News Roundup: WWE Champion Stripped Off Title; Cody Rhodes Addresses CM Punk Announcement; Rhea Ripley Heartbroken

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#5. Vikingo stripped off his AAA title

El Hijo Del Vikingo is one of the most well known stars in Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide. He became the AAA Latin American Champion on May 30, 2026 after defeating El Hijo Wagner Junior at Noche de Los Grandes.

He recently injured his left knee on the June 30th episode of WWE NXT and he was last seen in action on SmackDown after the Night of Champions event where he failed to defeat Rey Fenix for the AAA World Cruiserweight Championship.

He took to Instagram to confirm the news of his surgery by posting a photo of him in crutches. It is reported that he will be out for approximately eight months. Because of this, he was forced to vacate his title on July 11, making him shortest reigning Latin American Champion at just 42 days.

#4. Cody Rhodes addresses CM Punk announcement

Cody Rhodes and CM Punk came face to face on SmackDown earlier this week. The two former AEW stars have been teasing a match against each other and it so happened that the American Nightmare challenged Punk to a title match at WWE SummerSlam.

Nick Aldis, who was also in the ring, made the match official for SummerSlam, which led to huge cheers from the fans. After the show, Cody took to Twitter and asked the fans what song was a good one for his upcoming match with Punk.

The fans are no doubt excited for this match and so is the rest of the wrestling world. Cody Rhodes vs CM Punk at SummerSlam for the Undisputed WWE title has all the potential to bring the house down at the US Bank Stadium.

#3. Rhea Ripley is heartbroken

Rhea Ripley is the current WWE Women’s Champion and is also one of the most popular stars on the roster. She has had her fair share of heartbreaks over the years and she has just added another one to her list.

The Australian wrestler has taken a keen interest in the ongoing FIFA World Cup and she was supporting Norway and Erling Haaland. However, much to her disappointment, Norway were knocked out by England in the quarterfinals yesterday.

She took to Twitter to share how heartbroken she was and wrote that she was sad. Ripley will no doubt take great encouragement from the way Norway performed in this tournament.

#2. Nick Aldis preparing for WWE in-ring comeback?

WWE SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis has been in the thick of things with Gunther over the past few weeks. The former World Champion has been constantly attacking Aldis and he did that once again on SmackDown.

Aldis announced that CM Punk will be defending his Undisputed Championship against Cody Rhodes at SummerSlam and that did not please Gunther. The Ring General called out Aldis and demanded that he correct his mistake. Aldis said there were no mistakes. That made Gunther even more angry and he went on to attack Aldis again.

Insider Masked J of TRNBCKL suggested that Aldis will be taking on Gunther at SummerSlam next month. It will be interesting how much substance there is to that story.

#1. Sami Zayn did not take a pay cut

Sami Zayn has been on the receiving end of some bad news of late. It was recently rumored that WWE asked him to take a pay cut. However, Dave Meltzer shot down those rumors on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. He reported:

“His name was brought up internally to me but never as 100 percent, and based on what WWE told me directly when it came to pay cuts, their version is that everyone asked were guys who were going to be cut because creative had nothing for them but they would give them a new deal at a decreased rate to see if something popped up. Zayn was a guy always used, unlike a Ridge Holland, New Day, Sheamus or others who were not being used when asked to take the cut. But this would not be the first, or fifth for that matter, time his name didn’t come up in speculation on that subject.”

Zayn will no doubt want to make things right and he will hope to start that at next week’s Saturday Night’s Main Event where he will team up with Gunther to take on Cody Rhodes and CM Punk.

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