CM Punk is the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion, which means he has a bull’s eye on his back. However, Punk’s first challenger is likely the one to end up as target practice.
In the title’s brief history,
four of the first six champions have held off their initial challenger.
In 2023, Seth Rollins defeated AJ Styles at Night of Champions to become the first champion. Just nine days later, he defeated Damian Priest on Raw in his first televised title defense. Almost a month later, Rollins made his first successful defense at a premium live event, beating Finn Bálor at Money in the Bank.
Rollins eventually lost the title to Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania XL in 2024. Unfortunately for McIntyre, his reign ended almost as soon as it began — the victim of a Money in the Bank cash-in by Damian Priest. Priest, in his first title defense, beat Jey Uso at Backlash in France.
Ultimately, Priest was dethroned at SummerSlam, losing to Gunther that same year, who followed up his title win with a decisive and brutal victory over the legendary Randy Orton at Bash in Berlin.
This past April, Gunther’s near-260-day reign came to a halt at the hands of Jey Uso at WrestleMania 41. Three weeks later, Uso retained his title in less-than-spectacular fashion, losing to Rollins by disqualification but keeping the title. In late May, Uso beat Logan Paul at Saturday Night’s Main Event in his only successful televised defense before dropping the title back to Gunther.
After Gunther reclaimed the title from Uso in June, he became the first two-time champion to successfully defend his title against his first challenger, defeating Bill Goldberg in Goldberg’s last match at July’s Saturday Night’s Main Event.
But the good times didn’t last long as Gunther dropped the strap a short time later to CM Punk at SummerSlam. However, like McIntyre before him, Punk fell victim to another Money in the Bank cash-in, this time by Rollins. Before recently relinquishing the title due to injury, Rollins overcame three challengers in one night, outsmarting Punk, Uso, and LA Knight in a Fatal 4-Way at August’s Clash In Paris.
Now, with CM Punk back on top, history says the first challenger to step to Punk will likely fall on their face. However, WWE Chief Content Officer Paul Levesque recently promised that the landscape of WWE would change, which could mean a break from the title’s norm. If that signals a youth movement, history may not be on Punk’s side, with rising stars like Bron Breakker closing in fast.
