Adam Page vs CM Punk will main event AEW Double or Nothing 2022, in a bid to decide who will be the AEW Champion. Adam Page will look to extend his incredible title run and claim another scalp, adding to his already impressive list of title defences including against Bryan Danielson, Lance Archer, Adam Cole and more.
Meanwhile, CM Punk’s goal is to become the AEW Champion and win his first World Championship since 2013. It was in January 2013 that he lost the WWE Championship to The Rock, and one year later walked out on WWE and wrestling, in a self-enforced hiatus that would last 7 years.
Those 7 years were spent out of the limelight, staying away from wrestling and never once hinting at a return to wrestling (although he did appear under a mask at a random indie show at 2019). He bided his time until a return in 2021 on AEW Rampage took the wrestling world by storm.
This return did not seem like it foreshadowed a CM Punk AEW Championship run, but nearly a year later, him defeating Adam Page for the AEW Championship does not just seem likely, it seems inevitable.
CM Punk AEW Champion
CM Punk has shown in his AEW return that he has still got it, and his one of the best wrestlers in the world. In matches against Darby Allin and Eddie Kingston, he battled ring rust to put up some incredible performances, with the Kingston match in particular being one of the best AEW matches of the year.
After that we finally saw the CM Punk that everybody had been missing for the past 7 years. His battles on the microphone with MJF and the accompanying pair of matches showcased the incredible ability of CM Punk that earned him the moniker of “Best in the World”.
Even though he suffered his first defeat to MJF on AEW Dynamite in his home town of Chicago, CM Punk proved to the world that he could still be a top star whenever he wanted.
His in-ring work was a little slower than in his prime but his storytelling abilities are as good as they ever were. He is among the best of all time of telling a story inside the ring and making the audience buy into the match, whether they are booing or cheering him.
He had the crowd in the palm of his hand during CM Punk vs MJF at AEW Revolution, when he defeated MJF in a bloody and brutal Dog Collar Match. He fought with every ounce of his being to put MJF away (with the help of Wardlow) and come out of the Pay Per View with a victory that helped him shoot up the AEW Rankings.
This helped earn him a shot at Adam Page and his AEW Championship, with the pair trading insults on the microphone in recent weeks, trying to get in each others heads.
Punk took this one step further on AEW Dynamite, hitting Page’s friend John Silver with Page’s own Buckshot Lariat to secure the win over the Dark Order winner, before squaring up to the AEW Champion inside the ring.
Tensions are flaring between the two men and all bets are up in the air over who will walk out of Double or Nothing 2022 as the AEW Champion.
Adam Page has had incredible match after incredible match over the last 7 months of his reign and it would be a shame to see such a legendary reign end.
However, CM Punk has proven himself every bit as good as he was when he was at the top of the world as the WWE Champion. He is supreme in the ring with his storytelling ability, and can be a top star either as a face or a heel, showcasing the latter in his incredible run as the leader of the Straight-Edge Society, among many, many other times.
With CM Punk chasing the AEW Championship at the age of 43, it seems like it is the time to give him the belt before he body starts to betray him and slow down even more in the ring, like what has happened to Chris Jericho.
He would be a different kind of champion than Page, one who can stand in the ring with a microphone for 20 minutes and captivate an audience at a moments notice. We have seen Page cut incredible promos, but only in very rare circumstances and nowhere near the frequency and quality of CM Punk on the microphone.
CM Punk should win the AEW Championship at Double or Nothing. It is not because of anything Adam Page has done wrong, but simply because he is the Best in the World.