Here's your wrestling for June 4th 2022
And your headlines for today include
CM Punk Injured! Addresses plans for the AEW World Championship
AEW World Champion set to be crowned later this month! 6Who will be the champ?
WWE has big plans for Riddle despite recent losses on TV
Former 24/7 Champion set for monstrous push after returning on latest SmackDown
Chris Jericho blasts MJF: Says he’ll be begging to come back should he leave AEW
Money isn’t the only factor: What else could make MJF jump from AEW to WWE?
More AEW stars open to moving to WWE when their contract expire: What’s changed for Tony Khan?
CM Punk is a “sellout and fake-a**” claims ex WWE Superstar And more
We’re kicking off with some shocking news from AEW, as CM Punk’s reign as World Champion has already hit a huge setback.
During this week’s Dynamite, Punk competed in a six-man-tag match, and was walking slowly afterwards, and it turns out that the Chicago-Made star is legitimately injured.
Appearing on last night’s Rampage, Punk kicked off the second half of the show with tears in his eyes, and took a moment to soak in the cheers of the crowd.
Punk explained how he’s injured and will need surgery, and said that the biggest thing in his body that is broken is his heart.
The former Superstar added that he told Tony Khan he will relinquish the AEW World Title, but Khan refused, meaning that he’ll still be champion during his recovery.
Promising to come back “bigger, stronger, faster and hungrier than before,” this is possibly the biggest setback any AEW World Champion has faced, and we’re wishing Punk the best on his road to recovery.
Punk is injured, but he won’t be vacating the AEW World Championship, as Tony Khan has called the incident a bump in the road.
It’s been confirmed that next week’s Dynamite will kick off with a battle royal, and the winner will face Jon Moxley in the main event.
The winner of that match will be one of the wrestlers to compete at Forbidden Door for the interim AEW World Championship.
Punk’s injury means that the planned title match between himself and Hiroshi Tanahashi is now off, which comes as a huge blow for both AEW and New Japan.
Instead, an interim AEW World Champion will be crowned later this month, and fans can expect a title unification match when the time is right, but only time will tell who wins the gold in CM Punk’s absence.
Over to SmackDown, as the main event saw Riddle and Shinsuke Nakamura challenge the Usos for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships.
In an interesting move, Nakamura was taken out, leaving Riddle to go on ahead without a tag partner, less than two weeks after last teaming with Randy Orton.
Despite this the Original bro held his own, and while Riddle may have hit the Super RKO, but Roman Reigns' music hit, distracting him and allowing The Usos to win.
It wasn’t the Tribal Chief who appeared, but instead Sami Zayn, who is trying to get into the good books of the Bloodline by helping the Usos retain.
Riddle may have lost, but WWE clearly sees big things with him, and while his attentions may now turn to Sami Zayn, a match with Roman Reigns seems inevitable for the fun-loving Superstar.
More from SmackDown, as Madcap Moss returned to the show this week after a brief absence thanks to an attack by Happy Corbin.
Returning in an ambulance, the spot was a bit odd, as ambulances aren’t used to drop anyone back, but either way, it made for a dra matic entrance for the Andre the Giant Battle Royal winner.
With a new look and focussed attitude, this is a much more serious Moss, who admittedly lose to Corbin by DQ, but will face his ex-tag partner at Hell in a Cell in a No Holds Barred match.
Fans can expect Moss to ditch the Madcap name and any trace of his previous gimmick all together this Sunday, in what could be the next career-defining match for him.
It wasn’t too long ago that reports came out of WWE execs being incredibly high on Moss, with some saying he could be a top name in the future, and depending on how this Sunday’s match goes,
Hell in a Cell 2022 could be the start of a monster push for the former 24/7 Champion.
Back to AEW now, as the company is still reeling from MJF's promo during this week's edition of Dynamite.
Claiming he is undervalued by AEW, MJF even went as far as to beg TOny Khan to fire him, but one name still loyal to the AEW President is Chris Jericho.
Taking to Twitter, Jericho didn't mention MJF by name, but responded by defending the company, calling AEW "the best sports entertainment company" he's ever worked for.
Addressing MJF's claims head on, the former AEW World Champion said that if certain wrestlers feel undervalued, then perh aps its a sign that they're not as good as they believe they are.
Jericho even issued MJF the challenge, telling the Salt of the Earth to go elsewhere, but promised that if he does leave, quote "you'll be begging to come back."
MJF has made no secret that his contract with AEW will expire in January 2024, and has teased going to WWE, but even if he does make the jump, Chris Jericho is firmly loyal to Tony Khan.
MJF has made it clear that he’ll consider jumping to WWE if Vince McMahon offers him enough money, something that the Chairman of the company is likely to do.
With that said, wanting to make more money isn’t MJF’s only motivation according to Dave Meltzer.
In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it’s reported that MJF could be considering expanding his profile and trying a career in acting, and Meltzer noted that if so, WWE could have the edge,
given that they would guarantee the Salt of the Earth more exposure.
However, AEW has a lucrative deal with Warner Media-Discovery who as the name suggests, owns Warner Bros., which could give MJF an in with one of the biggest movie studios around.
MJF will have to think long and hard about where is the best place for him should he pursue a career in acting, but with WWE’s track record of producing Hollywood stars including The Rock, Batista and
John Cena, Vince McMahon may be getting a prime talent in just a few years time.
If MJF does go to WWE, he'll be the second big name to make the jump, following Cody Rhodes who returned at WrestleMania 38.
Since returning, the American Nightmare has been one of the most prominently featured Superstars, and his push has shown no sign of slowing down.
In the latest Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer reports that up until recently, top AEW talents hadn't shown any interest in going to WWE, but that's all changed given Cody's success.
Meltzer didn't name who specifically is interested in making the jump, but said that many wrestlers, who once thought they could never succeed in WWE due to their size, are now having serious
thoughts when their contracts with Tony Khan expire.
Cody may have been a founding member of AEW, but he'd spent years in WWE before 2019, so it'd be interesting to see how Vince McMahon treats a true AEW original wrestler.
While AEW is home to several ex-WWE names, which has become something of a joke among wrestling fans, it may not be long before WWE welcomes several AEW stars,
including possibly some of their biggest names.
And we’re ending with more CM Punk news, as while the AEW World Champion has a loyal fanbase built up over the years, one name isn’t thrilled to see him.
Last year, Punk told the Wrestling Perspective Podcast about a s tory where Kelly Kelly found blood all over a hotel bathroom, and that he and Sabu, the upstanding gentlemen they are, allowed Kelly
and her boyfriend Test to use their room. This is a nice story of wrestlers looking out for each other, but while speaking to WSI’s James
Romero, former WWE Superstar Shelly Martinez blasted Punk, saying he deliberately left her out of the tale and that she was sharing the room with Kelly:
“Punk, I put on a huge pedestal and that’s my fault. You really should never put anyone on a pedestal. And now, fast forward to today, I think he’s a sellout and a fake ass… Punk doesn’t say I
was there at all. It’s just like… b*tch, you knew. And so I was like, you know what, you’re just like the rest.”
Martinez, who worked as Ariel in WWE’s version of ECW, did appreciate the irony of the room being covered in blood given that she played a vampire on TV at the time.
Shelly worked with WWE from 2006-2007, and was in ECW at the same time as Punk, but the former Superstar clearly still holds a gru dge for being left out of the AEW World Champion’s tales from the road.