During the latest bygone Backlash premium live event, WWE officially announced the whereabouts of Night of Champions 2025, which takes place in Saudi Arabia, marking the first and only PLE of this year in the middle-east country. It will take place Saturday night on June 28, 2025, at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.
Moving away from two annual shows in Saudi, WWE is presenting only one PLE in 2025 since Royal Rumble has been announced from the country in early 2026. A teaser for Night of Champions 2025 has also been released on social media which caused an uproar given how fans noticed a brief glimpse of CM Punk, who previously was opposed in taking part in a show in Saudi Arabia.
This inclusion of Punk indirectly affirms that he will be part of a Saudi show for the very first time in his WWE career. That being said, fans have been vocal about Punk’s past criticism of WWE’s partnership with Saudi Arabia, and many of them assume that he was pressured to appear at this PLE.
Dave Meltzer addressed the situation on the latest episode of Wrestling Observer Radio, and noted that while talent has the option to skip the Saudi shows, on paper but they do have the pressure from the higher-ups to give the green signal.
“Guys have the option not to go but they are pressured to go, like pretty hardy. He said he would never go. But you know, people say a lot of things,” Meltzer stated about Punk’s surprising inclusion in Night of Champions 2025.
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CM Punk’s inclusion in Night of Champions 2025 causes uproar on social media
Back in 2020, Punk slammed The Miz with a line, “Go suck a blood money covered d** in Saudi Arabia you f******* dork.” Now that he’s seemingly affirmed for an appearance at Night of Champions, fans are quick to call him out for his contradictory words from the past.
A fan took to Twitter and commented on CM Punk being advertised for Night of Champions 2025, stating that they knew he couldn’t resist the money offered by Saudi authority, “I knew this guy love that saudi money lmao.” Pointing out how Punk was always vocal about his hatred for Saudi Arabia, another one sarcastically asked, “Drowning in blood money, Pepsi Man?!”