Teddy Long believes it's time for former WWE Champion to win the title again (Exclusive)

Many WWE stars on the roster currently deserve another reign with the top prize in the company. Drew McIntyre, Damian Priest, Jey Uso, and Kevin Owens are just some of the names that deserve to win the World Championship again, but there's one superstar who deserves it more than anyone else currently, CM Punk.

The Chicago native returned to the company in 2023 and has since held the World Championship, only once, and that too for just five minutes. During a recent episode of The Wrestling Time Machine on Sportskeeda WrestleBinge, WWE legend Teddy Long was asked if he believed it's time to put the belt on CM Punk.

Long said he feels that Punk has proved himself to be a team player since returning to WWE. He said that having been back for a long time now, he's proven that he has no problems, so it's certainly the time to give him a run with the promotion's top prize.

"Yeah, I really do. Yeah. Cause I mean, he's been back there for a long time now. He certainly proved himself to be a team player, you know, had no problems or nothing since he's been back. So I think it's certainly his time. It ain't about attitude no more. CM Punk has gotten older, and he understands it's about the dollar, dollar, dollar." Long said.

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CM Punk won his first World Championship since returning at SummerSlam 2025, but it proved to be extremely short-lived. He defeated Gunther in a hard-hitting match to win the title, but five minutes later, he lost the title to Seth Rollins, who cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on an already weakened Punk, to win the championship.

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About the author

Faiz is a WWE writer at Sportskeeda Wrestling. He is a BBA graduate who is passionate about sports and wants to make a career in that field. This passion led to a postgraduate degree in Journalism, which helped him pivot into becoming a sports writer. When writing, he puts the utmost importance on accuracy and thorough research.

Faiz has six years of work experience across four companies. He started his career with Zomato and then moved to Amazon. He shifted to becoming a football writer at TV9 Digital and is now with Sportskeeda. He covered the Wrestling Xtreme Mania event in Gurgaon in 2025, where he had the opportunity to interview Raj The Maharaja, fka Jinder Mahal. At the same event, he also got quick interviews with former WWE Superstar Dijak and Japanese Joshi legend Emi Sakura.

When it comes to his favourite wrestlers, Faiz has two names in mind. He loved to watch Triple H before the current WWE CCO retired, and he is a huge fan of Roman Reigns. Being a loyal fan since the Tribal Chief's SHIELD days, Faiz credits Roman's mic skills and unmatched in-ring storytelling for his mega success. When he was young, one in-ring story left a lasting impression on his mind and eventually got him hooked on WWE. That match was Shawn Michaels vs. Ric Flair at WrestleMania 24. Apart from that, he is also a fan of RAW.

When Faiz is not writing for Sportskeeda, he loves to keep up with other sports. He is an avid cricket and football fan, a huge gamer, and loves playing some RPGs on the PlayStation.

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Edited by Faiz Ahmed