All Elite Wrestling went two months without its lineal champion, but a temporary titleholder held down the fort throughout the summer. Interim AEW World Champion Jon Moxley has held the company’s top prize since AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door, where he defeated New Japan’s Hiroshi Tanahashi for the belt. Meanwhile, Lineal AEW World Champion CM Punk had been nursing a broken foot, which he suffered on his first episode of AEW Dynamiteย after capturing the strap. While Punk seemed pessimistic about his recovery just last month, the Best in the World made his long-awaited return to AEW TV last week, making the save for Moxley after his successful defense against “Lionheart” Chris Jericho.
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The two would then come face to face, which ended with Mox flipping off Punk before exiting to the locker room. This week, the two traded verbal barbs, kicking off Dynamite by attacking each other on the microphone. Those digs quickly turned to blows, as Mox and Punk would brawl before being pulled apart by security. The bad blood didn’t end there, as later in the broadcast Moxley would attack Tony Nese at the top of the entrance ramp and demand that Punk comes out and fights him for the titles. Punk would answer the challenge, but it resulted in another pull apart brawl between the two.
While many expected this inevitable unification match to go down at AEW All Out next month, fans are getting this showdown two weeks early. Next week on AEW Dynamite, Moxley and Punk face each other in singles competition with both championships on the line.
This surprise announcement left social media in a frenzy. While there is every chance this match doesn’t go down and ends up being just another pull apart brawl, AEW has been known to do big bout on free television. Punk and MJF’s famous feud from earlier in the year first culminated in a singles match on an episode of AEW Dynamite. Even last year’s AEW All Out main event, Christian Cage vs. then-AEW World Champion Kenny Omega, first went down on the debut episode of AEW Rampage, where Cage dethroned Omega for his Impact Wrestling and TNA World Championships.ย
This could also be set up to transform the All Out title match into a triple threat. Punk notably opened AEW Dynamite tonight by calling out former AEW World Champion Hangman Page for a rematch, which Hangman failed to respond to. With Page not having a clear program at the moment, as he turned down the Young Bucks trios offer last week, there is reason to believe he could insert himself into the world title picture come the pay-per-view.
Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for updates on the AEW World Title.
