WWE Night Of Champions 2025 Results As John Cena Defeats CM Punk Amid Chaos

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Blake Oestriecher is a columnist covering WWE, AEW and wrestling

At WWE’s overseas spectacle, Cena put his WWE Championship on the line against arguably his greatest rival of all-time for the first time in more than a decade

As expected, the two bitter foes battled back-and-forth in a spectacular match, reminding WWE fans why they are each other’s best dance partner

But Cena had other plans, and after a slew of interference from stars Penta and Seth Rollins, Cena was able to retain his WWE Championship

Some of the key highlights of Cena vs

Punk at WWE Night of Champions 2025 were: The Riyadh crowd went berserk as the match started and the two stars locked up in the middle of the ring. “CM Punk” chants broke out ed be “Cena" chants

Early on, Punk and Cena had a miscommunication, making it un whether Cena or Punk was attempting to hit a major move or luck in a submission

Announcer Michael Cole attempted to cover for them

Minutes later, Punk attempted to lock in an octopus submission, which was ly the move he was trying to lock in before it went awry

Cena hit his patented Five Kunckle Shuffle and went for the Attitude Adjustment, but Punk slipped out and hit his classic comeback complete with a running knee in the corner, short-arm clothesline and top rope elbow drop

Punk went for the GTS, but Cena caught him and locked in the STF submission

Punk was able to counter it into the Anaconda Vice

Cena escaped and hit the AA for the closest nearfall of the match

Eventually, Punk caught Cena in the STF, then Cena grabbed the bottom rope

After a series of back-and-forth reversals, Cena hit yet another AA, but Punk incredibly kicked out again

Cena went for an avalanche AA, Punk knocked him off the rope and went for a crossbody block, but Cena caught him and hit a third AA

Punk miraculously kicked out for a third time

A frustrated Cena grabbed the WWE Championship, and the referee warned him that it would cause a disqualification

Cena, listening to the fans, decided not to use the title, allowing Punk to hit the GTS for another very close nearfall

That resulted in dueling chants of “Let’s go, Cena. " and “CM Punk. ” Cena went for a flying shoulder tackle, Punk ducked and Cena inadvertently knocked down the referee

Punk hit a GTS and pinned Cena for well over three seconds, but the injured referee couldn’t make the count so the match continued

Seth Rollins music hit as the crowd went berserk

Rollins and the rest of his faction apached the ring as Punk stared them down

Bronson Reed and Bron Breakker attacked Punk as the referee was laid out, and Punk attempted to fight them off

Rollins called for a backup referee, who sed to the ring but was taken out by Cena so Rollins couldn’t cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase

Cena then hit Rollins with an AA before being attacked by Reed and Breakker

Penta’s music hit, and he came out to thwart off Rollins’ crew

As Breakker took down Penta, Sami Zayn’s music hit, he entered the arena and battled Breakker toward the stage

Penta flew off the stage and took them both out

Reed attempted to hit a Tsunami on Cena, but Punk interfered

Then, Cena hit a wildly impressive AA on the massive Reed

With the ring finally ed, Punk offered Cena a handshake, Cena accepted and then went for a low blow

Punk caught it, Rollins interfered and attempted to take out Punk in order to cash in

After Rollins hit Punk with the briefcase, Cena tossed Punk out of the ring, took advantage, pinned Punk and retained his title

Punk at WWE Night of Champions came when Cena teased a babyface turn, only to attempt a low blow on Punk and take advantage of Rollins’ interference to pick up the win

That capped off what was the stellar encounter between Cena and Punk, who are past their prime and certainly a step slower but are still able to create magical moments that matter

In front of a red hot crowd in Riyadh, Cena and Punk were able to put on a show that reestablished their all-time great rivalry and hinted at a future babyface turn for Cena

MORE FOR YOU Of course, WWE ensured that Punk was tected even in defeat, with Cena only winning after a ton of outside interference, including a thwarted cash-in by Rollins

That marked the third consecutive major title match in which Cena walked out as WWE Champion without a clean victory

Yes, it was more of the same for heel Cena, who eked out a win over Randy Orton at Backlash and did exactly that against Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania 41

That is perfectly fitting of Cena’s heel character that is striving to “ruin wrestling,” but it’s becoming incredibly tiresome

But the teases of a face turn in Riyadh may prevent that from happening

Anyone who was paid close attention to Triple H’s booking over the past few years could see that Cena’s win over Rhodes at WrestleMania 41 was ultimately going to lead to a rematch between the two stars

Cena’s WrestleMania victory was all getting that record- 17th world title win, and now that he has it, there’s no reason to keep the title on him for too long

During his run in the King of the Ring tournament, Rhodes defeated both Jey Uso and Randy Orton, giving “The American Nightmare” a pair of marquee victories over two of WWE’s biggest and most beloved stars

Surely, that wasn’t a mere coincidence

Rhodes getting those two victories has set up a blockbuster rematch between Rhodes and Cena that gives the two stars a re-do after their disastrous WrestleMania 41 match

And if WWE’s creative team has any idea what it’s doing, Rhodes will leave SummerSlam as world champion as Cena transitions back to his natural face role

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