Wow, where to start?

First & foremost, I really want to give props where they’re due: Triple H has done a masterful job of putting together a product in which a large part of the roster is incredibly over with the crowd! I mean if you look up & down this roster, just about everyone elicits a good crowd response!

From your World Champion, Seth Rollins, Sami Zayn, Cody Rhodes, Gunther, The Judgment Day, and all the women: Becky, Bayley, Iyo Sky, Zoey Stark, Rhea Ripley…the crowd cares about everyone! Even Dominic Mysterio does his job incredibly well of being a smarmy, underhanded heel who’s not afraid to take the easy way out, and the crowd loves to boo him for it! And this isn’t John Cena or Xpac “go away” heat, the crowd is reacting exactly as they’re supposed to to this ass. Bravo!

Onto the matches…

I’m not sure how Asuka & Kairi Sane were added to Damage Control, but I like it! Also, great storytelling with the tension between Charlotte & Becky teaming together for a common cause. While the three remaining 4 Horsewomen of NXT were incredible in this match, everyone else involved more than held up their part in this awesome War Games match! I loved it when Asuka went for the second mist shot, which was ducked & countered by a fire extinguisher shot was inventive. Also, Dakota Kai’s help on the outside was a fun surprise as well, though I’d have had her play up some reactions to the camera if I’m going to have her there. My only gripe is one I’ve had with Iyo Sky for awhile now…if she’s trying to play a heel, she needs to stop playing up to the crowd when she’s going to hit her high spots. Heels shouldn’t care about crowd reactions. But maybe I’m nit-picking.

I didn’t know who Dragon Lee was, and wondered if it was Kalisto under a new persona before googling him to find out it wasn’t. His match with Santos Escobar was fine for what it was…filler. Santos is a great heel & should never be turned face again, he’s just a much more natural heel in my opinion.

Gunther vs. Miz was fantastic! Being a big fan of both guys, I’m sure I’m somewhat biased here, but they garnered good reactions from the live crowd with some very large pops when it appeared Miz might actually take the title! Great job by Triple H in rehabbing Miz recently. The dude can still draw, and SELL! Man, how long did he lay there clutching his lower back after submitting to Gunther? Great story as well with Gunther underestimating Miz & Miz showing great fire & resistance all match long! Gunther’s nod to Miz in the end put the icing on the cake for me in terms of telling us that Miz can hang with the best.

Rhea Ripley vs. Zoey Stark had some serious, hard-hitting, big moves involved & both women really worked a great, stiff-looking bout! I don’t think Zoey is quite ready yet to be a champion, but she’s certainly on her way if she continues putting in performances like she did last night. Also, Rhea is just such a big-time performer now, it’s awesome every time out. She’s an amazing worker with a great sense for the dramatic & plays her character incredibly well! It’s been so rewarding seeing her grow as a performer over the years!

And the mens’ War Games match certainly didn’t disappoint either. I couldn’t tell if the Chicago crowd knew CM Punk was coming back or if they were just chanting his name as they tend to do in Chicago. With Randy Orton’s “is he coming or isn’t he?” game, one had to wonder if he was being replaced by Punk since it was Chicago & all. Also, the whole Rhea Ripley running down with the briefcase for Damien Priest sure made a fresh new scenario for a cash in. Also, the tension between Cody & Seth over Orton’s questioned participation, plus the tension between Drew & Damien just all felt like it was overdone since the women had already played that card earlier with Charlotte & Becky coexisting on the same team.

On the flip side, Michael Cole & Corey Graves’ commentary, I felt was really on-point pretty much all night long with great mentions of the levity of Cody’s father first creating and fighting inside War Games back in 1987. However, the product placement spots got annoying. Early on, when they had the bags of ruffles on the commentary table, it almost looked so fake that they could have been superimposed on the scene since neither Cole or Graves actually came in contact with either bag. And the silly skits backstage with the New Day or Alpha Academy, R-Truth (he’s still employed there?) and whoever the other two were, were just flat out awful segments, but I suppose you have to pay the bills somehow.

Also, it wasn’t lost on me all the connections between Randy Orton & Cody Rhodes with their time together in Evolution or Randy & Seth together in the Authority along with the history Jey Uso had with Randy and the tie-in with Jey and Sami’s time together in the Bloodline. So many great moments with Randy lining up to hit Jey with the RKO, only for Jey to notice & then take out Priest before he could hit Orton from behind. A lot of really great thought went into these War Games matches!

And finally, the big surprise…

Sometimes, WWE still pulls off the big surprises & especially this one, I’m not going to complain one bit about! After 9 years away, CM Punk has returned to WWE! It’s no secret, I’m a huge CM Punk fan. I can remember when he first appeared in WWE’s ECW program that like a lot of people, I just didn’t get the attraction, but once he started the Straight Edge Society and was given some time to talk, yeah…I was hooked. Now, anytime I hear Cult of Personality (which is a real song by Living Colour that gets played in other venues other than just wrestling events), my mind immediately goes to him, kneeling in the entryway, yelling, “It’s clobberin’ time!” The dude is just so entertaining to me. So much so, that a few years ago, after he had walked out on WWE & before he returned to wrestling for AEW or even before his UFC stint, I went out of my way to go meet him at a sci-fi convention out on Long Island with one sole purpose: to meet and get a picture with him. That was probably the most expensive photo op I’ve ever gotten, but man was it ever worth it!

I also made sure not to miss either of his two UFC fights & while I was down that he didn’t do so well, the fact that he set a goal for himself and accomplished it, I was happy for him. Also, seeing him walk out to the octagon to Cult of Personality on a UFC Pay Per View was surreal. Plain and simple, CM Punk is my hero.

I downloaded his 2-part tell-all interview on Colt Cabana’s Art of Wrestling Podcast and have listened to it numerous times & also paid to see his interview with Mike Johnson at Conrad Thompson’s Starrcast a few years ago. When he showed up on an episode of AMC’s Talking Dead, I watched. Even when he was signed by FOX to be a cohost on the short-run WWE Backstage, I watched every week! And when he made his not-so-secret debut in AEW, though I had already made up my decision about that company and their brand of wrestling, I still watched for him. Truth is, I’m not a fan of the Young Bucks, Kenny Omega or any of those other clowns & chose to believe the guy I felt had always been honest with his fans. And though I was sad that he wouldn’t be on AEW television any longer, I understood. CM Punk doesn’t always play nice with others, but that’s also a quality of his I’ve come to respect…his uncompromising view on what’s right & what’s wrong. He’s real. And probably more real than 90% of the people in the wrestling business. And because of that fact, I think that he and Paul “Triple H” Levesque probably get along far better now than they ever did 9 years ago when both were fighting to be top dog in WWE.

I hope this run lasts, but inside, I do worry that someone like a Seth Rollins — a more volatile personality within the company may rub him the wrong way and that’ll be it. But I will say this…the WWE main roster is filled with a whole new generation of talent that weren’t there the last time he was there, so I am excited to see those interactions! Sign me up for a CM Punk/Kevin Owens promo segment! Or a match between Punk & this version of Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes or even LA Knight! The possibilities are endless, I’m just praying to be able to witness it all!

Welcome home, CM Punk…it’s been a long time coming!