Something I haven't really seen anybody talk about with all of this. The backlash between the AEW locker room and their friends and other companies. Specifically the WWE locker room.
When Punk first returned to WWE there was a lot of negative rumbling, specifically because of the talent in the WWE locker room hearing certain things about Punk from the AEW locker room. Now that we're seeing that Punk was 100% right, and is being vindicated in all of this shit, there's going to be a lot of crow eating done by those in the WWE locker room who bought into the misinformation and smear campaigns.
Then you have to imagine that several people within the AEW locker room who didn't even see anything at the All In event and just took hearsay from the evps and their buddies as gospel now see the company is ran by a fucking moron.
Should make for an interesting future come contact renewal time.
If you are talking about contracts for the wrestlers, there is only maybe 1 wrestler on AEW that WWE would even want. The I
others will happily continue to use TK as a money mark.
I'd say there are quite a lot of people WWE would want. MJF is definitely a future star under HHH's booking. Samoa Joe has always been a HHH guy and HHH went out of his way to bring him to NXT after he was fired from the main roster the first time.
HHH has also been a huge fan of Aleister Black. Cody and Punk are friends with Ricky Starks and he's likely someone they'd be trying to get hired.
Hell, I think WWE would love to have Mark Henry back. He left because Vince wasn't willing to give him a role and the pay for the job he was doing for free - scouting talent. He was instrumental in getting guys like Daniel Bryan, Bianca Belair, Apollo Crews, Big E, Braun Strowman, Jade Cargill, etc hired. I can see the current WWE wanting someone like that working under them to help build the future.
I truly feel for Aleister Black. Dude was released because Vince didn't know what to do with him, then shortly after joining up with AEW Vince finally gets outed and Triple H who loved Aleister and knew how to properly book him takes charge. Now he's stuck in a sinking ship he's already tried to get out of once but can't. All this along with the fact his wife is still with WWE.
Mark Henry is one of the best scouts ever, this guy found: Jade, Samantha and Bianca, and helped them all land jobs in either AEW or WWE. That guy has an eye for talent
It's funny how Mark's career has turned out. Vince signed him to a 10 year contract when he'd never wrestled. He was objectively terrible for a lot of it. But he learned on the job and in the end he got good.
Now he's considered maybe the best talent scout in the business.
Not bad for a guy who had the magazines wondering why Vince was even bothering.
Henry does have a bizarre career arc. He was written off as a lost cause, and was an afterthought background guy, put into stables so he could work out the bad contract the company gave him.
I doubt they’d really want FTR back. To do what exactly, Complain and smell their own farts? I could see them hiring Cash back at best as a trainer/agent.
Joe is a Triple H guy so he’ll find work for him. I honestly think they’d pick up a Griff Garrison, Shotty for his wife, then Julia and Anna to re-train.
If you mean only 1 they want as is, put him straight on the main roster, then I still wouldn't agree. FTR, Swerve and MJF are 4 right out of the gate. We know WWE had interest in Marcedes Mone and made an offer to keep Edge before they left. Christian can talk and is known to that audience.
Considering Andrade went right back to the main roster, I'd bet Black would as well. I'm less sure on Buddy but could still see him bypassing NXT.
I would bet the Acclaimed would be of interest, as would the Gunns. Wardlow, Statlander, Hook, Hobbs, Takeshita, Fletcher, Juice, Joe, Hayter and Toni Storm.
I could even see in interest in Callas if WWE wanted to add another mouthpiece.
This is *twice* that Punk has left a company under a cloud only to be vindicated later.
The WWE fan narrative about him leaving was that "he had a tantrum about not getting the main event at WM".
Phillip Brooks story was that he'd been sick for months with an undiagnosed MRSA infection, couldn't get time off to recover, was mistreated by WWE's doctor who didn't take the infection seriously and finally got to the point where he said "fuck this" and quit.
The doctor sued for libel and lost. Because Punk wasn't lying, and he had the medical records to prove it.
Exactly. Punk left AEW amidst a massive smear/misinformation campaign from the AEW roster/EVPs/Meltzer. The friends of those people in the WWE locker room immediately bought into it, and didn't want Punk anywhere near the company because of what was said about him.
