Top Story
CM Punk Debuts in AEW
The biggest story in all of pro wrestling, not just this past week but most likely all year, was the return of CM Punk to pro wrestling, debuting this past Friday night on the AEW Rampage show on TNT. Punk sold out the United Center in his home city of Chicago, with simply hints of his return and the ovation and reception was one of the most overwhelmingly positive things you will ever see in pro wrestling. This was electric and something to be remembered for the rest of wrestling history. If you missed it, check it out, if you saw it, relive it.
If you can watch that and call it anything but a grand massive success, you juts need to stop watching wrestling and pick a different hobby. CM Punk showed the world that not only does absence make the heart grow fonder, but a true star will always shine, no matter how much people try to dim its light. I was extremely happy for Punk, as I have been a fan of his since the days of Ring of Honor. His promo skills and his ability to connect with the audience is what has always set Punk above the rest and both were on full display here. Masterful. AEW finally has themselves a true needle mover.
Punk now will face Darby Allin at All Out in Chicago September 5th. I think its a good first match back, although it wouldn't be my first choice. Darby isn't somebody I want losing right now, but Punk has to win his first match back. But for this AEW crowd, they would much rather just watch a match with two guys they really like watching having a great match and they can cheer them both, win or loss. And that's fine. Either way, coming out of the match, I think they need to heat up some sort of personal issue or program that Punk can sink his teeth into. When you have a star the level of CM Punk he needs to be featured in the title program or on top, Period.
Punk made it clear that he's not in AEW for a short run and he's not a part timer. He has a full time deal and is there to help build the company and help anybody who wants help in the back. This is the biggest signing Tony Khan has pulled off yet, and only time will tell how big the company may become from this momentum.
WWE NEWS
Becky Lynch is Back
I've already expressed my displeasure with the way the Becky Lynch return and title win was executed in my Summerslam review (here), but in addition to her return, news has been circulating that the plan is to turn Lynch heel. On the surface, this seems like a pretty dumb idea to turn the biggest and hottest woman attraction they have heel, but to me it makes sense from Becky's perspective.
She had her best run as "The Man" when she was a no non sense trash talking ass kicker who didn't care about offending anyone or playing nice. I don't think she needs to be a cowering heel at all, but she should be like Ric Flair/Stone Cold/ Rock/ Conor McGregor type heel, where the fans will choose to cheer her because they respect her and love how good of a character she is playing regardless. This makes a lot of sense from Becky's perspective because when your not forcing yourself to be the "good guy", its a lot easier just to be yourself and the fans will cheer. Plus she will be programmed with Bianca Belair, who needs to be the baby face in the feud and she wouldn't want to undercut her in a face vs. face feud.
I think this makes alot of sense from a performance standpoint. Will it hurt her popularity with kids who love her? Well, I don't think so, but she needs to that edge back. She was getting pretty stale and watered down before she left and I think this will rejuvenate her. It hard to be a cocky and arrogant baby face without coming off as a heel and showing up all your opponents. Sasha Banks is loved as heel because she's that damn good and the Boss persona was created as a heel gimmick, so is Charlotte as the Queen. And from Becky's standpoint, I'm sure it's simply just more fun and she can carry more programs working heel to upcoming baby faces like Liv Morgan and Tony Storm. So to me, I will give this one time to play out. And when she turns back face, it will be huge.
She had her best run as "The Man" when she was a no non sense trash talking ass kicker who didn't care about offending anyone or playing nice. I don't think she needs to be a cowering heel at all, but she should be like Ric Flair/Stone Cold/ Rock/ Conor McGregor type heel, where the fans will choose to cheer her because they respect her and love how good of a character she is playing regardless. This makes a lot of sense from Becky's perspective because when your not forcing yourself to be the "good guy", its a lot easier just to be yourself and the fans will cheer. Plus she will be programmed with Bianca Belair, who needs to be the baby face in the feud and she wouldn't want to undercut her in a face vs. face feud.
I think this makes alot of sense from a performance standpoint. Will it hurt her popularity with kids who love her? Well, I don't think so, but she needs to that edge back. She was getting pretty stale and watered down before she left and I think this will rejuvenate her. It hard to be a cocky and arrogant baby face without coming off as a heel and showing up all your opponents. Sasha Banks is loved as heel because she's that damn good and the Boss persona was created as a heel gimmick, so is Charlotte as the Queen. And from Becky's standpoint, I'm sure it's simply just more fun and she can carry more programs working heel to upcoming baby faces like Liv Morgan and Tony Storm. So to me, I will give this one time to play out. And when she turns back face, it will be huge.
