Mark Henry & Bully Ray Disagree On Who Wins WHC At WWE SummerSlam 2025

Coming off losses at WWE WrestleMania 41, Saturday Night's Main Event, and Night of Champions, CM Punk found himself back in the winner's column when he survived a number contender's gauntlet match on "WWE Raw." With this victory, Punk will now challenge for the WWE World Heavyweight Champion at SummerSlam, where he, according to WWE Hall of Famer Mark Henry, is a near lock to dethrone the reigning champion, "The Ring General" GUNTHER.

"I can't see a place where Punk doesn't win in order for him to be looked at," Henry said on "Busted Open Radio." "Perception is reality in pro wrestling. If you don't perceive Punk to be a championship-caliber guy and he loses again, then what's the perception of what Punk's value [is]?"

Prior to the July 14 episode of "Raw," Punk's last televised win came on February 3, when he defeated Sami Zayn in an Elimination Chamber qualifying match. Since then, he's endured six consecutive losses on WWE programming, one of which involved the Undisputed WWE Championship and John Cena at WWE NOC.

"You have to build him," Henry said. "Wrestling is a build business. You grow on the sweat of other people's demise. It's unfortunate, but that's the way you make these omelettes. You gotta break the eggs. Everybody that's at the top, one loss is not going to hurt you. All you have to do is beat another guy and you're right back in. Now, if you see a guy took three or four consecutive losses against top tier talent, they've moved on from you."

In Punk's latest promo on "Raw," he asserted his "need" to hold the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. According to WWE Hall of Famer Bully Ray, though, that doesn't make his upcoming title opportunity a need-to-win.

"I don't feel like it's been built up as absolutely must win for CM Punk," Ray said. "Yes, I know Punk is in the match against GUNTHER. I'm excited to see the match. Personally, I think I might be a little bit more excited than most because of the psychology, the nuance, but I have not gotten one vibe or feeling where Punk has looked down the barrel of that camera and said, 'You don't understand. I need to win, I must win, I gotta win for this reason, this reason and this reason.' It's a championship match. It's SummerSlam. Punk is involved. We'd like to see him win. So take Seth [Rollins] out of the equation, it's just a match for the sake of a match. I don't know if Punk comes out on top on this one."

As Ray alluded to, there is a looming possibility of Seth Rollins cashing in his Money in the Bank contract in the aftermath of Punk vs. GUNTHER. Recent reports indicated that WWE's original plans called for Rollins to cash in his MITB briefcase for the World Heavyweight Championship at SummerSlam following an orchestrated injury angle at SNME on July 12.

Rollins claims his knee injury to be a legitimate one with an extended period of recovery attached to it. Many fans and pundits, however, continue to question that.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "Busted Open Radio" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.