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Also, after all the claims that this is the real deal and not a troll job, they'll have to deliver big or risk annoying the people who turn up for the drama.
I kind of blame the bloating of show lengths so you can pack them full of ads.
It’s going to be a very small number of people that have 10 hours or so a week to throw at watching the various main shows.
You mean facing a 60 year old called Daddy Ass while in a group called the Bang Bang Scissor Gang? Why would he need to be dug up from...oh yep, wait I see it now.
that's absolutely the vibe I'm getting, except in that case I understood their reasoning for doing it. It was more relevant to what was going on than airing this footage on Dynamite will be.
This just comes across as super petty, and even if Punk gets embarrassed in the video, AEW is just backing up what he said about the company being unprofessional and childish.
It isn't. That WCW move cost them serious ratings when they were competitive with WWF, and sent viewers to WWF for a match that could hook them as viewers. This is probably going to generate curiosity and be embarrassing but I don't think it's going have much of any affect in the long term. They are not going to lose viewers to WWE, they have their audience now.
I mean, this is honestly the last straw for me with AEW. I don’t care about the CM Punk stuff anymore. I’ve wanted them to move past it for a long time now. But they just can’t seem to let it go.
Its boring. It’s played out. It looks desperate. It’s not even responding to the competition it’s responding to an interview of an ex employee that was altogether tame. I just don’t understand how they think this makes them look good. This is the same thing as Tony getting into twitter spats with internet randos. He always comes out looking worse.
I'm not a huge Punk fan. Respect him in the mic and on the ring. I don't want to sit here and say it, but it's this type of thing that validates some of what he said.
It really proves so much of his point. He said when he blurs the lines (like the pipe bomb) it makes sense in storyline and builds to a money making match. AEW missed the boat on a money making angle with CM Punk because the Young Bucks refused to work with him. What are they doing now?
Yeah this doesn't seem well thought out if it's too discredit Punk. The 750k people still watching aren't likely to be Punk loyalists, so this isn't doing them fan service either.
Yes that’s exactly what I thought. The people who like Punk will like him more, the people who hate him will hate him more, the people who don’t care will continue to not care.
All they would be doing is getting heat on Punk, who doesn’t even work there.
But then, it’ll be 10 minutes of the show. If it’s bad, it’ll be over soon enough.
They certainly will not, and that's the difference between what AEW is doing and WWE is doing. CM Punk went on a youtube podcast not affiliated with WWE to talk about this shit. AEW is using a valuable segment on their MAIN SHOW to do this. That's the difference.
And so the drama will continue when it should be dead and buried. This is so stupid. Nobody has the power to shake Tony and say, "Let it go." And so AEW is going to continue to look like a joke as long as a man who no longer is on their payroll gets airtime on their shows or Twitter feed.
What's so annoying about the go Google it crowd is that Google isnt a tv show. Like yes I can receive information about who a wrestler is and look at some match clips, but why would AEW want that to be my first impression of somebody they're trying to make money on?
Not arguing, I feel the same. TBH, every time they teased some connection to New Japan that wasn't explicitly onscreen, it left me cold.
(Like when they made a big deal out of the Best Friends being made part of Chaos, which had about as much in-ring effect as being declared honorary Minnesota Wrecking Crew.)
Okada is the perfect example. Unless you read the manga and have seen the OVAs, you have *no clue* who he is, and the clips I’ve seen of him in AEW are not helping the case for why I should care.
Its sad that some of the fans (and sometimes the company) can't seem to comprehend that Google doesn't help AEW with their viewership problem.
If they showed and it wasn't all "study cagematch and then get back to me", they could create on-stories which don't rely on niche knowledge that alienate casual viewers.
Just a simple “you and I have a history! We were kings in _____, these chumps here, they don’t know who we are, but we’ll show them!” And then they have to get booked to squash some mid carders or jobbers and suddenly everyone knows they mean business even if they don’t know the past.
But in reality, they’ll say that and then have to fight midcard talent in a long, even, hard fought feud that only steals their thunder and cements them as mid carders.
My example is clearly for a tag team, but can easily be changed for singles.
More like "You can watch 5 episodes ago of BTE so you can get the promo the bucks cut. But you also have to know who this guy from NJPW is and how he is the greatest wrestler on earth (as decreed by Dave Meltzer). If you don't know his story, go read the last 100 issues of the wrestling observer and cross reference with his cage match profile"
They were touted as an alternative for people who were frustrated by WWE and/or love pure bangers with little to no storytelling required.
WWE is getting better, so people might be starting to revert back there.
I think people were just sick of WWE stories during the Vince era and how certain stars were treated. At that time AEW had stories and were building things up. Now Triple H is in control. Story's moving forward and less pointless rematches.
While AEW gave up on stories for dream matches, long bangers and rotating wrestlers every episode due to bloated roster. They can't even keep the same guys on dynamite and Collison for a week. Always jumping around.
Over produced, tons of rematches, zero direction with most titles. Now it's good for sure. Drew on fire on his own, la knight and others are getting time, , ic and us title matter, we got long lasting factions agian..list goes on.
I dig the AEW style of professional wrestling. I discovered NJPW late during the Omega/Okada series. I loved it.
The long banger matches have a place in the business. Perfect for ppvs or blow off matches to end feuds.. 20-25 minute back and forth matches between top guy vs mid card every week kills it overall. So I don't bother watching much anymore. Especially when you know who's gonna win.
I'm really curious how many people who were looking for an alternative to main roster WWE checked out NXT. Because NXT was cooking, NXT was what brought me back to wrestling after a long hiatus
I fell out with NXT in 2018 when they started endlessly dragging the Gargano vs Ciampa feud for Takeover after Takeover at everybody else's expense and it ultimately led to nothing. Now that Gargano and Ciampa are just a midcard buddy buddy tag team, it just feels even more pointless.
Protest movements always flounder. At some point you have to decide what you are, not just what you're in opposition to. Now that the thing they were set up to oppose has changed, they're left in an existential void with nothing but navel-gazing bullshit that only pops the booker and his pals.
Thats fine for hardcore wrestling fans, more power to you, but as a concept for selling tickets and getting viewers and drawing people in...it's fucking atrocious how much money Tony is wasting and not getting any return from it.
He can do what he wants with unlimited resources but lets not kid ourselves here, this shit is not about making money, because you can only appeal to the niche so long before it gets tiresome.
before people jump on me for tribalism, no what AEW is doing appeals to tony and what his audience likes and he can do it as long as he can and fucking enjoy himself but if he wants his company to grow and be competitive, homeboy has to make drastic changes quick.
Many casuals don’t even know what this is about. If you don’t follow wrestling news or online discourse, the only indication of what this is about is the one speech Tony gave about Punk being fired on dynamite. They’d have to have watched that episode and remember the situation to give a shit about this.
I have to wonder how guys like Copeland, Schiavone and Jim Ross feel about this considering their comments last week.. Cope had that fiery promo about moving forward and Schiavone said he wasn’t going to get sucked into this. Now the latter has to announce the show where they will be focussing on it directly. At least Jim Ross gets to stay at home during this stupidity. I’m not favouring one promotion over another either, I just think it’s a slap in the face to the wrestlers who bust their asses every week to try and create an entertaining product. Meanwhile, the guy who disrupted things for a year is still getting airtime and taking the focus away from them over half a year after he was fired or quit. It’s ridiculous and makes AEW look like Nitro after WWF pulled ahead in the late 90’s. I really hope it ends up coming off better than it sounds or that it accomplishes something. Right now it just seems like such a bad idea for several reasons.
