CM Punk in AEW: Part 2 – ALL OUT 2021 vs Darby Allin and Team Taz feud | Column

This was previously part of a book I had written and released on CM Punk’s initial run in All Elite Wrestling, covering August 2021 until May 2022. I’ll be uploading it here sporadically, adapted for easier reading online, so please feel free to check it out. You can check out Part 1 here.

In his debut match at AEW’s All Out pay-per-view in September 2021, CM Punk took on Darby Allin, at the time an up-and-coming star who was establishing himself as one of the four ‘Pillars’ of the company alongside MJF, Sammy Guevara and Jungle Boy Jack Perry. 

The match itself was a masterclass in storytelling, with Punk showing that he hadn’t appeared to have lost a step, and Allin proving that he could hang with one of the best in the business. Punk emerged victorious, but Allin’s stock also rose massively in defeat.

Although there were a number of big bouts that took place on the card, including Kenny Omega defending his AEW Championship against Christian Cage in the main event, it was clear that the show in Chicago was based around the debut of the returning Second City Saint.

AEW ALL OUT 2021 PPV Buys

The PPV buys for the show were massive, easily eclipsing what All Elite Wrestling had managed to achieve up to that point in time, with WrestleNomics estimating that the company had secured around 215,000 buys overall for the third ever ALL OUT.

WrestleNomics, a great site renowned for its coverage of weekly ratings and the business side of the wrestling business, estimated that the highest amount of buys that the company had managed to that point on PPV was around 135,000 for Revolution, so ALL OUT seemingly hitting the 215,000 number was another big indication that Punk was bringing a huge audience with him to the table, and that the investment from Tony Khan was warranted.

Bearing in mind that the only wrestling company to even produce a number even close to 100,000 PPV buys (that wasn’t WWE) in the decades since WCW folded in 2001 was TNA, who themselves got around 60,000 buys for their biggest event with Samoa Joe facing Kurt Angle in a steel cage, this was an incredible early achievement for AEW.

AEW Estimated PPV Buys from All In 2018 to ALL OUT 2021

Between ALL OUT and Full Gear 2021

Team Taz

The debut of Punk and the massive success of the ALL OUT 2021 PPV led fans to wonder what was next for the former WWE star, and the answer to that question seemed somewhat random at the time, as Punk was put in a feud with Team Taz, a faction managed by ECW legend and AEW commentator…Taz.

Ratings for the show following ALL OUT 2021 were strong for that Wednesday’s episode of Dynamite, as the show managed to draw 1,319,000 viewers on average with a 0.53 in the 18-49 demographic, a big jump of +272,000 from the prior week.

The decision to put Punk in a feud with Team Taz seemed like a way to keep the hot streak of the newly signed star going, but also give the rub to some more up-and-coming talents (in the same way he did with Darby Allin). Considering the way in which Punk had been speaking publicly at the time, he clearly wanted to help nurture the talent that was growing in the industry, and considering who he actually was put in the ring with between now and his first AEW Championsihp win, he probably got what he wanted.

But for now, Punk would appear on commentary the following week until Team Taz attacked him and Taz claimed that he ‘took’ his job at the desk. This would eventually lead to a match between Punk and Powerhouse Hobbs on the Friday, September 24th episode of AEW Rampage.

CM Punk addresses potential heel turn

It was also on the September 22nd 2021 episode of AEW Dynamite that Punk would reference the growing calls from some fans for him to turn heel, to bring back the character that had endeared many to him in the past, rather than the “happy” CM Punk who just seemed to be glad he was back on TV: “It’s been a long time since I’ve been in New York City. It’s been an even longer time since professional wrestling has been in New York City. I hear people tell me that I need to be mad. That I need to be pissed off, that I need to be the old CM Punk. Be careful what you wish for.”

AEW Rampage Ratings September 24 2021

Despite Punk’s debut being a massive draw just a month prior, this episode actually lost viewers from the previous week, down to a viewership of around 640,000 on average and a 0.29 in the 19-49 demographic. 

The fact that CM Punk’s first televised match in 7 years, something that was heavily promoted by the company at the time, didn’t draw that well, was an intriguing dent in the honeymoon period up to that point…or at least you think it would, until you actually get into the quarter-hour numbers. 

Punk vs Hobbs opened the broadcast at 10pm, with a reported 806,000 viewers tuning in to see Punk’s match. That number would drop significantly after the match concluded, and that stayed the same for the rest of the night, with the main event of Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston vs Minoru Suzuki and Lance Archer getting an average of around 506,000 viewers.

For context, the first hour of Rampage was watched by 727,000 viewers and it did a 0.32 rating in 18 to 49 (420,000 viewers in the age group). The second hour was watched by 552,000 viewers and did a 0.25 demo rating (332,000).

As of writing, Rampage has never managed to get back to the initial highs that the show produced back when Punk debuted in August 2021 (and the show is now off the air), and it would likely take something monumental, even beyond Punk returning to the show (which will now never happen), to drag those numbers back up to the seven figures

Edit: Rampage as still airing at the time of the book release

AEW Rampage Ratings – September 10th 2021 to September 24th 2021

AEW Dynamite Ratings – September 8th 2021 to September 22nd 2021

Jake Skudder

Jake is the Head of Audience at F4WOnline, having previously worked as a Combat Sports, Gaming and Pro Wrestling writer, successful Editor in Chief and Sports Coordinator for NationalWorld. He has more than ten years of experience covering mixed martial arts, pro wrestling, football and gaming across a number of publications, starting at SEScoops in 2012. His work has also been featured on Wrestling Headlines, Wrestlingnewsco, HotNewHipHop and The Hard Times.

Previously, he worked as the Editor in Chief of 24Wrestling, building the site profile with a view to selling the domain, which was accomplished in 2019. Jake was previously the Editor in Chief for FightFans, a combat sports and pro wrestling site that was launched in January 2021 and broke into millions of pageviews within the first two years. He previously worked for Snack Media and their GiveMeSport site, creating Evergreen and Trending content that would deliver pageviews via Google as the UFC and MMA SEO Lead. Jake managed to take an area of GiveMeSport that had zero traction on Organic and push it to audiences across the globe. Jake also has a record of long-term video and written interview content with the likes of the Professional Fighters League, ONE and Cage Warriors, working directly with the brands to promote bouts, fighters and special events.

He previously also worked for PROGRESS Wrestling, as PR Head and Head of Media across the social channels of the company.

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