Three Big Matches AEW Will Miss Out Now That CM Punk is Gone

With CM Punk’s time at AEW coming to an end, there are several big matches that fans missed out on seeing. 

CM Punk’s release shocked much of the wrestling world.  While his actions weren’t acceptable, in the two years he competed for AEW he did have some big matches.

From wrestling MJF in a dog collar match to facing “Hangman” Adam Page and Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship, Punk was in some big-time matches.  However, there were some matches that could’ve still happened if CM Punk had stayed in AEW.

In this article, I’m going to talk about three matches that we will be missing out on now that CM Punk is gone from AEW.  Each match would’ve been interesting in its own unique way and could’ve been captivating television.

Jay White

Of the three wrestlers on this list, Jay White is the one that I could see happening in the very near future.  Since the very first episode of AEW Collision where both White and Punk were on opposite sides of a six-man tag team match, this match almost seemed destined to happen.

White, recently coming from New Japan Pro Wrestling was the leader of Bullet Club and had the wrestling ability to hang with CM Punk in the ring, a quality I’m sure Punk would’ve liked to have seen in White.  Another key element that would’ve been a must-watch television would’ve been the promos the two men could cut on each other.

Punk could come out and say how White was successful in Japan, but he hasn’t done anything in the United States.  White could’ve talked about how he was the leader of one of the biggest wrestling factions of the last fifteen years and how every time Punk led a faction it went nowhere.

The matches themselves really would’ve been interesting to see and to see how far White has come since his time in Japan.  Plus seeing if Punk could hang with a wrestler who is well known around the world and on the cusp of being a breakout star in the United States.

We could’ve seen this on Collision or even on a future pay-per-view, the fans would’ve been excited to see this dream match.  Will it ever happen?  Probably not but a fan can still dream.

Bryan Danielson

I know what everybody is thinking, haven’t these two faced each other in the ring?  Yes, they have, but like fine wine, both men have aged very well.

When Punk and Bryan Danielson wrestled on the independent scene, they were young men hungry to make it to a bigger wrestling stage.  Competing in Ring of Honor, IWA Mid-South, and Full Impact Pro among other promotions these two could deliver a stellar match.

In 2012, during CM Punk’s year-long reign as the WWE Champion the two men had a classic wrestling match at Over the Limit and was a contender for Match of the Year.  While they faced each other a few more times in WWE, they never had the chance to put on a match that was as good or even better than the match they had at Over the Limit.

Danielson retired from wrestling in 2016 but made a comeback in 2018 and looked like he had not lost a step in the two years he was away from the wrestling ring.  Punk stopped wrestling in 2014 and didn’t wrestle for seven years before his comeback in 2021.  Punk was slowly making strides back into being the CM Punk we all remembered.

What could a CM Punk-Bryan Danielson match have looked like in 2023 or even 2024?  Could both men have been able to hang in the ring with one another and deliver the same magic that we saw in the early 2000s or the early 2010s?

That’s another question I’m afraid we’ll never get an answer to as both men are getting older.  If they had one more match in AEW, it would’ve been worth the price of admission and had everybody in the arena watching, from the fans to even the wrestlers themselves, it could’ve been a wrestling clinic.

Kenny Omega

Now we get to the elephant in the room.  Could this match have happened with all the politics that we have read and heard about in the last year?  I think it could’ve worked, had both men talked it over as professionals.

One of the driving forces to the early success of AEW was that you could see dream matches take place where you couldn’t see anywhere else.  When Punk joined AEW in 2021 this match had to be very high on the list of dream matches that fans wanted to see.

After Kenny Omega had his near-year-long reign as AEW World Champion he needed to have some time off to recover from the injuries he had piled up during his reign.  But as soon as he was healthy and ready to go, a match with CM Punk seemed inevitable.  However, as we all know that was not meant to be.

If the recent rumors are true about how a meeting was scheduled to take place between CM Punk and the Elite, I do believe that something could’ve worked out to where a match between Punk and Omega could’ve been set up.  It would’ve been an actual dream match.

Punk, who for years has claimed himself to be the best in the world against Omega, the self-proclaimed best bout machine in a match to see who truly the absolute best in wrestling is.  That, right there, sells itself.  No further need to hype the match, just two men who can make a legitimate claim to being the best at their craft competing to see who really the best is.

However, like the previous two wrestlers I have listed, we won’t see this match.  This match, more than any other in this list is the one I’m most certain we’ll never get.  It’s a shame that two wrestlers of their talent couldn’t get over the issues that they had last year to deliver what could’ve been one of the greatest matches this decade.

Omega against Punk will always be a dream match to many fans, one that will always stay a dream.  You can do video game simulations, fantasy bookings, and debates until the cows come home but this dream match, a mega match, is one we’ll never get to see.

CM Punk is gone from AEW and may very well be gone from professional wrestling altogether.  But as we’ve learned in professional wrestling you never say never.  However, in this case, it’s very possible that the word never could be used to describe CM Punk ever returning to wrestling.

These matches were left on the proverbial dinner table for AEW to cash in and make these matches happen.  But with Punk fired from AEW and more than likely never coming back there, these matches will never take place.  It’s a shame they never will because I, along with millions of fans around the world, would’ve enjoyed seeing these three matches take place.  However, all they will be are dreams.  Dreams that will never come true.