CM Punk vs MJF is the most interesting feud at AEW Revolution

AEW Revolution has no shortage of intriguing matchups this coming Sunday. World title bouts and grudge matches litter the entire card coming to you from Orlando, Florida. The most interesting feud coming to a head at AEW Revolution is CM Punk vs MJF and I don’t think this debate is close.

Pro wrestling is built off of compelling stories, enthralling microphone banter and wars inside the circle. CM Punk vs MJF has checked every one of those boxes and then some since their first encounter on November 17th, 2021. It all started out as a simple extension of MJF’s hand as an introductory gesture with CM Punk smiling and walking away leaving him speechless.

What has transpired over the last three and a half months since then are going to be legendary folklore tales in the anils of pro wrestling history. The psychological warfare and mic battles that have taken place have been some of the most incredible storytelling and entertaining television in AEW’s short history.

The story arc started as MJF attempting to throw around his microphone superiority and all-around prowess in AEW. He sees CM Punk as a threat to his territory at the top of the card. He knows exactly what a successful career Punk has had. He has used it as ammunition throughout this feud.

While MJF has always seen himself as better than everyone, He hasn’t challenged such a creative, more impactful promo artist than CM Punk. Punk may have been gone from the pro wrestling World for seven and a half years, but Punk’s mic bars hadn’t abandoned him. As decorated of a promo artist as CM Punk is, we’re getting some of his best work since 2011 on the stick.

The whole feud has gone from MJF antagonizing CM Punk, saying he’s washed up and a coward for leaving the wrestling business. Punk retorts by calling him “A less famous Miz” and not worth his time and energy. Noting that MJF has to cheat to win his matches and isn’t deemed worthy of being one of AEW’s Four Pillars.

Running down each other’s hometowns in the middle of it all, the feud took a serious turn to the next level. CM Punk’s ability to get into the heads of his future conquests finally began to come to the surface. He got MJF intentionally disqualified in his 1st match of 2022.

The mention of the AEW championship, a quest that both men have aspirations to acquire, is slowly becoming a side note in this feud that has become bloody and personal. Punk had to get through Shawn Spears and Wardlow, two members of the Pinnacle. From being power bombed multiple times by Wardlow to the countless mind games and attacks along the way, CM Punk finally got the opportunity to square off against MJF in his hometown of Chicago, Illinois.

MJF escaped with a victory by cheating not once, but twice to achieve the first official checkmark in this feud. Wardlow came to his rescue yet again and MJF notched the win. His reward was being able to gloat that he was able to defeat the man he idolized as a pre-teen not once, but “two times” in Punk’s backyard of Chicago.

MJF was able to gloat for a week when Punk came out to confront Wardlow. Saying he was the man who defeated CM Punk. MJF threw one more log into the metaphorical fire to create a barricade to avoid giving Punk a rematch. He gave Punk the option to choose any partner of his choosing outside of Darby Allin and Sting to defeat FTR, the other 2 members of the Pinnacle.

Punk chose Jon Moxley and they defeated FTR in arguably the best tag team of the year thus far in AEW. Punk tapped into wrestling history to choose the stakes for this bout at AEW Revolution. Channeling “Roddy Piper in Portland”, He made the match a dog collar affair, one that Piper (Another of MJF’s heroes) had taken part in against Greg Valentine at Starrcade 1983.

The beautiful kudos to wrestling history throughout this feud have made it incredibly compelling. MJF also refers to having the popularity of “Bret Hart in Canada”. Punk won his match against Wardlow with a call back to Hart pinning Diesel with a surprise rollup at the WWE Survivor Series event in 1995.

Then a photograph surfaced of MJF getting CM Punk’s autograph when he was 11 years old. Punk labeled his meet and greet with MJF as “just another Friday.” While MJF put him on a pedestal, saying he looked up to him as an outlet from his real-life struggles. Being bullied as a child, MJF cited pro wrestling and more specifically CM Punk as his escape from his terrible reality.

The finishing touch leading into this much-ballyhooed rematch happened on the recent AEW Dynamite episode. CM Punk embraced MJF after tapping into his memorable promo from the week prior. After they hugged in the center of the ring, MJF took a step back and kick Punk in the family jewels. Leaving him bloodied from a punch with his Dynamite diamond ring, MJF paid homage to Punk’s faux Ring Of Honor promo when he won the ROH World title. Punk had signed a deal with the WWE before the match.

Punk grabbed the mic afterward and said “The greatest thing the Devil ever did was make you people believe he didn’t exist and that he was the devil!” MJF dropped these same powerful words after leaving Punk hanging from a dog collar over the top rope. He added that “This Sunday, he would remind him and the mindless sheep (people in the audience) that he was the devil himself.”

All of the little nuances, callbacks, promos, jabs, and physicality have led us to the present day. This exquisitely told story between CM Punk and MJF may end at AEW Revolution on Sunday in a bloodbath of a dog collar match. If Punk wins, we’re likely headed to a rubber match for the third installment of this feud. Would anyone be disappointed if this continued?

CM Punk vs MJF is bar none, the most interesting feud heading into AEW Revolution in Orlando, Florida. It has the footnotes and stamps of becoming one of the greatest pieces of business in the pro wrestling industry of the 21st century.