In a post-Rampage media scrum, Punk and AEW president Tony Khan would not disclose the details of Punk’s AEW contract, but Khan said that the deal “…isn’t a short-term thing or a part-time thing. This is full-time and we’re very excited.”
“Just know that I’m here, it’s not a short-term thing and I’m here to help anyone that wants help,” Punk said.
Punk also stated that his talks with Khan for a return to wrestling go back about a year and a half. According to Khan, there was no real consideration given to bringing Punk in without fans in attendance, so they had plenty of time to discuss the matter.
Punk jokingly blamed Renee Paquette for his return, saying that her encouragement led to him doing WWE Backstage on FS1. Punk said that the timing of his comeback was more about his being open to returning than AEW having anything to prove, and that he did Backstage to get his feet wet.
As for what his AEW role will be, Punk said that he is sure he will do some of everything, from wrestling to commentary. He said that his deal allows him to continue doing MMA commentary and outside projects. He said that ultimately he sees his role as similar to the one that Terry Funk, Eddie Guerrero, Harley Race and Tracy Smothers played in his career, as someone who gives back.
Punk listed The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Ricky Starks, Will Hobbs, Jungle Boy and Jon Moxley as potential future opponents, and also joked that who knows who else might join the company soon. He said that it was Khan’s idea for his program with Darby Allin, that Allin would be his favorite wrestler if he were a teenager and that he does not want to take the brunt of Allin’s suicide dive.
As to the possibility of stepping through the Forbidden Door, Punk did not give a definitive statement. “I’m an AEW guy,” said Punk. But he also stated that if Khan wanted him to go work NJPW’s G1 for example, they would talk about it.
AEW makes their debut at Chicago’s United Center Friday with an edition of Rampage that is expected to feature the promotional debut of CM Punk.
While not formally announced by the company nor verified anywhere that he has signed, AEW hasn’t done anything to dissuade fans from thinking that the former WWE star will be in the house in his home city for what AEW has coined “The First Dance.”
Like on last week’s debut show, this week’s Rampage will feature three matches.
In the main event, Jon Moxley will take on Daniel Garcia. Garcia and 2.0 jumped Moxley and Eddie Kingston on Wednesday’s Dynamite. The trio called out Moxley, Kingston and Darby Allin several weeks ago and were on the losing end of a six-man tag team match.
Friday will also see the opener of the four team Tag Team title eliminator tournament as Jurassic Express will face Private Party. The winners will face the winner of Wednesday’s match between the Lucha Brothers and the Varsity Blonds.
The undefeated Jade Cargill will make her Rampage debut against Kiera Hogan who is looking for her first AEW win in her third outing.
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Jim Ross, Excalibur, Mark Henry and Taz were the hosted as Chris Jericho was absent and “reflecting on his loss to MJF on Wednesday.”
The crowd was announced at 15,316 people and as soon as the show opened, the crowd was chanting for CM Punk.
CM Punk debuts
After a seven year absence, “Cult of Personality” blared throughout the arena and CM Punk made his return to national televised wrestling.
He stood on the ramp and slowly worked his way down to the ring, soaking in the cheers and chants from the crowd. He even did a dive into the crowd at one point on his way to the ring, hugging several folks and fans at ringside (I believe I recognized one woman as his sister from her appearances in WWE back in 2012).
After Punk got a mic, they took a commercial break before he spoke to the crowd.
Back from break, Punk was back in the ring still listening to the fans chant his name, visibly moved by the crowd’s reaction. “You guys really know how to make a kid feel like Britt Baker in Pittsburgh.” Punk did not plan what he was going to say for tonight and just knew he had to get out in front of the crowd and feel it. The crowd continued to chant his name and Punk said he heard the crowd chant his name for seven years.
Punk doesn’t have the time to get into everything tonight, but he’s got every Wednesday, Friday and four Saturdays or Sundays a year, and he’s not going anywhere. Punk explained basically that he had to leave for seven years because he was never going to get physically or emotionally healthy if he stayed in the place he was. Punk asks the crowd if he can tell them a story and then sat cross-legged like he did the night of the famous “Pipe Bomb” promo.
