10 Essential AEW Matches For New Fans

"Essential" almost feels like an understatement.

CM Punk Vs Darby Allin presented the most beautiful version of the pro wrestling basics. Punk's return to wrestling wonderful and rewarding and life-affirming return, but questions remained of what exactly seven years off would look like. 'The Straight Edge Superstar' artfully answered the question as a way to remind fans that the biggest one had already been answered - here was why All Elite Wrestling was the right destination for his comeback.

Allin as a ground floor project-turned-company megastar was the perfect foe at a macro level, but the two didn't once betray the micro stories within the body of an all-new dream match. Borrowing from a celebrated Bret Hart/1-2-3 Kid match in tribute to the iconic pair as well as their own dynamic, both men played to their strengths as a route to overcoming weaknesses. Beautiful, beautiful basics.

Before he was even formally #AllElite, Punk had put over Allin's dive as the best in the game. He did so with this one in mind, and absorbed it full in the f*cking chops. Every hold Punk deployed existed to stop all that, and the plan worked when Allin aimed a premature Coffin Drop at the grounded Chicagoan. A delicious final stretch kicked off when Punk sat up at exactly the right moment to avoid it.

The old dog wasn't even so old, and he still had new tricks. As with the epic Cody tale, Darby was put in position to learn from an epic experience, and Punk himself was instantly reborn as contemporary concern.