Did The Signing of Christian Cage Live Up To The Hype?

Just over a month after making his surprise in-ring return in the Royal Rumble, Christian Cage made his AEW debut at Revolution, revealing himself as the major acquisition Tony Khan and Paul Wight had hyped up leading to the pay-per-view.

Christian’s Rumble return and reunion with eventual winner Edge was arguably the moment of the entire show. After being forced to retire in 2014 due to a history of concussions, Captain Charisma returning to the ring was considered highly unlikely. Even his informal return over the summer against Randy Orton and subsequent appearances were designed not to be strenuous.

Given Christian’s Royal Rumble appearance and notable in-ring shape, it appeared to be a foregone conclusion that he would continue with WWE in a more active capacity. Even current Intercontinental Champion, Big E teased a match with Christian as the latter’s thought-to-be-final match seven years ago saw him win a shot at the IC title. However, Christian’s appearance at Revolution was a sharp pivot from his expected trajectory.

The revelation of Christian as the Hall of Fame worthy, huge star that AEW had been promising received mixed reactions. Some were excited to see Christian debut in AEW. Others were disappointed and felt like the hype that AEW was giving to the acquisition-to-be foreshadowed someone more along the lines of Brock Lesnar or CM Punk. This—along with the Gillberg-esque pyro display to end the show—has led fans to believe that AEW over-promised and underdelivered for Revolution. While the ending of the show is a conversation on its own, did AEW deliver with the signing of Christian Cage?

The “biggest scoop ever” hype was a set-up to begin with, but that doesn’t need to and shouldn’t overshadow the significance of Christian Cage coming to AEW.

Fans continuing to clamor for the return of CM Punk are endlessly resilient to the continued egg-on-face moments that happen every time it doesn’t come to fruition. However, when something is hyped as the biggest scoop ever, that opens the door beyond the possible and reasonable into the farthest stretches of the imagination, including Punk and the also-speculated Brock Lesnar.

The signing not being CM Punk or Brock Lesnar has led people to question Christian Cage living up to Paul Wight’s announcement that the signing would be “HOF worthy”. However, Christian fits that bill to a tee, and thinking otherwise is asinine. Multi-time World Champion? Check. Multi-time Intercontinental Champion? Check. One-half of a legendary tag team? Check. A pivotal part of historic matches that are talked about to this day? Check.

Despite WWE’s repeated failures to give Christian a proper extended run in the main event, he is undoubtedly one of the most respected performers in wrestling today, if not in history. Christian is in his late-40s which has and will continue to spark groans from fans upset about another WWE alum getting added to the AEW roster. Nonetheless, veterans with similar experience to Christian such as Matt Hardy and Dustin Rhodes have carved out semi-weekly to weekly roles while elevating younger talent in the process.

A few dream matches may take place before he settles into a player-coach role but if the Royal Rumble showed anything, Christian can still go. As long as wrestling doesn’t negatively affect his physical health as it had in the past, he should be allowed to go out on his terms.