9 Ups & 9 Downs For AEW In 2022

7. AEW Remains The Best Storytelling Promotion

You know what was so outstanding about the MJF Vs. CM Punk programme?

Even before it evolved into something genuinely profound, the early trash-talk element - very scathing and entertaining in and of itself, given that it was a verbal duel between two men with a genius grasp of promos - actually deepened the heft of what followed. This wasn't two men trying to pop the crowd with one-liners while establishing themselves as the alpha male. This was CM Punk drilling into the broken psyche of his biggest, spurned fan. Punk was making the monster without even realising it.

When he told MJF that he was a less famous Miz - sold with a subtle "What the f*ck did you just say?" tilt of the head - he wasn't insulting a young pretender to his throne. He was upsetting, deeply, his biggest fan. When MJF announced that he was Punk's biggest fan, and that Punk was the very reason he entered the wrestling industry, the true scale of the storyline revealed itself as a bold and layered exploration of the human condition. Punk sympathised with MJF as it drew to an unpredictable conclusion - how can they even fight now, when Punk learned that the young MJF's life was only worth living because Punk offered him an escape from it? - and didn't look like an idiot in falling for the ruse. He looked like a man who could look himself in the mirror.

The ruse itself wasn't some black and white thing, either. The supervillain origin story was so well-constructed that it laid the foundation for his hero's redemption one day. That's what people rave about when they rave about AEW. No booker since Giant Baba has thought ahead with such astounding foresight and continuity.

"PG Punk" felt like the one lame insult, and even that was paid off in the end: MJF had dared to summon ROH Punk in the last, brilliant twist of a masterpiece that didn't rely on easily clarified misunderstandings to advance itself.