Last night, CM Punk announced he was stepping away from the AEW ring to heal from an injury (story HERE). He will not however, be relinquishing a title. Instead, an interim champion will be crowned.
And that plan to determine the AEW interim champion is really confusing to fans. They’re having a tough time figuring this out.
The actual written plan is the art for this post. Take a look at it. I’ll do my best to describe it here.
CM Punk is still champion. This is for an interim champion.
A battle royal will be held at the beginning of AEW Dynamite this Wednesday.
The winner of that battle royal will fight Jon Moxley on that same episode.
The winner of that match will face the winner of another match between Hiroshi Tanahashi and Hirooki Goto (some advice here, don’t worry about them if you don’t recognize those names, just go with it).
And the winner of those two matches will face off at Forbidden Door on June 26th for the interim AEW title.
And thennnnnnnn when CM Punk comes back he’ll fight the interim champion to determine the undisputed AEW Champion.
It’s confusing as hell.
And fans agree..
Is Scott Steiner the admin of this page? pic.twitter.com/y3EplgNbCa
— Humble Wrestling (@WrestlingHumble) June 4, 2022
Okay I need some clarification. If Punk wins against set person would he be a 2X world champion or would it be just a continuation. The whole “interim” thing is confusing to me. Does it even count as a legit title reign for whomever wins the “interim” title?
— 104🇨🇺 (@ChrisIvanVarela) June 4, 2022
Not a fan of interim. Just take the belt off him, so the tournament and then when he comes back he gets a title shot.
— CW (@cdubs711) June 4, 2022
Damn lol you all made it more complicated then what it already was. It’s simple to understand but no need for so much bs. Interim champion should’ve been decided between hangman and mox that’s it.
— Checo Perez es mi tío ⚪️ (@penudo23aew) June 4, 2022
Ya really could've just went "Winner between Mox and the Battle Royal winner becomes Interim champ, and faces Tanahashi at Forbidden Door"
— Raspy the Wannabe (@TheRaspAndOnly) June 4, 2022
— Jay (@CreatureLives) June 4, 2022
I know this one was kind of forced on you, but I think we need to cut down the tournaments/eliminator series. A simple way to make “The Owen” feel more special is to make it the only one of the year
— Wrestling Guy (@BabyfaceBot) June 4, 2022
So the winner of the battle Royal, then goes on to face Jon Moxley in a number one contender match to advance to the title match at the PPV? Sounds like a massive ladder being constructed here
— GangGreen David (@GangGreenDavid1) June 4, 2022
OK, so we have a battle royal winner and Moxley (who's mostly been in tag team squashes since coming back) and two NJPW wrestlers who've never fought in AEW vying for the belt, but the last champ is frozen out? I'm missing something…
— YUKON JUAN (@JonathanLyon) June 4, 2022
The decision to go with an interim champion follows a similarly confusing situation with the TNT title involving Cody Rhodes, Scorpio Sky, and Sammy Guevara (who fans still aren’t warming up to). Another interim champion is aggravating the wound if you’re listening to fans.
What do you think? How should AEW have dealt with the CM Punk injury and don’t forget to vote in our poll below.
What do you think of the #AEW plan to crown an interim champion following the injury to CM Punk? #AEWDynamite #AEWRampage
— The Frank Torres Report (@ftrtoday) June 4, 2022
One thing that isn’t confusing is that I’m a struggling writer. If you like this content please help me out below. Thank you!