10 Things We Learned From Attending AEW All In 2023
3. The Yin And Yang Of Having This Man
It was shocking rather than surprising when news filtered out about a potential backstage fight between CM Punk and Jack Perry before Punk's show-opening (!) scrap with Samoa Joe. Shocking because such a thing felt unbecoming of anybody on what stood to be such a celebratory occasion. Unsurprising because we have obviously been here before.
There was a key difference between Brawl Out and whatever actually happened during All In, and that was Punk getting to flex his immense and frankly incredible in-person value after the fact rather than being forced away by injuries and/or personal animosities.
The scenes played out before the Real World Champion even hit the ring. This could have had disastrous consequences for the advertised card, not least with events allegedly occurring so close to Punk's spellbinding opener with Samoa Joe. Instead, they were brushed aside much like the criticisms of Punk's ability to captivate.
The measure of the man remains hard to parse, but he triumphantly left his on-screen value beyond any reasonable doubt. Even if, increasingly, every time feels like the last one.