Ahead of competing in Saudi Arabia for the first time ever, CM Punk is apologizing for a “mean” tweet he posted five years ago.
Punk received a largely negative response from the Saudi fans today at a pre-Night of Champions kickoff event hosted by WWE. One of the fans in the crowd was a man named Mohammed who asked Punk to apologize for his 2020 tweet where he told The Miz to “go suck a blood money covered d**k in Saudi Arabia.”
Un pibe random le pide a gritos a CM Punk que se disculpe por su tuit de 2019. "Era un tuit de meme a The Miz. Me disculpo a The Miz. ¿Te llamas Mohamed? Me disculpo de forma sincera".
“This guy wants me to apologize for a mean tweet I wrote six years ago. Hey, listen, legitimately had nothing to do with Saudi Arabia,” Punk responded. “I woke up and I was crabby and I wrote a mean tweet to The Miz. And I apologized to The Miz. And sir, what’s your name? Mohammed? Mohammed, I sincerely apologize to you and all of Saudi Arabia.”
Punk sent out that tweet during his seven-year absence from wrestling. Last year, Miz said he and Punk had a really good conversation and buried the hatchet in 2023 prior to Punk’s WWE return.
“I am not perfect by any means,” Punk said at today’s kickoff event. “Sometimes as human beings, we screw up. The beautiful thing is, everything is a lesson learned. And now here I am and you have invited me to your country and I am grateful to be here. Thank you very much.”
After Punk finished his promo at today’s event, he spoke privately with the fan Mohammed and the two hugged.
Punk is challenging John Cena for the Undisputed WWE Championship at Night of Champions in Riyadh this Saturday. During the build to the PLE, their has storyline referenced Punk’s seeming reluctance to wrestle in Saudi Arabia, with Cena choosing Saudi as the location for the match in an attempt to prove that Punk is a hypocrite.
Both Punk and Cena will be on SmackDown in Riyadh today on the eve of Night of Champions.
WWE’s Saudi events are part of a long-term partnership the promotion has with the government of Saudi Arabia. The business relationship between the two sides began in 2018 with WWE receiving approximately $50 million for each PLE.
The lead story is about the retirement of now-former UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones — one of the greatest fighters in the Octagon and one of its most controversial figures outside of it.
Dave previews this weekend’s WWE Night of Champions and looks at the wild road to get to Saudi Arabia.
He also recaps last week’s Fantasticamania, NJPW’s new big signing that they hope will lead them into the future, and all the other news of the wrestling week.
A new match has been added to Saturday’s WWE Night of Champions PLE set for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Following a brawl on Monday’s WWE Raw, Rhea Ripley and Raquel Rodriguez will go one-on-one in a street fight at Night of Champions.
The street fight is one of two new matches added to Saturday’s lineup during Monday’s Raw, joining a Sami Zayn vs. Karrion Kross matchup.
The previously scheduled Dominik Mysterio vs. AJ Styles Intercontinental title match was pulled from the show with Raw GM Adam Pearce announcing during Raw that Mysterio had suffered an injury and would not be able to defend the title this week. Pearce assured Styles that he is still next in line for a title shot when Mysterio is able to defend.
The updated card for Saturday:
WWE Night of Champions, Saturday, June 28, 1 p.m. Eastern time —
Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena defends against CM Punk
King of the Ring finals: Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton
Queen of the Ring finals: Jade Cargill vs. Asuka
United States Champion Jacob Fatu defends against Solo Sikoa
A wild travel day in the Middle East saw many WWE production employees that flew in early for this Saturday’s Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia stuck at the Qatar airport.
Earlier on Monday, the airspace around Qatar was temporarily shut down to ensure the safety of both its citizens and visitors. That came after both the United States and the United Kingdom instructed their citizens in Qatar (who borders Saudi Arabia to the south) to shelter in place until further notice.
Our Bryan Alvarez, who first reported that WWE employees were stuck at the Qatar airport, later reported that some of the early production crew that intended to head to Saudi Arabia eventually made it into the country.