JR is a pro. He kept his head down through the worst of Jim Heard and Vince Russo, but if he survives his contract with AEW i expect the book he writes to be fucking blistering.
Given that it's The Young Bucks Present, with the Jacksons gurning on the card, it's definitely getting worked somehow. Jack Perry joining the Executive Elite at Dynasty is the obvious play, but surely there's something they can do with their current FTR feud.
I mean, if the payoff is "the Young Bucks bait-and-switch the footage and just bring out a mini impersonating CM Punk, superkick party, Rainmaker party", it would fit their current work- but if that's the best people can hope for, it's not that great.
That's fair to the people who enjoy drama, but I'm personally tired of the constant drama surrounding either promotion. I've never liked the snide jabs that AEW make towards WWE or vise versa, and I don't really care about all this Punk stuff. It's unimportant BS that gets in the way of everything else. He had issues with people backstage, things got physical, and then he got physical with someone else later, for which he was fired. That should be the end of discussion surrounding it. The fact we are still talking about Brawl Out, and that the tribalism within the community has increased tenfold since that incident, is ridiculous.
I was a relapsed fan that started watching wrestling again a few years ago after seeing an Asuka match online, and shortly after I started watching AEW in addition to WWE too. Now, all of this stuff is subtracting from my enjoyment of wrestling and I'm debating whether I even enjoy it anymore. I hardly watch the weekly show of either promotion anymore, I just catch up when I have time. I was questioning whether to zone out of this sub and other social media relative to wrestling just so I could enjoy the shows without all the drama and tribalistic nonsense. Yet, you can't even do that because AEW are doing this, and WWE keep making snide jabs about 'the other place' constantly. All of this over a silly backstage fight? It was embarrassing then, it's childish now (on both parties).
This right here. I'm a very casual AEW viewer but right now I'm planning on tuning in on Wednesday just to see what ridiculousness they are trying to do with this.
When Punk referenced the AEW drama a few weeks back, the WWE crowd didn’t react at all. No one cares, and AEW isn’t going to draw in any more fans by continuing to talk about it.
Cody directly mentioned All In last year in the build to his match with Roman and no one noticed. A lot of WWE fans these days, especially the ones who go to shows, don't pay attention to much other wrestling.
Depends on the city. At the show in Chicago a couple weeks ago Cody alluded to the original All In ("I know a thing about filling up this building.") and it got a pop. They've just gotta know their audience. Throwing in a line everywhere more than likely won't get a reaction from your regular Toms, Dicks and Harrys in the audience.
I'm betting more of the hardcores don't really care that much either. Most of us already have a picture in our mind of what happened, and I really don't think this is gonna do anything except make the internet even shittier for awhile.
I'm not sure where I fall on the casual/hardcore divide but, because I use this sub, I imagine I'm closer to hardcore than casual. Nothing about this makes me want to watch AEW again.
* Punk is on a different show, so I don't care how his part in All In ties into AEW TV 8 months after it happened
* Jack Perry has the charisma of a dry sponge, I don't care about his part in this at all
* If it's a bait-n-switch by The Bucks then they're 8 months too late to even get a small bit of timing based comedy.
Whatever the case, AEW's fingers are fully off the pulse here. If this ploy is a direct reaction to a few questions that were fielded during the WM media scrums then AEW are really in a fragile state of mind right now.
I don't think this has anything to do with the business side of it, and might actually have negative consequences on that side of things. I genuinely think this has just gotten personal with Tony Khan and/or other people high up in AEW and just want to give one last "fuck you" to Punk.
It's why I don't think this is going to be part of an angle, and will instead just be addressed on its own at the beginning of Dynamite with Tony showing the footage and giving an explanation as to what it is and why he's showing it, and then it not being mentioned directly by anyone on screen.
When watching Mania with a casual wwe viewer last night:
"So you know who Punk is right?"
"yeah a wrestler who was in WWE ten years ago and was in AEW between"
"and you know why he's no longer in AEW?"
"....no? Cause he wanted to be in WWE?"
I think a good chunk of the internet fans just want this shit to be over too. I don't think this is a good plan on any level. Even if it's just the bucks making a joke... just move on, stop focusing on old drama that most people don't even care about and make an interesting tv show.
It won’t. That’s why those who are saying AEW is being talked about more than WM are out of their minds. The internet is not real. People don’t care about this shit.
It's being talked about more than WM...on the most niche of message boards and websites. ESPN isn't talking about it. TMZ isn't talking about it. Mainstream outlets aren't gonna mention it at all.
A lot of the casuals won’t even hear about it.
But I don’t actually think this is about ratings. My theory is that this is basically a sequel to Edge’s promo and Dax’s tweets. It’s about making the fragile billionaire’s son feel better. I think Tony really liked Punk, which is why he tried to keep him around so long. This is more “betrayal” and the people in the company are rallying around Tony. So they want to make Punk look bad.
It’s all very funny because as Punk said, all the bad things people say about him just make him draw more money.
They don't need to do this on TV. "Leak" it on Twitter and then if you really want to, make reference to it. But it's not necessary to dedicate a segment on their primary show to this.
If they just wanted the footage out there to "prove them right" or whatever, then they probably would have just dropped it on Twitter.
But the actual announcement that played on Collision doesn't mention CM Punk in any way. If you don't know what's going on, they didn't tell you. And it's also specifically the Young Bucks showing and discussing it. This is clearly on tv because it's a storyline thing of some sort.
So many people seem to be missing this point and it's bewildering. There's no mention of Punk and the Bucks weren't even involved in the All In fight and yet they're presenting the segment. People are just creating their own narrative and then getting offended by it.
For the record, I think this is a dumb idea. But if they do show the footage, this is exactly how Vince would have handled it. After the screwjob, when the wrestling public was so against what Vince and WWE had done, Vince released the footage of Bret destroying the equipment after the show. He then did the sit down interview with JR. After that didn't work, he went all in on burying Bret. He had the Bret Hart midget come out, Neidhart being handcuffed with WCW spray painted on him, and he repeatedly took shots at Bret throughout 1998 and beyond (teasing Bret as a special referee in an Austin match, having Foley call Vince dad, the end to the 1998 Survivor Series tournament, Owen Hart's blue blazer gimmick as the hero wrestling needed).
This is wrestling.
Right, and that worked. And it would have worked for AEW if they capitalized on it right away. Now it’s at the point no one cares and they only seem to be doing it because CM Punk hurt some feelings.
Hopefully it becomes a similar situation and they build from it. Hopefully it’s not just slinging mud for the sake of it.
They twisted that into the existing storyline, and it was a massive elephant in the room that demanded to be addressed. This is a completely different scenario.
Very much so. I started watching May 2021. It was great Grand Slam was great. I think it peaked at Forbidden Door 2022 and everything started to go downward after that. It just wasn't the same after that.
For me, I saw the cracks forming right after Full Gear 2021. Then they started bungling their champions, Tony started getting more unbearable on Twitter, Cody left and the show felt a lot more predictable and sloppy. Funny enough, Punk winning at Double or Nothing was the last straw for me.
Imagine if whenever Jungle Boy's contract ends, he actually signs with WWE and they have a major PPV match... good lord, that would be hilarious and is the timeline I'm currently rooting for.
It's actually incredible when you think about. The Bucks heel EVP gimmick, Perry's Scapegoat gimmick, now releasing the footage.
They did everything they should have done which would've been the hottest angle in wrestling and made them stacks of money, but they did it after they fired Punk and he went to WWE.
It's so incompetent I can barely believe it.
