If you thought last night’s SmackDown from Riyadh felt a little polished on the U.S. broadcast, you’re not wrong. Not only did WWE battle power outages during the show, but the main event segment featuring CM Punk and John Cena also got some post-production love. Extra crowd noise was layered into the American feed to boost the atmosphere. And if you were waiting to hear Punk’s slip-up on the mic, don’t bother – that flub was snipped out completely.
According to Fightful Select, one member of the production crew admitted it was a hectic day juggling the technical failures and cleaning up the main event. On the bright side, they’re looking forward to SmackDown shifting to a two-hour format next week.
In the main event segment of SmackDown, Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena said he is a winner and genius, while CM Punk is a loser. Cena said Night of Champions is a formality and Punk can do nothing about it. Cena’s Word Life theme music hit and the titantron showed “PunkLife” and Punk came out dressed as the Doctor of Thuganomics.
CM Punk's Entrance as Doctor of Thuganomicspic.twitter.com/ri1KGCtYXl
— WrestleFeed (@WrestleFeedApp) June 27, 2025
Below are some of the things Punk said to Cena:
“John Cena, you deserved all the criticism as a rapper. You’re a Temu Macklemore. You’re the champion, and you lost all your respect. I’d retire too if they rehired my ex.”
“Let’s be honest, John Cena has ‘buried’ more talent than The Undertaker.”
“Tomorrow night you’re gonna lose to Kendrick ‘cause b*tch you’re my Drake.”
“Hey John I get it, I’d retire too if this place rehired my ex.”
Punk also mentioned how Batista is a better actor than Cena.
CM Punk's complete promo as the Doctor of Thuganomicspic.twitter.com/TcJ27tbxGk
— WrestleFeed (@WrestleFeedApp) June 27, 2025
Tap here to read the complete results from SmackDown, featuring a heel turn and a new champion being crowned.
Reason Behind SmackDown Having Broadcast Issue On Netflix
A significant power failure in Riyadh disrupted WWE’s SmackDown broadcast for international viewers on Netflix during the show from Saudi Arabia.
Roughly 10 minutes into the show, fans outside of U.S. experienced frozen feeds as the venue screens went black in the middle of a Randy Orton and Cody Rhodes segment. Wrestlers were notified of the situation, prompting Orton to interact with the live crowd and repeatedly circle the arena to his entrance music while the crew worked on the issue.
After about 25 minutes, Cody Rhodes returned to engage the audience, followed by an impromptu face-off with Carmelo Hayes, who arrived in street clothes. Hayes ended up taking a Cross Rhodes for his trouble.
Despite online speculation blaming Netflix for the interruption, PWInsider clarified that the problem stemmed from a venue-wide power loss, crippling WWE’s production systems, including the control room and gorilla position.
WWE halted the show’s production during the blackout, ensuring that fans in the arena weren’t seeing action that international viewers were missing.
