CM Punk Makes Shock Return On AEW Dynamite

Written by James Holder • Published 11th August 2022
CM Punk AEW Champion

CM Punk is back on AEW television and he wasted little time in confronting AEW Interim World Champion Jon Moxley.

Just days after winning the AEW World Championship at Double or Nothing, CM Punk was forced to announce that he would be stepping away from the ring. While details were initially scarce, it was later reported that the champion required surgery on a broken foot.

However, Punk didn’t vacate his newly won title, instead, a short tournament was held to crown an Interim World Champion at AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. A tournament won by Jon Moxley.

This set the two men on a collision course, and that course led them straight to the August 10th edition of Dynamite, via a blood-soaked main event.

At the show titled Quake by the Lake, Moxley and Chris Jericho went to war over the Interim World Title. Jericho rolled back the years as he embraced his Lionheart persona, torturing his rival along the way. Jericho tore out Moxley’s earring early in the match and the champion lost a tremendous amount of blood during the rest of the contest.

Jericho was also busted open in the closing stages thanks to a head shot to the turnbuckle, which helped Moxley lock in the rear naked choke to score the win.

However, after the match, the Jericho Appreciation Society ran in to beat down Moxley, only to be interrupted by Claudio Castagnoli, Ortiz and Eddie Kingston and Wheeler Yuta. With the brawl in full swing, it was the JAS who gained the upper hand until that familiar music crashed around the arena.

Punk proceeded to lay waste to anything and anyone that moved before finally standing toe-to-toe with Jon Moxley. After a brief stare down, Moxley flipped off his rival before heading out of the ring. Punk continued to celebrate before sitting in the middle of the ring declaring that there’s “only one champion” as the show went off the air.