The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling every Tuesday in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle.
Promos like what we got on “SmackDown” on Friday and the “Monday Night Raw” segment with Seth Rollins are the reason you take the risk and bring in CM Punk.
He’s appointment television.
Punk, who just seems genuinely happy these days, felt like a ruthless stand-up comic throwing out insults during a must-see special on Friday, and Monday felt like a dream scenario come true.
Punk’s words Friday instantly wiped away the biggest fear fans had about him in WWE.
They let Punk be Punk, and no one seemed safe. It was a sign WWE isn’t going to turn the volume down on him — just maybe smooth out the edges a bit for its PG audience.
He called out the critics of his “I’m home” Raw promo, the company’s two world champions Roman Reigns and Rollins and also touched on Cody Rhodes, Kevin Owens, Jimmy Uso, Randy Orton, LA Knight and Jey Uso.
But it was the line describing Owens that had everyone talking because it was the first and maybe the last time on WWE TV that Punk would address the acts that started him down the path to his AEW departure.
“I don’t know who would feel comfortable working with somebody who randomly just punches people in the face backstage,” Punk said, with a little Rodney Dangerfield tug of the collar. “It’s 2023, ladies and gentlemen, you just can’t be doing stuff like that. It’s insane.”
It was a direct reference to his backstage brawl at All Out in 2022 with the Young Bucks, who just happen to be close friends with Owens. It was a rift that was never mended and cost AEW the millions that could have been made off that feud.
And though Punk’s crack fell flat with a casual Tribute to the Troops crowd that clearly either weren’t AEW fans or readers of wrestling media, it was heard loud and clear around the industry.
The biggest names in WWE and his wrestling rivals are in his crosshairs.
So is the Royal Rumble.
So is the main event of WrestleMania, and finishing his WWE story by checking the one box left unchecked in his career there.
But the funny thing is the path to finishing his story will need the one guy who has been the most outspoken against him all these years.
The guy who once called him a “cancer.” The guy on Raw who told him, “I hate you.”
The guy most like him in the company, always a top guy but never the guy and never a WrestleMania main eventer.
Punk and Rollins are linked forever through The Shield storyline: Punk used the debuting group to do his dirty work.
Nearly 12 years later, they end up needing each other to likely get the thing in WWE they both want most at WrestleMania — with with Rollins’ contract up in 2024, according to Fightful.
Their lone singles match took place in 2013.
Let’s face it, as important as Rollins has made the World Heavyweight championship, unless a legend came out of retirement, he doesn’t have a main-event-level dance partner that would boot, say, Becky Lynch vs. Rhea Ripley from a WrestleMania Night 1 main event.
Let’s face it, Punk needs Rollins because WWE has had its heart set on Rhodes vs. Reigns II for a year now, and unless “Stone Cold” Steve Austin comes out of retirement again or John Cena comes back, there isn’t a surefire main event for him either.
What we got on Monday was the foundation.
Rollins, who has never left WWE, is appalled at Punk for calling the place he abandoned “home” and for all the shots he’s taken at the company over the years. Now he needs to protect it from Punk
Though “Hangman” Adam Page previously did the whole “saving the company from Punk” routine in AEW, an angry Rollins broke the fourth wall just a little bit.
“The truth always comes out,” Rollins said. “I know, you know, everybody else knows, this is your last chance.”
Rollins said Punk will either “self-destruct” like he always does and he’ll slam the door on his legacy or he will prove to him in the ring that he, not Punk, is the “best in the world” and expose him as a “fraud.”
The storyline gauntlet was laid down, and the two men’s real-life journeys to the WWE goal that’s alluded them begins.
Side by side — certainly not hand in hand — Punk and Rollins finally find that the other should get them what they always wanted.
The men’s Iron Survivor Challenge match at NXT Deadline was a thing of wrestling beauty and an absolute star-making moment for Trick Williams. Shawn Michaels’ crew and the five men in the match should take a bow for not only crafting the perfect story for Williams, but pulling it off to perfection.
Williams, whom the crowd was clearly behind, was down three falls and was stuck in the penalty box with about two minutes left in the match. He scored three of his four falls in final 1:30 and the last in the closing six seconds for a crescendo of audience emotion that you very rarely get. Williams is now set up perfectly to potentially dethrone Ilja Dragunov, whom he’s never beaten on TV, for the NXT championship and eventually start an epic feud with Carmelo Hayes.
