The AEW Discussion Thread

[TheRetroManiac]

2 hours ago, Rozalia1 said:

 

Considering what happened to the last guy with a podcast who hosted Punk for him to take shots at a Wrestling company and it's people... that would be quite the risk. Punk's anger comes from someone questioning his authority publicly, nothing more. The stories are out there that Punk has always tried to be a locker room leader type, but he has never managed it in WWE because there were always senior guys around who saw him as a joke thinking he had the cache to be trying that with them around. Punk back then was younger and knew better than to push the issue with said senior guys though. With AEW he sees guys like the Bucks, Hangman, Perry, so forth as nobodies who should be honoured that he is there helping them out, not questioning him. As Punk said, 'they've never done anything in the business', so who are they to think they know better than him. What Punk misses of course is that people who get those positions do so because they command respect and it is freely given. All pressing the matter as Punk has done both in AEW and also in ROH is make enemies. Him singling out Kevin Owens and attempting to humiliate him in front of the roster is why Kevin Owens hates Punk, and shocker, Owen's friends don't exactly appreciate how he was treated by Punk either.

 

'Never interfere with an enemy while he is in the process of destroying himself'. Credit to the Bucks, because they really handled Punk perfectly. While his name has been away from all of this, I'd not be shocked if Jericho advised them on that one. Punk is ever the victim and once he has you marked as an enemy you don't even need to actually do anything, as he'll jump at anything he perceives as you being behind, which just works to make him look crazy. Him looking more crazy makes more people turn against him, which in turn makes him think you're behind that too, and so the vicious circle continues until he destroys himself.

Oh, Phil Brooks is not a nice human being everybody on the planet knows that and he most likely deserved to be fired without question, but it took Tony Khan so long to do he kissed his ass so much after the media scrum he should have been gone, then, but instead he allowed him to return and perform at Wembley and left other top stars off the card so make it make sense. If you have a guy like him who is causing so much unrest in the locker room, then why keep him around if he is upsetting everybody except a few of his actual friends who will always have his back like FTR etc.

 

I agree Jericho 100% was involved in this, I'm sure you have also seen the thing going around of the panel who helped Tony Khan make this decision it was a panel of four people I cannot remember what the names were except one was Christopher Daniels and I think one might have been Jericho could be wrong on that one. Anyway, I'm sure CM Punk was top merchandise seller reported not that long ago and the fact Collision was made for him because of all these issues he has with people and now who knows how well things will turn out. Already been discussions in WWE about a return, but it's being deemed at 10% likely due to all this potential legal mess that could come with it depending on how he now responds, he is a very angry person as you know.

 

[Infected Elite]

That was a damn good strap match 

 

Didn't expect Omega to basically lose clean to Takeshita. But another good match.

 

 

Edited September 4, 2023 by Infected Elite

[Maxximum]

I'm probably late on the matter but as much as a fan I am of CM Punk, I've got to say kudos to Tony Khan for stepping up and setting this straight as the boss. It was for the best. All that backstage backlash just couldn't go on unhandled. I wonder what the way forward for AEW is, considering Punk was their biggest draw (speaking under correction here, don't come at me). 

 

On 9/3/2023 at 10:10 AM, Glorious Fury said:

Completely unrelated to Punk and on the topic of AEW, I must admit I'm coming round more to Adam Cole with his whole MJF friendship thing. I've always struggled to look past his physique, despite being talented in other areas, and could never take him seriously as a main event guy but he's been really entertaining as of late. If only he could just get in better shape!

It might come as a shocker, but Adam Cole is like an inch taller than MJF and yes I know this has nothing to do with his shape because MJF is in better shape than Adam. Anyway, I'm digging this storyline. Everyone was expecting Adam to turn heel at All In and I'm glad he didn't. Looking forward to see more of them with Roderick Strong involved as well.

[Rozalia1]

17 hours ago, TheRetroManiac said:

Oh, Phil Brooks is not a nice human being everybody on the planet knows that and he most likely deserved to be fired without question, but it took Tony Khan so long to do he kissed his ass so much after the media scrum he should have been gone, then, but instead he allowed him to return and perform at Wembley and left other top stars off the card so make it make sense. If you have a guy like him who is causing so much unrest in the locker room, then why keep him around if he is upsetting everybody except a few of his actual friends who will always have his back like FTR etc.

