Much like CM Punk's opening promo, the AEW Collision main event was exactly what it needed to be.
This match-up only used Punk sparingly, with Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler taking up the bulk of the bout for the babyface trio. This match did give us enough CM Punk to more than whet the appetite, though, and it was indeed the Chicagoan who scored the win, pinning Juice Robinson after a GTS and the Big Rig.
Bullet Club Gold's Jay White and Juice were fantastic in their roles; White being the slick, smooth heel technician, Robinson as the crazed lunatic who was always going to eat the pin. And then, well then there's Samoa Joe.
In terms of whetting the appetite, long-time rivals CM Punk and Samoa Joe standing toe-to-toe was a sight many had thought we'd never see again. For the United Center, they absolutely - and rightly so - lost their sh*t at the tease of Punk and Joe slugging it out, and likewise lost their sh*t even more when that finally happened.
The way that Joe chopped the soul out of CM Punk as he talked trash to his old rival? That was brutally beautiful. That said, Joe was magnificent with all three of the babyfaces who he found himself going up against here. The aura, the posture, the jaw-jacking, and the facials... this was Samoa Joe at his most, well, Samoa Joe.
A phenomenal TV main event, a magical way to close out the inaugural AEW Collision, and now we're all left to ponder when and where we'll get CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe.
Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics.
As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic.
Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.
