5 AEW Superstars who CM Punk will eventually lose to

CM Punk's return to pro wrestling with AEW has been full of excitement so far. He has admitted on live TV that the aura of his return will inevitably die down, and it's hard to disagree.

Some fans have already criticized All Elite Wrestling's utilization of Punk. Rather than presenting him as a larger-than-life superstar and saving his in-ring appearances for more "special" occasions, he has seemingly wrestled weekly.

Also, unlike his former WWE counterpart Bryan Danielson, the start of his AEW career has focused on him working with younger and smaller names. As for Danielson, he entered in a top feud with Kenny Omega right upon his debut.

Bryan Danielson presented in that way makes absolute sense. For CM Punk, it's about returning and finding out whether he is still one of the best wrestlers in the world. For The American Dragon, he knows he's the best in the world and wants to see if the top talent in the company can hang with him.

Looking at it from that perspective, it's probably good that Punk and AEW chose the route of working with younger talent over already-established ones.

He has won every match he has had in Tony Khan's promotion so far, but that isn't going to last forever. The 0 has to go at some point, and these five superstars have a far bigger chance of beating CM Punk.

---

#5. Ricky Starks - CM Punk's first big storyline to lead to a clash?

While Darby Allin was CM Punk's first opponent in AEW, it wasn't exactly a feud. It was more of Punk handpicking the company's hottest homegrown talent as his opponent for his return to pro wrestling.

At the end of the day, the objective was to establish him in All Elite Wrestling, and the mutual respect was always inevitable. CM Punk had nothing but praise for Darby Allin.

His first actual feud began when Taz began to take shots at him. It led to his first TV match, where he beat Team Taz member Powerhouse Hobbs.

The storyline seems to be leading towards an inevitable clash against FTW Champion Ricky Starks - a young talent considered one of AEW's brightest future stars. Starks' victory over the returning Brian Cage on Rampage proved that the company is serious about pushing him as a top talent.

While it's possible that he may not hand CM Punk his first loss, he has the highest chance of doing so as of now.

#4. Jon Moxley - A perfect star to hand CM Punk his first AEW loss

Jon Moxley facing CM Punk would be far more exciting to watch in AEW than it would have in WWE. While Punk has faced Moxley twice in 2013, the story is far different now.

Back in late 2013, CM Punk was at the tail end of his WWE career, with his passion for wrestling dying down a long time before. Jon Moxley was still an up-and-comer with The Shield, and he lost to Punk on SmackDown as well as RAW a few days later.

In AEW, Moxley is an entirely different character and superstar. With eight more years of experience under his belt, his ties to his old character in WWE have been severed.

When CM Punk is a year or so into his All Elite Wrestling career, he will be ready to take a step up and face a superstar like Jon Moxley. The latter is an established main event star, being the second world champion in the title's short lineage.

Moxley would be the perfect option to hand Punk his first loss in AEW.

#3. Bryan Danielson - A long history with CM Punk

Bryan Danielson and CM Punk made the headlines for over a week after the two made their AEW debuts. While Punk's debut happened on Rampage, Bryan Danielson made a big splash at All Out.

As we mentioned before, AEW has handled the two superstars differently. While Punk and Danielson have crossed paths on the independent wrestling scene before, their main feud happened in 2012 with the WWE Championship at stake.

However, many felt that despite the great matches they had with each other, WWE didn't do justice to the kind of feud they could have had. They have a chance to make that happen in All Elite Wrestling.

As of this writing, Bryan Danielson is in the running to become Kenny Omega's next World title challenger, along with Adam 'Hangman' Page. If Danielson ends up dethroning Omega to win the World title, then the entire course of AEW programming would change.

The company seems to prefer longer championship reigns to short, transitional ones. It makes sense since the latter is only needed in rare cases. If or when Bryan Danielson faces CM Punk in the future, he has a far bigger chance of walking out victoriously.

#2. Darby Allin - Lost to CM Punk for an eventual win?

The best part about Darby Allin being CM Punk's first opponent is that it was always going to be a win-win situation - all they needed was a good match. Everybody watching All Out knew that Allin was essentially set up to lose to Punk to help establish the latter in the AEW.

But in losing, it almost felt like the former won. There was a section of the crowd supporting the homegrown star over CM Punk, and his stock grew even in the loss. By being Punk's first opponent in over seven-and-a-half years, Darby Allin already had a large spotlight on him - the biggest of his career.

And he put on a great match, and Punk had nothing but praise for the young star. He put him over without actually putting him over, and it can be seen that Allin's popularity hasn't decreased at all.

While Darby Allin won't be the first or last person to beat CM Punk in All Elite Wrestling, the loss to him at All Out seems to be the perfect set-up to get his win back at some point in the future.

#1. Kenny Omega - No chance for CM Punk to beat him?

CM Punk had a lot of aura surrounding his AEW debut and return to wrestling, but that shouldn't take anyone's mind away from the facts. Kenny Omega is and always will be among the top-tier superstars as long as he is at his peak.

Given how wrestlers have changed their approach to the usage of alcohol, drugs, and pills outside of the ring and have opted for healthier lifestyles, the peak of any given wrestler has changed drastically in the last decade.

While the 30s may have been the peak of many superstars' popularity, we're now seeing several top stars in the 40s who can compete at the highest level consistently.

Omega is the present of AEW and will remain one of the company's main pillars for years to come. CM Punk vs. Kenny Omega is a dream match that we could have never imagined a few years ago - but it now is thanks to All Elite Wrestling.

When they inevitably cross paths, the chances of Punk actually beating Omega are slim. While he can reach a high level in AEW, it's unlikely that he will ever overtake the likes of The Cleaner in terms of standing in the company. In all likeliness, CM Punk doesn't want that either.