7 Ups & 5 Downs For WWE Raw (14 July - Results & Review)

3. Old Man Punk Comes Through

CM Punk has not exactly been on fire in 2025. The Second City Saint has had a pretty uneven year, and his feud with John Cena hasn’t really done him any favors in looking like he’s still at the top of his game.

Knowing that, it was no shock that Punk entered the gauntlet last to battle a worn-down Bron Breakker. The two had a pretty good mini-match to close out the gauntlet, with Breakker showing off his gas tank while Punk hung in there to ultimately earn a World Heavyweight Championship match against Gunther at SummerSlam.

The gauntlet match was a good palate cleanser from Punk’s Night of Champions match against Cena, and it set the table for what could be some in-ring redemption for the Voice of the Voiceless. If anyone can serve as a great foil for Punk in 2025, it’s the Ring General. The match almost certainly will be the better of the two men’s world championship matches at SummerSlam, and it could objectively be really good, given the minds of both men involved.

Also, with Seth Rollins down with an injury and the clock ticking on Punk’s in-ring career, it’s as good of a time as any to book some of these “dream” matches. Maybe this was the plan all along before Rollins blew out his knee, but Seth being sidelined only heightens the importance of Punk being more like the Punk of yesteryear rather than an older, more broken-down version.