Posted in: AEW, Sports, TV | Tagged: aew, Rampage, recaps, wrestling

Will the Next AEW Champion be an NJPW Star? Will It Be MJF? Or Both?!

In what has to be considered one of the most confusing world championship situations in the history of wrestling, AEW Champion CM Punk announced on AEW Rampage last night that he will be out of action due to an injury that requires surgery. Punk said he wanted to relinquish the AEW Championship, but Tony Khan told him not to. Then, Chris Jericho, on commentary, twice said that Punk did relinquish the title before fellow commentator Excalibur corrected him. To make a long story short (too late), #1 ranked men's competitor Jon Moxley will face the winner of a battle royale on Dynamite next week, with the winner of that match going on to AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door at the end of June, where he will face an unnamed opponent to crown an Interim AEW Champion.

Originally, NJPW star Hiroshi Tanahashi was scheduled to face CM Punk at Forbidden Door, so it would make sense for Tanahashi to be the mystery opponent for the Interim AEW Championship match. It makes even more sense if his opponent is Jon Moxley, who has been wanting a match with Tanahashi for some time. But what if the mystery opponent is someone different. What if it's… MJF?

As everyone knows by now, MJF is deep in a worked shoot angle where he demanded that Tony Khan fire him from AEW. In response, MJF has been removed from AEW's roster on the AEW website, removed from the AEW merchandise shop, and unfollowed on social media by official AEW accounts. But if MJF is, in storyline, not working for AEW, would that make him free to sign with another company, such as NJPW? It wouldn't be hard to justify that in storyline, allowing MJF to compete for and win the Interim AEW Championship at Forbidden Door as either a free agent or NJPW wrestler.

To be even more conspiratorial-minded, what if CM Punk isn't injured at all? What if this is all part of the plan to recreate a a 2011 Summer of Punk where MJF is the CM Punk and  CM Punk is the John Cena. When Punk won the WWE Championship from John Cena at Money in the Bank and, in storyline, left WWE due to contractual disputes, WWE immediately crowned John Cena as the new WWE Champion on Raw in a match with Rey Mysterio, who won it earlier that same night in a tournament. Punk then returned to face Cena at SummerSlam and win the title again… only to be screwed over by Kevin Nash and have the title stolen by Money in the Bank briefcase holder Alberto del Rio. Things fizzled from there, and though Punk would later regain the championship and hold it for a long time before losing it to The Rock, the story was never able to recapture the excitement it held when Punk won the belt at Money in the Bank.

We've already theorized that the MJF contract dispute storyline plays into AEW's attempt to remix the Summer of Punk for 2022 (the third Summer of Punk if you're keeping track). Punk's injury, whether legitimate or kayfabe, presents the perfect opportunity to move that story forward if MJF "signs" with NJPW (or somehow tricks or buys his way into the match at Forbidden Door) and wins the title. Maybe this is an overreach of speculation… but maybe not.

Things will become clearer in the weeks leading up to Forbidden Door if NJPW announces who will compete in the AEW Championship match on their behalf. If they leave it a mystery up until the last minute, an MJF insertion becomes more likely. If not, well… it's fun not knowing what's going to happen in professional wrestling, isn't it? Get well soon, CM Punk!

UPDATE: Well, it was fun to speculate while it lasted. It looks like the NJPW side of the match has been determined, it and will be either Hiroshi Tanahashi or Hirooki Goto, as the pair will face off at NJPW Dominion next weekend to earn the spot. That'll teach us to publish an editorial without waiting at least 24 hours for AEW to get its @#$% together!

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