 

I agree Jericho 100% was involved in this, I'm sure you have also seen the thing going around of the panel who helped Tony Khan make this decision it was a panel of four people I cannot remember what the names were except one was Christopher Daniels and I think one might have been Jericho could be wrong on that one. Anyway, I'm sure CM Punk was top merchandise seller reported not that long ago and the fact Collision was made for him because of all these issues he has with people and now who knows how well things will turn out. Already been discussions in WWE about a return, but it's being deemed at 10% likely due to all this potential legal mess that could come with it depending on how he now responds, he is a very angry person as you know.

 

 

That is why he shouldn't have been hired to begin with, which may well relate to Cody leaving too. Ironically considering all that has happened, back when there was talk of CM Punk coming in the likes of the Young Bucks, on video, were all pleased and looking forward to Punk coming in. He no doubt was a hero of theirs. Cody meanwhile didn't exactly look pleased and his comment was something along the lines of 'well it would certainly be interesting if he came in yes'. Diplomatic yes, but not exactly enthused the idea. The Bucks, Omega, and the vast majority of the roster had 0 time around Punk. Cody meanwhile spent years around Punk, as a midcarder at that, and he knew the sort of character that Punk is. Not to say that Cody and Punk ever personally had problems, but Cody no doubt knew about all of the other midcarders that had suffered the wrath of Punk and that he had to be avoided. Back right before Cody left there was talk that part of the reason was he wanted more money, the type of money that Punk was getting, but I don't know. Considering how AEW has so utterly collapsed backstage after Cody left, it could well be that Cody knew this was what they were headed to and he told Khan that he could either have Cody Rhodes or he could have CM Punk, but not both. Which considering how Cody Rhodes is now the top babyface in WWE and will likely be main eventing WrestleMania for a second year running, while Punk has done all of this... what a bad choice that was by Khan if it happened that way. Something that further supports that is the issue being one of money to begin with if you think about it. Khan has been happy to upgrade the money on people's contracts no problem, but he couldn't do it for Cody Rhodes specifically? More had to be at play.

 

Who the people were is not known and is unlikely to ever be known. If I had to guess though? Jericho most certainly because beyond his wrestling role he is also got a long contract, 10 years I think, that makes him essentially management. Jericho cutting out Punk to thereby increase his own value/power within AEW is obvious. Christopher Daniels you would have to imagine would be one considering you know, head of talent relations, and I doubt Punk's little ban on him extents to even this. Megha may well be involved as she is officially the company's number 2 person right below Khan himself and she heads up legal. The 4th person is unclear to me. My first guess would be Moxley because like Jericho I believe he has been given a long contract to keep him at AEW as essentially management... but then I remembered that Orange Cassidy has had his roles expanded too, being a producer too now, and he is also Khan's favourite. Now granted, rather than these people it could have been other backstage people we don't tend to think about... who are almost universally stooges for the Bucks so... yeah. Not to say that their decision was a wrong one, but it is doubtful to me that there was any fairness in who was involved in advising if Punk should be fired or not.

 

Anyway, the media is now running a story about CM Punk, Mr. Respect the Veterans himself, accosted Regal when he came to AEW, got up in his face, told him that he didn't like him (a large club that one), and that he was stooge for HHH. The thing with this story is... I've heard it before so I was puzzled why people were suddenly acting like this was new information. Looking around it turns out that the story did come out when it happened, but not from 'trusted sources', so it was passed off by AEW fans as being newz and lies made up for clicks. After all if it was real then Meltzer and all the other notable names would have mentioned it... except that AEW unlike WWE gives them access, access they don't want to lose, and shocker that means they're compromised and will keep certain information suppressed as to not hurt AEW. 

 

As for Collision... the timing of all of this will end up an annoyance. They did like... 2 good numbers? Before settling at the 400-500k range which to me seems like they'd be unable to climb out of. Now without Punk, when the American Football ends and Collision is doing 400K something they'll be crowing about how it'd be at 700-800K if Punk was around. It would have been nicer if there was a longer period of Collision doing nothing special with Punk on it so that we'd have to see less of that nonsense. Of course, if Punk has lost fan support with his nonsense then maybe we'll see little of that. Thus far things have seemed to go AEW's way due to how recent all of this so they have a lot of people 'standing up for AEW', but we'll see how it is later when we're further away. We all know how annoying and damaging Punk fans trying to hijack shows could be in WWE, and in AEW it could well end up even nastier. 

