It's clobbering time. On Sunday we'll see CM Punk return to the ring for the first time in seven years, as he faces Darby Allin at AEW All Out. It's a huge match, with Punk's debut at AEW Rampage being one of the biggest moments in wrestling over the past decade, and it's one of many reasons to be excited for All Out. AEW All Out 2021 Live Stream: How to watch, start times and match card
CM Punk versus Darby Allin headlines the show, while Kenny Omega defends his AEW Championship against Christian Cage.
Punk is definitely the biggest star on the show, but many others are shining plenty bright too. Chris Jericho will take on MJF, and says he'll retire from wrestling if he loses. The Young Bucks defend their tag titles against the Lucha Brothers in a cage match that's sure to be spectacular. Finally, Christian Cage will challenge for Kenny Omega's AEW Championship.
Note: The Pac versus Andrade El Idolo match that was scheduled for All Out has been delayed, according to AEW owner Tony Khan.
All Out 2021 looks to be AEW's biggest pay-per-view yet, and it takes place Sunday, Sept. 5. Here's what you need to know about it.
How to watch All Out, Start times
AEW All Out is available via PPV at $60, but it's also available on streaming services. If you're in the US, it'll be $50 through Bleacher Report. You can watch through the app or the website. In the UK and Australia, you'll instead watch it through Fite TV, where it costs $20 (£14, AU$25).
The Bleacher Report Live app is available on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, iOS and Android. Fite TV is available on all of the above plus Xbox, PlayStation and Smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Sharp, Sony and Panasonic.
The main show kicks off at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET, with a preshow starting an hour before that. For grappling fans in the UK, All Out's main show begins early Monday at 1 a.m. GMT (midnight Sunday preshow). Down Under, the show begins at 10 a.m. AEST (9 a.m. preshow).
Match card
AEW Championship: Kenny Omega (c) vs. Christian Cage.
CM Punk vs. Darby Allin (with Sting).
Chris Jericho vs. MJF.
AEW TNT Championship: Miro (c) vs. Eddie Kingston.
Paul White vs. QT Marshall.
AEW Women's Championship: Britt Baker D.M.D. vs. Kris Statlander.
Jon Moxley vs. Satoshji Kojima.
Steel Cage AEW Tag Team Championship match: The Young Bucks (c) vs. The Lucha Brothers.
Women's Casino Battle Royale.
Preshow 10-man tag match: The Best Friends and Jurassic Express vs. Hardy Family Office and The Hybrid.
CM Punk finally returns
After a month of rumor and speculation, CM Punk officially returned to wrestling on the Aug. 20 episode of AEW Rampage. The whispers started with a report from Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp, one of wrestling's most reliable journalists. Sapp reported on July 22 that CM Punk has been in talks with AEW for an in-ring return.
These whispers became shouts on the July 28 episode of Dynamite. At the beginning of the show, a special edition of Rampage was announced. (Note: Rampage debuted last Friday, so this Friday's episode is only the second episode.) It'll be called The First Dance, and will broadcast out of Chicago's United Center. With Punk being synonymous with Chicago, the Dynamite crowd broke out into a "CM Punk" chant. In the very next segment, Darby Allin said AEW is the only place to prove you're the greatest -- "even if you think you're the best in the world."
"The Best in the World" was CM Punk's moniker during his run in WWE. With Darby's allusion to Punk coming straight after the announcement of Chicago's show, the wrestling world has taken that as a confirmation that Punk is bound to appear at Friday's Rampage to set up a match against Darby at All Out.
And that's exactly what happened.
Punk opened the Aug. 20 episode of Rampage to a massive reaction from the ground, gave a rousing and from-the-heart speech to the fans, and capped it off by challenging Darby Allin to a match at All Out. It'll be hist first official wrestling match since the 2014 Royal Rumble -- the last time Punk wrestled, Barack Obama was still president and The Undertaker still had an undefeated WrestleMania streak.
CM Punk returns to the ring for the first time in seven years on Sunday evening.
For the last seven years, CM Punk had been considered the white whale of professional wrestling. A return to the ring after his WWE exit in January 2014 seemed highly unlikely.
The former WWE champion shocked the world on Aug. 20 when he returned on All Elite Wrestling's Rampage. Punk announced that he would be making his in-ring return on Sunday against Darby Allin from the NOW Arena in Hoffman Estates, Ill., right outside Punk's hometown of Chicago.
Also on the show, Kenny Omega defends the AEW Heavyweight title against Christian Cage, The Young Bucks put the AEW Tag Team championship on the line against The Lucha Bros in a steel cage match, and Chris Jericho takes on MJF. If Jericho loses, then he can no longer wrestle in All Elite Wrestling.