By Fights Around The World,Mario Mungia

Copyright yardbarker

Punk was in an admitted good mood returning from ‘celebrating’ with his wife, AJ Lee, following their big mixed-tag match win at ‘Wrestlepalooza.’ He thanked the fans for welcoming Lee back the way they had, and he was grateful, despite being there for business.

He acknowledged that Crown Jewel was this weekend, and he also made it clear he would stay out of Cody’s business with Seth Rollins since it was a ‘champ vs champ’ story—though Punk could not help himself acknowledging that neither title is on the line, and the entire smart mark community thanks him for it, I’m sure.

After acknowledging he beat Rollins to kick off the ‘RAW on Netflix era,’ he then claimed he would beat him on RAW to finish off the year in his quest to become (once again) the new heavyweight champion. LA Knight made his entrance immediately following Punk’s claim, and Punk even stood at the steel steps corner to show Knight was not expected nor wanted.

The fans booed Knight initially, but he got them back with a, “let me talk to ya.” It was a brilliant display of comparison, as both men commanded the audience. For Knight, he was brilliant setting up Punk with a compliment of being a seemingly great husband, but then he dropped the hammer, calling him a “trash champion.”

Neither of these guys had a real program going with each other, so they took this moment to go toe-to-toe in a promo battle; it was epic. Back and forth they went, exchanging quick quips off the top and clearly premeditated lines. Although Punk controlled the battle, Knight showed he belonged.

Jey’s music hit just as things started to get very tense, and it helped to show just how competitive the current climate is for the red-brand as each man knows that ‘being next’ is no guarantee. It became very clear that these three guys badly need a #1 contender’s match asap, but as Jimmy made his music-less entrance, that distracted Knight long enough to catch a superkick in the face.

The segment finished with Punk getting the best of everyone with a dynamite line: ‘I like Jey Uso, I do not like “little Roman.”’ The line set off Jey, and Punk eventually took his shot. That is when Jimmy stepped in for Jey and threw a shot at Punk that knocked him on his back before The USOs made their exit together.

Later in the back following the promos, Jey ended up shouting at Jimmy for involving himself, and Roman told Jimmy that he ‘needs to get out of his brother’s way.’

MAIN EVENT: THE USOS VS CM PUNK & LA KNIGHT

Punk and Knight defeated The Usos, which succeeded in highlighting just how dysfunctional Jey and Jimmy are, as the future Hall of Fame tag team allowed a non-tag team to defeat them. Still, it was not without drama that the faces(?) won as Knight tagged himself in to steal the pinfall victory over Jey Uso from his partner CM Punk, who stood in the corner, partly baffled that he did not suspect this finish in the first place.

BECKY LYNCH(c) VS MAXXINE DUPRI—NON-TITLE SINGLES MATCH