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WWE SmackDown Results (4/4/25): CM Punk Reveals His Favor, Tiffany Stratton Gets Personal With Charlotte

It's remained a mystery for months, but CM Punk finally revealed what favor Paul Heyman owes him Friday night on WWE SmackDown.
Rick Ucchino|
We now what Paul Heyman owes CM Punk
We now what Paul Heyman owes CM Punk | WWE.com

CM Punk is heading to the main event of WrestleMania 41 and he won't be headlining the show alone. He'll have Paul Heyman in his corner.

After months of leaving the WWE Universe in the dark, Punk finally cashed in his favor Friday night on SmackDown. The 'Best in the World' stood center ring in his hometown of Chicago and told Roman Reigns that his Wiseman, and Punk's best friend, will be in Las Vegas to support the Second City Saint.

Reigns began to laugh off the request and told Heyman to let Punk down gently, but with tears in his eyes, the Wiseman said he couldn't do that.

Heyman made a promise to Punk years ago, that when he main evented WrestleMania, the two of them would stand together against the world. That favor, that promise must now come to fruition.

An upset Tribal Chief got in Heyman's face and Punk pounced on the opportunity. He bashed Roman in the back of the head with a microphone and gave him a GTS. All of this happening while Seth Rollins watched on with a smile on his face and a raucous crowd cheered in approval.

WrestleMania 41 is just two weeks away and the landscape of WWE is rapidly changing by the day. Here's everything you may have missed from Friday night's episode of SmackDown.

Full Match and Segment Results:

CM Punk opened the show to an absolutely thunderous ovation from his hometown Chicago crowd. He thanked each and every fan in the Allstate Arena, across the entire Second City and amongst the WWE Universe for helping him get to the main event of WrestleMania 41.

As the fans began to chant "You deserve it", Punk declared that he had earned it. The self proclaimed 'Best in the World' said he wasn't ever supposed to make it to WWE, let alone to the most coveted spot on the biggest wrestling show in the world. He promised that he would whip the asses of both Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns in Las Vegas.

Paul Heyman then arrived at the building and met Punk down in the ring. The Wiseman received a round of ECW chants as he regaled the crowd with the story of how he begged CM Punk to team with Roman Reigns at Survivor Series last November. Its well documented that Heyman owes Punk a huge favor in return for his participation in WarGames. When Heyman asked Punk to please reveal what that favor is, he said he would do it once the Tribal Chief made it to SmackDown.

Rey Fenix defeated NXT Tag Team Champion Nathan Frazer in his WWE debut match. The former AEW World Tag Team Champion impressed the audience with his fast-paced aerial assault. Frazer also had a strong showing in his first ever match on SmackDown, but in the end, Fenix was able to secure the victory with the Mexican Muscle Buster.

Fenix cut a fiery promo after the win and he said this was not a debut match. It was a rebirth. Backstage we see a very impressed Santos Escobar. Berto, not so much. He called Fenix a flash in the pan and claimed he was better than SmackDown's newest Superstar. Escobar loved Berto's attitude and said he would go talk to GM Nick Aldis to get him a match against Fenix next week.

We see a Drew McIntyre vignette next. The Scottish Warrior was wearing an eye patch due to the backstage brawl he had last week with Damian Priest. McIntyre said glass went into his eye after he was slammed onto a car windshield and he may never be the same again. Drew said he needed to pray over what to do next. And when Drew McIntyre prays, back things happen.

United States Champion LA Knight defeated Tama Tonga. Solo Sikoa got involved in the match to help give Tonga the upper hand. A brief distraction by the former Tribal Chief allowed Tongo to get a near fall on a roll-up, but he ended up running into a BFT and a 1-2-3... YEAH!

Backstage we see Paul Heyman waiting for Roman Reigns to arrive at the arena. Byron Saxton tried chatting with him about the favor he owes CM Punk. The Wiseman declared that no matter what the favor is, his answer is yes. Whatever Punk wants, he'll get it. An SUV then pulled up, but it wasn't Roman Reigns inside. It was Seth Rollins, who told Heyman he wants to be there when Punk reveals his favor.