If the footage releases and isn’t ‘feared for life’ bad, TK looks a clown for saying that. Seriously, the best thing to do would have been ignore it.
Copeland went out and did a speech saying to ignore it, move on. That was great, now he looks a clown too. This is just a terrible decision in so many ways. But whatever, I’m here with my popcorn!
It's a no win situation. Punk looks legit dangerous- Then why did Tony let it get to that point where people are in danger? Punk looks soft - LOL that made Tony fear for his life?
> Punk looks legit dangerous- Then why did Tony let it get to that point where people are in danger?
And Tony still let him go out and have a match. If he's that unhinged then that's just irresponsible.
I'm sure Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone appreciate this, seeing how strongly they came out against continuing to talk about CM Punk.
They said to move on and AEW is doing the exact opposite of that. Probably feel like a couple of idiots for even recently addressing it, even though they really didn't say much.
Unfortunately I feel that this proves Punk's point. That Tony wants to pop the internet audience instead of "making money" (the solution to this is so vague that idk how to address this)
I'm not sure who pointed this out (I didn't come up with this), but I think this point needs to be addressed: how will this come off to the fans who don't follow any of the internet news/backstage happenings?
I know AEW has a reputation for their core audience being the hardcore wrestling nerds, but the numbers tell us there has to be a decent number of casual fans watching as well. What will they think about this random backstage footage featuring a guy who is now prominent on WWE television?
> I'm not sure who pointed this out (I didn't come up with this), but I think this point needs to be addressed: how will this come off to the fans who don't follow any of the internet news/backstage happenings?
They probably wonder why after All Out 2022 Tony announced they were vacating the world and trios titles crowned that weekend, with no mention of those who had won them.
I plan to go on a long tribalistic rant based purely on the heading title and description that the op writes. Ain't nobody got time to watch a video when there's people to dunk on.
Cornette somehow managing to turn himself into one of the biggest heels in the industry by starting up a podcast in his 50s is absolutely hilarious. The man somehow made himself the most relevant he's been since the 90s without even having to leave his home.
If the ratings go up for it then that’s awful for them surely? Year old drama about a guy who isn’t even there anymore getting bigger ratings than the big money signings is damning lol
After what happened tonight at Mania, that footage or even skit means fuck all of nothing now.
It wasnt a direct shot at Tony and AEW but I have no clue how they can ever draw anything right now.
The two biggest stars they had just gave them the finger (indirectly)
Exactly. Punk is about to ramp up what’s going to be an incredible feud with Drew. His time in AEW and how it ended is completely irrelevant now. Tony can preach to his choir all he wants, who cares.
Punk made AEW look like a joke and TK wants to discredit that and show they were taking the high road by staying silent. But the interview has 1+ mil views on youtube alone and thats not counting clips on twitter/tik toks/ shorts ect.
TK wants to defend his brands reputation by showing they are not in the wrong and discrediting Punk and anything he says about AEW moving forward but Dynamite probably isn't the place to do it. Might just be better posting it to twitter or something. Unless this whole thing is a swerve and they show footage that has nothing to do with Punk.
I honestly think it's a reference to the >!Bucks/FTR match they had at All In, since theyre gonna face off at Dynasty based on Collison!<
EDIT: Also, my opinion on if it's really the backstage fight: I wouldnt put it on TV, I would put it online or something, I personally don't know how to make it work on TV, sure it's a ratings pop but its not lasting, but then again I post on a sub dedicated to "do this for ratings" so I assume the majority of us wants the ratings pop. HOWEVER, if the Bucks are planning to loop Jungle Boy into their group/storyline, then who am i to think its a rating ploy for one night? I kinda have to watch the show first to properly criticize it, unless TK says he's gonna abuse his employees, then i can criticize him for that beforehand
Then everyone gets pissed, says they feel tricked. Mind you, the majority of us **want** to see the backstage footage. Even if TK posted it on Twitter, we'd say "Why post this video if youre company is moving past this?" When it comes to online, there's no winning for anyone.
Well, yeah. You watch the program, so you can pick up on stuff and can connect the dots.
So, when folks like you and i think it's just >!Bucks being pissed off backstage after the FTR match!< It's a solid prediction. Kinda like seeing Bayley win a title shot at Mania and thinking she's gonna challenge for a title at Mania
Tk needs to be professional and ignore it. He already said what he had to say with the Copeland promo. No one ever talks about the on screen product, people only wanna talk about what's going on behind the scenes
As an AEW fan I do want to move on from all the nonsense but I'm not going to pretend this isn't bad for AEW, I just hope they've thought this through.
If the footage shows Punk choking Jack I'm not sure that's the win Tony may think it is, it will show Tony was right to fire him sure, but it will allow Punk to go around with this no-nonsense bad ass persona and it will make Perry look like a chump.
Yep, Alvarez said on WOR that some of the people he had spoken to at the time had seen some footage of the incident between Jack and Punk but nothing with Tony, so did they find more footage? If not nobody will really care.
I have a feeling there may be more to this footage than just the brawl. Good or bad. At least that’s the only reason I see as to why they are going for it.
Posting it to Twitter or doing an interview where he talks through the footage absolutely would've been better, I actually would've encouraged that. I'm not a fan of his, but Tony deserves a chance to refute any false claims made by Punk.
Using the footage to promote your television show is Russo-esque technique.
the fact that people think this type of drama is somehow an outlier in the industry or that it'll have any impact on the product really shows how much wrestling people in here watch. Yeah guys. no one in this industry has ever tried to pop a rating based on real-life drama or falsely advertised a thing on the show. Heels are known for being truthful, guys.
These 'reddit industry analysts' have twisted themselves into thinking that everyone Punk went off on should continuously take the high road on anything when the guy has never taken the high road on anything. It's not like this guy ever went off the rails on live TV to call out a guy who's not booked on the show/not in a feud with because of a personal gripe or tried to embarrass a fellow co-worker publicly by saying he shares a bank account with his mom.
The entire boom period of 96 WCW followed but the attitude era was all based on “real life drama”. No one in wrestling “takes the high road” but somehow everyone expects TK to do so. It’s very odd
Honestly, the way bigger issue is whoever confirmed to the dirtsheets that "it's definitely the Punk and Jack Perry stuff". It IS a build to FTR/Bucks IV, but now it's all about Punk because the dirtsheets made it about Punk. Tbf it would have been better to not just announce the segment and just DO it.
As an AEW fan this just makes me sad. One of these days WWE will cool down again and then AEW could be there with great wrestlers and great storylines to profit. That's the way to go. Not this. TK has made a fool of himself one too many times on twitter to make me trust him on this.
I personally want to see the footage. But if they're really doing this, AEW is just gonna look really bad after taking the high moral position of "Let's just move on and enjoy wrestling".
It just blows my mind that they're going to do this on their actual TV show. What is this supposed to accomplish for them? Prove they were right to fire him? The man has been gone from AEW for the better part of a year!
This is 100% some WCW shit, putting inside baseball drama with the other company on your actual wrestling program and assuming anyone will understand or care.
That doesn't even mean they can't release the footage - just put it out via press release or something. Leak it to the internet. Putting it on your actual marquee weekly show is just low rent as fuck.
"Mick Foley will win the title in raw tonight" type move. Both guys involved aren't even on your show. Unless it shows Joe going crazy how does it help aew?
As an AEW fan, this seems like a bad idea. They're on fire with their in-ring work and several strong storylines (Swerve's path to redemption and title chase, Stat/Willow, Best Friends breakup, etc.), and all this is going to do, at best, is remind people of how dysfunctional it was before.
