With the ever-opinion-splitting CM Punk causing quite the stir by making his grand WWE return last week, defeating Sami Zayn for the WWE Championship in the process, there’s now word on how Punk’s big win was received backstage.
Having been entirely absent from WWE programming since the Raw after WrestleMania 42, the Second City Saint returned on last week’s Raw, stepping in to replace Cody Rhodes in the main event after Gunther had taken Cody out in the opening moments of the show. And by the time all was said and done last Monday night, Sami Zayn’s run as the WWE Champion was brought to an end at just nine days.
While that caused a majorly split reaction amongst fans online – Zayn’s run being so short, Punk winning the title in his first night back – it sounds like the reaction from those within WWE has been vastly different.
When that topic came up during the latest Fightful Select Answers Q&A, Sean Ross Sapp said there hasn’t been any “uproar” in WWE at this situation. It was noted that there likely would have been some internal upset if CM Punk would’ve immediately won a World Championship when he returned to the company in 2023, and there are still some people in the company with “sour feelings” towards Punk, but that the majority of talent work “amicably” with him and appreciate that he’s a big part of the company.
As that WWE Championship win now means CM Punk is officially a part of the SmackDown roster, last week’s Smackers confirmed that it will be Punk defending that prize against Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam over the weekend of August 1st and 2nd.