[SelectiveGamer]

Is everyone ready for the biggest outside of wrestling storyline yet?

 

CM Punk vs Kenny Omega, Matt & Nick Jackson, "Hangman" Adam Page, Tony Khan, Bryan Alvarez & Dave Meltzer lawsuit

 

Obviously I'm kidding. I know this hasn't been announced yet... just seems inevitable

 

Good luck with that buddy 🙄

[Infected Elite]

Hope CM Punk gets his ass handed to him in a lawsuit. 

 

@Rozalia1 you write way too much every time..Very few care.

 

No group of fans at All Out tried to hijack the show with stupid CM Punk chants. I think perhaps they've finally realized their hometown "hero" is nothing more than the biggest bitch in wrestling. I hope nothing good comes for Punk in his life. Let the idiot suffer. 

Edited September 4, 2023 by Infected Elite

[Rozalia1]

18 minutes ago, SelectiveGamer said:

Is everyone ready for the biggest outside of wrestling storyline yet?

 

CM Punk vs Kenny Omega, Matt & Nick Jackson, "Hangman" Adam Page, Tony Khan, Bryan Alvarez & Dave Meltzer lawsuit

 

Obviously I'm kidding. I know this hasn't been announced yet... just seems inevitable

 

Good luck with that buddy 🙄

 

On one hand they'll have video evidence, a history of bad behaviour by Punk, and a management & roster that is largely against him. On the other hand CM Punk is CM Punk and is always the victim in his own mind. It may well happen he attempts to sue AEW yes. That isn't to say that everything is against him however. Punk for a start didn't have a contract, but two contracts. One as a wrestler and Meltzer thinks the other is as an employee. Was Punk actually management? A secret EVP? There are also the rumours from a year ago that Punk got given a part of the company by Khan. Any of those help Punk's case as it'll mean he certainly had the authority to be dictating to guys and them acting as they did back at him was them going against management. Other things that help Punk is how chaotic, even independent of him, backstage has been at AEW. Remember Andrade? Said that he was going to give Sammy a smack the next time he saw him. Khan's response was to tell Andrade that him doing that wouldn't get him fired, so don't do it. Andrade, no doubt finding it hilarious, went straight to Sammy and smacked him. Andrade is still with the company. Punk's lawyers can certainly try to argue that Khan has such little control of his roster that they're wild and as far as Punk knew, he might get attacked by Perry at any moment, especially with him being a friend of the Bucks, so he had to 'deescalate' the situation by front face locking him.

 

18 minutes ago, Infected Elite said:

Hope CM Punk gets his ass handed to him in a lawsuit. 

 

@Rozalia1 you write way too much every time..Very few care.

 

No group of fans at All Out tried to hijack the show with stupid CM Punk chants. I think perhaps they've finally realized their hometown "hero" is nothing more than the biggest bitch in wrestling. I hope nothing good comes for Punk in his life. Let the idiot suffer. 

 

I'd rather lay everything out then create a back and forth questioning me/trying to expose holes in what I said. I am well aware that posters of today prefer to do a lot of quick short spots, but that young buck style isn't for me. I'd rather put the headlock on people for 30 minutes and then drop the BIG standing elbowdrop for the finish.

 

We'll see. Punk zealots hijacking AEW shows constantly would be hilarious and fitting, considering those are the people they've cultivated, but Punk is so detestable that it would certainly be sweet if that didn't happen and he lost even his fanatical support. Either way, I hope they remain contained to AEW.

