WWE Blows It With CM Punk's Win vs. Sami Zayn, The 1 Winner in Tag Team Chaos, More Raw Fallout
WWE returned to the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois for an eventful night of championship action.
The Vision found a new ally in Maxxine Dupri, who helped Austin Theory and Bron Breakker recapture the World Tag Team Championships from The Street Profits.
Gunther attacked Cody Rhodes backstage, costing him his scheduled Undisputed WWE Championship. CM Punk returned to take The American Nightmare's spot and win the WWE Championship from Sami Zayn.
Check out all the fallout below from a wild Raw that changed the direction of WWE heading toward SummerSlam.
WWE Burns 2 Massive Storylines With CM Punk's Shock Win
1 of 5When CM Punk lost definitively to Roman Reigns at WrestleMania 42, it felt like it could be the last time The Best in the World held the world title.
He teased that he was worn down after the victory and might have a long run back to gold.
Instead, Punk took a vacation and came back to quickly win the Undisputed WWE Championship, reclaiming his spot atop WWE.
Meanwhile, Sami Zayn finally won the big one, capturing the WWE Championship by pinning Cody Rhodes at Night of Champions.
Just nine days later, Zayn was forced to defend his title against a surprising Punk, who took Zayn's one and possibly only world title reign away from him.
Any potential in a vulnerable Punk or an underdog champion Zayn was erased for one moment in Chicago that made these past few months of story look irrelevant.
The Best in the World is on top for the eighth time as world champion, which is an absurd number for a man that was gone for nine years.
With SummerSlam less than a month away, this comes off as a panic move to sell tickets, even if it was planned well in advance.
One confrontation right after 'Mania 42 does not make a rivalry, so WWE has serious work to do in building this foundation to an exciting match between Punk and Cody Rhodes, which looks to be the plan.
Zayn will likely be forgotten in the shuffle, even though just a week ago, it looked like WWE was finally ready to commit to him.
Hopefully, the company will come back around to giving The Last Real Good Guy an actual memorable world title reign in the coming year.
LA Knight Saves Seth Rollins After Botched Promo
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Seth Rollins opened Raw for a long-winded rambling promo on Roman Reigns and his plans for SummerSlam.
It did not work at all and almost lulled the Chicago crowd to sleep before the arrival of LA Knight.
This should have been the moment for The Visionary to sell the main event of SummerSlam to any skeptics.
Instead, it sold Knight as the fresher star, calling out how tired the Reigns and Rollins dynamic feels far removed from The Shield days.
Especially after Jimmy Uso and Jacob Fatu laid out The Million Dollar Megastar during the same night, Knight was sold as the far-more-interesting threat to The OTC.
WWE's Tag Team Division is Doomed
3 of 5On the same night, Sami Zayn had the shortest WWE Championship reign in five years (nine days), The Street Profits' World Tag Team Championships was the second shortest reign with the gold in the past six years (14 days).
While WWE has had multiple overlong title reigns in this modern era, the answer was not to go back to reigns with absolutely no substance.
In particular, there was no point to The Street Profits winning the gold two weeks ago on Raw to lose them back to the same team with little fanfare.
Austin Theory and Bron Breakker were not a strong tag team, especially while The Big Dog had a chance to rise up the ranks as a solo act.
Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins had a chance to revitalize the tag division by standing as the foundation every other team was striving to meet.
Instead, the only accomplished in these two weeks was turning Maxxine Dupri heel and adding her to The Vision.
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Maxxine Dupri Is Finally Ready to Level Up
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Maxxine Dupri has long stood as a potential "what-if" star in WWE. Her athleticism and look screamed star-in-the-making, but she could not fully back it up on the mic or in the ring.
Her rivalry with Becky Lynch leading to a short run as Women's intercontinental champion started to reveal her upside, but WWE did not follow-up at all after her title loss.
Everything may have changed though with her unofficial introduction to The Vision. Suddenly, Maxxine is connected to champions and Paul Heyman.
That is a recipe for success, especially since this could make Maxxine the first-ever Heyman Girl, giving her a unique mouthpiece for a rise in the women's division.
Much like in the past though, WWE must capitalize on the potential and leave it to Maxxine to show whether she was truly ready for this level-up.
SummerSlam Should Be the End of The Judgment Day
5 of 5Liv Morgan may be the star of the Raw women's division, but her hold on The Judgment Day as leader is crumbling.
Her arrogance and greed has cost both Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez title opportunities, including this week when Raquel lost to Sol Ruca.
The time has come to finally let The Judgment Day go. Even if Liv, Dominik Mysterio and JD McDonagh stay connected, The Prodigy and Big Mami Cool should break away for their own glory.
It is time to let the idea of Judgment Day rest and start establishing fresh alliances on Raw that could take the overwhelming time commitment given weekly to this stale stable.
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