CM Punk will defend the Undisputed WWE Championship against Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam, following a direct challenge and acceptance on "Friday Night SmackDown." The confrontation, which occurred in Oklahoma City, led to SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis officially booking the title match for the upcoming event.
Punk, who recently won the Undisputed WWE Championship, entered the ring and alluded to a past statement where he claimed to be ready for any championship opportunity that might arise. While he listed several potential challengers from the SmackDown roster, Rhodes made an unannounced appearance.
"I don’t think you and I can run away from each other anymore," Punk stated to Rhodes. Rhodes responded in kind, setting the stage for the championship encounter. Punk accepted the challenge with a simple "when," and Aldis swiftly made the match official.
SummerSlam is scheduled to take place on August 1 and 2 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. This will be Punk's first Undisputed WWE Championship defense against Rhodes.
Before SummerSlam, Punk and Rhodes will participate in a tag team match at Saturday Night’s Main Event in New York City. This match was set up after Gunther, who had demanded a championship match against Punk, was instead booked to team with Sami Zayn against Punk and Rhodes. Gunther reacted negatively to this decision, attacking Aldis. Rhodes attempted to intervene and confront Gunther after the segment aired, but Gunther departed.
Sami Zayn, in a separate interview with Fox News Digital, described his current character work as a "choose your own adventure" scenario. He was one of the wrestlers CM Punk had mentioned as a potential challenger after winning the championship. Punk had defeated Zayn for the Undisputed WWE Championship.