[Infected Elite]

38 minutes ago, Rozalia1 said:

 

On one hand they'll have video evidence, a history of bad behaviour by Punk, and a management & roster that is largely against him. On the other hand CM Punk is CM Punk and is always the victim in his own mind. It may well happen he attempts to sue AEW yes. That isn't to say that everything is against him however. Punk for a start didn't have a contract, but two contracts. One as a wrestler and Meltzer thinks the other is as an employee. Was Punk actually management? A secret EVP? There are also the rumours from a year ago that Punk got given a part of the company by Khan. Any of those help Punk's case as it'll mean he certainly had the authority to be dictating to guys and them acting as they did back at him was them going against management. Other things that help Punk is how chaotic, even independent of him, backstage has been at AEW. Remember Andrade? Said that he was going to give Sammy a smack the next time he saw him. Khan's response was to tell Andrade that him doing that wouldn't get him fired, so don't do it. Andrade, no doubt finding it hilarious, went straight to Sammy and smacked him. Andrade is still with the company. Punk's lawyers can certainly try to argue that Khan has such little control of his roster that they're wild and as far as Punk knew, he might get attacked by Perry at any moment, especially with him being a friend of the Bucks, so he had to 'deescalate' the situation by front face locking him.

 

 

I'd rather lay everything out then create a back and forth questioning me/trying to expose holes in what I said. I am well aware that posters of today prefer to do a lot of quick short spots, but that young buck style isn't for me. I'd rather put the headlock on people for 30 minutes and then drop the BIG standing elbowdrop for the finish.

 

We'll see. Punk zealots hijacking AEW shows constantly would be hilarious and fitting, considering those are the people they've cultivated, but Punk is so detestable that it would certainly be sweet if that didn't happen and he lost even his fanatical support. Either way, I hope they remain contained to AEW.

 

why dont you just watch wrestling to enjoy it? they all have faults. 

[Yuna4353]

1 hour ago, SelectiveGamer said:

Is everyone ready for the biggest outside of wrestling storyline yet?

 

CM Punk vs Kenny Omega, Matt & Nick Jackson, "Hangman" Adam Page, Tony Khan, Bryan Alvarez & Dave Meltzer lawsuit

 

Obviously I'm kidding. I know this hasn't been announced yet... just seems inevitable

 

Good luck with that buddy 🙄

It will be interesting when the lawsuit does happen (if ever) at this point though he would do just to say fuck you 

[Rozalia1]

51 minutes ago, Infected Elite said:

why dont you just watch wrestling to enjoy it? they all have faults. 

 

NXT is enjoyable.

 

Yes, but some faults can be overlooked/excused while others can't be, and I'll leave it at that.

[Infected Elite]

6 minutes ago, Rozalia1 said:

 

NXT is enjoyable.

 

Yes, but some faults can be overlooked/excused while others can't be, and I'll leave it at that.

 

NXT is hardly. Aside from Stratton they dont got shit. You think the cheerleaders are good? or Ava Raine who's teeth remind me of a dog with an overbite? NXT is minor league and boring.

[Maxximum]

Hot take: All Out was a better PPV than All In

[Rozalia1]

17 hours ago, Infected Elite said:

NXT is hardly. Aside from Stratton they dont got shit. You think the cheerleaders are good? or Ava Raine who's teeth remind me of a dog with an overbite? NXT is minor league and boring.

 

I disagree. We literally just had a great showing from the Creed Brothers in a Steel Cage match, which by the way didn't have escape the cage which is interesting. I don't need to go into Tony D and others who are also great. NXT is a developmental show and of course you can pick out people who aren't great. Tiffany Stratton, who you mentioned as good, botched a few things in her first match, and had the 2.0 haters saying that it showed how terrible 2.0 was. Since then Tiffany quickly developed and improved at a rapid pace and likely didn't get the title sooner because Mandy Rose was champion and both woman have the same look and are heels.

 

As for Ava Raine specifically. She has had numerous injuries, seems to have struggled with wrestling for a good while now which usually is a sign that the person will never 'get it'. Happens. On the plus side, she is still young, been alright on promos at times, and she does have size. The Schism gimmick is just likely a placeholder in NXT and they'll give her something for the main roster which will likely help cover up her weaknesses a lot better. At the end of the day she is the Rock's daughter and that can be parlayed easily into a heel gimmick if need be, with the only possible problem being that type of heel usually has a larger bodyguard and there are few options for that.

[Infected Elite]

9 hours ago, Maxximum said:

Hot take: All Out was a better PPV than All In

All In felt more like... All In 2018 lol. Whereas All Out felt like an AEW PPV. Both were good though. 

