Crossposted to
Let me set the scene for you.
CM Punk goes into a pay-per-view in Chicago challenging for the World Heavyweight Championship. He wins the Championship but is now off of television. Stripped of the title, the company crowns a new World Champion only for Punk to emerge later on with his World Championship belt implying that he is the real world champion. The wheels are set in motion for a “champion vs. champion match” that will take place at a major late-summer Pay-Per-View event.
I’m of course talking about Punk walking out of the WWE in 2011 after beating John Cena and then re-emerging after Cena became champ again.
Punk went on to win at Summer Slam to “unify” the titles.1
If you may have been a little confused on the matter, it’s because AEW is running practically the same angle right now.
Last summer at All Out, Punk famously won the AEW Championship from Jon Moxley. Following was the infamous All Out press conference and the backstage confrontation between Punk and The Elite that saw Punk stripped of the title and off of television for months.
Punk returned in June, but it was only last Saturday that Punk brought back “his” AEW Championship.
So far, the angle has taken a slightly different turn, insofar as Punk is proclaiming himself as the “real world’s champion but primarily for their Saturday night show, Collision. I don’t know if this is AEW’s half-cocked idea of a brand split, with MJF serving as the champion on Wednesday and Punk as the champion on Saturday. Also, Punk is clearly playing the role of a heel this time, going back to his Straight Edge personality and also bringing back his “I’m Better Than You” slogan.
That slogan in and of itself should tell you where this is going to end up. We’re going to end up with Punk vs MJF “title vs. title” match, probably at AEW’s late summer pay-per-view. That one will likely be AEW All Out and will also be in Chicago as last year’s one. The writing seems to be on the wall.
It of course is not the first time AEW has stolen an angle or gimmick from Stamford. Blood and Guts, the Casino Battle Royal, and the Casino Ladder Match are all derivatives of WWE’s intellectual property. And while AEW can come up with creative ideas never seen before on U.S. television (the Exploding Ring Match2 and the Cole/MJF hug-out), they seem to rely on similar kinds of matches and angles that WWE has run before.
Maybe this is why AEW has struggled in the ratings when compared to Monday Night Raw3, in particular. When one company was the original and continues to do it better, why would casual fans give a different company a look? I’m not even a casual fan and I give AEW programming less interest than I used to, really only focusing on it when MJF, FTR, or Eddie Kingston are on my TV.
The Summer of Punk angle was interesting the first time I saw it, but that was 12 years ago4. I’m not interested in seeing it again.
Notwithstanding Alberto Del Rio cashing in his Money in the Bank Contract immediately thereafter.
It was different. It would have been nice if it actually worked. Or not, considering the high amounts of explosives this would have required.
It’s hard to compare AEW Shows to Smackdown since it's on Network TV.
I know that the original “Summer of Punk” angle was in ROH in 2005, but I was not watching ROH then: https://lastwordonsports.com/prowrestling/2020/06/18/cm-punk-summer-of-punk-15/