AEW Rampage Power Rankings: Punk Changes the Game

LOOK IN MY EYES! WHAT DO YOU SEE! A guy talkin’ rasslin’ TV. Rampage was a great show tonight but it was built around one moment. So you know what number 1 is! So let’s visit the list full of wrestlers who aren’t from…
NORTH CAROLINA!!!:

Honorable Mention: Tony Khan and Renee Paquette: Sure Tony wasn’t on screen but he’s the man that made this moment possible. And Punk said in a post-show media call that Renee convincing him to do WWE Backstage is what gave him the itch again.

5: Jade Cargill: Like Pretty Deadly in NXT U.K. she still has a lot of room for growth. She’s also not a finished product by any stretch. But she has the star look and has the star presentation that I’d argue we haven’t seen since Chyna’s rise. Jade is a problem and I mean that in the best way. 

4: Jon Moxley: Punk may go down as A.E.W.’s Hogan but Moxley is their Hall. Maybe even their Nash too. Tonight’s shine might have been on Punk and Darby but Moxley reminded us of why he’s in that same tier with a great looking reversal into the choke for the win. 

3: Jurassic Express: All 4 of the men in this match worked excellently together. They really gave it their all and had a blast of a match which was no easy task considering they had to follow arguably the biggest moment in AEW history since their TNT debut. 

2: Darby Allin: Like Punk he also didn’t have a match but between being Punk’s first AEW opponent, the visual of him in the rafters with Sting and landing the double Coffin Drop to close the show Darby’s star has never burned brighter than it did tonight. 

1: C.M. Punk: He wasn’t “wearing the 4-5” but he did come back to where it all started. We all knew he’d be there. We all knew it’d feel big. What I never expected was to feel genuine happiness for Punk. A lot of reports since his release and a lot of his own words had really soured me on Punk the person, despite always understanding the tremendous value of Punk the performer. But as soon as I saw his eyes well up, as soon as I saw how truly happy he looked all that animosity left and I was able to just enjoy a love story befitting a Nicholas Sparks’ novel. It’s clobberin’ time!