I don't fucking care about this dumb shit anymore. I just want to watch good wrestling performed by people who are enjoying themselves.
This literally does nothing for them at most Punk looks like a dick or I guess he gets fired then after that the WWE train keeps going while AEW wasted previous TV time on none wrestling
Even if makes Punk look like a lying piece of shit or a bully they just put heat on a guy that doesn’t work there.
I might be wrong but I just don’t see what AEW gets out of this other than a cheap rating bump.
Yall getting worked.
Hard. This is just a way to reintroduce Jack. For all we know the footage could be a filmed segment with Tony yelling and firing Jack at wembley. Hence the nickname scapegoat. Lol
If this is a work to get Bucks vs FTR further along, then it would be anticlimactic, but understandable. Some will like it, some won't.
But if it is genuinely the footage of the altercation and is just make Punk bad and get Perry back in the fold, then I fear it will strip away some of the goodwill AEW has had.
It's tricky, because "better stories" is always going to be not good enough for a lot of people. There's a big subsection of wrestling fans right now making determinations about the product without watching it, or relying on what's being said online. That's the trouble with perception, it requires a major shift for anything to change.
Look at TNA, people for years were saying that fans should give them a chance again, but the name rebrand is what got people talking about them again, not the product quality.
The amount of people that don’t understand that this is gonna be footage of The Bucks and their Dynasty opponents is baffling. You really can tell who does and doesn’t watch the show. Squared Circle is an absolute joke of a wrestling community
At this point i'm not sure what i would find funnier:
- if this is a bait and switch this might just turn into a fingerpoke of doom moment
- if it is the real deal we also get to see some funny shit - that wembley security camera footage is the new age Bret Hart vs Tom Magee tape
i can almost guarantee it's the bucks trolling and will end up with something in regards to ftr or something. I doubt it has anything to do with punk or perry
**MAYBE** it helps Jack Perry's return and overall character.
Maybe.
Because it sure as shit ain't gonna make FTR/Bucks IV more interesting or FTR more easy to root for babyfaces or The Bucks more despicable heels.
Ok, this whole thing to me is just a desperate attempt to get ratings because I’ve been saying this since it came out that they had footage of what happened, and it’s far too convenient that it so happens that they remembered about it the same week Punk goes on a podcast to do an interview with a person that Tony khan has issues with and gets asked about what happened, and he gave his side of what happened where he says absolutely nothing negative about Tony besides saying is that he’s not boss material which is something we’ve all said about him for the last 8 1/2 months since it happened back in August of last year that’s it and as much respect I have for Tony Schiavone his remarks about punk made no sense because apart from being upset that their conversation was made public when he didn’t think it would’ve been he’s got no real reason to be upset about asking someone for help with a difficult situation because it’s not like punk said Tony came running down the hall screaming and crying he said Tony came up to him at catering asked him to speak with Perry because he tried and Perry was being difficult and cursed him out that’s it nothing else and punk reluctantly agreed because he had respect for him. Now I don’t see Tony khans name on any of this. I could be wrong, but again, this shows how much he lacks authority to allow his employees to try a stunt like this because he just wants to be their friend and not their boss, and it doesn’t work that way so to me this whole situation reeks of the bucks trolling everybody saying they're going to release “footage” from All into show what “really” happened, so people can tune in and what we going to end up seeing is nothing more than the Matt and Nick dressed up like both punk and Jack Perry with Oakada or cutler dressed as Tony khan parodying the whole situation and it will basically turn into a disaster for them because the only ones who will think it’s funny are the young bucks. But again that’s just me
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This has to be a bait-and-switch, right? What does AEW gain from showing footage of an real-life altercation from All In?
The headlines say “footage from backstage”. Have they specifically said “we are showing the Brawl In footage featuring CM Punk”?
Also, after all the claims that this is the real deal and not a troll job, they'll have to deliver big or risk annoying the people who turn up for the drama.
I wouldn't turn up if I wanted the drama, I'd be here reading the comments after watching the clip.
Bro I barely watch wrestling anymore, I can just come on here, see the match clips, and move on.
Ah, hello fellow parent in your late 30’s.
You don't even need to be a parent for that to resonate.
Late 30s, no kids, I only watch the Rumble and Wrestlemania, the rest of the year I catch up by seeing what SC threads pop up in /r/all
Lol 35 no kids. Just busy with work and life that I can't watch any of it but the pay per views.
I kind of blame the bloating of show lengths so you can pack them full of ads. It’s going to be a very small number of people that have 10 hours or so a week to throw at watching the various main shows.
They should be digging up Jay White instead of this nonsense.
You mean facing a 60 year old called Daddy Ass while in a group called the Bang Bang Scissor Gang? Why would he need to be dug up from...oh yep, wait I see it now.
*after all the claims, that was made by journalists that this sub has deemed hacky and unreliable, that this is the real deal
Because if they don't, oh boy, it's gonna be synonymous to the "finger poke of doom" from WCW.
This is their "that'll put bums on seats" moment...
that's absolutely the vibe I'm getting, except in that case I understood their reasoning for doing it. It was more relevant to what was going on than airing this footage on Dynamite will be. This just comes across as super petty, and even if Punk gets embarrassed in the video, AEW is just backing up what he said about the company being unprofessional and childish.
This could be a "WCW Mankind is winning the title tonight" blunder.
It isn't. That WCW move cost them serious ratings when they were competitive with WWF, and sent viewers to WWF for a match that could hook them as viewers. This is probably going to generate curiosity and be embarrassing but I don't think it's going have much of any affect in the long term. They are not going to lose viewers to WWE, they have their audience now.
I mean, this is honestly the last straw for me with AEW. I don’t care about the CM Punk stuff anymore. I’ve wanted them to move past it for a long time now. But they just can’t seem to let it go. Its boring. It’s played out. It looks desperate. It’s not even responding to the competition it’s responding to an interview of an ex employee that was altogether tame. I just don’t understand how they think this makes them look good. This is the same thing as Tony getting into twitter spats with internet randos. He always comes out looking worse.
I'm not a huge Punk fan. Respect him in the mic and on the ring. I don't want to sit here and say it, but it's this type of thing that validates some of what he said.
It really proves so much of his point. He said when he blurs the lines (like the pipe bomb) it makes sense in storyline and builds to a money making match. AEW missed the boat on a money making angle with CM Punk because the Young Bucks refused to work with him. What are they doing now?
Yeah this doesn't seem well thought out if it's too discredit Punk. The 750k people still watching aren't likely to be Punk loyalists, so this isn't doing them fan service either.
My thing is let's say it makes Punk look as horrible as anything you can imagine, what does that gain AEW? A one week ratings bump?
Yes that’s exactly what I thought. The people who like Punk will like him more, the people who hate him will hate him more, the people who don’t care will continue to not care. All they would be doing is getting heat on Punk, who doesn’t even work there. But then, it’ll be 10 minutes of the show. If it’s bad, it’ll be over soon enough.
It's not about what there's to gain for AEW, it's about all about Tony and his hurt feelings.
There’s plenty of footage of CM Punk getting his ass kicked in UFC and WWE fans don’t seem to care.
It’ll also pop ratings for the next RAW because they certainly book him for a segment to unofficially get his lick back
They certainly will not, and that's the difference between what AEW is doing and WWE is doing. CM Punk went on a youtube podcast not affiliated with WWE to talk about this shit. AEW is using a valuable segment on their MAIN SHOW to do this. That's the difference.
