Say what you will about CM Punk in the ring, about his occasional botch, or his lack of exceptional cardio, but there's nobody better on the mic in the industry today. Punk can open a show with nothing but a microphone and 15 minutes of time to kill, and can talk down or up any wrestler he decides to interact with.

So naturally, after watching his inaugural AEW championship run come to an end with the crack of a bone, not the 1-2-3 of a referee, Punk had to walk on his first proper episode of AEW Dynamite following a surprise return at the end of Quake by the Lake‘s main event match between Jon Moxley and “Lionheart” Chris Jericho with something to say.

Fortunately, even if Punk is still getting back into wrestling shape, his mouth remains very much in mid-season form.

Cracking a smile at the love he received from the Charleston, West Virginia crowd, Punk rhetorically offered a title shot to “Hangman” Adam Page before spending the better part of 10 minutes talking down his All Out foe Moxley, calling his Interim World Championship unearned, in the middle of a promo that referenced everyone from Kofi Kingston, to The Shield, and even John Cena.

“Tell me when I'm telling lies” – goodness, that is some shade.

While Moxley obviously had something to say on the matter, with the Interim World Champion talking down his foe, calling him broke, and then kissing his All Out foe Effy-style before the duo brawled out in the ring, the verbal lashing firmly established Punk as a heel and perfectly set up a Pay-Per-View headline between two fan favorites.