CM Punk defeated Adam “Hangman” Page on Sunday night at the Double or Nothing pay-per-view to become the new AEW World Champion. Late in the match Page went for the Buckshot Lariat, but an attempted GTS counter from Punk resulted in the referee getting knocked out with a kick to the head. Page then considered nailing Punk with the AEW title, but backed off and tried for another Buckshot. Punk countered it yet again to nail the GTS and get the pin, winning his first world championship in professional wrestling since 2013. He closed out the show with tears in his eyes as he clutched the gold, then thanked the fans in attendance at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena.
Page entered the show with his AEW World Championship nearing 200 days. Since winning the title from Kenny Omega at Full Gear 2021, he successfully retained the gold against Bryan Danielson, Lance Archer, Dante Martin and Adam Cole before tonight’s loss. With the win, Punk becomes the first man in pro wrestling history to be the WWE, AEW and Ring of Honor World Champion.
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AEW returns to pay-per-view next month with the crossover event Forbidden Door alongside New Japan Pro-Wrestling. The event takes place on June 26 in Punk’s hometown of Chicago.
Punk gave an interview with ComicBook earlier this month and talked about his time in AEW thus far, saying, “This run has been more than what I expected. I had expectations. They were pretty high. So far, they’ve pretty much shattered all that, and that’s just based on analytics and numbers of how well we’re doing. I’ve long said that I’m there for the fans in the building. Nowadays everybody is still focused on ratings numbers when cable is absolutely — I canceled DirecTV months ago. I just, I couldn’t do it anymore. It’s too convoluted. It’s too expensive. Streaming services are, I feel like, are the future. So when people look at ratings and say that wrestling is dying, I say, ‘Well look at our buildings. We’re selling out and we’re doing our first million-dollar gate.’ So I don’t attribute that just to me. I attribute that to the spirit of AEW and everybody behind the scenes that makes it all work and makes it all click.
“But the run, my run specifically, my stuff as a whole, I’ve never been happier in a wrestling ring. I’ve never, to me, been telling more fluid, better, reality-based stories. It’s been a real treat,” he added.