Brock is Back
Now that Brock Lesnar returned at the end of Summerslam and had a faceoff with his old rival Roman Reigns to close the show, the question is not if these two will meet, but when? Survivor Series seem like a perfect time to have these two rivals meet up but it seems like they may be accelerating the plan. The company did anounce that they will be returning to Saudi Arabia in October for another Crown Jewel show, and we know that the Saudi's pay big money for big matches. Maybe that is the destination for it. If so I think it has to a match in the series and not the final match itself. Maybe even have the two team up, with Heyman trying to have them work together. Only for the trust to diminish and they two turn on one another for a feud for the winter. Point is, I wouldn't jump right into a match between the two. Heyman should play a large role in this story and I look forward to seeing what he does with it. Anything involving Brock and Roman is highest priority with Vince.
WWE RAW/ SMACKDOWN
Summerslam Review
Everything from last week's RAW and Smackdown is pretty much irrelvant at this point, so there isn't any point of reviewing last week's TV. But I was live in Las Vegas for Summerslam over the weekend and have a full report that you can see here.
NXT
Samoa Joe wins NXT Championship
In a pleasant surprise, Samoa Joe was crowned the new NXT champion in the main event of Takeover 36. Joe defeated Karrion Kross in a pretty good main event and went on to capture his third NXT title. I thought this was great and the right call, since Joe should be treated as a special commodity, and given everything that we just saw with CM Punk on Friday night, they better appreciate Joe cause AEW would snatch him up in a second. How long Joe is on top remains to be seen but undoubtedly he will put over a young guy who will elevate him in doing so. I'm just happy that Joe is healthy and able to do what he does best.
Is Adam Cole Done with WWE?
If you watched that 2 out of 3 falls match between Cole and O’Reilly and didn't get the strong impression that Adam Cole is not coming back, you sure are optimistic. I think he's on the first plane to Jacksonville, and that was the last we will see of Cole on WWE TV. The match was pretty damn good and the decisive finish would indicated that they wanted to make it perfectly clear that one is staying and one is leaving. Now, that could mean that Cole is just leaving NXT and will be on the main roster soon, but as of now, no deal is in place and I see no indication that he's going anywhere but AEW with his fiancé and best friends "The Elite". I think going to AEW will be great for Cole. He'll never be the top guy, but I have a lot more confidence in how he'll be used there than anything that Vince McMahon will do with him. But no matter what, Adam Cole had an excellent run in NXT.
Dragunov beats Walter
If you never watch another NXT match in your life, please go out of your way to watch Ilja Dragunov defeat Walter for the United Kingdom title at TakeOver 36. This match was an instant classic, and everything I love about a great Walter match. This guy is not just some big guy who likes to bury his opponent, he is a worker who knows when it is time put guys over and bumps like hell for them. This was a masterpiece. I have watched it twice already and typing this makes me want to go back and watch it again. They slapped the shit out of each other, and the blood vessels popping out of Dragunov's chest and neck area looked BRUTAL! In the end, Ilja was able to tap out Walter, ending his 830 day streak as champion.
With the Draft coming up, I think its time to move Walter up to the main roster and have him be the guy to defeat Bobby Lashley. That would be an excellent way to get a new guy over and it could set up title matches with so many new opponents for Walter like Drew, Big E, Kevin Owens, Cesaro, and the list goes on. How can you watch this match and everything Walter has done and just leave him in developmental? He has to move up, has to.
With the Draft coming up, I think its time to move Walter up to the main roster and have him be the guy to defeat Bobby Lashley. That would be an excellent way to get a new guy over and it could set up title matches with so many new opponents for Walter like Drew, Big E, Kevin Owens, Cesaro, and the list goes on. How can you watch this match and everything Walter has done and just leave him in developmental? He has to move up, has to.
ALL ELITE WRESTLING
Crowd Sings Judas
Before Punk made his return, the best thing I saw last week was Chris Jericho coming to the ring for his match with MJF, where he couldn't use his entrance music nor the Judas effect elbow finish, so the crowd sang him down to the ring. This was so damn great and one of the best crowd participation moments I can recall seeing on a show. AEW has done a great job of making their live shows feel like a great time with a great atmosphere The crowd feels apart of the show and feel like they are treated like they are important. I love that.
