The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle.
AEW’s Jack Perry-CM Punk gamble suddenly has a chance to pay off.
The decision to air the footage of Punk and Perry’s backstage confrontation from All In at Wembley Stadium last summer to lay an added storyline nugget to the Young Bucks-FTR tag team championship match at Dynasty was met with plenty of negative reactions.
Outside of actually seeing just how hot Punk was and that he initiated the physical contact with Perry, the video didn’t show much that those who followed the story didn’t know already, and it wasn’t much different than the account the former AEW champion gave in his interview with Ariel Helwani.
In the moment, it looked like a spiteful knee-jerk reaction to the unflattering things Punk said while talking to Helwani about the company and AEW president Tony Khan and his leadership.
All I could think about at the time was how AEW wasted the opportunity to blur the lines when Punk was still there because the parties couldn’t get on the same page. Instead, they were kept on separate shows and were never forced to get into a room and work it out for the company’s financial betterment.
The footage release felt like a last-ditch effort to make something out of controversy eight months later because Punk broke his silence about it.
I could hear Punk’s claims that he is about making money and AEW is not.
But lost in the hoopla and negativity around the video’s release was the tangible reason AEW made it public in the first place. It set up Perry’s return at Dynasty perfectly and gives him something meaty and real he can sink his teeth into as a heel for the first time. Khan called the decision a “bold call” that he believed heightened the circumstances around Perry.
When Perry first turned heel, he looked like he was searching for ways to be the bad guy. His presentation looked forced and he struggled to connect with the audience, but did have a little momentum heading into All In against Hook.
Now, Perry looks very comfortable as the “Scapegoat” character — ripping up his AEW contract when he arrived in New Japan in January and fully leaning into the hate he’s getting around Punk by coming out with the City of Chicago flag and “Cry Me a River” on his jacket during New Japan’s Windy City Riot at the Wintrust Arena, where he got a loud reaction.
Having Matthew and Nicholas Jackson release the footage and speak of their appreciation for Perry allowed his return at Dynasty to make sense as he ran out of the crowd with a mask on and pushed Dax Harwood off the ladder. It was the opening needed for the Bucks to become three-time AEW world tag team champions. Perry revealing himself got solid pop from the Kansas City crowd.
“I felt like it was important to partially explain where Jack’s been because the last time we saw him on AEW television was Wembley Stadium,” Khan said at the post-show press conference. “He went through the curtain, and we never saw him again since. So I did feel like some responsibility to the viewer given that I knew Jack was going to return to AEW to explain where he’s been.”
Having Perry taken away by security allows the EVPs to flex their muscle and thank him by reinstating him to AEW and having him join the Elite. His first feud should be either against FTR’s friend Daniel Garcia or Eddie Kingston, who is a fan favorite, also has a history with Punk and could drop his New Japan STRONG championship to Perry.
At best, Perry finds himself with Dominik Mysterio-level heat or is actually embraced by AEW fans for being the reason Punk is gone.
Maybe they need to include bringing Perry’s real-life girlfriend Anna Jay into the mix with the Elite to also elevate her..
The worst case is the novelty of Perry’s return wearing off or the responsibility being too big for him or AEW fumbling his momentum.
The CM Punk chants are bound to come for him, and the tricky part will be embracing the hate while not making Punk the story — because those chants becoming a regular occurrence would be a nightmare scenario.
But if you are going to take a risk, you do it for someone with Perry’s potential and his Hollywood backstory through his “Beverly Hills, 90210” star father Luke.
Claiming the decision to release the footage has already made Perry a big star is way premature. But AEW’s risk remains in a position to still pay off in a meaningful way for the company and not sink it after some compared it to 2000s WCW.
The groundwork has been laid. It’s now on Perry to run with it and make his bosses look good and not become a scapegoat for a different reason.