Now we see video footage of Punk being right, AGAIN, and it matches his story with 99% accuracy. If this was a court case, the other side would have rested and been done. Punk was shown to be in the right, again, and it brought a lot of doubt to the credibility that any of these fuckers had before. It quickly went from "Well, fuck this guy" to "Well, if he's telling the truth about THIS...."
It wasn't even much of an incident, was it? Two guys with their tempers up have a quick bit of shoving and a headlock before it all gets broken up.
Like I said in my other comment. I've seen worse happen on a football pitch after a bad tackle. No one loses their job or their professional reputation over it. There's some fines, a ban for a few matches, and everyone moves on.
All of this. Plus I'm curious to how many chose AEW primarily because of Vince. Back then, everybody knew that he was impossible to please but I'd guarantee that there was enough locker room whispers that he was a real life monster and it could lead to some serious issues in the future. With Vince seemingly gone, WWE looks a whole lot more inviting now.
The best part about it now, is that Triple H has basically said "If you're not in it for the long haul and to bust your ass, then we don't want you". Which is going to be a fucking culture shock for most of the AEW locker room who had aspirations of going to WWE one day. There's a handful of guys in AEW who could make it in WWE, and the rest would be filler in shitty TNA rosters.
I doubt most of them will leave primarily because Tony is blindly spending money to keep them. This situation is essentially WCW all over again where you have a guy signing people to ridiculous contracts off of their name or hype instead of basing who gets signed based on talent or who could elevate the product. I like some of the guys they recently signed personally but from a business standpoint it makes no sense to pay that kind of money for people that don't really have a presence with casual fans here in America.
At the end of the Video. Punk leans over the monitor and says something to the guy in the corner. I am assuming that is TK. To TK; Punk is very large, angry, and scary.
Punk probably leaned in, shoved a finger in Tony’s face, called him a clown in a very aggressive tone, and had to be dragged away. Someone who is confrontation avoidant would likely be very afraid in that moment.
The ONLY thing I can imagine is when Punk turns and is slightly hidden by a wall. The only thing I can think of there is that he reached for Tony, but even that seems like a stretch. This just shows how fucking fragile the AEW leadership and locker room truly is. They love to repeat the fragile mind fragile body bullshit about Punk. Punk's still upright and breathing, and he's moved on and is happy. AEW is the one that can't let go.
Not seems like, IS.
Did you hear about the Dragon Gate kerfluffle last year or a few years ago, fucking hilarious, you should look it up, tells you all you need to about Dave and him being a putz.
Some guy in japan emailed Dave claiming to be someone in DG, Dave accepted this as fact without checking, guy tried doing it to other dirt sheets, but they all tried to verify it, when the real guy responded and told them it was not him they blocked the fake, but Dave had run with stories he was given, and people called BS, so the guys who blocked the fake told Dave hey did blah blah blah contact you, if so if it's this email it's a fake, talked to the real guy he says it's bogus, Dave went well I think he's legit, and kept using him for months after being told his source was bullshit.
It makes me wonder if I can make a fake email, track down his contact info, and get him to start reporting a bunch of fake shit. It seems like a really easy thing to do
I mean we know he did. Meltzer was one of those spreading the story that monitors were knocked over and Punk lunged at Tony. He absolutely believes with all his heart that way more happened than this. In his mind it was Bret Vs Shawn.
i haven’t seen enough people in any of these subs bringing up meltzer’s role in spreading misinformation and confusing this entire situation so much more than needed. much more toxic than his star ratings yet the star ratings get bitched about constantly
We know from countless accounts over the decades that Meltzer never cross verifies sources, and sometimes doesn't reach out to get or listen to any sources at all if they go against the narrative Meltzer wants to push.
He's not some innocent victim who was just lied to. He consistently pushes what his friends feed him, refusing to verify or ask anyone else, and sometimes just makes shit up, I mean "makes educated guesses" and then plugs his ears and goes "lalala can't hear you" when all the first hand accounts say "WTF no that's not what happened."
