There is no doubt in any of our minds that John Cena doesn’t leave Riyadh, Saudi Arabia without the Undisputed WWE Championship in tow. A full 100% of us here at WINC believe the “Never Seen 17” will defeat CM Punk at Night of Champions in what will likely main event the afternoon. While fans thought the rivals’ final altercation would come at Money in the Bank, where they had their most historic match back in 2011 when Punk “walked out” of the company with the WWE Championship, Punk wouldn’t challenge Cena until the June 9 episode of “WWE Raw,” two days after MITB.

Cena quickly agreed to the match, but only if it happened in Saudi Arabia. Punk, who has been infamously against WWE holding shows in the kingdom, has decided to travel to Riyadh for the first time since rejoining WWE in November 2023, to attempt to take the title off Cena. It will be the first time the pair have squared off one-on-one since February 2013, when they faced each other on an episode of “Raw.” Despite Punk going back on his word, which to be fair, was given when he wasn’t working for WWE, to travel to Saudi Arabia, we 100% still think Cena gets the victory in the match.

That’s due in part to our prediction for the 2025 men’s King of the Ring tournament, which we believe Cody Rhodes wins. The pair are likely to face off at SummerSlam with Rhodes taking the title back, possibly kickstarting Cena’s redemption tour as a babyface in some way. As of this writing, before “WWE SmackDown” in Riyadh on Friday, Cena has only 17 dates left during his retirement tour. 

Money in the Bank holder Seth Rollins continued to call out Punk on Monday’s episode of “Raw,” so we believe Punk is headed toward challenging “The Visionary” for the World Heavyweight Championship sometime in the future.

Written by Daisy Ruth