By now, everyone knows that Sami Zayn is the WWE Champion. It’s one of those championship wins that everyone is happy about (even Cody Rhodes, as he congratulated Zayn on this week’s SmackDown). However, fans have already started speculating when Zayn is going to lose the title.
In case you didn’t know, Cody Rhodes has earned himself a rematch for the WWE Title on the upcoming WWE Raw in Chicago (July 6).
The rumors strongly point to Chicago as the place where CM Punk will make his return. It makes sense because before going on a hiatus, Punk and Rhodes had teased a championship rivalry. Of course, Rhodes isn’t the WWE Champion anymore, but he’s got an opportunity to win it back from Sami Zayn.
But this wouldn’t be a great decision.
Also read: Original Plans For Gunther At WWE SummerSlam 2026
Sami Zayn Finally Wins WWE Championship At Night Of Champions 2026
Let’s recap Sami Zayn’s WWE Championship victory once again. It took him 10 attempts at winning the World Championship before he could finally capture it. He came close to winning it once against Roman Reigns at Elimination Chamber 2023, but The Tribal Chief eventually defeated him.
In the past few months, fans saw Sami Zayn become desperate to get another shot at Cody Rhodes’ WWE Title. He was inserted in the Rhodes-Gunther rivalry, and eventually found himself in a triple-threat situation against them.
Zayn showed a heroic performance at Night of Champions and surprised everyone when he got a roll-up victory against The American Nightmare.
WWE Can’t Have Sami Zayn Lose His Title So Early
Many fans feel Zayn would be a transitional champion in WWE. Rhodes already has a title match coming up in a few days, and it wouldn’t be a major surprise if he ends up winning it again.
This has been the case with all of Cody Rhodes’ reigns recently. He was defeated by John Cena for the title at WrestleMania 41, and he won it back from him at SummerSlam 2025. Drew McIntyre stripped him of the belt in a Three Stages of Hell match, and Rhodes regained the title from Drew a few weeks later.
Now he’s lost the title to Zayn and is going to have a rematch soon. In WWE, history tends to repeat itself often.
But as of this moment, there’s no reason to have Zayn lose the title.
If WWE wants to do CM Punk vs Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam, they can still do it without having a title involved. Punk could return on Raw, interfere during the Rhodes-Zayn match, and set up a match between himself and Rhodes for SummerSlam. If they want to add a title in this feud in the future, then at least let Zayn have a few successful title defenses.
Nobody knows if he’ll ever get an opportunity to become the WWE Champion again in his career. He’s one of the most over wrestlers in modern-day WWE, and the fans and Sami Zayn deserve more than just a transitional reign.
Do you think Zayn will defeat Rhodes again on Raw?
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Main image credit: WWE
Wrestling news reporter.