The opening match of this past Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite featured a Casino Battle Royale to determine who will face the #1 Contender for the AEW World Championship Jon Moxley in the show’s main event. Kyle O’Reilly ended up winning the Casino Battle Royale to move on to the main event and go up against Moxley, where the winner will advance to Forbidden Door to battle either Hiroshi Tanahashi or Hirooki Goto to crown an Interim AEW World Champion, but Kyle O’Reilly would come up short and Moxley would emerge the winner and he will face either Tanahashi or Goto, who are set to compete against one other at tomorrow’s NJPW Dominion Event.
A number of huge AEW Stars didn’t compete in the Casino Battle Royale and that would lead to some AEW and other pro wrestling fans taking shots and criticizing the match. Some of those huge stars include Bryan Danielson and Adam Cole, but they couldn’t compete in the match because they are out of in-ring action due to injuries. Other top stars like Adam Page, Wardlow and Chris Jericho did not participate in the match either, but their reasons were different to that of Danielson and Cole’s.
Dave Meltzer noted on a recent edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Chris Jericho wasn’t a part of the match because he was in a family vacation that was booked months in advance. During AEW Dynamite this past Wednesday night, “Hangman” Adam Page took on David Finlay in Singles action and he came out of the match with a huge win. Immediately following the match, Hangman said it does not seem like he will be getting an opportunity at the AEW World Championship anytime soon, which is why he is looking to face Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Forbidden Door.
Wardlow would also cut a promo during AEW Dynamite this past Wednesday night and mention that he will wait for the true AEW World Champion CM Punk to return from his injury as he does not want to be part of a tournament or match that does not include the real AEW World Champion, so in the meantime, he is currently focusing on the AEW TNT Title.
At the AEW Double Or Nothing PPV Event, CM Punk got the biggest win of his entire AEW career, when he defeated “Hangman” Adam Page to become the brand-new AEW World Champion, but just days after his huge victory, The Best In The World made an appearance on an episode of AEW Rampage and delivered some sad and heart-wrenching news. According to the AEW World Champion, he suffered an injury and he will need surgery to repair those injuries and due to that, he will be on the sidelines for quite some time. CM Punk then said that AEW President Tony Khan told him that he doesn’t need to relinquish the AEW World Title before promising the AEW fans that he will come back bigger, faster, stronger and hungrier than ever.
Commentary announced during last Wednesday’s episode of AEW Dynamite that CM Punk underwent lower leg surgery earlier in the day in Los Angeles and that the surgery was a success. Commentary also said CM Punk is on his way to recovery, but no timeframe was provided as to when CM Punk will be returning to AEW TV. CM Punk is set to face the Interim AEW World Champion in a Unification Match at a later date, when Punk has been medically cleared to return from his injury.