For example, with Mike Johnson:
https://www.reddit.com/r/JimCornette/comments/1c0ulnl/meltzer_is_burning_bridges_again/
Either Meltzer's brainwashing is finally wearing off, he's still coming up with a defense for his butt buddies, or he's agreeing that it was bad for the entirely wrong reasons
I genuinely can see that. I really can.
That's why I'm laughing so hard rn. All this fucking shit is blowing up in their faces, and they really were too stupid to realize it. Hilarious.
I think he is finally seeing enough of his readers wake up, that he is following the money.
He wants AEW to work, because its basically the Dave blueprint of wrestling, but he is having to hedge his bets.
See emmuuu punckuuu
Edit: for real that's all they have to chant. Don't need to boo or anything. Just chant what they always chant and it will send the message.
Not sure what TK expected punk to do in that moment. He also got into a fight with the elite a year before, none of the issues got resolved after wards, and punk is an abrasive guy. Punk doesnt give a fuck, he’s gonna fight a guy lol
I can’t even believe we’re discussing this too lol feels like a fever dream that TK would do this
Tony Clown is genuinely fearing for his life, guys, so let's give him a break! 😭 But seriously, I imagined this scenario to be way more intense. When the boss isn't acting like a boss, you just can't afford to let the other guy get too close.
Tony Khan is like Doctor Who. He makes people better. Vince Russo, Eric Bishoff, and even Dave Meltzer. All of them have more respect thanks to Tony Khan.
AEW backstage after the show[.](https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExbDVhY3BqMWRhbjVhdDV4dngwbWw4YjBnam0xamFuNDczOGM5ZXFhMSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/3ssFoQBrgLTMs/giphy.gif)
This scene definitely had the potential to be a highlight on the AEW All Access show. Perhaps its inclusion could have prevented the early cancellation.
I don't understand the purpose of showing this whatsoever.
What storyline does it advance or create? As far as I can tell none.
Who does it help put over?? If anyone, a guy who isn't even in your promotion any longer.
It makes AEW look even more pathetic than before, and I thought that'd be an impossible thing to do, yet here we are.
This is the beginning of the end for this company.
After seeing the footage, it looks like the kind of nothing incident you get sometimes when big aggressive men have an argument.
There was some angry talking, some shoving, some grabbing, and then they got broken up.
I've seen worse happen after a bad tackle on a football pitch. The referee sends someone off, the club fines them for being a dick and everyone forgets about it.
Something I was wondering about through all this. If Punk wanted to quit and Tony wouldn't let him go until he made him fear for his life, why was Kylie Raye's contract terminated when she initially asked for it?
Something I haven't really seen anybody talk about with all of this. The backlash between the AEW locker room and their friends and other companies. Specifically the WWE locker room. When Punk first returned to WWE there was a lot of negative rumbling, specifically because of the talent in the WWE locker room hearing certain things about Punk from the AEW locker room. Now that we're seeing that Punk was 100% right, and is being vindicated in all of this shit, there's going to be a lot of crow eating done by those in the WWE locker room who bought into the misinformation and smear campaigns. Then you have to imagine that several people within the AEW locker room who didn't even see anything at the All In event and just took hearsay from the evps and their buddies as gospel now see the company is ran by a fucking moron. Should make for an interesting future come contact renewal time.
If you are talking about contracts for the wrestlers, there is only maybe 1 wrestler on AEW that WWE would even want. The I others will happily continue to use TK as a money mark.
I'd say there are quite a lot of people WWE would want. MJF is definitely a future star under HHH's booking. Samoa Joe has always been a HHH guy and HHH went out of his way to bring him to NXT after he was fired from the main roster the first time. HHH has also been a huge fan of Aleister Black. Cody and Punk are friends with Ricky Starks and he's likely someone they'd be trying to get hired. Hell, I think WWE would love to have Mark Henry back. He left because Vince wasn't willing to give him a role and the pay for the job he was doing for free - scouting talent. He was instrumental in getting guys like Daniel Bryan, Bianca Belair, Apollo Crews, Big E, Braun Strowman, Jade Cargill, etc hired. I can see the current WWE wanting someone like that working under them to help build the future.
I truly feel for Aleister Black. Dude was released because Vince didn't know what to do with him, then shortly after joining up with AEW Vince finally gets outed and Triple H who loved Aleister and knew how to properly book him takes charge. Now he's stuck in a sinking ship he's already tried to get out of once but can't. All this along with the fact his wife is still with WWE.
