The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle.
Some very peculiar things are happening around CM Punk as WWE appears to be manufacturing controversy they hope to blend into his storyline.
Visually, Punk screwing Drew McIntyre out of the World Heavyweight championship for a second time at Clash at the Castle on Saturday was done perfectly.
As Punk slid into the ring, you couldn’t see his face but you could see his Air Jordan sneakers, so the smart fans knew. The look of him smirking and holding up two fingers for both the two-count and the second time – the other at WrestleMania 40 – that he cost McIntyre the belt was theater.
Punk would kick McIntyre in the nether regions, allowing Damian Priest to deliver South of Heaven to retain – which likely means Gunther has a good chance of becoming a world champion at SummerSlam.
But there are certainly some issues with how this all went down.
McIntyre has lost due to outside interference in two straight championship main events in the UK – this one in his home country of Scotland that left 11,000-plus disappointed fans.
WWE tried to explain the injured Punk being there with a social media video of him just so happening to run into referee Jessika Carr backstage with a ref’s shirt just as the ref was knocked out in Priest and McIntyre’s match. Heck of a coincidence.
Yes, there was a segment where Punk was talked about as the potential guest referee for Seth Rollins vs. McIntyre at WrestleMania 40, but WWE was forced to come up with something because Solo Sikoa came out of the crowd in 2023 to cost the Scotsman.
But it’s the aftermath where things got weird.
On the post-show, SmackDown commentator and friend of McIntyre, Wade Barrett, went in on Punk in a way we never see in that kind of official WWE setting, calling for him to be “fired” for his actions and calling it “the biggest screwjob in history, just beating Bret Hart.”
“CM Punk needs to be fired by WWE management,” Barrett said. “For once, show some balls. Do what you’re supposed to do. This is a guy who wasn’t medically cleared to be in contact with any wrestler. He has now materially affected the outcome of two heavyweight championship matches.”
Then, in an even more unprecedented move, WWE allowed Punk – who was not in a match – to speak at the press conference.
Punk said “Scotland loves me” when asked about the fans in the country hating him after costing them the McIntyre moment they came to see. Punk is a huge Hart fan and could be established as someone who is a babyface everywhere but in the UK, like Hart was a heel everywhere but Canada late in his WWE run.
Punk then said he was skipping Raw – the brand he’s on – and would show up in Chicago for SmackDown with hopefully good news that he is cleared to wrestle again. It’s a tip to viewers on where to look for him and SmackDown is also where Barrett works.
Triple H – who even made jokes about Punk eating muffins and baked goods to reference the star’s infamous All Out press conference in AEW – then went on to heap more praise than he ever has on Punk and how much he has changed and how much he looks forward to working with him.
That set Barrett off again, solidifying that his detest for Punk was likely something WWE wants to push.
“I cannot respect any of that,” Barrett said. “That is nonsense. The man is poison.”
Those sentiments didn’t end there.
A beaten-down McIntyre announced on Raw he “quit” WWE – an angle that would have been better if fans didn’t know he had just re-signed with the company. On his way out, Triple H tried to stop him.
“He’s got you fooled, too,” McIntyre said. “I heard what you said at the press conference.”
So in an angle that’s been so well done, we are back to the age-old story that Punk is two-faced and can’t change — something we got a lot of in AEW.
WWE doesn’t want a real Punk controversy to happen, but they can script one into story and control it.
SmackDown should tell us a lot more.
Does McIntyre’s quitting last less than a week, so it was only a way for Punk to put his guard down? Does Barrett get into it physically with Punk, forcing McIntyre to come back and defend his friend and take this story in a whole new direction? Punk and Barrett’s history goes back to him kicking Barrett out of the Nexus in 2010.
Controversies seem to follow Punk wherever he goes, only this time it’s by the company’s own design. And by doing so, it just may garner enough sympathy to make fans start to root for McIntyre.
