7 Ups & 6 Downs From AEW Dynamite: Thanksgiving (24 Nov)

by Andy H Murray

1. MJF & CM Punk Melt Their Microphones

MJF CM Punk
AEW

MJF and CM Punk's promo was much-watch material. This column isn't long enough to do it justice and the word count isn't high enough to cover every major point, given this thing went on for around 20 minutes, but it was comfortably one of the best segments AEW has produced all year.

MJF started up by reaching for low-hanging fruit, insulting Chicago, Punk's age, his physical appearance, and more. When Punk pointed this out, MJF went deeper. Getting called a "less famous Miz" obviously struck a chord with MJF, who went in on his opposite number, saying he was doomed to forever live in the shadow of John Cena, Triple H, and more, which brought out the bastard in Punk.

"The only way you're ever going to become number one is if you wait around long enough for Tony Khan to have a daughter that you marry," he said, having put Britt Baker and Darby Allin ahead of him in the pillars' pecking order. Sadly, however, Punk didn't get the opportunity to punch MJF in the d*ck before wrestling QT Marshall: unsurprisingly, Maxwell took a powder.

Heated, personal, and cutting, this was outstanding. An all-time great talker went bar-for-bar with a modern master here, and neither of them was eaten up on the microphone. Instead, they cut straight to the bone after getting past MJF's basic opening barbs, which were there by design to emphasise the material that followed.

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Channel Manager
Channel Manager

Andy has been with WhatCulture for eight years and is currently WhatCulture's Wrestling Channel Manager. A writer, presenter, and editor with 10+ years of experience in online media, he has been a sponge for all wrestling knowledge since playing an old Royal Rumble 1992 VHS to ruin in his childhood. Having previously worked for Bleacher Report, Andy specialises in short and long-form writing, video presenting, voiceover acting, and editing, all characterised by expert wrestling knowledge and commentary. Andy is as much a fan of 1985 Jim Crockett Promotions as he is present-day AEW and WWE - just don't make him choose between the two.