4 Ups & 4 Downs From AEW Rampage (June 3)
2. One Hell Of A Downer
First off, it's hardly AEW's fault that CM Punk is injured, and they can't be blamed for having a contingency plan in place. However, crowning an interim champion isn't the way to go in Punk's absence - AEW has tried the interim thing before with their TNT belt, and that was pretty messy.
Fans would've forgiven Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. someone else non-title at Forbidden Door given the circumstances. Instead, Tony Khan had fudged together some Battle Royal gimmick for Dynamite. The winner of that faces Jon Moxley, then the winner of that meets Tanahashi.
Hmm.
Punk's promo was well-handled, open and honest, but everything after that can get straight in the bin. Man, it blows to think that Khan's only backup plan is to slap another belt on somebody so Tana can work a one-off challenge on the next pay-per-view.