"The REAL real world champion" - Fans react after Samoa Joe surpasses CM Punk's surprising AEW record

CM Punk and Samoa Joe have achieved multiple accolades in AEW and WWE. They crossed paths in AEW before the Second City Saint's firing from the company. The Samoan Submission Machine recently broke Punk's surprising AEW record of no successful title defenses.

The Voice of the Voiceless won the All Elite Wrestling World Championship on two separate occasions. His first title victory saw him defeat Hangman Adam Page at Double or Nothing 2022 before sustaining a foot injury. His second title reign began when he defeated Jon Moxley at All Out 2022, but a torn tricep and an explosive rant at the media scrum led to Tony Khan stripping off the title from CM Punk.

The 6-time WWE Champion's second run with the company came to an end at AEW All In at Wembley, with Samoa Joe being his final victim in Tony Khan's company.

The 3-time NXT Champion won the AEW World Championship by defeating MJF at World's End. His first title defense saw him defeat Hook in a hard-hitting clash in the main event of Dynamite. By defending his title successfully, he overtook CM Punk's tally of zero title defenses.

Fans made a note of this on Twitter and proceeded to react wildly to this fact.

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Samoa Joe commented on the events leading up to CM Punk's AEW firing

Samoa Joe was CM Punk's last opponent in All Elite Wrestling before the latter was fired for a physical altercation with Jungle Boy. Tony Khan made the announcement on an episode of Collision.

Samoa Joe spoke about the incident in a recent interview, the former WWE United States Champion stated that while it was a high-pressure situation, it was nothing he had not seen before:

"There was a little bit of an incident. We got it broken up. We went out there and wrestled, man. That's the gist of it....Not to me [the event being a big deal]. I've seen fights break out. Stuff happens. But again, that's me. I've been in these situations, I've seen that. I'll find it funny when people are like, 'Oh, Joe's cool with it.' I mean, nah man, it was a high-stress situation. Sure. But I mean, it's one I've seen happen many times."

He continued:

"We get it squashed out. We had a show to do. We had [81,035] fans waiting out there. And that was my focus, because that's what it was about at that moment. We're about to go out and have the best night of our lives." [H/T: Fightful]

Both men are top superstars in their respective companies. While the former TNA star is a world champion again, the Chicago native looks set to main event WrestleMania in 2024.