August 16th, 2003. This date may not seem significant to some, but to lifelong fans of independent wrestling, it could be considered a holiday. That date marks the first ever clash between two titans of industry in the pro wrestling business.
On one side of the ring, there stood the insurmountable force known as Samoa Joe, a gargantuan 300lb beast of a man, almost as wide as he was tall, hailing from Huntington Beach, California via The Isle of Samoa. Debuting for Ring Of Honor just one year before, Joe was well on his way to eventually becoming the greatest world champion the fledgling promotion had ever seen. Standing in the opposing corner for was a gangly, tattoo covered, 23-year-old kid with a patchy beard and drug store dyed blonde hair. Hailing from the streets of Chicago, Illinois and debuting for Ring of Honor just 4 months after Joe’s debut, CM Punk was ready for a fight.
This first match gave us just a taste of what was to come, clocking in at just 13 minutes, Joe defeated Punk in decisive fashion. Little did we know, those 13 minutes would spark a chain reaction that effected pro wrestling in perpetuity. Joe & Punk went on to have one of the greatest feuds in the history of independent wrestling, having a trilogy of matches for the ROH World Title that would open the eyes of fans across the world to the quality of independent wrestling in the wake of WCW & ECW going out of business.
With a pair of time limit draws that garnered praise from business veterans and journalists alike, Punk took the seemingly unbeatable champion to his absolute limits. The feud culminated on December 4th, 2004 with Joe finally casting Punk down from the mountain top in a hard fought 31 minute collision. This would be the final time CM Punk & Samoa Joe locked horns in one on one competition for Ring of Honor, with Punk never claiming victory over Joe. It stayed that way for 18 long years.
In those 18 years, both men claimed countless titles across the world. CM Punk reaching the pinnacle of the sport, holding the WWE Championship for a record 434 days, and Joe winning every championship there was to win in TNA/IMPACT Wrestling. They just narrowly missed each other with Punk’s self-imposed wrestling hiatus in 2014, and Samoa Joe finally joining the WWE just a year later.
After founding All Elite Wrestling in 2019, Tony Khan used his newfound influence to purchase the place that had held all those aforementioned legendary moments for independent wrestling. On March 3, 2022, Tony Khan announced that he had purchased Ring Of Honor. Finally, on April 6th, 2022, Samoa Joe debuted on AEW Television, the same company that a year prior had gotten the largest coup of their young existence, by luring the long sought after straight edge superstar out of retirement to compete as a pro wrestler once again.
Following a turbulent few months riddled with title wins, major injuries and dramatic outbursts, CM Punk and Samoa Joe finally stood across the ring from one another for the first time in nearly 2 decades. This was the first ever episode of AEW’s newest show, Collision, and setting the tone were two icons of the sport who had fans at a fever pitch as they stood face to face once again. Although in trios competition flanked by FTR & Bullet Club Gold respectively, everyone knew what they came to see. The world stood still as Joe laid into Punk with thunderous chops, just as he had 20 years prior. This first reigniting of the Punk/Joe flame ended in a victory for CMFTR, as Punk got the pin on Bullet Club’s Juice Robinson, but it wasn’t over just yet.
After bypassing Japanese legend Satoshi Kojima (a match that in itself was a reference to a shoot interview conducted by Punk & Joe during their time in ROH) in the second annual Owen Hart Cup Tournament, CM Punk was once again staring down the barrel of the human panzer tank, as Joe had also advanced to the semi-final round by defeating longtime ROH cohort Roderick Strong. This match featured Punk on commentary, and concluded with Joe spiking Strong’s head onto a steel chair as a straight forward message to Punk, his days were numbered.
Joe v. Punk VII took place on July 8th, 2023. A month ahead of what would’ve been the 20th anniversary of their first meeting. 20 years older, with 20 years of mileage on the engines of both competitors, they may have been working at a different pace than their Ring of Honor peak, but on this night they came to play. Punk largely reverted to the strategies of yesteryear, as he constantly anticipated Joe’s movements, and largely stayed out of harms way. Eventually mounting control, he applied the headlock that he’d used to drag Joe into the deep waters during their previous encounters.
