CM Punk declares himself the real AEW world champion and already books a title match

When CM Punk returned to AEW for the launch of Collision last month, he carried around a red bag and implied that it contained the AEW world championship belt he won from Jon Moxley at last year’s All Out event. Punk was immediately stripped of that title last September after getting into a foolish backstage fight with The Elite suffering torn triceps and needing surgery.

Punk hasn’t focused on the bag so much over the last few weeks, but that changed on tonight’s (July 29) episode of Collision. The big reveal finally happened, with Punk pulling his old belt out of the red bag and declaring himself the real world champion of AEW. The belt still has his name and his blood on it, and he never lost it. Punk then spray painted it with his X symbol and said he’s straight edge, and that means he’s better than you.

That’s when Ricky Starks crashed the scene. Starks cheated his way to two wins over Punk earlier this month, so he believes the belt should be his. Punk and Starks then set up a match for the belt on next week’s episode of Collision in South Carolina.

It’s not quite that simple, though. Punk doesn’t want to get screwed over by bad officiating again, so he named a special referee for the match - pro wrestling legend Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat.

Are you excited to see the real AEW world champion defend the gold next week, Cagesiders?