The Self-Destruction Of CM Punk In AEW | Wrestling Timelines
March 4, 2022 - Cabana Goes Dark
On March 4, 2022, Colt Cabana teams with Alan Angels in a losing effort to the Butcher and the Blade. The match, taped for AEW Dark, is the last Cabana will work under the AEW banner until November. He works a few matches in Germany at a games convention in August, in order to promote the inaugural ‘Fight Forever’ title, but they don’t really count. Given the very delicate nature of the story that follows, this long absence, even from the missable web shows, is very newsworthy.
If you’re Tony Khan, and you are very much aware of a rumour that is tearing the locker room apart, don’t you entertain the idea of booking Cabana to perform a simple job on Dynamite or Rampage to quash it?
Cabana wouldn’t even have to win. It wouldn’t have to go long. He could have stared at the lights for any number of pushed heels. This sort of predictable stat-padding match actually happens on Dynamite most weeks.
No such match happens.
March 6, 2022 - Ace Steel Arrives
This is the moment where everything shifts into an irreversible direction. This is the moment, the whole truth of which has yet to be clarified, that splits All Elite Wrestling in half. Ace Steel, the man who trained and is a very close friend of CM Punk, joins AEW as a producer.
Two things are happening - allegedly - at near enough the same time.
May 29, 2022 - Double Or Nothing
The CM Punk Vs. Hangman Page storyline is, in a word, baffling. Nobody online can come to a consensus on where they’re going with it.
Punk commentates on Hangman Vs. Konosuke Takeshita from Dynamite. As Page hoists Takeshita up when stealing the Go To Sleep, a smirking Punk remarks “I’ve got him right where I want him”. Meanwhile, Punk infamously does a terrible job of stealing Page’s Buckshot lariat in a match against John Silver. What’s the story here?
“Anything you can do, I can do better?”
It’s a bit rote for two master storytellers, and the fans sense something is amiss, but the true context has yet to play out in the media. The Double Or Nothing main event feels big, at least, which matters more than anything else. The issue is that Punk and Page are telling separate stories.
Punk thinks he’s telling a simple story of the two top babyfaces going at it, maybe playing a mind game or two. On April 27, Punk in his Dynamite promo says he’s a fan of Hangman Page. He also says that Page will know he’s been in a fight with him, come Double Or Nothing.
Page believes he’s in a blood feud fought for the very soul of All Elite Wrestling. On the May 6 Dynamite, Page buries Punk’s “masturbatory Bret Hart matches” and outright says “I am going to destroy CM Punk”. His tone clashes drastically with Punk’s. Again: this is very weird and disjointed. It feels like AEW has skipped past some massive heat angle or other. This is exactly what has happened, only, it happened offscreen.
What’s Hangman Page’s problem, then?
He alludes to it in a face-to-face confrontation on May 25. In front of a bemused Punk, who questions what Page’s problem is, Hangman says “You talk a big game about workers’ rights, yeah? Well, you’ve shown the exact opposite since you’ve gotten here”. Page then vows to defend All Elite Wrestling from CM Punk.
The extent of the problems polluting the backstage environment are not yet known, but some people receive this as some sort of reference to Colt Cabana. (Other wrestlers who have sparred verbally with Punk have indirectly referenced lawsuits and the like.) The workers’ rights line is glossed over, despite how infamous it will become. Some fans do notice that Hangman Page drifts away from his on-off friends in the Dark Order almost as soon as he begins to circle CM Punk in the narrative - but really, the promo does not scan as a transgression at the time. It feels like a storytelling misstep, nothing more.
The match is equally awkward. The crowd is split, and while they don’t chant “Both these guys!”, that is the sentiment in the building. People love CM Punk, and recognise that he’s a massive star and draw more capable of leading AEW to a new level commercially. There’s something sad, though, about this being the probable end of Page’s maiden World title reign. This whole thing felt like it was built on his behalf, such was the power of the booking and the strength of his performances. It feels like throwing something of enormous sentimental value away because it no longer fits.
It’s messy, but also gripping. Page is nasty, scraping his forearm across and chopping Punk’s face - an odd choice for a strike usually aimed at the chest. Punk falls on his ass when attempting the Buckshot lariat, underscoring the bad idea that is the “Anything you can do” angle. It’s embarrassing. It might contribute to Punk’s darkening mood over the summer months.
It is the end of Page’s reign. Punk captures him, mid-Buckshot attempt, and pins him following the GTS. CM Punk is the top guy. It isn’t in question. He beat the top guy. He gets what he never got in WWE.
What’s interesting here is that CM Punk performs his duties like a professional at the post-show press conference. He even puts Hangman over - and this is after the worker’s rights promo. While he’ll change his mind or reveal the truth later, when asked where he’d appraise the match against Page in his list of best efforts, he says “It’s up there…first time we touched, it was good”.
It’s very likely that he’s unhappy, at least with the Elite, but he’s the new World champion. This in effect is his promotion now; he must represent it properly.
Something changes, and very quickly.