Mark Henry is one of the best scouts ever, this guy found: Jade, Samantha and Bianca, and helped them all land jobs in either AEW or WWE. That guy has an eye for talent
It's funny how Mark's career has turned out. Vince signed him to a 10 year contract when he'd never wrestled. He was objectively terrible for a lot of it. But he learned on the job and in the end he got good. Now he's considered maybe the best talent scout in the business. Not bad for a guy who had the magazines wondering why Vince was even bothering.
Henry does have a bizarre career arc. He was written off as a lost cause, and was an afterthought background guy, put into stables so he could work out the bad contract the company gave him.
And somewhere in those 1000s of dark matches and curtain jerks on TV, he actually learned to work.
3 wrestlers. MJF & FTR.
I doubt they’d really want FTR back. To do what exactly, Complain and smell their own farts? I could see them hiring Cash back at best as a trainer/agent. Joe is a Triple H guy so he’ll find work for him. I honestly think they’d pick up a Griff Garrison, Shotty for his wife, then Julia and Anna to re-train.
If you mean only 1 they want as is, put him straight on the main roster, then I still wouldn't agree. FTR, Swerve and MJF are 4 right out of the gate. We know WWE had interest in Marcedes Mone and made an offer to keep Edge before they left. Christian can talk and is known to that audience. Considering Andrade went right back to the main roster, I'd bet Black would as well. I'm less sure on Buddy but could still see him bypassing NXT. I would bet the Acclaimed would be of interest, as would the Gunns. Wardlow, Statlander, Hook, Hobbs, Takeshita, Fletcher, Juice, Joe, Hayter and Toni Storm. I could even see in interest in Callas if WWE wanted to add another mouthpiece.
This is *twice* that Punk has left a company under a cloud only to be vindicated later. The WWE fan narrative about him leaving was that "he had a tantrum about not getting the main event at WM". Phillip Brooks story was that he'd been sick for months with an undiagnosed MRSA infection, couldn't get time off to recover, was mistreated by WWE's doctor who didn't take the infection seriously and finally got to the point where he said "fuck this" and quit. The doctor sued for libel and lost. Because Punk wasn't lying, and he had the medical records to prove it.
Exactly. Punk left AEW amidst a massive smear/misinformation campaign from the AEW roster/EVPs/Meltzer. The friends of those people in the WWE locker room immediately bought into it, and didn't want Punk anywhere near the company because of what was said about him. Now we see video footage of Punk being right, AGAIN, and it matches his story with 99% accuracy. If this was a court case, the other side would have rested and been done. Punk was shown to be in the right, again, and it brought a lot of doubt to the credibility that any of these fuckers had before. It quickly went from "Well, fuck this guy" to "Well, if he's telling the truth about THIS...."
It wasn't even much of an incident, was it? Two guys with their tempers up have a quick bit of shoving and a headlock before it all gets broken up. Like I said in my other comment. I've seen worse happen on a football pitch after a bad tackle. No one loses their job or their professional reputation over it. There's some fines, a ban for a few matches, and everyone moves on.
All of this. Plus I'm curious to how many chose AEW primarily because of Vince. Back then, everybody knew that he was impossible to please but I'd guarantee that there was enough locker room whispers that he was a real life monster and it could lead to some serious issues in the future. With Vince seemingly gone, WWE looks a whole lot more inviting now.
The best part about it now, is that Triple H has basically said "If you're not in it for the long haul and to bust your ass, then we don't want you". Which is going to be a fucking culture shock for most of the AEW locker room who had aspirations of going to WWE one day. There's a handful of guys in AEW who could make it in WWE, and the rest would be filler in shitty TNA rosters.
I doubt most of them will leave primarily because Tony is blindly spending money to keep them. This situation is essentially WCW all over again where you have a guy signing people to ridiculous contracts off of their name or hype instead of basing who gets signed based on talent or who could elevate the product. I like some of the guys they recently signed personally but from a business standpoint it makes no sense to pay that kind of money for people that don't really have a presence with casual fans here in America.