He then added a quote from a source: “The show is definitely happening in Saudi.”
Despite all the craziness, it remained business as usual for WWE/TKO with Night of Champions set for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The company hasn’t publicly commented or replied to media requests about any changes in plan due to the fallout caused by the U.S. bombing several nuclear sites in Iran over the weekend. According to the Associated Press, Iran retaliated Monday with a missile attack on a U.S. military base in Qatar but no casualties were reported.
There are conflicting reports Monday night that both Iran and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire.
In later reporting regarding an alternative location for Night of Champions, Alvarez noted that, “The belief is because of where the production trucks are in the U.S. that if they don’t go to Saudi, they’d find somewhere between Ohio and Pennsylvania for the PLE, and apparently 4–5 options are available. Not the PC.”
WWE is holding Raw Monday in Columbus, Ohio, before departing for Saudi Arabia. They will hold Friday’s SmackDown in Riyadh before Saturday’s PLE.
The United States Championship will be on the line at WWE Night of Champions.
As revealed during Friday’s SmackDown, United States Champion Jacob Fatu and former Bloodline stablemate Solo Sikoa will go head-to-head for the title at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, June 28.
The match was confirmed in a backstage promo by Fatu on Friday’s SmackDown following an -ring confrontation between the two earlier in the episode.
Fatu helped cost Sikoa the Money in the Bank contract earlier in this month in retribution for Sikoa belittling Fatu over a period of months.
Five matches are on tap for Night of Champions. The current lineup:
WWE Night of Champions, Saturday, June 28, 1 p.m. Eastern time —
Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena defends against CM Punk
United States Champion Jacob Fatu defends against Solo Sikoa
Intercontinental Champion Dominik Mysterio defends against AJ Styles
King of the Ring tournament finals: Randy Orton vs. Cody Rhodes or Jey Uso
Queen of the Ring tournament finals: Asuka vs. Jade Cargill or Roxanne Perez
A match for the Intercontinental title is set for Saudi Arabia.
It was made official on Raw that Dominik Mysterio would be defending the Intercontinental title against AJ Styles on June 28 in Riyadh. This comes following an altercation the two had on Monday’s show in Green Bay.
After Styles defeated Judgment Day member JD McDonagh, Mysterio attacked Styles, who ended up getting the upper hand and sent Mysterio out of the ring. He posed with Mysterio’s championship as the champion retreated to the back with Finn Balor.
Later backstage, Styles handed the title back to Aldis who told Styles he’ll get a chance at keeping the title if he was able to defeat Mysterio at Night of Champions.
One of the greatest rivalries in WWE history will be renewed at Night of Champions in Saudi Arabia on June 28.
As announced on Monday’s WWE Raw, CM Punk will challenge John Cena for the Undisputed WWE Championship at Night of Champions in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday, June 28. The bout was set up with an in-ring promo between the two:
It will be the first time that Punk has wrestled in Saudi Arabia after being an outspoken critic of WWE’s relationship with the Saudi government before he returned to the company in 2023, including a 2020 social media exchange with The Miz where he referenced “blood money” in reference to the WWE-Saudi relationship. Miz and Punk have since patched up their differences.
The Punk vs. Cena match will be the first singles match between the two since a February 2013 number one contender’s bout on Raw in the build to WrestleMania 29, memorable for Punk using a piledriver.
Night of Champions will also feature the finals of the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments, with the winners earning title shots at SummerSlam.
WWE Night of Champions, Saturday, June 28 —
Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena defends against CM Punk
WWE has revealed the details for the 2025 King and Queen of the Ring tournaments.
In a joint announcement on Friday’s SmackDown, storyline general managers Adam Pearce and Nick Aldis confirmed that the King and Queen of the Ring tournaments are returning this year, with the finals set for the Night of Champions event in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, June 28.
The winners of this year’s tournaments will once again earn a shot at their brand’s top title at SummerSlam.
Brand-exclusive four-way qualifying matches will comprise the first round of the tournament and take place on WWE programming beginning “next week,” presumably on Monday’s Raw. The second round will feature Raw vs. SmackDown semifinals singles matches, with the finals to be held at Night of Champions.
