10 Bold Wrestling Predictions For 2022
8. CM Punk Turns Heel
Even though he's played a heel situationally already, and fellow beloved darling Bryan Danielson is popping himself daft winding up crowds at time of writing, it feels inconceivable that CM Punk will go full-fledged in the role.
He returned as pro wrestling's beloved lost superstar, and fans were so thrilled to welcome him back that he couldn't not play the happy-to-be-here role. It was a mutual love-in.
AEW is still struggling, through no fault of its own, to re-programme an audience with an ingrained cynicism of long-term storytelling. It's an ambitious, realistic thread that Tony Khan and CM Punk are weaving, one that is counterintuitive to WWE's way of doing things. Punk's age is portrayed as a vulnerability. Is he the same CM Punk? Was seven years out too long? Has the new generation he wanted to "help" actually caught up with him?
These are the questions an impatient fanbase don't seem to be asking. Instead, they're asking why he's going 10 minutes with QT Marshall. He's going 10 minutes with QT Marshall as part of his character's arc.
At some point, AEW might just give in, and cast Punk in his most valuable role. There's a sadness to that - this is an actual, sports-oriented storyline - but it's a real possibility.
Those matches against QT and Lee Moriarty weren't exactly heated.