Punk told the story of how he left Ring of Honor in 2005 and how he cried because he was leaving a place that he loved that people could learn how to wrestle and how to love wrestling. And he knew the place where he was going wasn’t going to be easy for “a guy like him.” Punk said that he left professional wrestling on August 13, 2005, and now tonight, he’s back in professional wrestling. And Punk is back to work with the young talent that he wanted to be surrounded by 10 years ago and he’s back to settle some scores in the locker room as well.
At this point, Punk called out Darby Allin and the camera found he and Sting standing in the rafters. Punk praised Allin, calling him as tough as the people of Chicago. Punk told Allin there’s only one thing tougher than fighting CM Punk, and that’s fighting CM Punk in Chicago. Punk challenged Allin for a match at All Out in Chicago.
Punk ended the promo telling the fans that seven years is a long time to wait for someone and to grab a free ice cream bar on him as they leave the building.
This was an excellent, amazing, A+ promo from Punk that took up about 20 minutes of the show. A recap just doesn’t do it justice. Make sure you find and watch this.
In the back, Christian Cage tried to motivate Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy before the tag tournament match, which is up next.
Tag Team Eliminator tournament semifinal: Jurassic Express (w/ Marko Stunt) defeated Private Party (w/ Matt Hardy) to advance (10:10)
The Young Bucks and their lackey Brandon Cutler came out on the stage to watch and both the Lucha Brothers and Varsity Blonds were watching from the crowd.
Isiah Kassidy and Jungle Boy started out and had a great opening exchange that ended in a double kip-up. Marq Quen came in and ate a dropkick from Jungle Boy. The heels were able to draw Luchasaurus into the ring and this drew the ref away from the action, allowing Hardy and Private Party to triple team JB and get the advantage. The match went to a picture-in-picture commercial. While in commercial, Private Party double-teamed Jungle Boy on the floor.
After Jungle Boy took a beating throughout the break, he hit one member of Private Party with a big dropkick and another with a hard clothesline and finally got the tag to Luchasaurus. Luchasaurus destroyed both members of Private Party with power moves. Jurassic Express tried to go for a stacker superplex on Kassidy, but he was able to turn it into an insane Canadian Destroyer on Jungle Boy off of Luchasarus’s shoulders for a two count. Quen followed that up with a shooting star press on Luchasaurus on the floor.
Back in the ring, Private Party went for Silly String, but Jurassic Express countered that into a cutter for a near fall. Matt Hardy tried to distract the ref and Kassidy almost got a pin with a roll up on Jungle Boy. Private Party went for Gin and Juice, but Jungle Boy countered that with a spinning DDT. Jurassic Express hit the double-team powerbomb on Quen for the three count in a great match
In the back, Don Callis and Kenny Omega cut a quick promo where Omega promised to retire Christian for another seven years at All Out.
Jade Cargill (w/ Mark Sterling) defeated Kiera Hogan (1:02)
A video package previewed both competitors before the match which lasted longer than the match.
Jade is 9-0 and Hogan was acknowledged as a two-time Impact Knockouts tag team champion in her cyron. Hogan got in a bit of offense before Cargill hit her with a pump kick. The double chicken wing into a face-first slam got Cargill the win.
— After a recap of Punk’s big return from earlier tonight, CM Punk’s first Dynamite appearance was confirmed for this Wednesday. Also confirmed for Friday’s Rampage is the finals of the tag team tournament to get the shot at the Young Bucks at All Out.
— Mark Henry moderated dueling promos between Jon Moxley and Daniel Garcia with 2point0. Garcia said to be a star, he has to beat Moxley tonight. Moxley promised to commit something that looks like assault against Garcia.
Jon Moxley (w/ Eddie Kingston) defeated Daniel Garcia (w/ 2point0) (4:04)
Moxley started with a strong backdrop suplex and stiff kicks. Garcia countered by attacking Moxley’s legs. Moxley countered Garcia’s attack on his legs with a cross armbreaker. Garcia came back with hammer fists, but walked into a boot and a pair of german suplexes. Moxley went for a third german suplex, but Garcia countered into an ankle lock and Moxley had get to the ropes to force the break. Moxley came back with a solid clothesline, forearms and headbutts.
