The basics you need to know going in! General ideas of the characters involved, the foundations of their relationships, wrestling terminology, etc.

Vocab/Wrestling Basics

AEW (All Elite Wrestling) is a wrestling network. It's seperate from WWE (and they're competitors), but they have the same basic concept and rules. Normal matches end when one person pins another for a count of 3, one person taps out/submits, or someone gets disqualified. There's a lot of ways to get DQed, mostly from interference, from being outside of the ring for too long, etc. Ring of Honor is an indie circuit that operates outside of the larger wrestling companies. Known for more extreme matches. A lot of wrestling superstars got their start in ROH.

Special matches that will be important for this story are tag team matches and dog collar matches. Both fairly self-explanatory, except that for dog collar matches there's no DQ, meaning you can't win/lose by disqualification.

Faces (short for babyfaces) are the "good guys" in wrestling. The audience loves them and roots for them. They usually don't cheat. Heels are the "bad guys." Generally rooted against. They often cheat or antagonize the crowd. Faces can become heels and heels can become faces, and if they switch, it's called a turn.

CM Punk

Real name Phil Brooks. CM Punk has been wrestling for years. He started in the indies, most famously Ring of Honor, where he made a name for himself being a straight edge heel who "suffered beautifully" and would do really extreme stuff. Wrestled for WWE for years before retiring for awhile. Came back to AEW in 2021, which sparked his feud with MJF. He's currently a face, despite his heel past. He's still kind of a jerk, but he's a fan-favorite.

MJF

Acronym of Maxwell Jacob Friedman. Comparitively new to wrestling. Aside from indies, he's only ever been at AEW. HUGELY a heel. His whole persona is based on being an insufferable rich kid who everyone hates. He's always antagonizing the audience and saying crazy stuff (see here). He grew up idolizing Punk until he quit. This resentment sparked the feud. As of 2021, the leader of a wrestling faction called The Pinnacle.

Wardlow

Employed by Maxwell as a bodyguard (and a wrestler). A part of The Pinnacle. Often subjected to Max's verbal abuse, but since he's under contract for him, he can't do anything about it. Fights a lot of Max's battles for him. When Max actually does fight, he usually finishes the match by making Wardlow get him his Dynamite Diamond Ring (something he won) so he can punch his opponent with it and finish the match.

Shawn Spears

Also a member of The Pinnacle. Not terribly important in this story, just know that he's on Max's side and helps him out.

FTR

A tag team made up of Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood. Also not very important, but are a part of The Pinnacle.

Jon Moxley

Makes a very brief cameo in this story, but I adore him. He previously went by Dean Ambrose when he was at WWE, and him and CM Punk have a bit of history. As Dean, he was a part of The Shield, a faction originally formed to protect Punk. Punk ended up rejecting The Shield, and him and Dean weren't really on good terms after that. Dean went to AEW and became Jon Moxley, and anyway, the point is, he has history with CM Punk. Learn more about The Shield here, here, and here.

Darby Allin and Sting

Also not very important to this story. They're a tag team, with Sting mentoring Darby. Darby is important because he was the first opponent that CM Punk faced after returning to AEW. As a team, they'll also appear briefly later.

Roddy Piper & Greg Valentine

Not actually present for this story! This was a match that happened in the 80s, but it's referenced a fair amount in the CMJF story. What you need to know is that Roddy Piper is regarded as one of the best wrestlers ever, and that him and Greg Valentine had the first dog collar match ever. Piper won the match, for the record.

Exposition

The year is 2021. At AEW, Maxwell Jacob Friedman is leading The Pinnacle, a wrestling faction made up of himself, Wardlow, Shawn Spears, and FTR. He wins his matches by making his opponents sign contracts that favor him, and by using his Dynamite Diamond Ring to knock them out. His slogan is "My name is Maxwell Jacob Friedman, and I'm better than you, and you know it."

CM Punk hasn't been wrestling for 7 years, after retiring from the WWE in 2014. However, at Rampage: The First Dance, he makes return debut to AEW. He apologizes for letting down his fans, and challenges Darby Allin to a match, which he later wins. He recalls his old slogan, "I'm straight edge; I'm drug free, I'm alcohol free, and that means I'm better than you."

On November 17, 2021, MJF is cutting a promo, saying that no one else in the locker room is on his level. He's interupted by CM Punk, who emerges to wordlessly call him on his claim. Max offers his hand for Punk to shake, attempting to show respect (or at least pretending to). Punk smiles and ignores the hand, turning away. You can see the clip here! This is how our story begins...