Timbo Slice

The quick response to this is that Punk represents a completely different ideal than what AEW was before him, and it’s being used as a cudgel against him due to how much it has changed the product to revolve around him in a lot of ways. The narratives around his character does him no favors, either, but at the same time, AEW’s fanbase is fickle at large with issues like this. It’s why Page’s angle with Punk was about “protecting AEW.” It was a turnaround against Punk from his WWE days when he was in Page’s shoes. Tony knows this stuff and it’s what he thinks is going to make him money.

I understand why people want to distill Tony’s comment down to a singular issue but there’s so much that goes into why that presentation isn’t as equitable as it should. Tony cites numbers as his driving force, but when given the opportunity, the women who have gotten run have, outside of a short time with Britt, not done well with it. And I’m not talking about the subjective nature of their work or their character or what have you. It hasn’t drawn folks in for the most part. Stephanie’s Women’s Revolution (TM NXT/WWE, all rights reserved) was a combination of not only being given the time, but making the most of it. People were ready for the women to shine, and the character work got folks invested to the point when, on NXT’s biggest stage at that point, Sasha and Bayley made them and the other women undeniable. Britt cooled down significantly after frankly being overexposed (playing the same insider note over and over again does her no favors) and Rosa had heat when they crossed paths. But once given the chance, Rosa couldn’t hold viewers herself. Jade has had some decent pings, but her booking has been scattershot as time constraints for the other talent Tony has brought in (yes, namely men) have gotten more shine. It’s not just one thing or the other. Toni should get the title on Sunday and it’s not going to be A Big Deal because as good as she is in ring, she’s not really compelling. Lest we also forget what happened with Ruby Soho once she was given her opportunities, which was sad given what we had seen with her previously. Becky’s moment went viral because she got an uncommon situation presented to her and she went enough off the beaten path that folks took notice. Rosa and Britt did something similar with their street fight, but everything fell apart once the follow through actually happened. AEW does give women some of those opportunities (but not enough of them), and that has to do with a bloated roster, Tony’s penchant for not using same talent every week, and women with weak character development overall. Tony has too many toys at his disposal to know what to do best with many of them, and it’s making many parts of the roster seem like afterthoughts.

Again. Don’t think the work is in question. The path to get there certainly is. Compelling stories do matter, though, and the drama surrounding the company has been more compelling than the stuff once the curtain opens. They have to find their balance again.

Also, did you know there’s a PPV on Sunday? Without a main event announced? Wild.

Just keeping the streak going.

Brother Tony booking with the attention span of a damn gnat.

Jimmy G handsomed himself into a guaranteed backup deal, the guy is an absolute legend.

It’s funny how abundantly clear it is that preconceptions drive how people respond to stories like Goldberg/Jericho. I also don’t really give a fuck about it because it’s really a non-story, but that being a microcosm of how folks are responding to the AEW stuff is pitch perfect.

Defector wrote an article insinuating the rematch is gonna happen in Chicago but that would be strange for it to be a 10-day turnaround on something like that.

Picking between Rosa and Ivelisse in an Unprofessional-Off is the Spider-Man Meme.

If there’s anything Lanza is good at? It’s speculation… It’s getting to be too much now. You can’t be working the sheets all the time. Come out and address shit like this. Otherwise it gets worse.

Got too cute with the sad Punk promo but the effort was there.

Not evil shenanigans. AEW’s shenanigans are more cheeky and fun.

I again am going to reiterate that ALL AEW-based reported drama is amplified much higher than it actually is due to the news information flow out of that company. Even the stuff Trevor mentioned, while sourced, is more about how the information was presented than the information itself. MJF wanting more money is akin to the Kevin Durant NBA drama, where he tried to pull a power move, realized the market isn’t what he hoped it would be, and then once the emotions died down, an agreement will be done. Same thing with the locker room machinations with Punk and the like; Josh Donaldson used a racially-charged comment at a Black player in Tim Anderson, and his team didn’t back him up. And Donaldson has cratered as a player since then. When a locker room doesn’t back someone who does something they perceive to be stupid, it’s up to the locker room to respond to that as opposed to trying to chirp about it to the first writer who will listen to him. I don’t really care about who hates who or who has the gossip about whoever; if they can go out and work together, then so be it. So much of what has been reported has been backed up with pre-conceived notions about guys because it’s what draws eyeballs; there are absolutely things wrong with the company, but the focus is on the wrong things because they’re noteworthy but not necessarily important.

I also think the reason why this is such a big deal is because the dirt sheets have ALWAYS made gossip like this seem like a BIG deal. It’s the part of the business I’ve never really been a fan of; spend five minutes in any sports locker room and the amount of strife/differing opinions is palpable. It’s just that to be able to make it a big deal is part of the business more than anything else, when most of the time, it’s the boys laughing at how serious the coverage is. It’s a sliding scale; there are definitely issues with how Tony is handling this, but I also think it’s made to be almost too big a deal by design.

The slump is a self-own, though. There’s a reason why the Khans aren’t exactly heralded business heads with the Jags/Fulham. You have to know how to not just get into the game, but have sustained success. The free roll is long gone; time you show you actually know how to work through even minor adversity.

That’s literally been the case since the Page article though, and has been my point with all this; to go with ANY article that has come out since then as gospel, which people are basically jumping to do so they can have first right of saying, “Told ya!” is bullshit high school-level discourse. Gossip mongering at its worst. Why this entire enterprise of reporting has been bullshit.

Just means one of Meltzer’s sources has a bone to pick more than likely and is feeding him negativity.

He’s also worn down already. At this point, he needs to go the Tanahashi route and have someone step up to meet him, which isn’t in the cards right now.

I think New Japan’s best shot at a native HW star is to overpay for Takeshita but who knows at this point.

The other answer to the questions that people keep asking regarding Punk is that this has always been his idea of pro wrestling, and just like other aspects of it, there’s a good way to do it and the bad. And right now, it’s leaning bad because Punk isn’t seen as an underdog, which was his whole thing for the entirety of his WWE run. Now he’s establishment, and he can’t paint himself as an underdog anymore. That’s what makes me think of this more as a work than anything; there’s too much of this at play to make me think anything else

I also think a lot of this shit is getting fed to the sheets for clicks more than anything. Page’s grievances notwithstanding, I think Tony bears the brunt of what happened with Page more than anyone. And Punk just happened to be the catalyst for the aftermath. It also hinges on two pre-disposed ideas about both guys, which is easy to extrapolate into things that draw clicks.

Yeah, it’s more the character and the direction that are the problems here. Page also hasn’t grown up in an environment where he’s had to really listen to his “elders” before: Omega is the closest and their views on pro wrestling are extremely similar. So my guess is more of him thinking of guys like Punk as a wrestling “boomer.”

I think there’s this weird tendency for guys in AEW to quasi-shoot because they like the idea of adding realism to promos, but then they actually don’t follow through on booking. Just having a bunch of zingers does not a program make.

COVID cases are at an all time high in Japan, hitting 300k currently active in the last few days. Have to imagine that, along with some of the changes that have happened, are affecting it.