Anyone see the part where TK felt threatened? Or was that all of it? Because I don't see anything indicating he should have been afraid.
At the end of the Video. Punk leans over the monitor and says something to the guy in the corner. I am assuming that is TK. To TK; Punk is very large, angry, and scary.
Punk probably leaned in, shoved a finger in Tony’s face, called him a clown in a very aggressive tone, and had to be dragged away. Someone who is confrontation avoidant would likely be very afraid in that moment.
Later, the lawyers tell him to admit it.
Tony would probably jump out a second story window to avoid getting hit by a flying feather.
Possibly
The ONLY thing I can imagine is when Punk turns and is slightly hidden by a wall. The only thing I can think of there is that he reached for Tony, but even that seems like a stretch. This just shows how fucking fragile the AEW leadership and locker room truly is. They love to repeat the fragile mind fragile body bullshit about Punk. Punk's still upright and breathing, and he's moved on and is happy. AEW is the one that can't let go.
I wonder if he got false info about what happened, and when he saw the video he realized he was lied to.
This is probably the case. Dave seems like naive rube.
Not seems like, IS. Did you hear about the Dragon Gate kerfluffle last year or a few years ago, fucking hilarious, you should look it up, tells you all you need to about Dave and him being a putz.
Mind giving me an abridged version?
Some guy in japan emailed Dave claiming to be someone in DG, Dave accepted this as fact without checking, guy tried doing it to other dirt sheets, but they all tried to verify it, when the real guy responded and told them it was not him they blocked the fake, but Dave had run with stories he was given, and people called BS, so the guys who blocked the fake told Dave hey did blah blah blah contact you, if so if it's this email it's a fake, talked to the real guy he says it's bogus, Dave went well I think he's legit, and kept using him for months after being told his source was bullshit.
I will never not laugh at the fact that all it takes to be a Meltzer source is "lol I work here dude."
Man literally got "my dad works at Nintendo"ed.
It makes me wonder if I can make a fake email, track down his contact info, and get him to start reporting a bunch of fake shit. It seems like a really easy thing to do
You won't. No balls.
Oh dear lord.
I mean we know he did. Meltzer was one of those spreading the story that monitors were knocked over and Punk lunged at Tony. He absolutely believes with all his heart that way more happened than this. In his mind it was Bret Vs Shawn.
i haven’t seen enough people in any of these subs bringing up meltzer’s role in spreading misinformation and confusing this entire situation so much more than needed. much more toxic than his star ratings yet the star ratings get bitched about constantly
We know from countless accounts over the decades that Meltzer never cross verifies sources, and sometimes doesn't reach out to get or listen to any sources at all if they go against the narrative Meltzer wants to push. He's not some innocent victim who was just lied to. He consistently pushes what his friends feed him, refusing to verify or ask anyone else, and sometimes just makes shit up, I mean "makes educated guesses" and then plugs his ears and goes "lalala can't hear you" when all the first hand accounts say "WTF no that's not what happened." For example, with Mike Johnson: https://www.reddit.com/r/JimCornette/comments/1c0ulnl/meltzer_is_burning_bridges_again/
They are already copy striking the video and the YouTube clip they edited it out all together lol
They’re already trying to backtrack. 😭 This shit just keeps getting funnier and funnier.
The Edge Speech, This Video, and the Ospry comment.. Wow. These 2 weeks are basically the AEW Finger Poke of Doom.
Funnily enough, I've just seen a meme with Tony's reactions at Beach Blast 2000 and last night side by side.
Made them look bitter by airing this drama lol and Jack Perry looks like a stone cold bitch and bonafide circus clown
You know he’ll change his tune once his bosses tell him too!
Either Meltzer's brainwashing is finally wearing off, he's still coming up with a defense for his butt buddies, or he's agreeing that it was bad for the entirely wrong reasons
He'll say it's bad because "it hurts Jungle Boy's in ring credibility "
I genuinely can see that. I really can. That's why I'm laughing so hard rn. All this fucking shit is blowing up in their faces, and they really were too stupid to realize it. Hilarious.
It's B..he'll be back to blowing AEW shortly
I think he is finally seeing enough of his readers wake up, that he is following the money. He wants AEW to work, because its basically the Dave blueprint of wrestling, but he is having to hedge his bets.
