Tonight’s edition of Monday Night Raw opened five days before SummerSlam with what was certainly the hottest rivalry. Seth Rollins gathered Drew McIntyre and CM Punk in the ring. Tension was high as the arch nemesis had to hold back today. Otherwise, as the special guest referee Rollins underlined, the match would be removed from the SummerSlam card.

CM Punk then rolled out of the ring. Not out of fear of the competition, but more worried about what could happen if he stayed there in the ring. The emotions of the past few months boiled up again in this segment. Drew McIntyre said Rollins was also a rival of his, but Punk was the real enemy, a cancer, and someone who would poison the attitude of young NXT wrestlers. Seth Rollins gave his instructions for Saturday’s match. Rollins’ message, “I am the law!” He made it clear that the rules would be applied with his room for interpretation.

Punk replied that he hopes The Visionary is better as a referee than how he is with his outfits. The war of words continued between Punk and McIntyre before the Scottish Warrior held out Punk’s bracelet to his face, which he had been carrying around with him for a few weeks. McIntyre told him to take it from him. But Punk just stared at McIntyre, after all, he wasn’t allowed to touch the Scotsman yet.

However, he did drop an X-rated rant that Syfy surely missed to edit out. As Punk can be heard saying, “I’m going to break your hand. Every single one of your f**king fingers, I’m going to break em off” to Drew McIntyre.

Punk’s rage was surely intensified after the Chosen One warned Punk that he should be careful as while he unintentionally hurt Punk during the Royal Rumble, this time things would be different and he is ready to fight Punk until his heart stops beating. However, the injury to CM Punk was actually a blessing in disguise. At least, according to former WWE superstar, Dolph Ziggler.

Nic Nemeth believes CM Punk’s injury was the best thing that could have happened

Last January, during the Royal Rumble 2024, CM Punk suffered a tear in one of his triceps in what was his first match after returning to WWE in November. This injury triggered a long rivalry with Drew McIntyre. During his recent appearance on Busted Open Radio, reigning TNA World Champion Nic Nemeth said that CM Punk’s injury greatly benefited the rivalry with Drew McIntyre. Nemeth mentioned that this situation reminded him of the 80s, when rivalries developed over a long time and fans had to wait several months to see the final results.

He said, “Punk getting injured is the best thing to happen to this story times a million. It’s not the old days. But it would have been like…they would have had three matches. And it would have been each of them getting a win. And then maybe they might do a cage or something and it’s like, ‘Okay, we got it.’ Instead, you don’t get the match. It’s almost like it’s the ’80s again when there are four pay-per-views a year and you’ve got to wait six or seven months to get to see this pay off.”

CM Punk and Drew McIntyre will face each other on August 3 at SummerSlam 2024, with Seth Rollins as a special guest referee. It will be interesting to see how this first match plays out, especially considering that the rivalry between Punk and McIntyre still has a long way to go. What do you think? Who will win the fight? Let us know in the comments.