The Cody Rhodes vs. CM Punk match was originally planned for much later.
This week’s episode of Raw from Chicago featured multiple twists and turns. Gunther attacked Cody Rhodes, removing him from the WWE Championship match he had earned on SmackDown.
This set the stage for the return of CM Punk, who went on to take Cody’s place in the main event title match. Punk pinned Sami Zayn to win the WWE Championship in his hometown once again, almost 15 years after his iconic Money In The Bank victory.
Original Plans For Cody Rhodes vs. CM Punk
CM Punk had teased a match with Cody Rhodes on Raw after WrestleMania before going on his unexplained hiatus. After the latest turn of events, PWInsider confirmed the popular notion about the future of these two names. They noted that the belief backstage is that a match between the new WWE Champion and the American Nightmare for SummerSlam has been locked in for some time.
Another update from False Finish provided some background on this decision. They claimed that the match had originally been planned for WrestleMania 43 in Saudi Arabia, before it was moved to SummerSlam.
False Finish has learned that CM Punk winning the Undisputed WWE Championship and heading into #SummerSlam to defend it has been planned for well over a month. Punk was initially set to challenge Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 43 in Riyadh but WWE is preparing for SummerSlam in Minneapolis to be better than WrestleMania 42 was.
There is no word on what the changed WrestleMania plans are for these two stars after the SummerSlam update but we should get a better idea of their direction after the PLE.
