The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling every Tuesday in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle.
Well, CM Punk certainly has the Ch🌊icago return part down — he’s had plenty of practice with three since August 2021.
Now, we’ll see if he can finally stick the landing on the rest.
Punk, whose real name is Phil Brooks, returning to W☂WE after nearly 10 bitter years away at Survivor Series at the Allstate Arena on Saturday is what’s best for wrestling and for WWE right now.
In this space back in September, after he was fired with cause from AEW on the heels of a backstage altercation with Jake Perry at All In in London, I wrote signing Punk was worth the risk for WWE.
It may be even more the case 🍸now, and it’s up to Punk to💙 make good on the head of creative Triple H and CEO Nick Khan’s faith.
Punk hit all the big babyface notes in his promo to end “Monday Night Raw.”
“I’ve changed,” Punk said. “And once upon a time, an American Dream taught me that as long as you speak from the heart, you can not go wrong, because it’s the truth. And this is the truth: I’m home.”
Let’s hope so.
Because we all remember after the honeymoon phase wore off and as the circles under Punk’s eyes deepened things headed toward disaster in AEW.
Punk, 45, couldn’t stay healthy, breaking his foot during a dive into the crowd and tearing his triceps at All Out 2022. What ensued was his infamous press conference where he put a torch to AEW and its executive vice presidents Kenny Omega and Matt and Nick Jackson. The two parties brawled in the back afterward.
There was something almost romantic about Punk going to AEW to combat WWE. But it going up in flames w💦ill go down as a huge opportunity missed by all partie꧅s.
If there was one shot across the bow it was in Punk’s closing line to the camera.
“I’m not here to make friends,” he said “I’m here to make money.”
Now he’s back in the company he said wouldn’t return to when business couldn’t be hotter and AEW is dealing with ratings issues and weekly attendance strug🍰gling🐠 to grow. I’m sure the fact WWE is now owned by Endeavor and not Vince McMahon, and creative is no longer in his hands, too, played a factor in Punk’s return.
It’s a chance for Punk’s wrestling and WWE redemption — one he can’t afford to blow because there are no big doors left to open after this. (Let’s hope we get CM Punk vs. John Cena one more time before it closes.)
As I’m sure there are more than a few people in the WWE locker room not thrilled he’s back but will give him a chance to be best for business. (For the record, I think Seth Rollins’ tirade after Survivor Series was 90-95 percent a work before they feud.)
“You could ask all the boys and girls [o🦄n the roster] ’till they’re blue in the face: ‘Hey, how you feel?’ You might get up, you might get down, a wide range of emotions, but the first thing always is business,” Cody Rhodes said after Survivor Series when asked about Punk.
That first order of business for him and Randy Orton, too, is their presence helping WWE and Endeavor get a few extra million dollars whenever they close the upcoming media rights deal for “Monday Night Raw.” Punk once said in AEW that Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslov referred to him as “one bill’ Phil.” Raw has felt in need of a boost of star power for some time and Punk and Orton’s returns are WWE hitting the turbo button. But we saw how things worked out when WBD thought they were getting “AEW Collision” based around Punk.
Lastly, and most importantly and the most challenging, is Punk needs to peacefully coexist in the WWE ♒locker room and show he is actually there to help them and not to spite AEW. That might mean swallowing his pride and remembering he needs WWE more than they need him. Can he do it?
This is CM Punk’s last true chance aℱt wrestling redemption. The debut model that never fails him is 🐼over and the part Punk can struggle with begins.
Un-Caged
Christian Cage was at his sleazy, pompous and cowardly best – and everyone in the segment was bette💟r for it on Dy🍒namite. His undressing of Luchasurus while placing the unfair blame on him for their Full Gear loss – then giving him and Nick Wayne new names like he was Vince McMahon getting a new talent in WWE – laid the groundwork for everything else to come in this story.
AEW thankfully waited, but Luchasurus — now Killswitch — showed the beginning of his frustration with Cage and now has reason to eventually turn on him. Cage didn’t even have the guts to deliver the ConChairTo to Wayne’s mother. He left it to Killswitch before Adam Copeland made the save.
