The Case For CM Punk: Wrestler Of The Year 2022
En route to dethroning Hangman Page when, sadly, the die for his eventual exit had obviously been cast, Punk offered up a luxurious and varied handful of matches that already serve as a reminder of what we've missed in the second half of the year.
His new-best-friends Bret Hart derby with Dax Harwood on March 22nd was a delight. A week after that found Max Caster on the end of a stature-enhancing loss before Tony Khan actually used his gonzo roster for a change and booked Punk against Penta Oscuro. An April 20th attritional effort against Dustin Rhodes was legends-wrestling-each-other sh*t at its charming best, and a win over John Silver has a doomy feel in hindsight despite being a quality clash of styles a fortnight out from Double Or Nothing.
Despite being hampered by the uneven and edgy build, Punk and Page still had a total ripper. The nightmarish real-life violence after All Out are all the worse for how decent the worked stuff was first time out. There was still more to do here, and who knows if there might still have been had the new Champion not suffered his foot injury on the following Dynamite. He closed his account with a phenomenal and evocative offering against Jon Moxley, twisting and turning the hearts and minds of his Chicago fans before turning the industry on its head just minutes later. Nick Hausman "blew up his spot" no longer being friends with Colt Cabana, but that couldn't compare to how much Punk stepped on MJF's d*ck - three months of build were lost and the promise by Friedman to eventually ruin Punk's life went frustratingly unfulfilled. These ups, downs and inside-outs are the warts-and-all reality of the man, and what they brought to AEW will be debated for years.
What's not up for discussion is how much the company misses his brand of fiction.
CONT'D...