CM Punk may have defeated Jon Moxley, and CM Punk might be the new AEW World Champion, but their is a far bigger story at play in AEW.
As always is the case in Chicago, CM Punk entered a heroes welcome. The self-proclaimed ‘Best in The World’ was eager to prove he was just that, and banish the ghost of AEW Dynamite past where he was defeated by Jon Moxley in three minutes.
On that night Moxley’s win earned him with Undisputed AEW World Championship, but this was Chicago. This is Punk territory.
Moxley entered through the crowd revelling in the chaos that surrounded him. An approach that only ramped up a few more levels after the opening bell. The champion mocked his beloved challenger and quickly busted him open on the ring post. Moxley literally tasted Punk’s blood, and took great joy in picking apart his opponent.
However, Punk refused to quit. No matter how many submissions he faced, or how much blood he lost, he just kept coming. Then finally, after a third GTS, (The first had come just minutes into the match) Punk crawled across Moxley’s prone body to score the win to a huge ovation.
Not that the celebrations were allowed to last too long.
Earlier in the night the Casino Ladder Match had been won by a mystery masked man, but as Punk celebrated, all became clear. The arena went black and a voicemail played over the speakers. The voice on the recording could be heard asking someone to come back to the company.
The camera then played a clip of Punk talking about the devil before switching to the masked man from earlier in the show backstage. The figure faced away from the camera and removed their mask, before putting on a signature scarf. The mystery man was MJF.
The star then made his way to the top of the ramp to taunt CM Punk as the pay-per-view went off the air. Crucially with victory in the Casino Ladder Match, MJF now has a shot at the AEW World Champion, one CM Punk.