AEW Championship
“Hangman” Adam Page (C) vs. CM Punk
We shoot to the pre-show video package for our main event, which tells the story leading up to tonight’s headline bout, with “Hangman” Adam Page defending his AEW Championship against CM Punk.
The package wraps up and then “Cult of Personality” by Living Colour plays as the legendary CM Punk emerges. “The Best in the World” makes his way down to the ring to a great reaction from the Vegas crowd.
Punk settles inside the squared circle as his theme music fades down. Now the familiar sounds of “Hangman” Adam Page’s theme hits and the AEW Champion heads out and makes his way to the ring.
With both guys in the ring and “Hangman’s” music cutting off, “The Dapper Yapper” Justin Roberts handles the final formal pre-match ring introductions for the challenger and the champion.
The bell sounds and we’re off-and-running with this one. The fans immediately break out in “CM Punk! CM Punk!” chants, which spread throughout the T-Mobile Arena. Punk and Page slowly move in on each other, going nose-to-nose in the middle of the ring in intense fashion.
We see the two trade some quick shots and then back off. The crowd breaks out in a loud “CM Punk! CM Punk!” chant again, which eventually transitions to a split chant with a good percentage of the audience chanting for some “Cowboy Sh*t” from the title-holder.
The commentators point out how you can tell from the way these two are locking up alone that they have a strong feeling about beating down and defeating the other. They show this again with an intense lock-up as soon as J.R. makes the remark.
We see Page drill Punk with a big shot and then slap on a side head lock. Punk shucks him off and sends him into the ropes. The two then proceed to trade back-and-forth chops, in vicious fashion.
A “Let’s go Hangman!” and “CM Punk!” dueling chant from the fans in T-Mobile Arena spreads and catches fire as we watch Punk work over Page on the mat, looking to secure an arm-submission of sorts.
Page ends up escaping and freeing himself. He returns to his feet where he and Punk begin duking it out once again. Yet again it is “The Best in the World” who gets the better of said-exchange.
He follows it up with some punishing offense, beating on “Hangman” before once again showing superior ground work. The crowd actually ends up loudly booing Punk and begin clearly chanting for “Hangman” as the action continues.
Punk heads to the top-rope and leaps off, only to be caught by the champ. Page struggles not to drop Punk after catching him, but does manage to keep hold of him. He then connects with a fall-away slam. He follows that up with some additional offensive spurts, including a leaping lariat after spring-boarding off the ring ropes.
This sends Punk out to the floor, where Page follows out after him to continue building on his offensive momentum. Page delivers some more shots on Punk on the floor and then sends him back into the ring. He follows in after him, stopping briefly to pose and soak in the adoration from the Las Vegas crowd.
After some more offense from Page in the ring, we see Page and Punk end up out on the floor at ringside again. Page lands a big lariat and another big shot on the floor before bringing the action back into the ring. Page purposely sends Punk flying out to the floor for the second time in a row. This angers referee Paul Turner, but the match continues regardless.
The commentators talk on the broadcast about the disdain that “Hangman” is showing for “The Best in the World” as these two continue to battle it out here in tonight’s AEW Championship main event.
Page and Punk fight their way over to the corner of the ring, where Punk looks to put Page on the top-rope. He does, and then climbs up after him. Punk tries for a superplex off the top and the two go sailing down to the mat, landing with authority.
Soon after this, Punk lands some shots on Page and then snatches him up for a big bulldog spot. He connects with that and then hits another big spot afterwards.
Punk plays to the crowd a bit and then heads over to “Hangman,” looking to secure a Sharpshooter (or Scorpion Death Lock, of course!) Punk connects with a neck-breaker instead, as Page avoided the submission attempt, and then goes for a pin fall attepmt.
Page kicks out at two and the match continues. As Excalibur points out on commentary, this is where conditioning will start to play a major factor in determining who ends up getting their hand raised in the ring and the gold belt in their travel gear.
We see both guys down and out but when they get up, it is Page who sends Punk sailing. He then hits a crazy moonsault onto Punk on the floor. We see replays of this as Excalibur points out that Page may have suffered an injury upon landing.
Page rolls Punk back into the ring and then gets himself in position to hit a big Buckshot Lariat spot. He goes for it, but Punk has it well-scouted and avoids it. Punk then locks in the Sharpshooter that he couldn’t manage to fully secure moments ago.
We hear Page screaming out in pain, as he looks to escape the hold and keep-hold onto his AEW Championship. He fights and crawls his way to the ring ropes, where he eventually grabs them and forces the hold to be broken up by the referee. Paul Turner tries to do exactly that, but Punk holds onto the hold for a few seconds for good measure.
Punk looks to have an idea of sorts as we see “Hangman” still feeling the affects of the Sharpshooter and previous offense from Punk. “The Best in the World” ends up heading to the ring apron and he is looking to finish Page off with his own finisher.
He goes for the Buckshot Lariat and then tries to finish “Hangman” off with it. He makes the cover, however Page kicks out before the count of three.
Now we see Page recover and begin to take over on offense. He looks for to finish Page off with his finisher now, as he calls for and goes for the GTS. Page ends up surviving. Page then goes for another one of his trademark finishing moves, but upon going for the cover, the referee’s hand only bounces off the mat twice.
The fans actually booed after Punk wasn’t finished off in the last high spot sequence. Page then gets up and plays to the crowd now as Punk is laid out below him.
Page calls for the GTS. He hits it and goes for the cover, yet somehow Punk manages to kick out as well. This match is getting some great crowd heat from the fans in Vegas, as they are starting to sense the end coming soon.
A loud “Cowboy Sh*t!” chant breaks out as the commentators point out Punk clutching his jaw after taking his own GTS move from Page. The two are both on their knees and looking to get back to a vertical base. They end up duking it out from that position, with each drilling the other with big shots while working their way back to their feet.
We see the action spill out to the floor once again, with Page in control of the offense. Punk is laid out by the champ, who then takes his title and raises it proudly over the fallen wrestling legend, gloating that it is still his. He then brings Punk back into the ring and positions himself for the Buckshot Lariat.
He leads the crowd in cheering him on and then goes for the big finisher. Punk ends up countering him just in time, hoisting Page up for the GTS, but bumps the referee in the process and loses it. Page then connects with his Buckshot Lariat which lays Punk completely out. He can’t go for the cover, however, as refere Paul Turner is still out like a light.
Page looks around and then spots his AEW Championship title belt. The commentators sell the fact that the hot-headed Page is doing some quick on-the-spot math, as he notices the refere is down and out and realizes his ability to use the title to his advantage via a cheap shot.
He gets fired up and waits for Punk to get back up, but eventually decides against it. He drops the title belt and instead positions himself for the Buckshot Lariat once again. He goes for it but Punk ends up countering and this time connecting with his GTS finisher. He goes for the cover just as Paul Turner recovers. 1-2-3. CM Punk wins. We have a new AEW Champion, and he is “The Best in the World.”
The crowd pops and soaks in the moment, as CM Punk is presented with the AEW Championship as “Cult of Personality” by Living Colour plays for the second time this evening. An emotional Punk takes the title and proudly hoists it up in the air, soaking in the adulation from the fans in attendance inside the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV.
The commentators talk us through some key match highlights and replays, including the finish of this title bout main event. We return live to see Punk still celebrating his first title victory in AEW. That’s how the third-annual AEW Double Or Nothing pay-per-view wraps up. Soon after this, we head off the air and that’ll do it for this year’s AEW DoN show.
Winner and NEW AEW Champion: CM Punk
