Top 10 AEW Debuts

1. CM Punk

Okay, now I know how everything in pro wrestling is subjective, but I’m positive most people would agree when I say that CM Punk turning up on AEW was the greatest return in professional wrestling history.

Not only that, I’d say it was, perhaps, the greatest moment in AEW history and one of the greatest moments in wrestling history.

AEW heavily teased CM Punk’s debut on the First Dance episode of Rampage, and by teased I mean they did all but announce his return. Darby Allin was going to fight the “Best in the World”, the show was in Chicago, Tony Khan even tweeted about how it’d be the most anticipated announcement in AEW history and a new era would begin.

As soon as Rampage was on the air, you could feel the excitement and anticipation of the crowd. The show begins with loud “CM Punk” chants. It was clear to everyone that if this crowd didn’t get Punk, they’d riot.

Sure enough, Cult of Personality played and the crowd popped louder than any pop you’ve seen before. It was certainly the biggest pop in AEW history.

Punk walked out and sat down with a melancholic look on his face as he soaked in the moment. Fans were freaking out even though this was what they’d expected. We got another fan reaction Hall of Fame entry right between the Brock Lesnar guy and that guy who froze when Undertaker’s streak was beaten. This guy was openly weeping tears of joy as his hand gravitated towards his returning hero.

Punk jumped into the crowd and hugged fans as the building shook with CM Punk chants. It took about 5 minutes for Punk to get into the ring and we cut to commercial. After the longest 90 seconds in AEW history, we finally heard him speak.

Hee put over Britt Baker, Darby Allin, AEW, the fans, and the wrestlers in the back. The crowd reacted to every single sentence, nay, every single word. They couldn’t get enough of this man. The fans in that building that night lived through a moment that will never be forgotten, and they also received ice cream bars!

His shots at WWE were well received, he had the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand. But more importantly, as everyone could clearly see, Punk was happy. He was genuinely moved and you could see it on his face, this was a legendary moment.

And the rest, as they say, is history.

So far, Punk has wrestled 2 matches with very different opponents in Darby Allin and Will Hobbs, and both of those matches were great.

He’s showered with cheers whenever he walks and people still chant his name in random segments like with MJF and Kenny Omega.

Great things lie ahead for Punk and AEW and this debut, in the future, would be looked at as the moment things really started going AEW’s way.

Wrestling, sometimes, in moments like this, can be simply magical.