Despite his past critical comments regarding WWE’s relationship with Saudi Arabia, CM Punk is set to compete at the Night of Champions premium live event on June 28 in Riyadh. On a recent episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer confirmed that Punk’s participation has been planned for months.
The decision has drawn attention due to a now-deleted 2020 tweet where Punk, who was not with WWE at the time, told The Miz to “go suck a blood money covered d**k in Saudi Arabia.” However, Meltzer reports that Punk’s stance has been clear internally for some time.
“He could not go to Saudi Arabia/Night of Champions if he really wanted to not go,” Meltzer stated. “He was going months ago. I had already asked about that a couple of months ago when the show was first talked about, and he was in the original promo package, and then he was taken out of the promo package. And I asked, am I supposed to see when Seth Rollins replaced him in that promo package that he’s not going, and it’s like, ‘Nope, he’s going.'”
Punk is scheduled to challenge John Cena for the Undisputed WWE Championship at the event. Meltzer made it clear that whatever past reservations Punk may have had, they have not been a factor in recent months.
“So it’s been known he’s going for months, probably all along. I don’t know if he ever voiced any issue with going at any point since he signed, but he hasn’t in months. I know that,” Meltzer concluded.
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