I couldn’t help but think Copeland should be above a ConChairTo to the 18-year-old Wayne with his mom watching, but all of Cage’s actions have now unleashed the unhinged side of his best friend’s character that truly is his most interesting. Doing the same thing to Killswitch on Collision, followed by a seething promo to challenge Cage for his TNT championship, proved that. Cage is feeding every angle of this story so perfectly.
The 10 Count
Drew McIntyre got the exact moment he needed to start morphing into the justified big-bad heel on Raw when Seth Rollins passed him over for nemesis Jey Uso for a World Heavyweight championship opportunity. The headbutt and the blood dripping down his face looked tremendous. McIntyre then asking for a match with Sami Zayn out of spite now gives him issues with three of the show’s top babyfaces.
If I’m the Street Profits, I want Bobby Lashley ringside with us, not having a cocktail backstage with B-Fab – especialౠly after Rhea Ripley likely cost u✤s the undisputed WWE tag team championships. Maybe it leads to B-Fab being their regular manager.
Loved immediately getting Swerve Strickland and Jay White wins to start that Continental Classic after what each did at Full Gear. Thought not giving Mark Briscoe an upset win over Jon Moxley was a ♓missed opportunity to add a sense of unpredictability to the tournament. Kingston losing to Brody King and already being behind works well. Give me Moxley vs. Kingston or Swerve vs. Bryan Danielson in the final.
The more I see Ronda Rousey wrestle outside of WWE, the more intrig💧ued I am to see her wrestle outside WWE. Her match with Marina Shafir agai൲nst Athena and Billie Starkz was filled with entertaining stuff and saw a more relaxed Rousey truly having fun.
If I were WWE, I’d use the smaller entrance staging we saw at Survivor Series for as many premium live evꦰents as possible. They make it clear this is a special event and allows them to sell more tickets when thi𓆏ngs are hot.
Randy Orton calling out the entire Bloodline, which resides on SmackDown, makes me think we might see him on both shows and maybe he is Roman Reign’s Royal Rumble opponent. He also said something very interesting to Jey Uso: “As long as you’re out of The Bloodline, we’re good.” Does Jey eventually help his family and inadvertently screw Orton at some point?
They can be campy sometimes, but the vignettes NXT shoots outsid🌌e of the arena setting have started to set them apart. Von Wagner eating dinner at Mr. Stone’s house was silly and fun and Humberไto Carillo and Angel Garza attacking D’Angelo and Stacks outside the Italian restaurant felt more serious because they had come to their place of business and not just backstage.
Not sure I love the Wooooo Energy signage that is so prominent and unchanging on the AEW stage. They should at least alternate with AEW brandin🌊g because the logo is abs𒐪ent from a lot of entrance shots now.
If this truly is the end to the Young Bucks’ “Being The Elite” YouTube show it truly is the end of an era and it should be remembered as one of the most influential pieces of media in wrestling history, as it fueled the movement that became All In and AEW. If the rebrand of “Being the Dark Order” isn’t just part of Matt and Nick Jackson’s repackaging for a heel turn, it’s a shame the show didn’t get a better farewell.
MJF’s reported torn labrum, is coming at the worst possible time for AEW. Credit to him for trying to work through it at Worlds End, but someone else better be on alert to step up and fill a very big void if needed.
Extra: Danhausen is a better Thanksgiving surprise than the Gobbledy Gooker ever was.
Social Media Post of the Week
Wrestler of the Week
Bayley, WWE
Bayley has been at the center of the biggest story in WWE’s women’s division for some time and absolutely delivered this week when it was time to finally activate its next chapter. From her promo work, inflections, facials and work in the ring at WarGames, Bayley has left fans still hating her in the moment but ready to feel sorry and embrace her as a babyface when Damage CTRL finally turns on her.
Match to Watch
Jay White vs. Swerve Strickland, AEW Dynamite (8 p.m., Wednesday, TBS)
Two of AEW’s most protected wrestlers square off in the second round of the Continental Classic, both coming off wins. Strickland is flying high off two high-profile wins over “Hangman” Adam Page and White’s only AEW singles loss is to MJF. Both men are at the top of their game right now. Does AEW give us a clear winner or the tournament’s first draw?
