Breaking Down The Belts: CM Punk's Undisputed WWE Championship

For the first time in over a decade, CM Punk is the reigning WWE Champion, even if it is his third world title reign since returning to the company in 2023. 

This one was the least expected in the moment. Three months on from losing the World Heavyweight title to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania, Punk came back as the last minute challenger to Sami Zayn and unseated him just nine days after he won it in the first place. Now he will be making his first defense of the title against Cody Rhodes in the main event of SummerSlam on Saturday.

The last time Punk defended the grandest prize in sports entertainment, he was losing the title to the Rock at Elimination Chamber 2013, and thus his place in the main event of WrestleMania 29. The landscape has very much changed this time around, with an entire roster of different challengers looking to either recapture or hold the title for the first time in their career. Zayn was in his first run as champion and is on the hunt for another this weekend, facing Finn Balor in a No. 1 contendership match. Balor himself has never held the title, and in fact only held the Universal Championship for one day after winning it at SummerSlam 2016. Rhodes is on the hunt for his fourth run with the title, having already pulled even with the amount of runs Punk has had. 

Aside from that, "WWE SmackDown" is stocked with a number of options never to have held the title. So let's break down who likely will and who probably should be the one to dethrone Punk.  

As mentioned, Rhodes is challenging Punk for the title this weekend. And as Rhodes himself would say, he is easy to find, hard to beat. 

Whether it occurs this weekend or at a later date, the WWE Championship really does seem to orbit the "Grandson of a Plumber" since he finished his story at WrestleMania 40. Like Thor and Mjolnir, it just seems to come back to him at every chance. 

There is also Rhodes' record when it comes to the title. Rhodes lost his first attempt at Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 39, only to return one year later and unseat him. That run ended with John Cena at WrestleMania 41, until Rhodes recaptured the title from him at SummerSlam. Then, that run ended with Drew McIntyre in January, only for him to earn his third title run in March. 

Rhodes never got the chance to rematch Zayn for the title when he beat him and GUNTHER at Night of Champions. But this weekend is that chance. Even if he doesn't win the title this time around, the law of probability backs him to do it eventually, and he will certainly keep trying until it does.

Prior to coming up against Rhodes for the WWE Championship, GUNTHER had been one of, if not the, most infallible competitors on the roster. 

Rhodes beat GUNTHER to retain the title at Clash in Italy, then again with Zayn as their special guest referee on "WWE SmackDown," and then GUNTHER got his one and only win over Rhodes in a rematch that same night — albeit via disqualification when Zayn kicked him in the head. Zayn then beat GUNTHER and Rhodes in the subsequent triple threat at Night of Champions, seeing GUNTHER instead focus on vanquishing Nick Aldis at this weekend's event. 

One would assume that once Aldis is out of the way, win or lose, GUNTHER will be rejoining the pursuit of the title. That would put him opposite Punk once again, should he manage to keep the title by that point. The one and only time that they faced off came during last year's SummerSlam event, with Punk getting the win and the World Heavyweight title for all of a few minutes before Seth Rollins cashed in Money in the Bank. 

That provides an opportunity for GUNTHER to kill two birds with one stone, breaking his duck to become WWE Champion and avenging that defeat at the same time. Of anyone on the roster, perhaps there is no one better suited to the role of WWE Champion than GUNTHER. It feels like a matter of if rather than when. And it feels as though sooner would be better than later. 

GUNTHER is a legitimate monster heel. He retired the most decorated WWE Champion of all time in John Cena, and then a little over a month later retired another former WWE Champion in AJ Styles to become the "Career Killer." That really makes Punk the prime prey for the "Ring General" — a proud member of the old guard holding the title he wants and really needs to cement himself as the best.