue.
At the same time, Omega and Ospreay have faced each other in singles competition three times, but two of them came during their time with New Japan, and the last time it happened was a little over three years ago. Kenny Omega vs Will Ospreay is a fresher matchup, and it carries more of an appeal to the target demographic of the AEW fan base. Earlier, I mentioned Kenny being someone that came along and helped to rewrite Dave Meltzer’s star-rating scale, but Mr. Ospreay has since come along and rewritten the rewrites. Both Omega and Ospreay are on the top-25 highest-rated active wrestlers list on Cagematch right now. These are things that may not mean much of anything to you reading these words, but the Cagematch visitors and the Dave Meltzer opinion-getters of the world are the EXACT people Tony Khan has been catering to for the entire seven-and-a-half year existence of AEW.
So, now we sit here after both WWE and AEW not only presented World Title matches on television (Netflix… you get my point), but also made some major changes at the relative last minute to some of the biggest wrestling events of the year.
No matter what, you’re not going to please everyone, obviously. Sami Zayn, MJF, Cody Rhodes, CM Punk, Kenny Omega, Gunther, Seth Rollins, R-Truth, Max Caster, Marina Shafir, me… no matter who is the World Champion anywhere, at least a portion of the fan base is going to find something to complain about.
With what we were given, though… CM Punk and Kenny Omega becoming World Champions and getting the companies behind them… I think it’s a positive move in the right direction, for WWE, for AEW, for SummerSlam, and for All In(nit).
What say you? Looking at the recent World Title changes, and the creative direction that both WWE and AEW are going in now, what are your thoughts on everything? If it were up to you, who would be the Undisputed WWE Champion and the AEW World Champion as we move to August’s massive shows? As always, feel free to hit me up in the comments section below, on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage), or on Bluesky (@aaronhyden.bsky.social), and let me know what’s on your mind.
Now, let’s get to my Weekly Power Rankings before closing things out with the list of songs I was listening to as I put this column together.
Weekly Power Rankings
MJF vs Kenny Omega: An absolutely fantastic match that would’ve fit right in as the main event of an AEW pay-per-view. As I just mentioned above, I think it was the right decision to have a title switch here, making the main event (barring another surprise change in the coming weeks) of All In(nit) even bigger.
Sami Zayn vs CM Punk: An absolutely fantastic match that would’ve fit right in as the main event of a WWE pay-per-view. As I just mentioned above, I think it was the right decision to have a title switch here, making one of the main events (barring another surprise change in the coming weeks) of SummerSlam even bigger.
Konosuke Takeshita vs Kyle Fletcher: There are 52 weeks in a calendar year. In the span of 52 weeks, this match would’ve taken the top spot in my Weekly Power Rankings in at least 30-something of those weeks, if not more. We were really spoiled with big-time pro wrestling on television (and Netflix) this week.
Mark Davis vs “Speedball” Mike Bailey: Another great wrestling match on television. What a week. I’m really glad to see the in-ring hot streak of Mark Davis continue. At one point, it looked like his career could be dying. He couldn’t stay healthy, and his former stablemates, Will Ospreay and Kyle Fletcher, were moving on to become huge stars without him. Now, he is beginning to become a star on his own, and I’m glad to see it. He has been busting his ass, and it’s paying off.
Kendal Grey vs Nattie: Another week, another chance for me to sing the praises of Kendal Grey. She is so, so good, and has gotten that good in such a short amount of time. I’d love to see her on Raw or Smackdown, but it’s time for her to elevate the NXT Women’s Title with her work.
Chris Jericho vs Tommaso Ciampa: The feud with Ciampa has been a much better usage of Chris Jericho than his initial return feud with Ricochet. I’m just saying.
Trick Williams & Lil Yachty: One, all I hear when Lil Yachty speaks is Andre 3000. Two, Trick’s face here when he first saw the legacy championship belt that Boat presented him was really funny to me. Most importantly, though, Trick’s line delivery of “LIKE HOW THEY DID FOR JOHN CENA BACK IN THE DAY?!?” slayed me. Him sounding like a little boy getting what he wanted for Christmas was great. I don’t really care either way about the legacy belt. Yes, it’s gaudy and tacky. No, it probably isn’t going to sell a ton of replicas to fans, especially with a $700 price tag attached to it. I do think people are overreacting to it, though. Wrestling fans overreacting to something?!? That NEVER happens. The title is a limited edition of only 250 made, but people are acting as if WWE has hundreds of thousands of them created and sitting in a warehouse, and that only selling a handful of them is going to bankrupt TKO completely. Relax, folks.
“Hangman” Adam Page: It was good to see him back after he, according to the lower-third graphic during his entrance, had a vasectomy during his time away from the ring. That’s good news for the two children Hangman and his wife already have, as they won’t have to fight anyone extra for their slice of the inheritance when their father passes away. Anyway, the overall AEW product is better when Hangman is around, so hooray.
Finn Balor vs Tama Tonga: A fun match between two men that know each other very well, and it seemed to pull the crowd in more and more as it went on, even if the outcome was never really ever in question.
Bron Breakker & Austin Theory: Should the World Tag Team Titles have been taken off of the Street Profits so soon after they won them? Of course not. Should every Vision match feature 12 different types of interference on a weekly basis? Of course not. Is the pairing of Austin Theory and his new on-screen love interest, a newly heel Maxxine Dupri, going to go anywhere? Of course not. Where was I going with all this? Oh, yeah… congratulations to the brand new WWE World Tag Team Champions. I guess. Or whatever.
Baron Corbin: I would’ve rather seen him return with his MLW tag partner, Donovan Dijak, but it was cool to see Baron make his WWE return after a little more than a year-and-a-half away. Time will tell what happens to his new run, but it appears that he’s going after the United States Title after he interfered in the Trick Williams vs Carmelo Hayes match. Either that, or he’s going after black guys, which would be far more problematic.
This Week’s Playlist: “Makin’ Me A Liar” by Kameron Marlowe… “I, Remember” by The Dream… “Still The Same” by Juicy J & Project Pat… “Bank Of” by Juicy J, Project Pat & That Mexican OT… “Wasting Time” by Juicy J, Project Pat & Anderson .Paak… “Choose Wisely” by Juicy J, Project Pat, Killer Mike & Anthony Q… “99 Build Freestyle” by J. Cole… “Sanctified In Scars” by DevilDriver… “Divide” by The Plot In You… “Left Behind” by The Plot In You… “Folded” by Kehlani… “What You Need” by Tems… “High Key” by Ari Lennox… “Richest” by Muni Long… “So Into You” by Tamia… “Rain” by SWV… “I’m Your Baby Tonight” by Whitney Houston… “Falling” by Keahiwai… “Promised Love” by Keahiwai… “Honey Baby” by Three Plus… “Do What Lovers Do” by Three Plus… “Is This Love” by Three Plus… “Last Night” by Ho’okoa… “Masese” by Kapena… “Danny’s Song” by Kapena
