CM Punk is finally back and better than ever on WWE Raw, in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois, no less. It’s been a while since we’ve seen the “Second City Saint.” But after his brief hiatus, he has finally come home and made a huge impact on his first night back in months.
WWE Raw in Chicago is CM Punk
We haven’t seen CM Punk since WrestleMania 42, wherein he put on one hell of a show against Roman Reigns for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Unfortunately for the “Best in the World,” not even his best was enough to derail the warpath of the “OTC.”
Punk was nowhere to be found since that day, but he did drop some hints on social media, as we saw an even more intimidating CM Punk, all jacked and in the best shape of his career. Apparently, Punk was lying and waiting for his opportunity to strike. After Gunther took out Cody Rhodes ahead of his Undisputed WWE Title Match earlier in the night, Sami Zayn still needed an opponent for tonight.
That’s when the rumblings were so much louder, and “Cult of Personality” hit to ring in the WWE return of CM Punk. Sami Zayn was astounded by his return, but he had one job to do, and that’s to hopefully retain the Undisputed WWE Title. The two went to absolute war in this one, with them trading blows throughout the match.
The Allstate Arena was on fire tonight. Zayn almost got Punk with the same move he beat Rhodes with at Night of Champions 2026, but Punk kicked out. Late in the match, Zayn even hit Punk with a GTS, but CM Punk managed to kick out. CM Punk put the nail in the coffin by hitting his own version of the Helluva Kick and showing Zayn how it’s done with a GTS to become #AndNEW Undisputed WWE Champion.
One heck of a return for CM Punk in Chicago, becoming the Undisputed WWE Champion in his first night back. As Michael Cole said it, we’re in for a second installment of the “Summer of Punk,” as he more than likely heads to WWE SmackDown to be it’s standard-bearer.
Final Thoughts
Let’s get the big elephant out of the room, but Sami Zayn deserved better. It was such a big feel-good moment when he finally won the big one. While we can never take it away from Sami Zayn, having his name etched in the history books, he deserved to run with the title for more than just a week. Here’s hoping Zayn actually gets a real title reign down the line.
Now, CM Punk. Punk has always been good for fan interest, and it’s a smart move that they brought him back in the Allstate Arena in Chicago. You could not have dreamt a better scenario than this. Despite Zayn receiving the short end of the stick, it does kick off CM Punk’s reign as Undisputed WWE Champion on the highest of notes. We’ve had two versions of the “Summer of Punk,” one in Ring of Honor and in WWE in 2011, and they’ve always been good.
We hope that Sami Zayn will be in the picture for this, and they have an anthology of matches throughout Summer 2026 since there is real heat for WWE taking the title off Zayn so prematurely.