Gunter and Nia Jax won the 2024 King and Queen of the Ring tournaments, and both went on to capture gold at SummerSlam with Gunther defeating Damian Priest for the World Heavyweight title, and Jax beating Bayley for the WWE Women’s Championship at the event.
Andrew Zarian and Rich Stambolian are back for another episode of Mat Men.
On Wednesday, former two-time AEW World Champion CM Punk was officially announced for the debut episode of AEW Collision on Saturday, June 17th from the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. We talk about what it means for that show and what are the expectations when it comes to viewership.
In case you didn’t hear, both AEW and WWE ran big events last weekend. We break down last Saturday’s WWE Night of Champions and the big Bloodline angle that developed in the main event. We then talked about Sunday’s AEW Double or Nothing, what we liked and what we didn’t which includes the overuse of gimmicks.
Plus, we talk a new WWE title, Roman Reigns’ summer schedule, a packed AEW Rampage tonight, your questions, and more.
It’s a brand new We’re Live, Pal! as Andrew Zarian and I talk about the latest topics in pro wrestling.
I am back from Las Vegas and give shoutouts for folks who attended the F4W Convention.
Andrew and I talk in length about what we liked and didn’t like from WWE’s Night of Champions and AEW’s Double or Nothing which both happened this past weekend.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including all the shows this past weekend, mostly WWE Night of Champions and AEW Double or Nothing. Tons to talk about in this fallout episode, so check it out~!
I am back for another Sunday edition of Wrestling Observer Live, joined by Nick Hausman from HausOfWrestling.com to discuss both Saturday’s WWE Night of Champions and Sunday’s AEW Double or Nothing.
We start with WWE’s Saturday show in Saudi Arabia which included Brock Lesnar defeating Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins winning the revived WWE World Heavyweight title, and the big show ending angle involving the Usos and undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns.
We also talk Sunday’s AEW Double or Nothing. Do we get a big show closing angle perhaps even the return of CM Punk?
We also talk the official announcement of AEW Collision, Punk fatigue in AEW, and plenty more.
Based on what we saw at Saturday’s WWE Night of Champions, the end of tThe Bloodline may be near.
Or, at least, they are making progress towards that.
Jimmy Uso was the latest to turn on undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns, superkicking him after Reigns pie faced him during Reigns & Solo Sikoa’s challenge of WWE Tag Team Champions Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn.
The Usos had accidentally superkicked Sikoa after saving Reigns from Owens who was about to put Reigns through a table. Jey Uso was shocked by Jimmy Uso’s actions, but eventually left with his brother as Sikoa was pinned by Zayn. The show ended with the champions heckling Reigns, who sulked to the back.
The turn capped off what ended up being a pretty good show with everything delivering in terms of in-ring work. The main event in itself was probably the best match on the show in terms of drama. It’s good that The Bloodline storyline is finally going somewhere after weeks of teasing dissension.
What’s most interesting is that it’s playing into the longer storyline of Reigns and Cody Rhodes as Rhodes told Reigns that The Bloodline would fracture once he won the undisputed WWE Universal title. Even with Rhodes’ loss, it looks like that is happening regardless.
**********
Seth Rollins did capture the WWE World Heavyweight title, the bronze medal in WWE, after pinning AJ Styles. While it was a good match, perhaps very good, I don’t know if it was a great match. It was your usual classic main-event style WWE match with a strong emphasis on near falls and finishers.
I’m not sure what’s next for Rollins as I don’t feel like he’s in the position of being the strongest character on the brand (that goes to either Owens & Zayn or Rhodes). Maybe if they bring Drew McIntyre back as a heel, that may be another long-term storyline that could work.
**********
Rhodes lost his rematch against Brock Lesnar, passing out after a second kimura attempt after valiantly fighting the first. This was short, but fast-paced and also dramatic. Despite losing, they gave Rhodes a ton, using his titanium cast to give him an advantage despite “being injured.” Some people were upset by this loss, but unlike WrestleMania, I can see why they did this as they are building to a third match, perhaps either next month in London or at SummerSlam. Don’t fret, folks: the story continues and will for a long, long while.
