CM Punk defeated Cody Rhodes with an assist from Randy Orton to retain the WWE Championship at SummerSlam Saturday.
Punk sought a GTS early on but Rhodes escaped and took the advantage within the early stages, working over the knee to remove his base and neutralizing the flexibility to land the finisher.
The motion went to the highest rope and Punk managed to deliver his signature elbow drop, in search of the GTS over again but failing again. Rhodes then connected with the Cody Cutter and followed up with a Disaster Kick but still couldn’t Punk away.
One other Cody Cutter did not put Punk away and he sought Cross Rhodes; Punk escaped that and an attempted figure 4 leg lock to go for GTS, but Rhodes reversed that right into a successful leg lock in the course of the ring.
Punk escaped and cinched within the Anaconda Vise before Rhodes broke the hold. The challenger reversed one other attempt at GTS before going for a spinning Alabama slam, but that was then changed into one other Anaconda Vise from the champion.
Rhodes fought out of that and connected with Cross Rhodes for the closest near-fall of the bout. He took Punk to the highest rope and sought an avalanche version of his finisher, getting dumped back to the mat for Punk to attach with a moonsault as a substitute.
Punk finally hit GTS but couldn’t make an instantaneous cover as a consequence of the damaged knee, and Rhodes kicked out when he did make the duvet. When Punk hit a second GTS, Rhodes broke the autumn with a hand on the ropes.
He set Rhodes up on the announcer’s desk and sought to make use of an elbow drop to place him through it, but Rhodes rolled out of the approach to send him crashing through it on his own. Rhodes went for Cody Cutter once more, catching the referee as a substitute. And that allowed Randy Orton to make his return and deliver an RKO to Rhodes before scarpering. Punk then returned to the ring to hit one other GTS and make the winning cover.