10 Biggest Missed AEW Opportunities

To be fair to AEW, elements of the ongoing CM Punk situation have been out of the company's hands and we're still waiting to see how exactly things will fully play out for the clearly strained relationship between the Second City Saint and All Elite Wrestling. As such, there's an element of speculation and 'what if?' to this particular entry...

If CM Punk's time with AEW is indeed as done as some reports would have you believe, that will represent a ridiculous amount of missed opportunities for numerous parties.

Just by looking at first time ever matches we may now never see, there's Kenny Omega, Adam Cole, Matt and Nick Jackson, all three of Death Triangle, Ricky Starks, Powerhouse Hobbs, Andrade El Idolo, the House of Black, Dante Martin, Jungle Boy, Ethan Page, Orange Cassidy, Daniel Garcia, Wardlow, Sting and freakin' Hook as fun would-be opponents for the Straight-Edge Superstar. Hell, you could even throw singles matches against Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler into that.

Then there's clearly the mouth-watering prospect of having Punk revisit old battles with the likes of Bryan Danielson, Samoa Joe, Christopher Daniels, Chris Jericho and run back more recent rivalries with MJF and Jon Moxley at some point.

These are bouts that could have been great for all involved, could've produced banger matches, could've helped elevate younger talents, and could have made for great viewing for wrestling fans. Similarly, some of those bouts could've brought in strong numbers (and money!) for AEW in terms of PPV buys and ratings - and, in turn, have made a whole bunch more money for CM Punk himself.

Of course, as alluded to, such missed opportunities were largely taken out of AEW's hands once Punk publicly eviscerated the organisation's EVPs and other talent during the infamous post-All Out media scrum and the subsequent backstage altercation which followed.