 

 

[Infected Elite]

 

 

MJF is gold

[Maxximum]

On 9/7/2023 at 5:44 AM, Infected Elite said:

 

 

MJF is gold

 

Another 20 minutes promo segment since the one with CM Punk. MJF is really on fire right now. I wonder if his next opponent is Samoa Joe or Roderick Strong but by the looks of it all I'm gonna go with Joe. Roderick Strong has been on "Adaaaaaaaaaam!" Cole's ass for a while now and that neck brace thing going on is hilarious.   

[Infected Elite]

2 hours ago, Maxximum said:

 

Another 20 minutes promo segment since the one with CM Punk. MJF is really on fire right now. I wonder if his next opponent is Samoa Joe or Roderick Strong but by the looks of it all I'm gonna go with Joe. Roderick Strong has been on "Adaaaaaaaaaam!" Cole's ass for a while now and that neck brace thing going on is hilarious.   

yeah im not sure who MJF drops it too. I still think Cole turns heel, costing them ROH tag belts to the Kingdom. Joins them. And then he beats MJF at Full Gear or Revolution. Cant see anyone else doing it really

[Rozalia1]

On 9/11/2023 at 2:51 PM, Maxximum said:

 

Another 20 minutes promo segment since the one with CM Punk. MJF is really on fire right now. I wonder if his next opponent is Samoa Joe or Roderick Strong but by the looks of it all I'm gonna go with Joe. Roderick Strong has been on "Adaaaaaaaaaam!" Cole's ass for a while now and that neck brace thing going on is hilarious.   

 

I'm pretty sure that they had Strong get put back in a neck brace shortly after he joined AEW, but to anyone who missed that Strong looks like he is still selling getting put in hospital by Damon Kemp in NXT. As such the neck brace and those times he has been in a wheelchair are extra funny to me. The below being his last appearance on NXT TV.

 

 

Edited September 13, 2023 by Rozalia1

[Glorious Fury]

Yikes, that incident with Moxley/Fenix yesterday. I didn't watch the show but checked out the segment, and it's just insanity.

 

A 5'7 Luchador hitting a unprotected piledriver dropping a 6ft+ man on his head in the first place is reckless. Then you've got that clown Knox (not the first time with him when he did nothing to protect a knocked-out member of the Dark Order for 15+ minutes, he's utterly dreadful) acting confused and then the fact Fenix hits the same move AGAIN. Luckily, Moxley isn't seriously hurt but just how this situation was dealt with is just baffling. 

 

Some sources seem to believe Moxley was concussed prior to the piledrivers from a dive (not shocked, Fenix is extremely reckless with those dives and surprised he's not hurt others) and communicated this to Knox/Fenix, and if this is true that makes this situation EVEN worse. Why is Fenix using so much offence towards his head if he knows there is a problem. Why has Knox not taken charge to protect the talent and called an audible. Absolute bush league stuff. 

[Rozalia1]

22 hours ago, Glorious Fury said:

Yikes, that incident with Moxley/Fenix yesterday. I didn't watch the show but checked out the segment, and it's just insanity.

 

A 5'7 Luchador hitting a unprotected piledriver dropping a 6ft+ man on his head in the first place is reckless. Then you've got that clown Knox (not the first time with him when he did nothing to protect a knocked-out member of the Dark Order for 15+ minutes, he's utterly dreadful) acting confused and then the fact Fenix hits the same move AGAIN. Luckily, Moxley isn't seriously hurt but just how this situation was dealt with is just baffling. 

 

Some sources seem to believe Moxley was concussed prior to the piledrivers from a dive (not shocked, Fenix is extremely reckless with those dives and surprised he's not hurt others) and communicated this to Knox/Fenix, and if this is true that makes this situation EVEN worse. Why is Fenix using so much offence towards his head if he knows there is a problem. Why has Knox not taken charge to protect the talent and called an audible. Absolute bush league stuff. 