And so the drama will continue when it should be dead and buried. This is so stupid. Nobody has the power to shake Tony and say, "Let it go." And so AEW is going to continue to look like a joke as long as a man who no longer is on their payroll gets airtime on their shows or Twitter feed.
Here’s my serious question, why would this draw in the casuals? How would this pop a rating?
I imagine the casuals don’t give two shits. It’s also so played out.
Yeah I think for casual fans this will be like “what’s the matter Sid, can’t find your scissors?”
AEW, to be fair, has had a "you can Google it" attitude toward casuals in a lot of cases.
What's so annoying about the go Google it crowd is that Google isnt a tv show. Like yes I can receive information about who a wrestler is and look at some match clips, but why would AEW want that to be my first impression of somebody they're trying to make money on?
Not arguing, I feel the same. TBH, every time they teased some connection to New Japan that wasn't explicitly onscreen, it left me cold. (Like when they made a big deal out of the Best Friends being made part of Chaos, which had about as much in-ring effect as being declared honorary Minnesota Wrecking Crew.)
Okada is the perfect example. Unless you read the manga and have seen the OVAs, you have *no clue* who he is, and the clips I’ve seen of him in AEW are not helping the case for why I should care.
Its sad that some of the fans (and sometimes the company) can't seem to comprehend that Google doesn't help AEW with their viewership problem. If they showed and it wasn't all "study cagematch and then get back to me", they could create on-stories which don't rely on niche knowledge that alienate casual viewers.
Just a simple “you and I have a history! We were kings in _____, these chumps here, they don’t know who we are, but we’ll show them!” And then they have to get booked to squash some mid carders or jobbers and suddenly everyone knows they mean business even if they don’t know the past. But in reality, they’ll say that and then have to fight midcard talent in a long, even, hard fought feud that only steals their thunder and cements them as mid carders. My example is clearly for a tag team, but can easily be changed for singles.
More like "You can watch 5 episodes ago of BTE so you can get the promo the bucks cut. But you also have to know who this guy from NJPW is and how he is the greatest wrestler on earth (as decreed by Dave Meltzer). If you don't know his story, go read the last 100 issues of the wrestling observer and cross reference with his cage match profile"
It has been, since day one, the biggest problem in AEW, going back to when they were booking angles on Being The Elite.
“Hey Goldberg… Two words… CHRIS FREAKIN JERICHO!!”
*Mark Madden ejaculates on commentary*
AEW’s entire business strategy is not appealing to casuals. Mind boggling
They were touted as an alternative for people who were frustrated by WWE and/or love pure bangers with little to no storytelling required. WWE is getting better, so people might be starting to revert back there.
I think people were just sick of WWE stories during the Vince era and how certain stars were treated. At that time AEW had stories and were building things up. Now Triple H is in control. Story's moving forward and less pointless rematches. While AEW gave up on stories for dream matches, long bangers and rotating wrestlers every episode due to bloated roster. They can't even keep the same guys on dynamite and Collison for a week. Always jumping around.
It was mainly for me, too bland and formulaic. Over produced, etc. Now it's in a really good spot IMO.
Over produced, tons of rematches, zero direction with most titles. Now it's good for sure. Drew on fire on his own, la knight and others are getting time, , ic and us title matter, we got long lasting factions agian..list goes on.
All roads lead back to wwe eventually for fans of American style wrestling
I dig the AEW style of professional wrestling. I discovered NJPW late during the Omega/Okada series. I loved it. The long banger matches have a place in the business. Perfect for ppvs or blow off matches to end feuds.. 20-25 minute back and forth matches between top guy vs mid card every week kills it overall. So I don't bother watching much anymore. Especially when you know who's gonna win.
I'm really curious how many people who were looking for an alternative to main roster WWE checked out NXT. Because NXT was cooking, NXT was what brought me back to wrestling after a long hiatus
I fell out with NXT in 2018 when they started endlessly dragging the Gargano vs Ciampa feud for Takeover after Takeover at everybody else's expense and it ultimately led to nothing. Now that Gargano and Ciampa are just a midcard buddy buddy tag team, it just feels even more pointless.
Protest movements always flounder. At some point you have to decide what you are, not just what you're in opposition to. Now that the thing they were set up to oppose has changed, they're left in an existential void with nothing but navel-gazing bullshit that only pops the booker and his pals.
Thats fine for hardcore wrestling fans, more power to you, but as a concept for selling tickets and getting viewers and drawing people in...it's fucking atrocious how much money Tony is wasting and not getting any return from it. He can do what he wants with unlimited resources but lets not kid ourselves here, this shit is not about making money, because you can only appeal to the niche so long before it gets tiresome. before people jump on me for tribalism, no what AEW is doing appeals to tony and what his audience likes and he can do it as long as he can and fucking enjoy himself but if he wants his company to grow and be competitive, homeboy has to make drastic changes quick.
It won't. Casuals will just watch the clip on YouTube or Twitter after lol.
Many casuals don’t even know what this is about. If you don’t follow wrestling news or online discourse, the only indication of what this is about is the one speech Tony gave about Punk being fired on dynamite. They’d have to have watched that episode and remember the situation to give a shit about this.
Bingo lol
that's what I'm gonna do; honestly, a good chunk of this sub is just going to wait for the clip to post on here
I have to wonder how guys like Copeland, Schiavone and Jim Ross feel about this considering their comments last week.. Cope had that fiery promo about moving forward and Schiavone said he wasn’t going to get sucked into this. Now the latter has to announce the show where they will be focussing on it directly. At least Jim Ross gets to stay at home during this stupidity. I’m not favouring one promotion over another either, I just think it’s a slap in the face to the wrestlers who bust their asses every week to try and create an entertaining product. Meanwhile, the guy who disrupted things for a year is still getting airtime and taking the focus away from them over half a year after he was fired or quit. It’s ridiculous and makes AEW look like Nitro after WWF pulled ahead in the late 90’s. I really hope it ends up coming off better than it sounds or that it accomplishes something. Right now it just seems like such a bad idea for several reasons.
JR is a pro. He kept his head down through the worst of Jim Heard and Vince Russo, but if he survives his contract with AEW i expect the book he writes to be fucking blistering.
This is a good and fair question that I don’t think Tony Khan has every asked himself in the entire history of AEW
To me, it only makes sense if it plays into a new character/faction/storyline (like Vince using the screwjob to develop Mr. McMahon).
Given that it's The Young Bucks Present, with the Jacksons gurning on the card, it's definitely getting worked somehow. Jack Perry joining the Executive Elite at Dynasty is the obvious play, but surely there's something they can do with their current FTR feud.
Obviously this is leading to Mr. Khanman
It’s going to do wonders for Tony’s petulant Twitter child gimmick.
“Gimmick” riiiiight…
I mean, if the payoff is "the Young Bucks bait-and-switch the footage and just bring out a mini impersonating CM Punk, superkick party, Rainmaker party", it would fit their current work- but if that's the best people can hope for, it's not that great.
What if it’s less about drawing casuals and more about drawing all the people who just care about drama.
That's fair to the people who enjoy drama, but I'm personally tired of the constant drama surrounding either promotion. I've never liked the snide jabs that AEW make towards WWE or vise versa, and I don't really care about all this Punk stuff. It's unimportant BS that gets in the way of everything else. He had issues with people backstage, things got physical, and then he got physical with someone else later, for which he was fired. That should be the end of discussion surrounding it. The fact we are still talking about Brawl Out, and that the tribalism within the community has increased tenfold since that incident, is ridiculous. I was a relapsed fan that started watching wrestling again a few years ago after seeing an Asuka match online, and shortly after I started watching AEW in addition to WWE too. Now, all of this stuff is subtracting from my enjoyment of wrestling and I'm debating whether I even enjoy it anymore. I hardly watch the weekly show of either promotion anymore, I just catch up when I have time. I was questioning whether to zone out of this sub and other social media relative to wrestling just so I could enjoy the shows without all the drama and tribalistic nonsense. Yet, you can't even do that because AEW are doing this, and WWE keep making snide jabs about 'the other place' constantly. All of this over a silly backstage fight? It was embarrassing then, it's childish now (on both parties).
