In one of the most brutal and bloodiest matches in AEW history, CM Punk pinned MJF due to help from MJF’s personal bodyguard Wardlow.
CM Punk entered the match to “Miseria Cantare”, his old theme music from ROH, after MJF had feigned entering to CM Punk’s own theme “Cult of Personality”. Punk also wore the same fight shorts and jacket he wore during his time in ROH, a throwback after Tony Khan bought ROH this past week.
The match was a “Dog collar match” with both men chained together via a long chain attached to their necks. This allowed for many creative spots using the chain and stopped MJF from running away from CM Punk as he had so many times before.
CM Punk picked up the victory after MJF called for Wardlow’s help. MJF asked for the Dynamite Diamond Ring, which he used to beat Punk just weeks before on AEW Dynamite. However, Wardlow couldn’t find the ring, and eventually revealed it to CM Punk who used to it to hid MJF into thumbtacks to pin him for the victory.
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This was the face turn fans have been waiting for for Wardlow, and looks to set up MJF vs Wardlow at some point down the line.
Meanwhile, CM Punk will want to use this victory to try and string some victories together in 2022, and climb the AEW Championship rankings. He has yet to challenge for a championship in AEW and could be the man to defeat the winner of Adam Page vs Adam Cole for the AEW Championship.