CM Punk’s next opponent is official, and it’s a name few expected to leave Summerslam this weekend with the future title opportunity.
Kevin Owens, who hadn’t been seen in a wrestling ring for over a year, made a surprise return on Sunday night to earn #1 contender status for the Undisputed WWE Championship. He prevailed in a fatal four-way match also featuring Sami Zayn, Finn Balor, and Gunther.
After surviving a Blue Thunder Bomb from Zayn, Owens scored a superkick then a stunner for the pinfall victory in eight minutes.
It wasn’t originally expected that a four-way would go down to decide who meets Punk next. Instead, a simple one-on-one contest between Zayn and Balor was the plan. But, mere minutes before the match started, a surprising change occurred.
With both Balor and Zayn already in the ring, recently reinstated Smackdown General Manager Nick Aldis appeared on stage and announced a huge change of plans. Not one, but two wrestlers would be added to the bout. Along with the previously announced Balor and Zayn, the bout would include Gunther, who beat Aldis on the first night of Summerslam.
Then, the biggest reveal of all was that the fourth man involved would be Owens, who was coming off the longest layoff of his career following a neck injury.
Quebec’s Owens last wrestled in March 2025, when he went 27 minutes in an unsanctioned battle against, coincidentally, Zayn at Elimination Chamber. He would reveal just weeks later that he would be absent from last year’s Wrestlemania card, as he needed to undergo surgery for a neck issue.
Owens’ future in wrestling was doubted at times due to the severity of his injury. At a press event last summer, he told media that he was waiting to see how his neck healed following the surgery, and that it would fully dictate whether he could wrestle again.
“The thing is, now, we have to see how the bones fuse, and there’s no guarantee that it’s gonna work,” Owens said in August 2025. “Some guys had success, some guys didn’t. Fingers crossed I get to come back to wrestling in the next year. Really don’t know, though.”
For Balor, Sunday’s opener saw him look to continue a road towards his first title run in over a decade. Balor’s sole top WWE championship reign notoriously remains his run as inaugural WWE Universal Champion, a title he won at Summerslam 2016 before relinquishing one night later due to injury.
Zayn was looking to climb back into the title picture shortly after his first-ever major title run came to a close. The Canadian talent had a brief nine-day run as Undisputed WWE Champion earlier this summer, winning a three-way against Cody Rhodes and Gunther at Night of Champions in June to claim the title. Zayn would drop the title just over a week later, losing to the returning CM Punk on an episode of Raw.