Moxley went for a paradigm shift, but Garcia countered into a scorpion deathlock. But Garcia leaned back too far and Moxley countered by grabbing the bulldog choke for the submission.
After the match, 2point0 and Garcia attacked Moxley and Kingston. Sting and Darby Allin ran in to even the odds. The members of 2point0 got a stinger splash from Sting and then Allin hit them both with the coffin drop. Moxley, Kingston, Sting and Allin stood tall in the ring to end the show.
Final Thoughts:
The CM Punk promo was the one reason everyone was watching tonight which more than delivered. The tag team match was great as well.
AEW’s Tony Khan said he has “no plans to disappoint anybody” with Friday’s highly-anticipated edition of Rampage from Chicago’s United Center — a show that is expected to feature the promotional debut of CM Punk.
Speaking to Busted Open Radio, Khan admitted that while it’s fun to be surprised, “I think everybody has a pretty good idea of what to expect tonight.”
“I don’t like to let people down and I have no plans to disappoint anybody tonight. Finally, at “The First Dance,” we’re going to satisfy people and make a lot of wrestling fans very happy. We’re going to make some new fans that are going to read about what happened tonight and are going to want to check out AEW. That’s exactly the reaction for what we are looking for. I think people are going to be very happy with what they see and have been waiting to see this for a long time,” Khan said.
Every since the rumors of Punk signing with the company emerged, AEW has been tight-lipped but has given plenty of visual and verbal teases along the way.
The sellout crowd at the United Center is expected to be the largest in company history with over 14,000 fans — a number that will be topped in several weeks when they debut at Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City.
Rampage will feature three matches as Jon Moxley takes on Daniel Garcia; Jade Cargill faces Kiera Hogan; and Jurassic Express goes up against Private Party in a Tag Team title shot eliminator tournament semifinal.
Ric Flair appeared as the manager of Andrade, and put Konnan in the figure four leglock at AAA’s TripleMania show on 8/14 at Arena Ciudad in Mexico City.
Kenny Omega retained the AAA Mega heavyweight title over Andrade while Psycho Clown retained his mask in the main event over Rey Escorpion and the two shook hands to end their grudge match program with Escorpion getting his head shaved.
The show had other headlines, including Deonna Purrazzo becoming both the Impact and AAA women’s champion in a title vs. title match with Faby Apache, and not so surprising arrival of the New Generation Dinamitas, days after CMLL announced they were no longer with the promotion and were stripping them of their titles.
The Dinamitas arrived after the second match, the Copa Bardahl Royal Rumble style match. They played an updated version of the ELP classic “Touch and Go,” the same song from CMLL and the song the Original Dinamitas used dating back at least 30 years. When they came out, on the screen they were called the New Generation Dinamitas and the names used were Cuatrero & Sanson & Forastero, the same names they had used since becoming stars in CMLL. As it turns out they will be able to keep their names because they filed for ownership of the names in 2017.
Three matches have been announced for Friday’s AEW Rampage: The First Dance.
Jon Moxley will take on Daniel Garcia. Eddie Kingston will be in Moxley’s corner, while Garcia will have 2.0 in his corner. This match was set up on tonight’s Dynamite. Moxley and Kingston made an entrance to open the show, then were attacked in the crowd by Garcia and 2.0. Darby Allin and Sting then defeated 2.0 in a tornado tag match in the Dynamite opener.
Also set for Friday, Jade Cargill will be in action, taking on Kiera Hogan. Hogan debuted against Hikaru Shida on Monday’s AEW Dark: Elevation.
Also set for Friday, Jurassic Express will take on Private Party in the first match of an AEW World Tag Team Championship eliminator tournament. The tournament will also feature The Lucha Bros and Hollywood Blonds, with their first round match announced for next week’s Dynamite. The tournament winners will get a AEW Tag Team title shot in a steel cage against The Young Bucks at All Out on Sunday, September 5.
AEW Rampage: The First Dance airs Friday at 10 p.m. Eastern time on TNT.
Here is the lineup:
Jon Moxley (w/Eddie Kingston) vs. Daniel Garcia (w/2.0)
Jade Cargill vs. Kiera Hogan
AEW World Tag Team Championship eliminator tournament: Jurassic Express vs. Private Party (w/Matt Hardy)