Will Power
What a powerful end to Dynamite as Swerve Strickland keeps proving he’s in such a good place creatively in AEW. The fans love him but he can still be the edgy bad guy, telling Will Ospreay – who just used Strickland’s finisher to win a match – that their clash at Forbidden Door isn’t a game to him and the International champion doesn’t have what it takes to carry the burden of being world champion too.
Then after Ospreay takes the world title out of Strickland’s hand and smiles and says he can, Strickland coldly tells him that if they weren’t friends he would have “put him in the grave.” So now we have the story of whether their friendship holds the other one back from winning as Strickland is becoming one of AEW’s best storytellers.
The 10 Count
After all that, Chad Gable slapping Tozawa once was what finally caused Otis to get physical with the Alpha Academy leader and not all the petty and mean things he’s done to Maxxine. I probably would have reversed the order of those events. All we got was one shove. Fans were ready to erupt but the moment was too short lived.
NXT delivered Joe Hendry for fans in the 25-man battle royal, gave him a long promo and then in disappointing WWE fashion made him the first one eliminated — by fellow TNA star Frankie Kazarian to boot. Hendry did tell off Shawn Michaels in a social media video and implied he can show up on any brand.
I thought The Elite — who are the heels — casually volunteering to do a Blood & Guts match, which could be a blowoff match, to open Dynamite felt lackluster. They at least established finding a fifth person will be a key storyline as it didn’t take long for Strickland, who has said he wanted to be team AEW, to decline their offer to join them.
Wendy Choo’s sleeping gimmick felt like one of the more unique ones in wrestling. Bringing her back from injury in a zombie/nightmare gimmick feels cheap and change for the sake of change. They should have gradually built to her going there, but maybe they will do the reverse.
The level of regret we saw on the face of Paul Heyman after costing Kevin Owens the match to save himself says it all. He proved Owens right for now that he may be beyond redemption.
Having Christian Cage and the Patriarchy go after the trios championships is a pretty good way to further the Bang Bang Gang as babyfaces. I’d much rather Christian have gotten Nick Wayne a TNT championship ladder qualifying match on top of going for the trios championship.
Baron Corbin and Apollo Crews vs. Legado Del Fantasma feels like the most random feud ever, and hopefully Crews isn’t booked like Smackdown’s Ricochet.
Not much changed at TNA’s Against All Odds, but what I think we’ve learned is that the Hardys’ storytelling ability should earn them a place on the card of any wrestling company and Jeff Hardy is still over no matter what mistakes he’s made in the past.
The reveal of the Wyatt Sick6 was done so perfectly that the pressure on WWE to make it mean something for years to come grew even greater.
The second episode of “Who Killed WCW?” gave us some great insight into all the factors around Goldberg’s push and him admitting how green he was. It was good to see Eric Bischoff get his flowers from his peers for the job he did with WCW and hearing former Turner executives talking about how WCW did get dismantled from the inside.
Extra: Close friend and former Post writer Marc Raimondi announced his first book, “Say Hello to the Bad Guys: How Wrestling’s New World Order Changed America” is available for preorder and will be releases on March 25, 2025.
Social Media Post of the Week
Wrestler of the Week
Damian Priest, WWE
The World Heavyweight champion truly solidified himself as being able to work at the main-event level during his match with Drew McIntyre at Clash at the Castle. Priest had a mishap on a rope spot and was injured, Instead of letting it hinder or limit him, he made it a part of the match’s story and made things even more compelling as he completed moves on one leg. His promos continue to get stronger as he moved into the role of Judgment Day’s leader.
Match to Watch
Randy Orton vs. Tama Tonga vs. Carmelo Hayes, Money in the Bank qualifier on SmackDown (Friday, 8 p.m., Fox)
How much story progression does WWE put into this match with Orton now feuding with Tonga and the Bloodline, and does it allow Hayes to steal a win? If so, we could be headed for a six-man tag at Money in the Bank between Team Cody and the Bloodline. If not, Orton could move a step closer to the briefcase.
