AEW Rampage: CM Punk needs surgery 5 days after winning title

Just a few hours before a live episode of AEW Rampage, CM Punk sent a tweet that concerned most fans. The newly crowned champion stated he would address the crowd “in regards to the AEW World Championship, and my career.” . Most of us jumped to the worst case scenario. We were right.

Just before 10:30 PM, the champ finally made his way to ring. As soon as he got there, his eyes were red and welled with tears. Oh no. This is not good. Punk talked about how much he’s loved wrestling in AEW. He said he’d wrestle until “the wheels fell off.” Punk then asked the fans if they wanted to the bad news or the good news first. He finally told the crowd what they’d wanted to know for the last two hours.

“A couple of things are broken; the biggest one is my heart.” Punk didn’t say what else was broken, other than a “broken wheel”, which seems to mean foot. He also offered to relinquish the championship and didn’t want to “hold anyone up”, but Tony Khan “told me that he believes in CM Punk and he believes this is just a bump in the road. And I’m going to tell you, (expletive) it, I needed to hear that.”

After the segment ended, Chris Jericho said that Punk had relinquished the championship. He reiterated after the break the same thing. During the main event, Excalibur confirmed that Punk had not relinquished the title. Next Wednesday’s Dynamite will open with a Battle Royale to face the new #1 contender, Jon Moxley later that night in the main event. On Saturday, AEW posted a press release stating that Hiroshi Tanahashi will now face Hiroki Goto at NJPW DOMINION on June 12 in an Eliminator Match. The winner of that match will face the winner of the Dynamite main event at Forbidden Door to become the interim AEW World Champion. Got all that?

Nine months after “The First Dance”, Punk won the AEW World Championship from Hangman Page. Five days into his title reign, Punk announced he needed surgery. By the end of the show, AEW announced that there will be an interim champion.

When Punk arrived last August, he talked about wanting to help younger talent. His very first opponent was agains AEW Pillar, Darby Allin. He faced Powerhouse Hobbs at Grand Slam. He’s also faced Daniel Garcia, Lee Moriarity, and WARDLOW. One of his best feuds has been with MJF, which culminated in a Dog Collar Match at Revolution. Two days before Double or Nothing, ESPN.com had a feature on Punk the Mentor and interviewed both Hobbs and Caster. On a media call, Khan discussed how much of a mentor Punk has become in his short time with AEW.

Punk has also mixed it up with veterans such as Bobby Fish, Matt Sydal, and had a banger with Dustin Rhodes. Back at Full Gear, he took on Eddie Kingston in a heated rivalry. Real life spilled over into storyline and made for a great match. Khan said that match “put a spotlight on Kingston”.

After working his way up the rankings, Punk earned his shot at the AEW World Championship. When he returned to pro wrestling, Punk’s biggest question was does he still have what it takes to be world champion? Page had a two- year storyline that culminated in winning “The Big One”. Once he realized Punk was very likely to expose his Imposter Syndrome, Page said he had to protect AEW from Punk. It was a compelling story between an AEW Original and the “Best in the World”. During the title match, fans saw Page contemplating just how far he would go to protect what was his when he picked up the title while the ref was down. That moment of doubt ended up costing him the title.

We don’t know what the plans were for Punk’s title reign. Was Page going to get a rematch? When would he face MJF again? He was scheduled to face NJPW legend, Tanahashi in a dream match for the ages at Forbidden Door. The “Second City Saint” was going to walk into his beloved Chicago as champion once again. For now, those dreams are on hold.

We wish CM Punk a successful surgery and a smooth recovery. We can’t wait to see his glorious return and watch him have the title run he was meant to have.