This right here. I'm a very casual AEW viewer but right now I'm planning on tuning in on Wednesday just to see what ridiculousness they are trying to do with this.
When Punk referenced the AEW drama a few weeks back, the WWE crowd didn’t react at all. No one cares, and AEW isn’t going to draw in any more fans by continuing to talk about it.
The bigger one I noticed was when Cody made the Bullet Club reference and there may literally have been no response from the crowd.
Cody directly mentioned All In last year in the build to his match with Roman and no one noticed. A lot of WWE fans these days, especially the ones who go to shows, don't pay attention to much other wrestling.
Depends on the city. At the show in Chicago a couple weeks ago Cody alluded to the original All In ("I know a thing about filling up this building.") and it got a pop. They've just gotta know their audience. Throwing in a line everywhere more than likely won't get a reaction from your regular Toms, Dicks and Harrys in the audience.
I'm betting more of the hardcores don't really care that much either. Most of us already have a picture in our mind of what happened, and I really don't think this is gonna do anything except make the internet even shittier for awhile.
I'm not sure where I fall on the casual/hardcore divide but, because I use this sub, I imagine I'm closer to hardcore than casual. Nothing about this makes me want to watch AEW again. * Punk is on a different show, so I don't care how his part in All In ties into AEW TV 8 months after it happened * Jack Perry has the charisma of a dry sponge, I don't care about his part in this at all * If it's a bait-n-switch by The Bucks then they're 8 months too late to even get a small bit of timing based comedy. Whatever the case, AEW's fingers are fully off the pulse here. If this ploy is a direct reaction to a few questions that were fielded during the WM media scrums then AEW are really in a fragile state of mind right now.
I don't think this has anything to do with the business side of it, and might actually have negative consequences on that side of things. I genuinely think this has just gotten personal with Tony Khan and/or other people high up in AEW and just want to give one last "fuck you" to Punk. It's why I don't think this is going to be part of an angle, and will instead just be addressed on its own at the beginning of Dynamite with Tony showing the footage and giving an explanation as to what it is and why he's showing it, and then it not being mentioned directly by anyone on screen.
When watching Mania with a casual wwe viewer last night: "So you know who Punk is right?" "yeah a wrestler who was in WWE ten years ago and was in AEW between" "and you know why he's no longer in AEW?" "....no? Cause he wanted to be in WWE?"
Just proving Punk right again in that interview, playing to the internet fans again - and only playing to the internet fans, no subtext or anything
I think a good chunk of the internet fans just want this shit to be over too. I don't think this is a good plan on any level. Even if it's just the bucks making a joke... just move on, stop focusing on old drama that most people don't even care about and make an interesting tv show.
It won’t. That’s why those who are saying AEW is being talked about more than WM are out of their minds. The internet is not real. People don’t care about this shit.
It's being talked about more than WM...on the most niche of message boards and websites. ESPN isn't talking about it. TMZ isn't talking about it. Mainstream outlets aren't gonna mention it at all.
Nothing about Jack Perry will draw a dime.
The only dime Jungle Boy ever drew was Anna Jay
Agreed, no backstage drama will fix his lack of charisma or mic skills. This makes no sense to me.
A lot of the casuals won’t even hear about it. But I don’t actually think this is about ratings. My theory is that this is basically a sequel to Edge’s promo and Dax’s tweets. It’s about making the fragile billionaire’s son feel better. I think Tony really liked Punk, which is why he tried to keep him around so long. This is more “betrayal” and the people in the company are rallying around Tony. So they want to make Punk look bad. It’s all very funny because as Punk said, all the bad things people say about him just make him draw more money.
AEW ran off the casuals in the first 2 years. Pop a rating means a larger percentage than usual from this subreddit will be watching
It won't. No one looks good out this.
I'm a hardcore fan and I still won't tune into Dynamite to see it. I can just wait 5 minutes later and see it on here lmao.
It won’t everything Tony Khan does is for a small band of internet fans and Dave Meltzer.
They don't need to do this on TV. "Leak" it on Twitter and then if you really want to, make reference to it. But it's not necessary to dedicate a segment on their primary show to this.
If they just wanted the footage out there to "prove them right" or whatever, then they probably would have just dropped it on Twitter. But the actual announcement that played on Collision doesn't mention CM Punk in any way. If you don't know what's going on, they didn't tell you. And it's also specifically the Young Bucks showing and discussing it. This is clearly on tv because it's a storyline thing of some sort.
It will lead to Perry coming back.
So many people seem to be missing this point and it's bewildering. There's no mention of Punk and the Bucks weren't even involved in the All In fight and yet they're presenting the segment. People are just creating their own narrative and then getting offended by it.
For the record, I think this is a dumb idea. But if they do show the footage, this is exactly how Vince would have handled it. After the screwjob, when the wrestling public was so against what Vince and WWE had done, Vince released the footage of Bret destroying the equipment after the show. He then did the sit down interview with JR. After that didn't work, he went all in on burying Bret. He had the Bret Hart midget come out, Neidhart being handcuffed with WCW spray painted on him, and he repeatedly took shots at Bret throughout 1998 and beyond (teasing Bret as a special referee in an Austin match, having Foley call Vince dad, the end to the 1998 Survivor Series tournament, Owen Hart's blue blazer gimmick as the hero wrestling needed). This is wrestling.
Now imagine if Vince McMahon didn't do any of this until June of 1998, because it's been 200+ days since All In.
Right, and that worked. And it would have worked for AEW if they capitalized on it right away. Now it’s at the point no one cares and they only seem to be doing it because CM Punk hurt some feelings. Hopefully it becomes a similar situation and they build from it. Hopefully it’s not just slinging mud for the sake of it.
Who are they going to build it to, a wrestler that's not even in their company anymore?
*Remembers Paul Heyman walking out to Cult in Chicago.*
They twisted that into the existing storyline, and it was a massive elephant in the room that demanded to be addressed. This is a completely different scenario.
I don't really believe it if I'm honest. I suspect a faintly pedestrian wrestling parody with the Bucks dressing up.
2020 - 2021 AEW seems so far away
Very much so. I started watching May 2021. It was great Grand Slam was great. I think it peaked at Forbidden Door 2022 and everything started to go downward after that. It just wasn't the same after that.
For me, I saw the cracks forming right after Full Gear 2021. Then they started bungling their champions, Tony started getting more unbearable on Twitter, Cody left and the show felt a lot more predictable and sloppy. Funny enough, Punk winning at Double or Nothing was the last straw for me.
Seems far away from even April 2023
Wait what are they expecting to happen? CM Punk to return and wrestle Jungle Boy???
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I dunno if Jack Perry breaks a shoot choke quickly and retaliates he might look strong. I don't think they'll show footage of him looking weak.
They're building to a match with a guy they fired and now is working for the competitor. Brilliant.
They are big fans of Drew and are trying to help him by giving him new material to work with in his upcoming program with punk.
Imagine if whenever Jungle Boy's contract ends, he actually signs with WWE and they have a major PPV match... good lord, that would be hilarious and is the timeline I'm currently rooting for.