Building Blocks
There is a lot to like about what’s going on in TNA. It’s continued to add quality talent who were underused elsewhere or just looking for a bigger platform: Mike Santana, Matt Hardy and Sami Callihan showed up at Rebellion. A.J. Francis continues to find ways to make his stuff stand out, adding a Shawne Merriman swerve to his feud with Joe Hendry and getting Rich Swann to commit to turning heel.
They have properly positioned Mustafa Ali as X Division champion and have Nic Nemeth locked in a world championship feud. It’s allowed them to maintain the momentum of bringing the former WWE star in and become a safe place for free agents to land.
The 10 Count
Have no problem with Becky Lynch winning the battle royal to become the new Women’s world champion. She is likely a transitional champ and gives WWE a veteran to continue to build the story they had planned for Liv Morgan and get her a bigger crowning moment when it’s time.
I get why they did it with the show being spring break-themed and Sol Ruca and Blair Davenport made the most of it, but the Beach Brawl was one of the more silly things NXT has done and not in a good way when some of the weapons are beach balls, floating tubes and a small ball pit.
The Mercedes Moné-Julia Hart-Willow Nightingale story is already more layered than almost everything AEW has done in the division thanks to the former WWE star’s mystery attacker and a potential Nightingale heel turn. So many ways it could go.
We talk about wrestlers needing to take a chance and evolve. Well, that’s exactly what Lio Rush did with his new “BlackHeart” persona at Prestige Wrestling. Outside of his core move set, it’s a totally different person you see on your screen.
Really love the Young Bucks cutting off the FTR promo package and Matt getting into the ring and verbally berating Daniel Garcia while on a live mic. The stuff is different than what you normally get in wrestling. They need to keep pushing the boundaries with this stuff.
Trick Williams is finally NXT champion. I get NXT is probably hoping for some TV ratings on the title change that pretty much had to happen today, but it would have felt like a bigger moment at a PPV when you weren’t sure if they would have Williams win.
Fans have been asking for years for Chad Gable to be given a true chance to show us his talent in and out of the ring. He’s nailed it so far. There was a little bit of Kurt Angle charisma vibes as he individually insulted and bullied the rest of Alpha Academy. Maybe this story will elevate Otis as a challenger after Gable cheats his way to the Intercontinental championship.
At each stage of the Bloodline story, it’s been a different family member’s time to shine. Right now, it’s clearly Solo Sikoa’s, and you can see how much he’s learned as a promo from sitting under the Roman Reigns learning tree, with an assist from Paul Heyman’s Hall of Fame facials.
As much as I didn’t like the new World Heavyweight tag team championship design looking just like all the other titles on Raw, I absolutely love the update of a classic design for the WWE tag belt on SmackDown. Those are some sweet-looking championships.
This could be the most intriguing WWE Draft in a long time starting Friday on SmackDown. It’s Triple H’s first as head of creative and the first run by former ESPN producer Lee Fitting. We also have three distinct general managers for each brand, so it opens the door for a completely different and more sports-based presentation.
Wrestler of the Week
Swerve Strickland, AEW
When performers are released from WWE, you never know how things might go. Strickland made the best of every chance he got in AEW, until he was knocking it out of the park with “Hangman” Adam Page in one of the company’s best feuds. It all culminated on Sunday night with Strickland beating Samoa Joe at Dynasty to become AEW’s first black world champion and someone who could be a refreshing storyteller at the top of the card.
Social Media Post of the Week
Match to Watch
Natalya vs. Lola Vice, Underground match at NXT Sprink Breakin’ (Tuesday, 8 p.m. , USA)
Very curious to watch Natalya in the first-ever women’s Underground match against Vice and her MMA background. Natalya is so technically sound wrestling, it will be interesting to see whether she changes up her approach in this setting. Shayna Baszler being in Vice’s corner could lead to something as she is coming off a match of a similar variety against Masha Slamovich at Bloodsport’s event during WrestleMania weekend. I did think NXT did Baszler a disservice by having Natalya’s partner Karmen Petrovic knock her down with one kick on Tuesday.
