Dave Meltzer Addresses CM Punk Working WWE Saudi Show Night Of Champions

CM Punk will be making his first trip to Saudi Arabia at the end of June as he will challenge John Cena for the Undisputed WWE Championship at Night of Champions, but given Punk's previous stance on how he feels about events in the country, a lot of people have wondered why he's going now rather than in the past. On a recent edition of "Wrestling Observer Radio," Dave Meltzer simply stated that Punk going to Saudi Arabia has been in the works for a while, but there is still time for him to decline the trip if that's what he really wants.

"He could not go if he really wanted to not go," Meltzer said. "He was going months ago. I had already asked about that when, a couple of months ago, when the show was first talked about and he was in the original promo package and then he was taken out of the promo package and I asked 'Am I supposed to see when Seth Rollins replaced him in that promo package that he's not going?' And it's like 'No, he's going.' So it's been known that he's going for months, and probably all along. I don't know if he ever voiced any issue with going at any point since he signed, but he has not in months I know that, so he's going."

Meltzer touched on the fact that many people see Punk as a hypocrite for going to Saudi Arabia after being very vocal about his opinions on the matter, as well as how outspoken he's been about things like LGBTQ+ rights and women's rights, topics he openly talked about in AEW. However, Meltzer simply stated that times change, everyone goes to Saudi Arabia for the money, and that he is a big enough star to say that he doesn't want to go without being punished if he really wanted to.

Please credit "Wrestling Observer Radio" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.