Conflicting Stories On CM Punk Wrestling At Night Of Champions In Saudi Arabia (WWE News)
Is "blood money" in CM Punk's future?
A recent teaser for WWE's upcoming Night of Champions Premium Live Event, aired during Backlash, featured CM Punk. Naturally, this led many fans to believe that he will be appearing in some capacity in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on June 28, 2025.
Conflicting information has since surfaced. The official Riyadh Season X account posted a similar trailer, but CM Punk was not featured in it. He has been replaced by Seth Rollins. Meanwhile, the reputable Mike Johnson of PW Insider has posted a brief Q&A update on that website. He was asked whether Punk will be working the show; Johnson answered "Well, card is always subject to change, but I would certainly believe that he's going to work that PPV".
CM Punk himself has spoken very briefly and not definitively on the matter, saying on Instagram Live that he doesn't hate coming to Saudi because he's never been to Saudi.
Punk and Johnson were asked these questions, of course, because Punk in recent years - before he re-signed with WWE - has expressed disdain about WWE's controversial partnership with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Most infamously, in response to a dig aimed at him by the Miz, Punk told his old professional rival to "suck a blood money covered d*ck in Saudi Arabia you dork".
A lot of Punk's critics are braced...
Opinion - CM Punk Is A Worker
CM Punk is a worker. Everybody in wrestling is. Working - presenting a fictionalised character to the public - is their profession and skill-set. This is not derogatory. Punk is different, or at least, he is perceived to be different, because he was once performed under an anti-establishment persona. He did this while working for WWE between 2011 and 2012. He also directed jabs at WWE during his AEW tenure - then again, who hasn't? - but, when he returned to WWE in 2023, he fired shots against AEW. Very recently, Miro/Rusev did the exact same thing after his recent jump. This is what they do; they work.
Again, in Punk's case, this is complicated by the fact that he was once so outspoken against WWE, when not performing in character, that he found himself in significant legal bother. But he's not doing anything virtually all of his peers do. This is a cynical read on it, and not a defence of CM Punk, but as a general rule of thumb, it's best not to take a word any wrestler says seriously - at least when they're trying to charm an audience.