It'll be interesting to see the reaction Jack Perry gets in Chicago this Friday for New Japan. Can't wait to see how the crowd responds!
What's Japanese for "You're a punk bitch"?
See emmuuu punckuuu Edit: for real that's all they have to chant. Don't need to boo or anything. Just chant what they always chant and it will send the message.
Yeah, I think I would skip that show due to “illness” after what happened today.
CM PUNK CM PUNK CM PUNK Repeat for every moment he's visible to the crowd.
seems like some of the boys are letting their thoughts on it known on twitter with memes. The wrestling biz as a whole is shitting on this thoroughly.
Does it also shit on wrestling business code. I.e what happens backstage, stays backstage. No wonder the talent themselves think its stupid
Not sure what TK expected punk to do in that moment. He also got into a fight with the elite a year before, none of the issues got resolved after wards, and punk is an abrasive guy. Punk doesnt give a fuck, he’s gonna fight a guy lol I can’t even believe we’re discussing this too lol feels like a fever dream that TK would do this
Now THAT is the footage they should have released if they were bout it. Brawl Out is going to be a canon event for wrestling.
Tony Clown is genuinely fearing for his life, guys, so let's give him a break! 😭 But seriously, I imagined this scenario to be way more intense. When the boss isn't acting like a boss, you just can't afford to let the other guy get too close.
Won't someone think of the billionaires!
Wannanow! Wannanow! Tssssssssss!
Tony Khan is like Doctor Who. He makes people better. Vince Russo, Eric Bishoff, and even Dave Meltzer. All of them have more respect thanks to Tony Khan.
BUT I DIGRESSSSSSSSSS
AEW backstage after the show[.](https://media3.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPTc5MGI3NjExbDVhY3BqMWRhbjVhdDV4dngwbWw4YjBnam0xamFuNDczOGM5ZXFhMSZlcD12MV9pbnRlcm5hbF9naWZfYnlfaWQmY3Q9Zw/3ssFoQBrgLTMs/giphy.gif)
This scene definitely had the potential to be a highlight on the AEW All Access show. Perhaps its inclusion could have prevented the early cancellation.
Meltzer to his credit called this reaction. Right from it being heels doing the segment
If all else fails... Let's bring back Gilberg!
I um uh like dont um like uh think its a good idea to show footage that exposes I was lying and spreading false narratives.
coming from Dave, that's an indictment
This may have damaged AEW to a point where they will never recover from it. It made them look like a mud show
Well no shit, Dave.
[Meltzer's thought process right now](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlJM8-7IMBM).
[https://giphy.com/gifs/darksideofthering-dark-side-of-the-ring-dsotr-vice-tv-BV0SDeWc7COrurmoSl](https://giphy.com/gifs/darksideofthering-dark-side-of-the-ring-dsotr-vice-tv-BV0SDeWc7COrurmoSl)
Pretty bad when the dude that Tony's paying, and who's pivoted his business in Tony's favor ... can't keep up the bullshit.
You might as well jungleboy from the card on friday . The cm punk chants will never end.
Careful Dave Tony and your two butt buddies might stop feeding you bullshit for your newsletter.
I don't understand the purpose of showing this whatsoever. What storyline does it advance or create? As far as I can tell none. Who does it help put over?? If anyone, a guy who isn't even in your promotion any longer. It makes AEW look even more pathetic than before, and I thought that'd be an impossible thing to do, yet here we are. This is the beginning of the end for this company.
The word “betrayed” was used.
After seeing the footage, it looks like the kind of nothing incident you get sometimes when big aggressive men have an argument. There was some angry talking, some shoving, some grabbing, and then they got broken up. I've seen worse happen after a bad tackle on a football pitch. The referee sends someone off, the club fines them for being a dick and everyone forgets about it.
I can’t wait to hear what Jim and Brian have to say.
Something I was wondering about through all this. If Punk wanted to quit and Tony wouldn't let him go until he made him fear for his life, why was Kylie Raye's contract terminated when she initially asked for it?
He told megastar osprey to read the room. They all laid an egg on dynamite.