How Should ‘The Last Real Good Guys’ Second Undisputed WWE Championship Reign of 2026 Develop?

Sami Zayn did the unthinkable at this year’s Night of Champions premium live event during his Triple Threat Championship Match with Cody Rhodes and Gunther. Against all odds, Zayn pinned Rhodes clean in the middle of the ring and was crowned the new Undisputed WWE Champion in Saudi Arabia, a country that embraces and fully supports ‘The Last Real Good Guy’. That fever dream would come to an end just nine days later when Raw general manager Adam Pearce gave ‘The American Nightmare’ an immediate rematch, a chance to recapture the Undisputed WWE Championship. Rhodes was attacked backstage before the match, leading Zayn to believe he wouldn’t need to defend his newly won championship. Pearce would rock the champ’s night when a returning CM Punk in Chicago replaced ‘WWE’s Golden Boy’ at the last-minute to gain a shot at the belt. Punk would beat ‘The Last Real Good Guy’ and walk out with the championship to end that episode of Raw.

Zayn would go on a crusade for the next several months, demanding justice for himself and sabotaging everyone else who wanted to take the belt from Punk. ‘The Last Real Good Guy’ saw himself as such and believed everyone else around him was being given unfair chances at the belt he believed he wrongfully lost. Zayn despised ‘The Second City Saint’ more and more as the weeks went on, so much so that he begged his frenemy Kevin Owens to use the belt on Punk during his championship match. Owens would refuse, causing ‘The Last Real Good Guy’ to hit him with the belt and allowing ‘The Best in the World’ to retain his championship; Zayn would end the show by hitting the champ with his own belt and standing tall over Punk and ‘The Prizefighter’. The following SmackDown would see the nine-day champion sabotage a Triple Threat Match that would’ve guaranteed the winner an opportunity at the Undisputed WWE Championship. ‘The Last Real Good Guy’ would hit everyone in sight with the belt and stand tall once again. Last week’s pre-taped episode of SmackDown saw Gunther, Owens, and Finn Bálor attempt to get their hands on Zayn before he hit Punk with the belt during the latter’s championship title defense against Johnny Gargano. This led to a near fall, but ‘The Best in the World’ would once again have a successful title defense and walk out with his belt to end the show.

Last night’s episode of SmackDown took place in Mexico City, Mexico, where the crowd witnessed four different title matches. The main event of the show was Punk and Zayn in an Undisputed WWE Championship Match. This was ‘The Best in the World’s’ way of pacifying ‘The Last Real Good Guy’ and ending him for good to ensure he wouldn’t be a nuisance in the main event title picture on SmackDown. Zayn would be interviewed backstage, and he declared that he would walk out as the new champion of the blue brand. Gargano and Candice LeRae would bump into the challenger before his match, demanding that ‘Johnny Wrestling’ be the first title challenger should the Canadian become a two-time Undisputed WWE Champion. Zayn said he would follow up on that promise, giving the married couple a sense of hope for Gargano to become a main event champion on the main roster. The main event wouldn’t disappoint, but Punk would sustain a left knee injury, the same knee used to hit the Go to Sleep. The challenger would take full advantage and target the injury throughout the match. After a lot of near falls, Gargano and LeRae would come out to cause distraction, interference, and confusion for the referee. ‘Johnny Wrestling’ would get a chance to hit the champ with his belt, but the latter would outsmart the revived wrestler and put him to sleep. The title was left in the ring for Zayn to use. Just as the challenger was about to use the belt, Owens would appear ringside and slide into the ring to prevent his frenemy from using the belt during the championship match. ‘The Prizefighter’ would pick up the belt and attempt to use it on ‘The Last Real Good Guy’, but the fellow Canadian ducked in time to dodge the shot and have it land on Punk’s head instead. Owens gave a look of pride and relief at the fallen champion before turning his attention back on Zayn. The challenger would hit a low blow on ‘The Prizefighter’, giving ‘The Last Real Good Guy’ a chance to land the Helluva Kick on Punk and walk out of Mexico City as a two-time Undisputed WWE Champion.

How will Zayn’s second run as Undisputed WWE Champion go? He won as a hero in Saudi Arabia, but he won in Mexico looking like a despicable, dirty player. This was not a clean title victory. It's clear that ‘The Last Real Good Guy’ is going to go on a tour proclaiming how all the wrongs in the world eventually got righted. Zayn is going to justify all of his actions and preach outside interference as revenge on Punk for the way ‘The Second City Saint’ took the belt from him. This also puts the new champion as the true public enemy of SmackDown. Punk, Gunther, Bálor, and Owens are already after the belt, and they already despise Zayn. It makes it that much easier for those guys to hate him as the new Undisputed WWE Champion. Owens is a particularly intriguing matchup. The pair have fought over championships against one another and fought for championships as a team. History speaks for itself. The rivalry will be cemented as an all-time great rivalry should the two fight over the Undisputed WWE Championship. This title feud could end inside Hell in a Cell to put a cherry on top. Gargano is likely going to do everything in his power to convince ‘The Last Real Good Guy’ to get a proper title shot for the belt, and rightfully so; the Canadian promised ‘Johnny Wrestling’ a shot at the title if he were to win the main event bout on SmackDown. Randy Orton called out the winner between Punk and Zayn during the opening segment of this week’s SmackDown, and he makes a good case for breaking into the main event scene.

Another plausible scenario that’s still on the table is for the brand split to end this year, allowing Zayn to rejoin The Bloodline. It makes sense for the two sides to come together now more than it did before. Roman Reigns made it clear that he wanted the new iteration of The Bloodline to be stronger than it ever was before. He wanted his family dripped in championship gold. ‘Sami Uso’ may not be an honorary Uso right now, but he has been in the past, and he has helped the stable succeed from 2022 to 2023. The timing could not be more perfect with the actions of 946’s Royce Keys, Bronco Nima, and Lucien Price since their stable debut last month. The three have been wreaking havoc on The Bloodline. The entire Raw roster is targeting the stable the same way the entire SmackDown roster is targeting the new Undisputed WWE Champion. It’s truly them against the rest of the WWE roster. Zayn already has a tight relationship with Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso. ‘Sami Uso’ stabbed Reigns in the back before, but ‘The OTC’ has found a way to forgive and move on from the past, most notably after bringing in Jacob Fatu to The Bloodline after their Tribal Combat bout and forgiving Seth Rollins for Plan B after their five-star match at SummerSlam. Bringing in Zayn gives more reason for Fatu to defect from his family the same way Solo Sikoa has. WWE has teased ‘The Samoan Werewolf’ leaving The Bloodline for the past couple of weeks, and Zayn’s addition to The Bloodline as an outsider and the Undisputed WWE Champion should send the former United States Champion over the edge. Whether Fatu defects to join Sikoa and LA Knight or 946 remains to be seen.

WWE creative has booked Zayn brilliantly in 2026. ‘The Last Real Good Guy’ has slowly turned into a justifiable, hypocritical, and conniving heel that attracts heat better than anyone else on the roster. It seems that WWE is treating the blue brand’s main event title like a hot potato compared to the red brand’s main event title. Bringing the two main event champions together would generate the right amount of heat for The Bloodline to be monster heels like they were in their prime. It also makes a lot of sense for the two Canadian frenemies to feud over the title they’ve coveted the most. That feud has the chance to inspire future storylines and influence wrestling in the near future. WWE creative has at least a couple of solid directions they could lean into to tell a story to be told to future generations. Whatever way they go, hopefully they see their plans through and execute them properly.