SportsMoneyWWE Night Of Champions 2025 Results As John Cena Defeats CM Punk Amid ChaosByBlake Oestriecher, Contributor. Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights.
Blake Oestriecher is a columnist covering WWE, AEW and wrestling. AuthorJun 28, 2025, 04:05pm EDTJohn Cena is in the midst of his 17th WWE world title reign. (Credit: Craig Melvin/WWE via Getty.
More Images)WWE via Getty Images John Cena and CM Punk ran it back one last time at WWE Night of Champions 2025, and it was “The Champ” who reigned surpreme in a chaotic main event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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.
On more than one occasion, it looked Punk would best Cena and win the WWE Championship for the first time since 2013.
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.
ForbesWWE Night Of Champions 2025 Results As Jade Cargill Wins Queen Of The RingBy Blake Oestriecher WWE Night of Champions 2025 Results For John Cena Vs.
CM Punk John Cena Defeats CM Punk at WWE Night of Champions 2025 The climax of Cena vs.
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.
Cena continues to retain the WWE Championship through nefarious means just as he did at WWE Night of Champions 2025, and he will eventually need to get his comeuppance.
But the teases of a face turn in Riyadh may prevent that from happening.
WWE SummerSlam 2025 Preview: John Cena Will Face Cody Rhodes for the WWE Championship At WWE Night of Champions 2025, the creative team laid the framework for a major SummerSlam match: John Cena vs.
Cody Rhodes II.
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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