Jericho Fails
So the "Five Labors of Jericho" concluded with a tap out loss to MJF last Wednesday. While I thought the match was no good, the right guy won and I hope the feud goes away for awhile. Most likely they'll rematch AGAIN at All Out, but I really want MJF to move on into a different program. Jericho is just so slow and he doesn't need to win to still be Chris Jericho. With all the new talent coming in, Jericho should be a tag team wrestler and allow more of the younger talent to be featured. I don' think MJF is any better off after the feud to be honest.
Elite Dominate Again
After losing the TNA title to Christian two weeks ago, it was important that Omega get some heat back and get some revenge on Christian, setting up their match at All Out for the AEW title. But I'm pretty tired of all the outside interference in all the Elite matches. It seems like every Omega and Young Buck match has the same formula where all the crew come out and get involved and after the match we get the extended beat down. It happens every other week. It feels like WCW when the NWO just beat guys down all the time. I know that's what they are going for, but its getting played out. The steel cage match stip for the Young Bucks tag title match at All Out makes complete sense, because finally they will have to defend the titles with no interference. But we have seen plenty cage matches with plenty of interference. I don't know, I just want something different.
What to Do with Moxley?
I've been thinking about this ever since Moxley's program with Omega ended, and that's what exactly do you do with him? With so many new faces being introduced and new signees who were big stars in WWE, Moxley is no longer the big fish in the small pond. I have thought this way about Cody Rhodes for awhile and his solution normally is to do his own thing in a program that he controls. But with Moxley, I know a large reason he wasn't happy in WWE is because he feels he should be the top guy and others were getting pushed better than him. I could easily see a feud with CM Punk down the road, but is that before or after Omega? I just don't know what you do with him right now. Apparently he was going to have a match with Hiroshi Tanahashi, but that plan fell through. So what do you do with him?
I have thought for awhile that the draw back in signing so many guys that WWE has cut will be that those guys will be viewed as bigger stars that AEW's current talent, and therefore there will be a justifiable reason to push them as top guys. The consequence of that will be that some guys who have been with AEW will be pushed further and further down the card and featured on YouTube more than Dynamite. But with Moxley, he has to be featured in a prominent role towards the top, but I struggle to see the opponent for All Out. We shall see. So far, of the four matches we know of for All Out, five former WWE stars are featured.
I have thought for awhile that the draw back in signing so many guys that WWE has cut will be that those guys will be viewed as bigger stars that AEW's current talent, and therefore there will be a justifiable reason to push them as top guys. The consequence of that will be that some guys who have been with AEW will be pushed further and further down the card and featured on YouTube more than Dynamite. But with Moxley, he has to be featured in a prominent role towards the top, but I struggle to see the opponent for All Out. We shall see. So far, of the four matches we know of for All Out, five former WWE stars are featured.
ALL OUT Line-up Update
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AEW's All Out is taking place on Sunday September 5, 2021 from Chicago. Here's the updated card:
- AEW Champion Kenny Omega defends against Impact Wrestling Champion Christian Cage
- CM Punk vs Darby Allin
- Andrade El Idolo vs. PAC
- Paul Wight vs QT Marshall
New Japan Pro Wrestling
Covid-19 continues to impact NJPW
IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi, Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, BUSHI, Yujiro Takahashi, Gedo and Dick Togo were all originally scheduled to be on the Summer Struggle event at Korakuen Hall, but all were pulled from the show. Shingo Takagi and BUSHI have both tested positive for COVID-19, and the rest were close contacts, having wrestled with both recently. Both were suffering from high fevers but are receiving treatment. COVID-19 has been a disaster to NJPW roster and business has been hurt repeatedly due to positive test. With all the new strands and increase in positives, even amongst the vaccinated, the unpredictability of it all really has been a major obstacle for the promotion.
Ibushi to Challenge for the U.S Title
Tanahashi called out Kota Ibushi as his next challenger for the IWGP United States title at Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome. The only reason I decided to mention this here is because these two are tow of the greatest to ever enter a ring in Japan, and if you love wrestling, you should go out of your way to seek this one out. I am a huge Ibushi fan and would love for him to win the U.S title and bring it to America. And even more, it would be great to see him in AEW with it, as we know he and Kenny Omega are best friends. So keep an eye on the the developments from this, as it could lead to some great crossover.