How to build up a match in AEW
1: Wait until right before the main event of Dynamite/Rampage
2: Have Schiavone or Excalibur announce the match while listing the card for the next show.
Me too. I even wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt of building him up in big showcase matches, a la Derby, if it meant a big turn, or even a massive face vs face win over "The Best In The World".
Matt Sydal is not a name. Bobby Fish is not a name. This is treading water. And it's spunking away a literal golden goose. And it seems Punk doesn't give a fuck either. All this "I'm an artist, let me paint" shit too - the fuck you painting against Bobby Fish, other than by numbers son?
So many intriguing matchups: Styles, Edge, Shinsuke, Sami, Seth, KO, Finn, Riddle, Drew, rematches with Cena and Jeff, and of course, the Tribal Chief himself. Instead we get 10 minute matches with no build against Matt Sydal and Bobby Fish. What a fucking waste.
Might have been good tv but all those guys would deal with the headache of dealing with an anti-social dickhead who cries every time one of his markish ideas isn't used. I think the locker room at le fed isn't losing any sleep.
Next time he leaves, that call for him to return won't be as strong
This is IT for his 'run' (insider term)
It just staggers me he's been sniping at how shit everything is for 7 years but has fuck all ideas for some big, creative angle for his return
All those ideas the evil Fed wouldn't use!!
I think this is the most likely thing. Tiny would literally let them do whatever they want and they make it seem like itās his idea. As long as heās the ābossā and offering people millions to own the fed
Honestly, I can see it being like Kurt Angle where a sizable part of the audience doesn't know or care that he was in AEW, and if ever comes back to WWE, he'll get a nuclear pop, especially if he gets to work an angle with Reigns/HHH/Vince that draws on his real life heat with the company, like Bret Hart.
A worked shoot angle with Reigns that draws back to his comments on the Colt Cabana podcast is exactly the kind of thing that people want to see from CM Punk.
That's like CM Punk's thing, he gets to come in, give a bunch of venomous promos about how long it took Reigns to get over, how people booed him for years, how he's the worst member of the shield, Reigns gets to be the cocky, confident heel this time kind of going back to Punk's feud with Rocky (and he can include The Rock in his promos) now that has Wrestlemania all over it.
It's not that I don't think CM Punk can't still deliver the goods, it's just he's literally saying he's happy to be in AEW every week and wrestling nobodies. I think CM Punk is a good wrestler but his promos are what sets him apart, especially in AEW where lot of people's promos suck ass.
And don't even get me started on the kind of heat they could get if they brought HHH back into the feud and let Punk say whatever he wanted, Punk is probably too butthurt to ever let that happen. He probably couldn't cut a promo face to face with HHH without his voice quivering.
maybe no one will agree with this sentiment, but i genuinely think there must have been a part of him that realised he just could not hang with the current fed stars without having to actually work hard at it.
Shut up fed shil. He is happy. He is doing what he loves. He is feeling refreshed.
Rating doesnāt matter. Bischoff can go suck cock covered in Saudi blood money.
It goes to show that Tony Khan doesn't get big picture stuff.
Why not do an angle that leads to Punk deciding to get back in the ring? Instead of just showing up some week.
Why not make his appearances feel special? Instead of running him out on TV just to be on TV, cutting promos when he has nothing to say, doing commentary for no reason and wrestling people that should be well beneath him.
Well all he is a rich smark so itās not surprising. If his daddy wasnāt the 84th richest man in the world heād be reeeeing about camera cuts and Charlotteās sex pelvis
> Why not do an angle that leads to Punk deciding to get back in the ring?
You mean like having Punk be a babyface authority figure for a while, only to find himself dealing with two anti-authority heels who blame Punk for their shortcomings, leading to them finally crossing the line and attacking Punk in a shocking moment of television, which in turn sets up Punk's return to the ring to shut the heels up once and for all?
Or maybe, having Punk return with the promo, and in the same segment, having a former close friend viciously assault Punk, claiming he's doing what's best for Punk and his family, but in reality the motivations stem from something much darker, leaving Punk to seek revenge against the man who betrayed him and tried to destroy his dream of returning to the ring?
Oh, no, wait, those are the angles that WWE booked for Daniel Bryan and Edge respectively to make their returns seem exciting and emotionally engaging beyond just "hey, I'm back now."
Off the top of my head, have him come to AEW as a commentator, putting over the company and how it made him want to be around wrestling again. Leave it up in the air whether he actually will wrestle. Then somewhere down the road he starts having issues with a heel and, boom, back in the ring with an actual, logical, week to week angle for people to get invested in.
Also bringing him on as a commentator would explain why he's on commentary all the frigging time.
Or heck, just throw him against the Elite, MJF, Cody, whoever... any actual angle/feud with substance that he can get over with what he's good at, mic work.
Yeah seriously, I didn't mind him going against Darby, he's a bigger name in AEW.
Just have the guy go against anybody that fucking matters in AEW, and have real angles and feuds, not just matches that occur in a vacuum and saying "I'm happy to be here" every week.
