strobogo

That whole promo played out exactly the same as the Eddie and MJF feuds, both of whom cut very similar promos about Punk being disliked, unwanted, and a hypocrite. It didn't even come off as some shooty shit, it seemed like it was part of a slow burn Punk heel turn.

It makes sense that the people who tried to break up the fight would get less of a suspension than the ones actually fighting. I wouldn't read too much into that particular aspect of the story. I do have to wonder how the fuck Ace wasn't immediately fired and charged after using a weapon on a co-worker/superior and biting another. Perhaps it's some corporate deal to have to go through the entire investigation process before any of that, but that shit is fucking wild.

The 80% was just The Firm

Cody had a dozen useless trainees get signed and like a 6 month vanity feud with his co-trainer. One dude not getting signed probably was no skin off his back.

The level of push that...has him losing almost every time he's on TV and PPV?

I don't know where the hate for Lethal is coming from. I'm not into the One in a Billion deal (is that dude ever going to have a match?) but Lethal has killed it in the ring every time in AEW, imo.

I've never seen a guy have his tights so cheeks out but also pulled up so high like he's 55

I really think the main issue is too much talent. NXT went through this when HHH was in full hoarding mode and it would take sometimes a year or more for even bigger name indie guys to get worked into the show, let alone unknowns and PC grads. There are only so many people that can fit into top spots at any given time.

Strongly disagree with the idea that Kenny and the Bucks need to regain the trust of the AEW audience. Punk seems 100% in the wrong in pretty much every narrative of the whole mess. Wrongly thinks Kenny and The Bucks were spreading rumors about him to Da Sheetz, spends months stewing over Hangman's promo that he could have responded to in the ring when it happened but instead waited until there was no chance Page could respond, then goes nuclear at the scrum, burying not just Page, but Kenny, the Bucks, TK, and ultimately the entire locker room and company. Then, all the stories pretty much state Punk was the one to start fighting, and Ace was the one to start biting.

Dude just hasn't colored his hair and beard

For some strange reason I bet Regal offering advice is more welcome than Punk offering advice.

Punk saying these guys haven't done anything in the business My brother in Christ, you're getting paid seven figures in the company they created

I think the most fascinating thing to me is Punk has become exactly the type of vet he hated when he was younger, and also the things he's mad about are exactly the kind of things he did when he was a younger man (shit talking co-workers, starting fights, not listening to vets he didn't want to listen to, etc.). There seems to be no introspection or self awareness at all.

Danielson is also in much better physical shape and much more athletic and hasn't been tearing muscles and shattering bones.

MJF just going back to exactly what he was doing before he left was disappointing. At best, he's just doing something very similar to what Jericho and JAS has been doing, using WWE/sports entertainment stuff for cheap heat. Felt like all the drama surrounding him was a complete waste of time for anyone to follow or get interested in. Pretty much the least interesting direction to take with that.

Fragile ego. Fragile mind. Fragile body. What a prophetic promo.

Loving Punk calling out Page on live TV knowing Page can't respond, then saying if anyone has a problem with him they can come say it to his fucking face, then goes and locks the door and won't let the people he just shit talked in.

And apparently Omega/Bucks were "absolutely not" the sources for Punk getting Cabana fired/sent to ROH, so Punk's ire wasn't even directed at the right people, which makes it even more lol. And if he got injured either in the match or in the fight, what an incredible art imitates life imitates art situation with the Moxley quote in the hype video.

Oh it made sense it was just super weird to me

Do you think they slapped the leg when they double superkicked the door

I have two theories about why Punk has a bee in his bonnet: 1. Steve Austin came back and gave Kevin Owens a WM main event that he didn't get 2. Guy had this apparently Kerry Von Erich tier foot injury and surgery, somehow comes back in 3 months with a noticeably bigger upper body and suddenly developing gyno at 43. Just saying.

Pretty sure TK took full control and stopped allowing The Elite guys to book their own stuff like 2 years ago. It's also reported that Kenny and the Bucks absolutely were not the sources for the Cabana rumors, and Kenny hadn't been around since November, so it seems hard to believe he'd be involved in leaking stuff about Punk or his impact on the locker room. It's also obviously not just those guys anyway. A lot of people seem to not get along with Hey Phil for some reason. No idea what it could be.

I didn't say he didn't bring in higher ratings, I said they leveled off fairly quickly and overall the ratings from September 2021 to September 2022 are pretty close to what they were in 2020 and even 2019. There was a clear spike for 3-4 weeks of Punk's debut and then that spike leveled off to what they were doing in the months before Punk arrived. They had Punk/Cole/Bryan all debut at the same time and the viewership spiked but didn't really grow like everyone assumed it would. I don't think AEW needs Punk. If I'm given an us or him situation between Bucks/Omega and Punk, I'm absolutely taking Kenny and the Bucks.

It's just kind of wild to see the talent openly treating him like that in front of the "wrestling media". The only guy who seemed to have respect for him as a boss was Jericho of all people.

I think getting rid of Punk would be the ideal solution, if someone is going to get fired. Ace, too, obviously. Punk seems to be the nucleus of a lot of drama with multiple groups of people and all the stuff about turbulence in the locker room really started coming out within a couple months of Punk arriving. I don't think Punk has really made much of a difference in DA RATINGS if that's the metric that is so important. They pretty much leveled off 3 weeks into his run and have mostly stayed the same weekly outside of a few extra hyped shows. I'm sure his merch is bringing in a ton of money, though. I don't think AEW needed him before and I don't think they need him now, but the arc of the story of Punk lasting exactly one year before blowing everything up is delightful. One thing for sure is that no one respects Tony Khan. Could you imagine a WWE event like that with a talent repeatedly just straight up talking over Vince and talking about how fucking stupid and useless the other top talent is, and how Vince's booking is? Even Keith Lee/Swerve and Toni Storm cut him off and said some pretty out of pocket shit to/about him/other talent/the company and he just let it go. TK needs to hire a heater to crack down. Eagerly awaiting the story 7 months from now that Punk and Ace have had a bad falling out.