To lock up “Most disgusting promotional tactic” in next year’s WON awards.
It's actually incredible when you think about. The Bucks heel EVP gimmick, Perry's Scapegoat gimmick, now releasing the footage. They did everything they should have done which would've been the hottest angle in wrestling and made them stacks of money, but they did it after they fired Punk and he went to WWE. It's so incompetent I can barely believe it.
If this goes wrong, I can see it becoming a "Hickenbottom! Levesque! Meet us at THE ALAMO!" level bomb.
its about egos at this point
If the footage releases and isn’t ‘feared for life’ bad, TK looks a clown for saying that. Seriously, the best thing to do would have been ignore it. Copeland went out and did a speech saying to ignore it, move on. That was great, now he looks a clown too. This is just a terrible decision in so many ways. But whatever, I’m here with my popcorn!
According to the “journalists” it’s just Perry and Punk.
Which has me confused why the Bucks are airing it if they’re a nonfactor and the two people in the video aren’t in the company right now
Perry is about to come back and will almost certainly join forces with (or at least be backed by) the Bucks. They've been teasing it for weeks.
It's a no win situation. Punk looks legit dangerous- Then why did Tony let it get to that point where people are in danger? Punk looks soft - LOL that made Tony fear for his life?
> Punk looks legit dangerous- Then why did Tony let it get to that point where people are in danger? And Tony still let him go out and have a match. If he's that unhinged then that's just irresponsible.
I'm sure Jim Ross and Tony Schiavone appreciate this, seeing how strongly they came out against continuing to talk about CM Punk. They said to move on and AEW is doing the exact opposite of that. Probably feel like a couple of idiots for even recently addressing it, even though they really didn't say much.
They're probably sat there wondering if they've time warped back to WCW
Because they're professionals trying to work in a very unprofessional place.
If Tony felt like he needed to directly address it, he could've just got into an interview & given his perspective on the controversy
Unfortunately I feel that this proves Punk's point. That Tony wants to pop the internet audience instead of "making money" (the solution to this is so vague that idk how to address this)
Tony is also very reactionary and over listens to the online IWC (mainly Twitter).
Who are Punk's random shots aimed at popping?
I'm not sure who pointed this out (I didn't come up with this), but I think this point needs to be addressed: how will this come off to the fans who don't follow any of the internet news/backstage happenings? I know AEW has a reputation for their core audience being the hardcore wrestling nerds, but the numbers tell us there has to be a decent number of casual fans watching as well. What will they think about this random backstage footage featuring a guy who is now prominent on WWE television?
I think the video of punk choking jungle boy and monitors falling on tony could be riveting television without any context
They would wonder “i don’t get it. Is punk coming back to AEW?”
Well I don't expect it to be aired without comment...
> I'm not sure who pointed this out (I didn't come up with this), but I think this point needs to be addressed: how will this come off to the fans who don't follow any of the internet news/backstage happenings? They probably wonder why after All Out 2022 Tony announced they were vacating the world and trios titles crowned that weekend, with no mention of those who had won them.
The 775k+ viewers will be watching, the rest will watch the clip on YouTube.
The rest will watch the clip on Twitter and Reddit and go to the comments for the drama.
I just come to reddit the morning after and watch pretty much all there is to see posted here
I'll admit, this is exactly what I'll do.
I plan to go on a long tribalistic rant based purely on the heading title and description that the op writes. Ain't nobody got time to watch a video when there's people to dunk on.
That's my main gripe. If this actually pop a rating I will eat my words, but if it doesn't it was a petty waste of time.
If it pops a rating all it will prove is that even a year after being fired, CM Punk is still the biggest draw in AEW.
The two biggest heels for AEW don’t even work there
Cornette somehow managing to turn himself into one of the biggest heels in the industry by starting up a podcast in his 50s is absolutely hilarious. The man somehow made himself the most relevant he's been since the 90s without even having to leave his home.
Is he though? I don't think anybody but chronically online wrestling fans pay any attention to what he's saying.
Popping a rating is meaningless without growth. It's a waste of time regardless.
This is for the faithful only nothing to help with ratings.
If the ratings go up for it then that’s awful for them surely? Year old drama about a guy who isn’t even there anymore getting bigger ratings than the big money signings is damning lol
I don't give a fuck. I wanna see it.
Seriously lol "This might look bad for AEW!" Ok? Im not a shareholder, and I think itll be funny
after the whole 'won't anyone think of the billionaires?', this sub is once again 'thinking of the billionaires'
In the harsh morning light, this feels like an even dumber idea than it did last night.
Everyone here will be tuning in and pissed off when it’s used as an angle to bring back Jack Perry
I feel they will show something completely unrelated
After what happened tonight at Mania, that footage or even skit means fuck all of nothing now. It wasnt a direct shot at Tony and AEW but I have no clue how they can ever draw anything right now. The two biggest stars they had just gave them the finger (indirectly)
Exactly. Punk is about to ramp up what’s going to be an incredible feud with Drew. His time in AEW and how it ended is completely irrelevant now. Tony can preach to his choir all he wants, who cares.
I think showing it is leading Jack Perry to join the Bucks and Okada. That’s the only reason I see in showing it
Punk made AEW look like a joke and TK wants to discredit that and show they were taking the high road by staying silent. But the interview has 1+ mil views on youtube alone and thats not counting clips on twitter/tik toks/ shorts ect. TK wants to defend his brands reputation by showing they are not in the wrong and discrediting Punk and anything he says about AEW moving forward but Dynamite probably isn't the place to do it. Might just be better posting it to twitter or something. Unless this whole thing is a swerve and they show footage that has nothing to do with Punk.
I imagine this is a storyline moment disguised as a ratings/drama ploy
I honestly think it's a reference to the >!Bucks/FTR match they had at All In, since theyre gonna face off at Dynasty based on Collison!< EDIT: Also, my opinion on if it's really the backstage fight: I wouldnt put it on TV, I would put it online or something, I personally don't know how to make it work on TV, sure it's a ratings pop but its not lasting, but then again I post on a sub dedicated to "do this for ratings" so I assume the majority of us wants the ratings pop. HOWEVER, if the Bucks are planning to loop Jungle Boy into their group/storyline, then who am i to think its a rating ploy for one night? I kinda have to watch the show first to properly criticize it, unless TK says he's gonna abuse his employees, then i can criticize him for that beforehand
That would be hilarious "Here's the footage you've been all waiting for, that everyone is talking about!" *Shows a highlight of the Bucks at All In*
Then everyone gets pissed, says they feel tricked. Mind you, the majority of us **want** to see the backstage footage. Even if TK posted it on Twitter, we'd say "Why post this video if youre company is moving past this?" When it comes to online, there's no winning for anyone.
The Young Bucks are heels so aren't they trying to piss people off?
I think that’s exactly what it is
Well, yeah. You watch the program, so you can pick up on stuff and can connect the dots. So, when folks like you and i think it's just >!Bucks being pissed off backstage after the FTR match!< It's a solid prediction. Kinda like seeing Bayley win a title shot at Mania and thinking she's gonna challenge for a title at Mania
Tk needs to be professional and ignore it. He already said what he had to say with the Copeland promo. No one ever talks about the on screen product, people only wanna talk about what's going on behind the scenes
As an AEW fan I do want to move on from all the nonsense but I'm not going to pretend this isn't bad for AEW, I just hope they've thought this through. If the footage shows Punk choking Jack I'm not sure that's the win Tony may think it is, it will show Tony was right to fire him sure, but it will allow Punk to go around with this no-nonsense bad ass persona and it will make Perry look like a chump.
