AEW Dynamite 8/11: "The 4th Labour"

[Sepholio]

No way in hell I'd run Punk v Darby yet. That has disaster written all over it. You either have your big debut lose his comeback match or you have your hottest homegrown talent get his momentum crushed by losing to a guy who hasn't wrestled in 8 years. Or you have a screwy finish, ruining the first match back for Punk anyways.

Punk v Darby for his first feud is something WWE would book.

Punk needs to go against someone that is a credible worker but isn't in any kind of plans to be pushed any time soon. Someone that can work a good match with him but let Punk go over in convincing fashion. I don't know who that is rn though. I just know that Punk has to go over strong in his debut to try and shake off that 8 year hiatus and the stigma of getting beat up in MMA.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Originally Posted by Seph No way in hell I'd run Punk v Darby yet. That has disaster written all over it. You either have your big debut lose his comeback match or you have your hottest homegrown talent get his momentum crushed by losing to a guy who hasn't wrestled in 8 years. Or you have a screwy finish, ruining the first match back for Punk anyways. Punk v Darby for his first feud is something WWE would book. Punk needs to go against someone that is a credible worker but isn't in any kind of plans to be pushed any time soon. Someone that can work a good match with him but let Punk go over in convincing fashion. I don't know who that is rn though. I just know that Punk has to go over strong in his debut to try and shake off that 8 year hiatus and the stigma of getting beat up in MMA.

I disagree. For one, Darby is at a point that losing isn’t going to hurt him. He hasn’t been beaten clean in ages. He’s been heavily protected. And he’s gone over in his last three longer term feuds. Secondly, the type you’re describing is Darby. He’s established, he’s over, he’s a great worker and he can bump for Punk. AEW protects most of their long term assets. Darby is no exception. And there aren’t a ton of heels that aren’t already busy with something else. I think as a good old fashioned exhibition it’s fine. The same way feeding Sammy Zayn to Nakamura was fine and didn’t hurt Sammy. Granted Nak was a regular competitor overseas. But still.

I also think it’s the most interesting match they could do in such short notice. Darby hasn’t had anything obvs lined up since disposing off Ethan Page. I’m all for the Punk match.

After that I’d like to see Punk feud with either MJF or Ricky Starks. I think the contrast in personalities would lead to entertaining promo segments and an eventual good to great match.