The Case For CM Punk: Wrestler Of The Year 2022
'The Best In The World' lived up to his name in 2022, despite only wrestling for half of it. How?
It can never not be a feeling.
With every year-end, there comes the usual procession of matches, moments and the men and women themselves ranked by multiple metrics all in an attempt to objectively assess the last 12 months in professional wrestling. Many and most are in good faith, but all of them have to be rooted in a feeling. The objective is ultimately impossible even if you've got rules to your star ratings, a carefully-curated set of parameters or a division between what does and doesn't make a classic. Because even those are yours and yours alone, and the scores are determined as much by feeling as the thought required to assemble them.
As usual, the former AEW World Heavyweight Champion is the ultimate pro wrestling paradox - it is easy to feel that CM Punk was 2022's Wrestler Of The Year, when you think about it.
There's one glaring argument against Punk claiming this annual honour, and not even the bad faith sort that comes from those firmly attached to The Elite side of wrestling's latest culture war in the wake of the All Out 2022 press conference. So just before making the case for the 'Voice Of The Voiceless', it's worth debunking the loudest one against him.
And that is?
CONT'D...