The Case For CM Punk: Wrestler Of The Year 2022

There was something tragically fitting - with an emphasis on tragic exactly as much as fitting, in truth - about Punk blowing his Buckshot Lariat attempts during a programme with Hangman Page that served as the catalyst for everything that blew up in everybody's face in the second half of the year.

Punk was never the most aerially gifted of the brand of wrestler that emerged from Ring Of Honor's golden era, or indeed those that could be classified as internet darlings within WWE's rigid system. When he'd first returned to wrestling via WWE's shiny floor show on Fox in 2019 rather than in a hot angle on a Chicago Dynamite or pay-per-view for AEW, there were even whispers that he'd surveyed the in-ring scene enough to spot too many gaps in his game compared to the current crop.

From his debut match with Darby Allin at All Out 2021, those were laughed out of the fandom.

'The Voice Of The Voiceless' hadn't worked for seven of his prime years thanks to the tumultuous end of his time with WWE, but that was almost instantly confirmed as a feature rather than a bug. Bret Hart tribute spots - like everything - became a lot less charming the more they were relied upon by Punk and FTR as the self-appointed superfans of 'The Hitman', but the very first one against Allin set the tone for literally the entire duration of his AEW run. He lost a takedown battle with his younger, fitter foe, and paused to process it in a way identical to Hart's own consideration of the 1-2-3 Kid's pace and poise in their 1994 Monday Night Raw classic.

He then recalibrated, reassured himself and reared back a little bit in order to calmly and efficiently outwrestle Allin with the experience of a man that had done it all but the body that hadn't had to see it for over half a decade.

Four months of expertly-paced steady improvement followed, but as the New Year ticked over, so too did Punk's intention to do more with his run than simply earn the respect of his new colleagues.

CONT'D...