**********
Asuka won the WWE Raw Women’s championship, defeating Bianca Belair in another good match. I think the most interesting part of this match is Belair losing the title, which she had held since last year’s SummerSlam. They had already gotten the line out that she was the longest-reigning Women’s champion of the modern era, so once she hit that, the title run became endangered. I don’t think this is the end of the feud, but we’ll see.
Rhea Ripley destroyed Natalya in seconds to retain the WWE SmackDown Women’s title. There’s not much to say about this as my best guess is a longer rematch, either on TV or the next pay-per-view.
Becky Lynch and Trish Stratus had their first-ever match….and it was good! Stratus can still have a good match at this point in her career and it helps a lot that she had this match with Lynch. The finish saw Stratus win after Zoey Stark attacked Lynch, allowing Stratus to hit the Stratusfaction. So, there’s clearly an alliance there and this feud must continue, which seems to the the theme from this show. We’ll likely see the blowoff at SummerSlam as the rumors had it a month or so ago.
WWE Intercontinental Gunther defeated Mustafa Ali. That was a given and for what they were given, it was fine. To me, it’s just weird WWE has a lot of these matches where someone lucks into a title match, then they go out of their way to tell you that these people have no chance of winning. They did it last month with Zelina Vega and now this. This was fine, but not to the level of recent high-profile Gunther matches.
**********
These shows are always going to be against the backdrop of WWE working with a country with flagrant human rights abuses that many people seem to look the other way on because of money and sports. It’s kinda hard to ignore when during every other segment, Michael Cole put over the rich history of Jeddah, which if you didn’t know, is also a modern cosmopolitan city. I do know this now because it was mentioned multiple times throughout this show.
Keep in mind this was the same country that tortured and imprisoned women as recently as 2018 for driving, and women wrestlers were not allowed to appear on the shows until two years into their deal. Not exactly cosmopolitan.
With that said, the wrestling on the show was good, even great at times, and the crowd was generally hot for everything at all the right moments. WWE television is middling at most, but to their credit their premium live events, or whatever you want to call them, have usually delivered, as was the case with Night of Champions.
The Bloodline saga reached a new point at WWE Night of Champions.
Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer discussed the latest wrinkle in the storyline on Sunday’s Wrestling Observer Radio. The end of Night of Champions saw Jimmy Uso turn on Roman Reigns after Reigns piefaced him and confronted his brother Jey. Although Jey seemed stunned by what Jimmy did, he ultimately left without choosing a side.
“Jey didn’t give which side he’s on,” Meltzer said. “Jimmy and Roman split. Jey is in the middle, and that’s where everything sort of seems to stand…it seems like it first is Roman and Jimmy, then Jey has to make a choice.”
The turn sets up a new match for Roman Reigns, would could be the start of many new matches as the Bloodline continues to implode.
“We got Cody kind of handled for a while, Roman is clearly going to go Roman vs. Jimmy, then Roman vs. Both Usos, then you could go back to Roman vs. Cody…they have a year’s worth of storylines,” Alvarez said.
Meltzer suggested that Reigns should have taken the pin, with Bryan explaining that since Reigns said he was going to win the Tag Team titles, he should have been the one that failed.
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back with tons to talk about from beautiful Las Vegas, including the WWE Night of Champions PPV with a full recap of all the matches and angles, New Japan Best of the Super Juniors semi-finals, AEW Double or Nothing preview, ratings, news, lagging Q&A questions from the afternoon and tons more. A fun show as always so check it out~!
Timestamps:
Start: The Bloodline storyline from Night of Champions
5:27: Full Night of Champions rundown
20:04: BOSJ semfinals recap
27:28: AEW Double or Nothing preview
34:52: Collision first episode ticket sales, Shibata no longer LA Dojo coach, ratings
41:14: SmackDown segments announced for next week, Jordynne Grace’s Impact contract expires