 

When I heard I had to look it up and yeah. Right from the start with the dive Moxley was completely off. Fenix was trying to get him into the ring and Moxley was dropping as he couldn't maintain his balance. Once in the actual ring Moxley was moving incredibly sluggish to the point you could tell something was off. As the match goes on he seems to recover a bit, but then the piledriver just puts him out. Moxley then you can make out shouting for Fenix to hit the move again, which Fenix then does because who cares for someone's health (just put on a submission or just pin him again). Hard to say who exactly is at fault with the dive. On one hand Fenix did the dive, and he did it off the elevated stage they had meaning he likely did it beyond what is normal with his dive. On the other hand Moxley doesn't protect himself correctly and from what I remember rather than taking the dive head on, he takes it with his head and body twisted to the side.

 

According to 'reports' when it first happened Moxley got a minor concussion (stories now leaving out the minor part) and I don't believe for a second it was just one. He got one on the dive itself and then another on the piledriver (if not a third with the second piledriver considering many think the second was even worse than the first). Just the usual lack of care from AEW (don't think they even checked on Moxley on the dive).

[Don_Chipotle]

So Edge arrived to aew, and well, its interesting considering there are many old school wrestlers on all the brands, many are saying he will wrestle a year, maybe year and a half before retiring considering what he said back in previous interviews, but i hope we can get a new different edge from wwe, it doesnt need to be all swearing and balls to the wall persona, but something he feels as character

[Rozalia1]

28 minutes ago, Don_Chipotle said:

So Edge arrived to aew, and well, its interesting considering there are many old school wrestlers on all the brands, many are saying he will wrestle a year, maybe year and a half before retiring considering what he said back in previous interviews, but i hope we can get a new different edge from wwe, it doesnt need to be all swearing and balls to the wall persona, but something he feels as character

 

I was annoyed when I saw him saying 'he feels free' as that is such a tired trope for all these guys that go to AEW (and then often then become unhappy), but I laughed after he stated that he felt the energy like he was at his old indy shows, which essentially is calling AEW an indy. I don't see how him joining is a new era either... best I can think is this 'new era' is AEW moving beyond the Punk drama, but even then I feel it ridiculous to call it an era.

 

Anyway, I hope he has fun in AEW. Top guy like him I'm sure can wrap Khan around his finger if he wishes. I hope he has the good sense to restrict his opponents so you know, they don't drop him on his head and paralyze him... but well, I don't think the odds are good on him going easy. I'm sure he'll want to go hard to show everyone how hardcore he is. His life at the end of the day, and we're not his wife and children who'll have to deal with any consequences.

 

[TheRetroManiac]

I watch most wrestling shows and I cannot put my finger on it but Edge showing up in AEW just did not feel special at all, and I think Edge is good, and I hope he has a good run and I understand why he wanted to move on as WWE did not want him full time every week, but now he is a full time talent lets see where it goes and see how his body holds up with this crazy don't give a fuck style that AEW does. Him running towards the hard cam side just felt odd, lol, but he needs to be careful as AEW style is almost like I don't care about your health seen it on so many occasions I'm just like WTF.

 

My biggest gripe about AEW in general is the constant no sells of big moves, it really pisses me off seeing stuff like a tomb stone piledriver as a transition move among many other moves.

[Don_Chipotle]

6 hours ago, Rozalia1 said:

 

I was annoyed when I saw him saying 'he feels free' as that is such a tired trope for all these guys that go to AEW (and then often then become unhappy), but I laughed after he stated that he felt the energy like he was at his old indy shows, which essentially is calling AEW an indy. I don't see how him joining is a new era either... best I can think is this 'new era' is AEW moving beyond the Punk drama, but even then I feel it ridiculous to call it an era.

 

Anyway, I hope he has fun in AEW. Top guy like him I'm sure can wrap Khan around his finger if he wishes. I hope he has the good sense to restrict his opponents so you know, they don't drop him on his head and paralyze him... but well, I don't think the odds are good on him going easy. I'm sure he'll want to go hard to show everyone how hardcore he is. His life at the end of the day, and we're not his wife and children who'll have to deal with any consequences.

 

 

I think its very dangerous to do risky spots so often, even on regular tv shows its crazy what moves they pull sometimes, but i guess he will be under observation from those injuries back from the day and how they evolve with the AEW style of wrestling, i hope only the best for everyone and him near him.

[Infected Elite]

Just let Jay White beat Adam Copeland. Since dipshit bitch Phil ran away crying, Jay White has to go over someone else. However i do expect Jay White to beat MJF for the title in a few months.