12 Exact Moments AEW Booking Stopped Making Sense

12. The Interim AEW World Title Picture (June 1, 2022)

Jon Moxley
AEW

On the June 1, 2022 Dynamite, new AEW World champion CM Punk was scheduled to wrestle Max Caster and the Gunns alongside FTR. He just about gutted it through what was meant to be a low-stakes, celebratory affair. It is infamous in retrospect; Punk shattered his foot and the complexion of the company by first jumping into the crowd.

He vacated the belt on the subsequent edition of Rampage. Because Tony Khan wanted to strap Punk back up as soon as was practicable, he created an interim World title. This idea was disastrous.

Firstly, it seemed to annoy the guy who got it, Jon Moxley, because it cast him as inferior to and a placeholder for CM Punk - resulting in an infamous programme teeming with political tension. This didn’t do much for Mox; even though he was one of the absolute best wrestlers in the world, it portrayed him as solid, reliable, dependable - words you don’t tend to associate with genuine superstars.

The process of arriving at Mox was also baffling. Ahead of Forbidden Door - at which Mox represented AEW against NJPW’s Hiroshi Tanahashi - Khan booked a Battle Royal to determine Mox’s opponent for the #1 contender spot. That man was Kyle O’Reilly, who outlasted top stars such as Bobby Fish and John Silver en route to victory.

Missing from that match was Hangman Page, who didn’t get the chance to win his belt back, and Wardlow, who was white-hot following his awesome rampage to avenge MJF between March and May. Wardlow was even scripted to bury the idea of the interim title to explain why he wasn’t in the match.

As great as Mox was throughout 2022, this business stigmatised him as a safe pair of hands; fuelled CM Punk’s top star entitlement; undermined Wardlow as a major prospect worth investing in; and diminished the value of the World title.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!