Punk’s one crucial mistake came as he climbed to the top rope and attempted a flying crossbody that, in classic Joe fashion, was nonchalantly avoided by simply walking away. Joe largely controlled the second half of the match until Punk utilized an oft-forgotten weakness of Joe’s dating back to the beginnings of his career. At the 15 and a half minute mark, Punk caught Joe by surprise with a roll-up pin attempt, and to the shock of everyone in attendance, Punk won the match.
Joe was none too pleased by losing to Punk for the first time in his illustrious career, and he let that be known. He suckered Punk into a handshake attempt after the match, observing the Code of Honor, as they had so many times before. As their hands met, Joe reeled Punk in and mounted his back to begin choking him out. FTR hit the ring and ran Joe off, but the palpable tension in the air made one thing clear. This was not over.
Punk went on to lose the tournament to friend turned foe, Ricky Starks, and soon after revealed what he was carrying in a mysterious red bag that he had been holding since Collision’s debut. In the bag was the AEW World Championship that Punk had won last September in a match against Jon Moxley. Although Punk had been stripped of the title due to injury (and other events that will go unmentioned), he declared that since he had never been pinned or submitted for this title, he was still its rightful claimant. He put an exclamation point on this statement by adorning the belt with the same black X that had been draw upon his taped fists for his entire career. CM Punk was the “real” world’s champion.
That brings us to the largest non-WWE wrestling event in the history of the sport, AEW: All In taking place in the historic Wembley Stadium, with an attendance of 80,000+ international fans. Samoa Joe, still furious over his loss against Punk from the Owen Hart Cup, challenges him to rematch at All In. CM Punk, not answering the challenge as he was busy dealing with Rick Starks, was given a warning by Joe on the August 12th edition of Collision. Joe followed through on that warning, and during CMFTR vs. House of Black Joe caught CM Punk off guard outside the ring near the barricade where Joe locks in Coquina Clutch dragging Punk over the barricade laying him out amongst the AEW fans. Joe ends up costing Punk and FTR the Trios World Title match.
With two weeks remaining until the big show, CM Punk had yet to accept Joe’s challenge. Samoa Joe opens up the August 19th episode of Collision, heading to the ring looking to bulldoze his way through another unimportant opponent. As he’s about to get in the ring, the masked opponent going by the name of the “Golden Vampire” gets in some early shots on Joe. Joe was blindsided by this attack, and the Golden Vampire was battering Joe all around ringside. Joe stunned in the corner, was then struck with an all too familiar move, a running knee strike into the corner. Samoa Joe, dazed, is then hoisted onto Golden Vampire’s shoulder, and is slammed down onto a knee Joe for the GTS. The masked wrestler reveals himself as none other than CM Punk. Punk grabs the microphone and exclaims, “I accept, BITCH!”. The match was on for All In.
All In’s namesake originated in 2018. A co-promoted PPV event in conjunction with ROH & NJPW, the people that would later be founders of All Elite Wrestling (Cody Rhodes, Matt & Nick Jackson, and Kenny Omega) took on the task of drawing the largest crowd an independent professional wrestling show had ever seen, and they succeeded. They sold out the 10k seat Sears Centre Arena in CM Punk’s hometown of Chicago.
Operating off of the groundwork people like Punk & Joe laid 2 decades earlier, they had shown that independent wrestling really could be an alternative to the WWE’s monopolized corporate system. Now how appropriate is it, that we see the staple feud which put indie wrestling on the map all those years ago, culminate on the biggest stage in wrestling history. After years of pining for these 2 legends of the sport to square off once more, the time has arriv
Joe wants Punk’s “real” world title, and he’s coming for it on August 27th at the 2nd ever All In pay-per-view event. CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe VI, for the “real” AEW World Championship. Almost exactly 20 years apart from their first singles encounter. Pro wrestling history will occur right before our eyes.
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