WWE Women's Champion Tiffany Stratton and Charlotte Flair met face-to-face in the ring and got extremely personal. The white hot Chicago crowd would not let the Queen speak much, which allowed Stratton to throw some very serious verbal jabs.

Tiffany said no matter how many records Charlotte breaks, she'll never live up to her father. She'll never have the adulation of the fans and the Queen will finish her career alone. Just like she is in her personal life, referencing her recent divorce from Andrade.

As Tiffany ducked out of the ring, Charlotte asked why Ludwig Kaiser (Tiffany's real life boyfriend) is hitting up her DM's. This was reportedly a very off script promo exchange.

SmackDown GM Nick Aldis announced a Women's Tag Team Gauntlet Match for next Friday. The winners will challenge Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez for the WWE Women's Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania 41.

The Motor City Machine Guns defeated #DIY to become the No. 1 Contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championships. Tommaso Ciampa ended up going face first into an exposed turnbuckle, which allowed Chris Sabin to steal the match with a roll up victory.

Jade Cargill attacked Naomi from behind as she was making her entrance for her match against B-Fab. It took several members of the security team to hold Cargill back, which allowed Naomi to escape to the ring.

Naomi defeated B-Fab with a modified kneeling lung blower. After the match was over, Naomi called out Jade Cargill who immediately surprised her from behind with a big boot. Security again had to pull them apart. SmackDown GM Nick Aldis then emerged to announced that Jade and Naomi will face each other at WrestleMania 41.

Damian Priest cut a backstage promo where he said he wants to see Drew McIntyre in the ring face-to-face next week. He wants Drew to quit playing a victim and become his victim at WrestleMania 41.

Kevin Owens announced that he needs neck surgery and will miss WrestleMania 41. It's not clear if or when he'll be able to return to the ring. Upon hearing that he no longer has a match in Las Vegas this month, Orton gave SmackDown GM Nick Aldis an RKO.

Jacob Fatu defeated Braun Strowman in a Last Man Standing Match to become the new No. 1 Contender for the Men's United States Championship. The Samoan Werewolf sandwiched the Monster Among Men between two broken table pieces after delivering a thunderous hip attack. Strowman was unable to make it back to his feet in time, and Fatu will now challenge LA Knight at WrestleMania 41.

Roman Reigns arrived at the Allstate Arena and made his way to the ring in a record amount of time. At least for the OTC. He called Punk down to the ring, but it was a dancing Seth Rollins who came down to the ring first.

Rollins was in a much better mood than he was last week. He was very eager to hear all about Punk's favor, firmly believing it would bite Roman in the ass. Seth was right.

Punk came down to the ring and informed Reigns that Paul Heyman will be in his corner at WrestleMania. The Tribal Chief did not take the news well. When he got in the face of his Wiseman, Punk attacked him from behind and put him to sleep to close the show.

Published
Rick Ucchino
RICK UCCHINO

Rick Ucchino is the Assistant Editor & Content Coordinator for The Takedown on SI. He also works full-time for 700WLW Radio in Cincinnati, Ohio as a local news and sports anchor, in addition to his time covering the Cincinnati Bengals for Sirius XM. Rick has been on the professional wrestling beat since 2019, having provided coverage for a number of outlets, including Fightful, SB Nation’s Cageside Seats and the Bleav Podcast Network. With an educational background in theater, creative writing and journalism, Rick focuses primarily on the storytelling aspect of pro wrestling, but he’s no stranger to the squared circle himself. He had the privilege of training with former WWE & WCW cruiserweight Jimmy Wang Yang for nearly two years and retired early due to back issues with a perfect 1-0 record in singles competition. Rick is a married father of two incredibly adorable children, who are budding pro wrestling fans themselves. Much to the chagrin of their mother. You can reach Rick at rwucchino@gmail.com

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