To a Cleveland crowd, the city’s hero, Johnny Wrestling enters the arena for one of the matches of his life. He is joined by the Chicago native, and the match can begin. The former NXT Champion had not wrestled since April, and it showed: the start of the match was tough for him. Despite this loss of pace, Johnny’s agility returned, and he deftly countered the offenses of his opponent for the night.
Encouraged by Candice LeRae, Gargano managed to trouble the WWE Champion. Punk notably taunted the crowd by hinting at his GTS. But suddenly, Sami Zayn showed up to attack the Chicago native, who did not delay in responding to the Canadian’s onslaught. Distracted by the former WWE Champion, Punk endured Candice’s attack, as well as a formidable DDT from Johnny Gargano. But the champion wriggled free at the very last moment. While the Canadian was trying to convince Johnny to use the belt, Kevin Owens arrived by surprise to attack Sami. Then, chaos ensued: Gunther and Finn Balor also intervened, but they were laid out by Sami Zayn’s belt shots.
CM Punk surprised Johnny Gargano with his GTS, but the referee’s count was not completed. Sami took advantage to land a brutal belt strike. But there too, Punk miraculously escaped. Expelled from the arena by Nick Aldis, Sami Zayn had to watch Gargano’s defeat from afar: CM Punk retains his title in a main event that was gripping for the WWE Champion. After his victory, angered by his rival’s actions, the 47-year-old wrestler challenged his future challenger Zayn to a match next Friday in Mexico. A bout already under the spotlight this coming Friday.
.@JohnnyGargano is putting on a show in Cleveland!! 👏 👏 pic.twitter.com/8uBTttOuIA
— WWE (@WWE) September 5, 2026
