5 Ups & 4 Downs From WWE SummerSlam 2025 - Saturday (Results & Review)

A mixed bag of a show with a shocking conclusion after Punk, Gunther rule the ring.

WWE SummerSlam 2025 CM Punk
WWE

Heading into the main event of SummerSlam Saturday, WWE’s biggest show of the season was teetering between mediocre and decent.

The first five matches of the announced six-match card had more or less split the difference, with the three tag matches more or less delivering and the two singles bouts falling short. But then CM Punk and Gunther stepped in the ring and put on an absolute masterpiece of a main event. If ever there was a time for a “This is wrestling” chant at a WWE show, this match was it. The World Heavyweight Championship bout served as a reminder that even the average WWE fan, who might be more excited about “yeeting” along with Jey Uso than watching a technical classic, can be wowed by good, old-fashioned professional wrestling.

That match, and what ensued afterward, was more than enough to elevate the first night of SummerSlam, but fans would be forgiven if they chose to watch the opening tag match, maybe the women’s tag title match, and then skipped straight to the main event.

The first two-night SummerSlam felt like it had filler content, not just the copious amounts of dead space before and between matches, but a couple of the matches themselves didn’t give off “major PLE” energy. Sunday’s card looks decidedly better – on paper – provided John Cena doesn’t tank another main event, but for now, Saturday’s show is in the books, so dive in and see how things shook out.

Let’s get to it.

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Contributor
Contributor

Scott is a former journalist and longtime wrestling fan who was smart enough to abandon WCW during the Monday Night Wars the same time as the Radicalz. He fondly remembers watching WrestleMania III, IV, V and VI and Saturday Night's Main Event, came back to wrestling during the Attitude Era, and has been a consumer of sports entertainment since then. He's written for WhatCulture for more than a decade, establishing the Ups and Downs articles for WWE Raw and WWE PPVs/PLEs and composing pieces on a variety of topics.