Column
By Zack Heydorn · August 21, 2026
CM Punk will defend his Undisputed WWE Championship against Kevin Owens on this week’s episode of SmackDown. It’s a match decades in the making and one that has done strong business for WWE in recent weeks. The company has reportedly moved over 1,000 tickets in the last 24 hours and the show is expected to sell out on the back of this match.
It doesn’t matter who wins.
Say what??!?! Zack, you’re out of your mind and need Bron Breakker to spear you back to reality.
Seriously, though. It does not matter who wins this match as long as someone does. Cleanly.
How many times a year does WWE have must-see episodes of television? How often does a main event match actually move tickets and fill seats in 2026? Holy crap, it’s rare. Real rare. Like, so rare that the WWE business doesn’t even really rely on it anymore.
The rarity of the moment tonight has created an opportunity for WWE to build trust with fans. WWE has sold Punk vs. Owens as an all-timer of a clash. A PLE worthy match. Punk and Owens have obliterated one another on promos, there’s a clear rivalry between them, and they’ve elevated that disdain to create a match that has generated loads of interest.
That’s booking. Good booking. You want to see good creative? That’s it. Fans care about this. It’s an attraction that they want to see and the data backs it up.
WWE needs to reward that. As a company that is producing hours and hours of television across weeks and weeks throughout the year, the strategy of unnecessarily prolonging storylines and feuds has become a fixture solution to keep the shows filled with viable content.
WWE is a billion dollar company, so sympathy isn’t oozing out of the pours for this issue, but they’ve found an understandable solution to a very real company problem. They need to fill time, so the longer they can keep an audience hooked into storylines without a payoff, the better.
WWE can’t use this Punk and Owens match on SmackDown to further that cause. Look, the pro wrestling world is talking. Fans are going to spend their hard-earned Friday night in front of the television with the WWE product because of how compelling the match is. Fans have moved the needle on tickets. They have sold out the building in Toronto to see the Owens vs. Punk clash. It must mean something. To maintain trust, it has to matter.
Hence, the absolute need for a clean finish. It could be Punk winning, could be Owens, but it has to be clean because it has to settle something between them in the eyes of fans that have invested in the match. A safe finish undercuts that investment.
Distraction, rollup, Sami Zayn interference? All worrisome WWE outcome crutches because of their regularity on TV. Punk vs. Owens has to feel different because it is different.
The talking heads on WWE company quarterly revenue meetings may not realize it or care, but a healthy pro wrestling product requires that fans invest in the action. WWE isn’t themselves without that and they sacrifice it too often as it is. The babyface vs. babyface matches — like Owens vs. Punk — that have littered major shows in the past two years don’t allow for appropriate audience investment either. Adding a layer of mistrust because of meaningless finishes to marquee matches compounds the issue.
WWE wants to be able to sell out buildings around the world, move ratings, and break record revenues. In order to do that, fans need to believe them when they ask them to get hyped up to pay money and engage in something. They need the trust of their customers.
In the case of Punk vs. Owens, a clean finish is the way to maintain that trust, which WWE has been flippant with over the years. Any kind of schmoz finish let’s the fanbase know, “Thanks for coming, but we got ya, suckers.” In the long term, fans will recognize that treatment and toss up a middle finger when company brass wants them to be handing them cash instead.
So, Punk vs. Owens. It’s a moment. It’s a match that’s driving business, money, and viewership. Somewhere TKO COO, Mark Shapiro, is bathing in the dollar signs.
Don’t waste it.
Who do you think will win the Undisputed WWE Championship match on SmackDown this week? Kevin Owens or CM Punk? Let us know in the comments!
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