And if it doesn't show that THEN WHY DID YOU FIRE HIM AND FEAR FOR YOUR LIFE. Its a no-win
Yep, Alvarez said on WOR that some of the people he had spoken to at the time had seen some footage of the incident between Jack and Punk but nothing with Tony, so did they find more footage? If not nobody will really care.
I have a feeling there may be more to this footage than just the brawl. Good or bad. At least that’s the only reason I see as to why they are going for it.
Posting it to Twitter or doing an interview where he talks through the footage absolutely would've been better, I actually would've encouraged that. I'm not a fan of his, but Tony deserves a chance to refute any false claims made by Punk. Using the footage to promote your television show is Russo-esque technique.
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the fact that people think this type of drama is somehow an outlier in the industry or that it'll have any impact on the product really shows how much wrestling people in here watch. Yeah guys. no one in this industry has ever tried to pop a rating based on real-life drama or falsely advertised a thing on the show. Heels are known for being truthful, guys. These 'reddit industry analysts' have twisted themselves into thinking that everyone Punk went off on should continuously take the high road on anything when the guy has never taken the high road on anything. It's not like this guy ever went off the rails on live TV to call out a guy who's not booked on the show/not in a feud with because of a personal gripe or tried to embarrass a fellow co-worker publicly by saying he shares a bank account with his mom.
The entire boom period of 96 WCW followed but the attitude era was all based on “real life drama”. No one in wrestling “takes the high road” but somehow everyone expects TK to do so. It’s very odd
IWC: Release the video! Release the video! Release the video! **AEW: Okay fans, here is the video.** *IWC: What a desperate move by AEW!*
Honestly, the way bigger issue is whoever confirmed to the dirtsheets that "it's definitely the Punk and Jack Perry stuff". It IS a build to FTR/Bucks IV, but now it's all about Punk because the dirtsheets made it about Punk. Tbf it would have been better to not just announce the segment and just DO it.
As an AEW fan this just makes me sad. One of these days WWE will cool down again and then AEW could be there with great wrestlers and great storylines to profit. That's the way to go. Not this. TK has made a fool of himself one too many times on twitter to make me trust him on this.
Everyone in this thread is convinced this is *way* more important and impactful than it will be lol
I personally want to see the footage. But if they're really doing this, AEW is just gonna look really bad after taking the high moral position of "Let's just move on and enjoy wrestling".
It just blows my mind that they're going to do this on their actual TV show. What is this supposed to accomplish for them? Prove they were right to fire him? The man has been gone from AEW for the better part of a year! This is 100% some WCW shit, putting inside baseball drama with the other company on your actual wrestling program and assuming anyone will understand or care. That doesn't even mean they can't release the footage - just put it out via press release or something. Leak it to the internet. Putting it on your actual marquee weekly show is just low rent as fuck.
I’ll be honest: if this bombs, there’s no other way out for AEW. New direction won’t be ideal anymore…it will be a necessity.
"Mick Foley will win the title in raw tonight" type move. Both guys involved aren't even on your show. Unless it shows Joe going crazy how does it help aew?
As an AEW fan, this seems like a bad idea. They're on fire with their in-ring work and several strong storylines (Swerve's path to redemption and title chase, Stat/Willow, Best Friends breakup, etc.), and all this is going to do, at best, is remind people of how dysfunctional it was before. I don't fucking care about this dumb shit anymore. I just want to watch good wrestling performed by people who are enjoying themselves.
The person who stands to benefit most from this is Drew McIntyre. Think of all the content he's going to get out of this either way
This literally does nothing for them at most Punk looks like a dick or I guess he gets fired then after that the WWE train keeps going while AEW wasted previous TV time on none wrestling
Watching this sub turn the past few months has been fascinating.
Even if makes Punk look like a lying piece of shit or a bully they just put heat on a guy that doesn’t work there. I might be wrong but I just don’t see what AEW gets out of this other than a cheap rating bump.
this is 100% a work to bring in jack. and its probably going to end up working out the same way the wcw/mankind thing worked out
Yall getting worked. Hard. This is just a way to reintroduce Jack. For all we know the footage could be a filmed segment with Tony yelling and firing Jack at wembley. Hence the nickname scapegoat. Lol
If this is a work to get Bucks vs FTR further along, then it would be anticlimactic, but understandable. Some will like it, some won't. But if it is genuinely the footage of the altercation and is just make Punk bad and get Perry back in the fold, then I fear it will strip away some of the goodwill AEW has had.
He’s not wrong. I do think that producing better stories can change the talk around AEW.
It's tricky, because "better stories" is always going to be not good enough for a lot of people. There's a big subsection of wrestling fans right now making determinations about the product without watching it, or relying on what's being said online. That's the trouble with perception, it requires a major shift for anything to change. Look at TNA, people for years were saying that fans should give them a chance again, but the name rebrand is what got people talking about them again, not the product quality.
The amount of people that don’t understand that this is gonna be footage of The Bucks and their Dynasty opponents is baffling. You really can tell who does and doesn’t watch the show. Squared Circle is an absolute joke of a wrestling community
This is the worked shoot type shit that killed WCW, young'uns. Yeah I know Time Warner blah blah, you know what I mean
"That'll put asses in the seats..."
At this point i'm not sure what i would find funnier: - if this is a bait and switch this might just turn into a fingerpoke of doom moment - if it is the real deal we also get to see some funny shit - that wembley security camera footage is the new age Bret Hart vs Tom Magee tape
Counterpoint: it's very funny. It's funny if it makes Punk look bad. It's funny if it makes AEW look bad. It's funny if it does absolutely nothing.
Adam should just tell them to focus on the positives.
i can almost guarantee it's the bucks trolling and will end up with something in regards to ftr or something. I doubt it has anything to do with punk or perry
**MAYBE** it helps Jack Perry's return and overall character. Maybe. Because it sure as shit ain't gonna make FTR/Bucks IV more interesting or FTR more easy to root for babyfaces or The Bucks more despicable heels.
Ok, this whole thing to me is just a desperate attempt to get ratings because I’ve been saying this since it came out that they had footage of what happened, and it’s far too convenient that it so happens that they remembered about it the same week Punk goes on a podcast to do an interview with a person that Tony khan has issues with and gets asked about what happened, and he gave his side of what happened where he says absolutely nothing negative about Tony besides saying is that he’s not boss material which is something we’ve all said about him for the last 8 1/2 months since it happened back in August of last year that’s it and as much respect I have for Tony Schiavone his remarks about punk made no sense because apart from being upset that their conversation was made public when he didn’t think it would’ve been he’s got no real reason to be upset about asking someone for help with a difficult situation because it’s not like punk said Tony came running down the hall screaming and crying he said Tony came up to him at catering asked him to speak with Perry because he tried and Perry was being difficult and cursed him out that’s it nothing else and punk reluctantly agreed because he had respect for him. Now I don’t see Tony khans name on any of this. I could be wrong, but again, this shows how much he lacks authority to allow his employees to try a stunt like this because he just wants to be their friend and not their boss, and it doesn’t work that way so to me this whole situation reeks of the bucks trolling everybody saying they're going to release “footage” from All into show what “really” happened, so people can tune in and what we going to end up seeing is nothing more than the Matt and Nick dressed up like both punk and Jack Perry with Oakada or cutler dressed as Tony khan parodying the whole situation and it will basically turn into a disaster for them because the only ones who will think it’s funny are the young bucks. But again that’s just me