The main event of SummerSlam Night One more than delivered on its promise, crowning not one but two new World Heavyweight Champions after a 30-minute bloody battle. 

Not a single man involved in the proceeding came off worse for their part, with Gunther stamping the life out of Punk with CM Punk for half an hour, constantly crushing any attempt made by the “Straight Edge Superstar” to get back into the affair. He chopped Punk’s chest raw, to the extent it appeared to be bleeding at one stage. He delivered several moves that have been finishers to previous title bouts, including his powerbomb and frog splash, and exchanged Sharpshooters with the well-documented student of Bret Hart. But despite his best efforts, nothing he was throwing was enough to keep Punk out of the match, and even as he jeered at the man he said used to be the “Best in the World” he found his opponent to be defiant to the very last second. 

Punk was victimized more than he had been in matches with Brock Lesnar, the Undertaker, or even his UFC fights, and yet still he found a way to get through because of one thing and one thing alone; Gunther’s hubris cost him the title, celebrating atop the announcer’s desk while the match was still ongoing. As the adage goes, he played a stupid game and won a stupid prize, face-planting the desk as Punk pulled his legs out from beneath him. Gunther was revealed to have been busted open for the spot, providing the match with the blood that felt truly earned in a big championship fight, and Punk rallied just one more time. It would take two GTS to finally put the “Ring General” down, allowing Punk to slay his monster and claim his sixth WWE World title, his first in 12 years. But he wouldn’t hold it for long. 

Seth Rollins has been portrayed as a master architect throughout his time with WWE, exemplified a decade ago as he cashed in the Money in the Bank briefcase to steal the title at WrestleMania 31, and earlier this year when he banded with Paul Heyman to screw both Punk and Roman Reigns in the main event of WrestleMania 40. He went on to add another crowning moment in that vein, emerging on crutches to eventually reveal he had been feigning the injury to his knee, running down to the ring and cashing in his Money in the Bank contract to steal the title from his arch-rival in Punk. 

What an excellent way of opening SummerSlam weekend and creating a question coming out of it, with two guys sure to stake their claim at a rematch when all is said and done. The question is where the story goes from here. In any case, this was an enthralling main event match and closing angle, and the sort of stuff that separates professional wrestling from any other entertainment medium, for better or worse. 

Written by Max Everett