CM Punk Asked To Be In AEW Rampage Opening Match Head-To-Head With WWE SmackDown

Much has been said about AEW and WWE going head-to-head last Friday October 15, with ratings, key demos, and the like dominating wrestling news ever since.

As part of the build-up to Rampage vs. SmackDown, it was announced that Bryan Danielson vs. Minoru Suzuki would take place on a YouTube exclusive ‘buy in’ show, with Matt Sydal vs. CM Punk to kick off the main televised Rampage broadcast, and per a report from The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer, Punk asked to go on first:

“Khan’s usual booking patterns on Friday night would have been to put Punk vs. Sydal first, so I don’t think he changed anything. Punk did tell Khan not to change anything in the show or the booking as a response (changing the card, as both McMahon does regularly now and both McMahon and Bischoff did constantly in the late 90s against each other) and asked to put him first head-to-head ‘because I can take that bullet.’”

What Punk means by ‘take the bullet’ hasn’t been confirmed, but it’s safe to assume that Punk possibly implied that as a ‘made man’ that no potential negative fall-out from the head-to-head would affect him, his brand, or drawing ability.