A few other observations: Blair Davenport was the right women’s winner, but thought the return of Cora Jade — another heel — undercut her moment. Lash Legend is starting to build some momentum. Bron Breakker needs to be up on the main roster after the Royal Rumble as he is working on a different level right now. Let’s see if Dominik Mysterio losing the North American championship without The Judgment Day around becomes a thing.
Those left unsatisfied by Shayna Wayne smashing Adam Copeland with the TNT championship to muck up the finish to his first match again Christian Cage since 2010 aren’t paying attention. This match on free TV was never getting a clean finish with the Worlds End pay-per-view coming on Dec. 30. It’s a logical next step in the story and now Shayna and Nick — your 18-year-old prodigy — could have serious heat with the audience. Trust Cage and Copeland here.
Becky Lynch and Cody Rhodes are in curious places as they buy time before their WrestleMania stories. Lynch’s and Nia Jax’s promo made the most of the simple story they have based around the famous punch that busted up Lynch’s face, and added a layer before their match. Rhodes winning by DQ after getting misted by Shinsuke Nakamura felt like Stalling 101 with a loose feud at best.
If you do the math, as Roderick Strong keeps calling MJF The Devil weekly, it feels more and more likely the Devil is Adam Cole with Strong, Matt Taven, Mike Bennett and a returning Kyle O’Reilly as the four attackers. If so, the excellent interaction between MJF and Hangman Page felt wasted if it leads to nowhere.
Nice surprise from MLW to close their One Shot pay-per-view as Richard Holliday returned to confront world champion Alex Kane. Holliday was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in late 2022 and left MLW in April. Joining the World Titan Federation faction, he is a perfect heel opponent and a major threat to Kane’s title at Kings of Coliseum in Philadelphia on Jan. 6.
Ava Raine, the Rock’s daughter, sure is spending a lot of time in Shawn Michaels’ office in NXT. Hope this leads to something interesting for her. Maybe one of the other women will call her out on it to start a feud.
While his brother is one of the top babyfaces in WWE, Jimmy Uso is slowly turning into the Bloodline’s job guy.
I’m glad after all this time Saraya revealed why she is truly mad at Ruby Soho’s relationship with “Cool Hand Ang.” She is dealing with serious abandonment Issues after Toni Storm left the Outcasts.
AEW with one tight fist laid the groundwork for Danhausen to turn on Orange Cassidy. Both need a fresh story. It’s about time we saw the Very Evil side of Danhausen, so he is no longer just a mascot.
Hopefully, R-Truth can have something close to the effect Sami Zayn had on The Bloodline story with The Judgment Day — just differently — because it’s been a heck of a lot of fun so far.
There was plenty of discourse from Mark Briscoe and others around the WWE on Fox account’s “DEM BOYZ!” tweet with Bobby Lashley and the Street Profits, with “Dem Boyz” being the Briscoe Brothers’ moniker for many years. I’m hard-pressed to believe a Fox social media person had any malicious intent behind it. But the pain of the passing of Jay Briscoe certainly gives Mark the right to feel initially hurt by something like that. But others’ vitriol toward him or Fox felt excessive.
Trick Williams, NXT
It’s not easy to go from a big star’s sidekick to main eventer, crowd favorite and potential world champion. But that’s exactly what Williams has done. His athleticism in the ring and his on-screen charisma have shone through during a well-crafted story with Carmelo Hayes. All of that came together during his Iron Survivor Challenge win at NXT Deadline
Honorable mention: Bryan Danielson.
Athena (c.) vs. Billie Starkz, Ring of Honor women’s championship at Final Battle (Honor Club or Fite, Saturday 8 p.m.)
Athena and Starkz have had one of the best storylines in wrestling over the past year. The 19-year-old Starkz is one of the best young prospects in wrestling and has been a Minion In Training under Athena, who constantly keeps putting down her pupils’ success. Now Ring of Honor can use it to potentially make Starkz its women’s champ and finally move Athena — who has held the belt for more than a year — over to AEW after this main event.