CM Punk vs Jon Moxley (AEW - 9/4/2022)

This match will always have a feeling around it that leaves me feeling kind of empty. It’s because in many ways , I know this is CM Punk’s last match, his run in AEW is over. It was such an improbably wild run, where his execution was better than it ever was previously in his career. The man was never the most athletic guy, in many ways he always thought he could be as athletic as his peers. Punk’s year in AEW was one where he very much seemed genuine but also out-of-touch. I think this was both true to himself, the character and by design. This out-of-touch quality is what framed the Kingston match that I wrote enough on before. But it carried over into the MJF program where he was forced to confront himself, and the Hangman Page program where he was maybe was forced to confront those things too closely.

Punk’s desire to do more than his body could allow was present in the Hangman feud where he just could never nail the Buckshot Lariat, and after he won the title he broke his foot, jumping into the crowd.

The build to this match is a menagerie of real and put-on but to try and decipher what’s there is an exercise i don’t care to dive into because the fallout talked those points to death.

Punk injures himself early on in this match, doing his sloppy dive, acting like a younger man. You can visibly tell it’s bothering him, Punk works this match like he knows that it’s his last match. He works this match like the world has always been against him and he’s still out to prove that above all he’s not to be forgotten.

Mox is a sadistic sonofabitch though. I’m a low-voter on him and this is certainly the best single’s performance I’ve ever seen the guy put on.

The post match is fantastic, but the moment of Punk standing hurt and bloodied with the title in his hometown while the crowd chants MJF’s name. MJF who has taken Punk’s shtick and incorporated it into his character both subtlety and overtly. That’s the poetic moment of this match. Punk is done, MJF is carrying on the qualities that Punk has and using them for his own. His body isn’t broken, he’s got the future in front of him. I know this clearly sets up Punk to drop the title to MJF but there’s something wholly conclusive to this, especially since Punk already knows he’s done. He knows his triceps are fucked.

The bittersweet, empty feeling I get here is because of conclusiveness of the situation. Too many will deride a match for not being conclusive, whereas a lot of the time we actually want that open-endedness.

The sadness here, is the knowing it’s done. It’s knowing that this man who finally came back to prove that he does something better than anybody else in the business today, is too hurt and too out-of-touch to exist in this world anymore.

A messy little bow on the package that was the gift of Punk’s AEW run.

Plus the match kicked so much ass.

As mentioned, the fallout from the infamous post-match conference overshadowed virtually everything but this is one of the best matches of 2022.

Punk is at his best in the ring when he is the back-against-the-wall underdog and a trifecta of ailments (lingering broken foot, early-match arm injury, getting busted open) really brought that out in spades. Easily his best non-Samoa Joe match. I know Moxley has become a bit of a meme in certain circles with the constant blading and middle fingers but he put on a offensive masterclass here working over the cut and attacking the leg, a performance that cements him as one of the most improved wrestlers of the 2020s.