13 Ups & 1 Down From AEW Revolution 2022
1. CM Punk vs. MJF
Creating the kind of struggle that CM Punk and MJF conveyed at Revolution isn't easy. Almost 40 years have passed since Starrcade '83, when Roddy Piper and Greg Valentine perfected the Dog Collar stipulation, and modern wrestling's extra layers of sheen and gloss aren't conducive to that specific, ugly brand of violence. Additionally, suspending disbelief to the same degree as those old legends is increasingly different in the era of social media and unlimited information. Not only does it take two of the most skilled performers in the business, who have refined every aspect of their game to become well-armoured pro-wrestling machines, but an intricate plot rife with big, emotional beats.
Time has moved on, tastes have changed - but the classics? Those never go out of style.
And CM Punk and MJF did Valentine and Piper proud.
Entirely different to anything else on this stunt and blood-heavy card, this was an exhausting, gut-wrench ordeal, as it should have been. Punk and MJF captured a kind of violence that seemed long dead in pro wrestling. Dragging themselves through a desperate fight to the death, they sold, spilt claret, built dramatic, and conveyed pure loathing in a match that barely registered as a performance.
His hand destroyed by Punk and his gas tank emptied, MJF was literally left crying for Wardlow by the end. The ensuing turn was played magnificently. Looking like a million dollars after his Face of the Revolution win (in stark contrast to the bloodied, tack-laden Max), Wardlow conveniently couldn't find the Dynamite Diamond Ring, giving Punk the opening for the GTS. Suddenly, Wardlow found the ring. "Oops", he said, then left it on the canvas for Punk to swipe.
Hoisted by his own petard, MJF was defeated when Punk knocked him clean out with the ring. The perfect end to what has been the best feud in pro wrestling this year.
Jarring by design and with all the important story beats hitting to the desired extent (Wardlow came out of this feeling like a megastar), Punk vs. MJF II was everything it should have been: a modernised mutation of a classic stipulation.