10 HUGE Wrestling Moments That Must Happen By 2022
Never give up? Not quite, John Cena.
Barring any unthinkable real-world problems, CM Punk is returning to professional wrestling.
This was itself unthinkable. CM Punk was so done with the business that he severed many close friendships that even reminded him of it. WWE neglected his wellbeing, made him too many empty promises, and fired him on his wedding day. With each question thrown at him, he died that little bit more behind the eyes. He didn't fancy AEW in 2019 even when it was legitimised in front of an awestruck world in May 2019. He didn't return to WWE even when Paul Heyman, his biggest supporter, was handed the book around that exact time.
Everybody always comes back. Blitzkrieg is the only one who never did, in what is a trivia question of a rule-proving exception.
Punk is returning to pro wrestling on the back of a sensational viral marketing campaign. AEW leaked the rumour and has played with it beautifully to multifariously brilliant effect. By regionalising the hype, booking the Chicago legend-forging United Center, and dropping several explicit hints across Dynamite, the company has secured its biggest ever house and, one would expect, a very strong TV rating. This is without ruining the surprise pop so beloved of the wrestling fandom: instead of the "Holy sh*t!", AEW has opted for something equally as potent. Around 15,000 rabid fans will respond with a feeling of "It's actually true" euphoria.
This is a game-changer - but it's not quite pro wrestling's last major "moment"...
10. The One-Winged Angel Is Kicked Out Of
Don Callis boasted, to put over his charge's genius, that Kenny Omega "thinks in years".
It was the most accurate thing to ever come out of the self-professed carny's mouth, and the truth of it can be measured by the years Omega has built informing the legend of his One-Winged Angel finisher.
Only one man has kicked out of the one-handed electric chair driver: Kota Ibushi. Throughout the nine years subsequent to that moment, Omega has preserved it as the ultimate kill-shot, in turn getting himself over as one of biggest stars in the wrestling business. The actual objective numbers don't prove this to the bad faith actors, so this insight won't change their minds, either.
But if Omega wasn't a drawing attraction that promoters wished to book in order to make money, this would not have happened.
This commitment will one day pay off and pay off to a seismic extent. When somebody kicks out of the One-Winged Angel, the pop will equal that of any seminal moment in pro wrestling history. Omega will not have to return from exile or injury or make a shock jump to another promotion to generate it. All he'll have to do is write the last sentence of an incredible work of fiction.
The man to kick out of it must be Hangman Page at Full Gear.
If there is ever to be physical illustration of the belief Page needed to overcome his anxieties, it is that life-affirming moment.