CM Punk in AEW: Part 9 – April and May 2022 and the build to Double or Nothing | Column
This was previously part of a book I had written and released on CM Punk’s run from debut to first AEW Championship win 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, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here, Part 5 here, Part 6 here, Part 7 here and Part 8 here.
13/04/22
After a week’s break from the show, CM Punk would return to the opening quarter with a match against Penta Oscuro.
Dynamite would again open with a strong audience, coming in at 1,131,000 viewers overall. The match would end up moving over into the second quarter of the night for around four minutes, with that second quarter drawing 1,044,000 overall.
The drop here again was significant, but only 87,000 viewers reportedly tuned out of the show once the first 15 minutes had lapsed (via Wrestlenomics).
20/04/22
Punk would return to the opening quarter of the night just the next week, with Dustin Rhodes his opponent. It was a slight course change compared to prior weeks, with Rhodes being a far more tenured veteran in the business and not the sort of up-and-comer that Punk had been facing to that point.
It wasn’t just the style of match that changed, it was the way that the numbers changed too. The opening quarter drew 977,000 viewers, way down from prior weeks, but with the Punk vs Rhodes match going 8 minutes into the next quarter, the viewership actually went up to 989,000 viewers for the 8:15-8:30 slot.
The numbers would then drop in the third segment of the night down to 915,000 viewers, losing around 74,000 overall.
Was it the fact that Punk had a more intriguing opponent in Rhodes than in prior weeks against Caster and Penta? The match itself would again be critically well received, with our own Dave Meltzer in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter giving the bout a **** that week.
It would be revealed on the next show (27/04/22) that Punk would be challenging for the AEW World Championship against Hangman Adam Page at AEW Double or Nothing 2022.
11/05/22
Punk would make his return to Dynamite on the May 11th episode of the show, with Hangman page having cut a pretty scathing promo on the former WWE Champion the week prior.
Punk was finally having a match outside of the first quarter hour, which was actually taken by Adam Cole vs Dax Harwood that week. The match would overrun into the next quarter but only by two minutes, with quarter three getting around 822,000 viewers for the night.
The first quarter of the night ahead of the Punk match drew 816,000 viewers, so the second quarter featuring Punk went up by around 6,000 viewers. It’s a bump, but small enough that you cannot really equate it to anything likely more than rounding errors, so it’s difficult to take this into account when looking at the whole picture.
The following week Punk would appear on commentary for the match between Adam Page and Konosuke Takeshita, with both men having a staredown on the ramp following the bout.
25/05/22
The May 25th episode of AEW Dynamite would end up being one of the most seismic episodes of the show ever, but no one knew exactly why that was the case until months later.
This was the go-home episode of Dynamite ahead of the Double or Nothing 2022 PPV event, and Punk would stand toe-to-toe with Hangman Page for the most controversial promo of Punk’s career so far…but again, no one KNEW it was really all that controversial until many, many months later.
“See I’ve been waiting for the moment not for weeks, but for months. Now that we’re here in this moment I realise I can’t do it. Not because I’m afraid I’d get fired, and not because I’m afraid of you, but the more I thought about what I wanted to say to you, I realised it’s exactly what you would do. And I just don’t think it’s the right thing to do.
“I don’t hate you. I almost pity you. And I have no respect for what you’ve done since you got here. I don’t think you get what it means to be champion, in those small quiet moments when no one is watching. That’s what makes a champion. You talk about great workers, you’ve shown the exact opposite since you got here. I will be defending All Elite FROM you” were words from Page that incensed Punk.
Most of us took this as just another wrinkle in the story heading into the title match, it would end up a part of a MUCH bigger story.
The crux of the issue with Hangman’s words was that he reportedly went into business for himself, catching Punk off guard and seemingly navigating the situation so that he could make Punk look weak ahead of their PPV match. Both men were out there to promote a PPV main event, so this reportedly did not sit well with Punk at all, adding to the brewing issues that would come to a boiling point later that year at ALL OUT 2022.
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. 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.
He previously also worked for PROGRESS Wrestling as Head of Media as well as working on the social channels of the company.