{"id":745637,"date":"2026-08-22T00:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T00:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/745637\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T00:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T00:40:14","slug":"exclusive-note-on-wwes-plans-for-cm-punk-vs-kevin-owens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/745637\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive note on WWE&#8217;s plans for CM Punk vs. Kevin Owens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whatever happens on SmackDown tonight, it\u2019s unlikely to result in a lengthy CM Punk vs. Kevin Owens Undisputed WWE Championship feud.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our Bryan Alvarez notes that, as of a few days ago, the plan was for Punk and Owens\u2019 match to be a one-and-done. Owens has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.f4wonline.com\/news\/wwe\/kevin-owens-favored-to-beat-cm-punk-in-latest-wwe-smackdown-betting-odds\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">listed as the betting favorite<\/a>, but that designation does not necessarily mean he\u2019s favored to win the title from Punk. A disqualification or countout victory for Owens would still mean he was technically the victor.<\/p>\n<p>Kevin Owens is apparently the betting favorite tonight \u2014 this doesn\u2019t mean the title is changing, it could be a DQ win or something. One way or another, whatever the finish ends up being, as of a few days ago the idea was that this match is a one- and-done.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Owens, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.f4wonline.com\/news\/wwe\/kevin-owens-explains-mindset-change-for-wwe-return\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">after spending 15 months on the sidelines<\/a> due to neck surgery, made his return at SummerSlam and won a number one contender\u2019s match to get this title shot. The match <a href=\"https:\/\/www.f4wonline.com\/news\/wwe\/kevin-owens-explains-why-he-chose-toronto-for-wwe-title-match-against-cm-punk\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">is happening in his home country of Canada<\/a> at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto.<\/p>\n<p>WWE SmackDown lineup \u2014<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At one point today, WWE removed Tama Tonga &amp; Talla Tonga vs. Damian Priest &amp; R-Truth and Blake Monroe vs. Giulia from the preview for SmackDown. Those matches <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wwe.com\/shows\/smackdown\/2026-08-21\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">are once again listed among the lineup<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>Undisputed WWE Champion CM Punk defends against Kevin Owens<\/p>\n<p>Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton continue the build to their Sunday Night\u2019s Main Event match<\/p>\n<p>WWE Tag Team Champions Tama Tonga &amp; Talla Tonga defend against Damian Priest &amp; R-Truth<\/p>\n<p>Blake Monroe vs. Giulia<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.f4wonline.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" class=\"preferred-source-link\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Google-CTA.jpg\" alt=\"Google Icon\" class=\"google-icon\"\/><br \/>\n    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.f4wonline.com\/author\/josephcurrier\/\" title=\"Joseph Currier\" class=\"gms-profile-image\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>                <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787359214_721_ce93ae5ee9bc08cbe7fe7e71f9c926474fc7a0d1080edc56a17530857f23117e.png\" width=\"90\" height=\"90\" alt=\"Joseph Currier\"\/><\/p>\n<p>        <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                Joseph Currier<\/p>\n<p>Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated&#8217;s wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.<\/p>\n<p>                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.f4wonline.com\/news\/wwe\/potential-date-for-wwe-john-cena-classic-revealed\/?utm_source=navigation-previous&amp;utm_medium=internal\" class=\"gms-prev\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">previous story<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Whatever happens on SmackDown tonight, it\u2019s unlikely to result in a lengthy CM Punk vs. Kevin Owens Undisputed&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":745638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-745637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=745637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/745638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=745637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=745637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}