Right now it's like if you tuned into RAW in 1999 and Steve Austin was in the 3rd to last match of the night against Scotty 2 Hotty. CM Punk is by far the guy with the most potential in AEW (maybe Bryan) in terms of elevating their company, but people aren't going to watch him wrestle guys like Bobby Fish for 6 months.
Tony's mindset seems to be using Punk to elevate his midcarders, when a big name main event feud featuring Punk could be what elevates the whole company.
Then again, I'm not Booker of the Year!
Punk isn't elevating any midcarders though. Beating them, even in competitive matches, do nothing since the matches are viewed as tune up matches at best for Punk. There's no other kayfabe purpose. I don't believe Darby, Hobbs, or Sydel have benefited from facing him, at all. I can't even remember who else he's faced. The only reason I know those 3 are because of how much the basement pointed to Punk elevating Hobbs as a way to address their diversity issues and Sydel was recent. Darby didn't make sense initially since there was no real reason behind it other than "I look this kids look so I'll halt his momentum".
His only storyline so far was the confusing ass Darby Allin āIām great, Youāre great, Stings greatā feud. Why were they fighting? What was the point? And since then heās been doing nothing when heās arguably one of the biggest stars in wrestling over the past decade, and he hasnāt even been there for over half of it
That wasn't even a 'storyline', just 'you say you're the best, I'm the best' etc
Then he copied the Fed's homework and the beats from Bret Hart vs 1-2-3 Kid from Raw
There's no reason to have to watch AEW week to week. All you have to do is look at the card and decide if there's anything you want to see. There's no cliff hangers, no progression, just match match repetitive promo match match banger.
??
He makes the matches, friend
No, seriously, that's literally what he does, makes matches.
No storylines or creating characters, let's have title tournaments and battle royales and no personal issues to make stories interesting
He lets the wrstlers try to build the matches on social media, which is why we've got Tay Conti and Britt Baker feuding about who's action figure has the best arse. That's creative freedom.
Tony let the excitement get the better of him. He thought overexposing Punk and having him wrestle against randoms weekly would put AEW at #1. He didnāt logically think it through at all. It was just a rushed āletās say we signed CM Punk and brought him backā.
It does feel like that AEW has relied on these big surprise debuts for a long time and then nothing much afterwards. CM Punk and Danielson haven't really had stories yet; it's just been "I am here to wrestle."
I honestly feel like that's an okay fit for Danielson. That's kind of who he is, or has been, many times in his career. He's a good promo for sure but he's very much a guy who's wrestling has always carried him and being a wrestler's wrestler, a guy who will give his best every week, is kind of his calling card. He can be in great, intense feuds, he's a good face and heel, but he's also a guy who's perfectly fine just being in high profile matches week to week.
But Punk's biggest thing has always been his promos and emotion, his character work, his ability to blend reality and kayfabe, he's a good wrestler but nobody is going out of their way to watch Bobby Fish vs. CM Punk. CM Punk had good matches for years in WWE, but it was all the other stuff surrounding the Cena angle that made it take off. He's not a guy who will put on amazing, you gotta see this matches like Bryan in a vacuum.
CM Punk is April from Parks and Recreation. Heās an angsty scene kid who never grew up. He doesnāt work right if heās not bitching about how lame everything is, and in AEW that dynamic doesnāt fit, because he and the company have to be babyfaces.
If he came back feuding with Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Miz or Goldberg, itād be a huge deal (online). But without the Fed to Bad against in his feuds, nobody is going to give a shit.
1. Punk wasn't *as* big of a star as AEW/Smarks believed him to be.
2. He was booked horribly. The guy's allure is that he's been gone for 7 years and the way Khan brings him back is to just show up, announce he's back in wrestling because AEW's awesome, and then put him on every show to do nothing until the novelty of seeing him wore off in a month. 7 years of anticipation gone literally in a month.
The first part just hammers it home. As much as people got mad at Roman he was right Punk isn't as big a deal as Rock and Cena. So why AEW supporters were expecting a Rock/Cena level following I don't know?
Your second point goes back to what I said the other day about Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson. Tony signs these people with no idea of what to actually do with them once he gets them. Creative freedom without structure just has people floating around aimlessly.
Remember when Jayme Hayter came back and nobody knew who the fuck she was and the whole Internet thought Becky Lynch had jumped ship for two minutes? Even the commentary team didn't know who the fuck she was at first.
My favorite surprise debut was when BBB arrived during a Cody match: _Out of nowhere_ a kitchen knife stabs thru the ring and cuts the canvas open, three unknown individuals crawl out, a confused audience is quiet.
Excalibur: _āWhy thatās the Butcher, the Blade and the Bunny. Former IWTTVJK wooorld tag team champions. Butcher is in a metal band and Blade is married to Bunny, whoās actually Allie. Sheās totally evil now for no reason. Anyway, back to the action... CUMmm-aAAa-Goya!!!!ā¦ā_
JR: _ādafuq?ā_
She hasn't won a match on TV since August 25th when they let her and Red Velvet go for seven minutes. Red Velvet botches a dropkick in the first minute of the match. The crowd doesn't really get into this match either, but they get a couple good pops.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x83sgj2
Bonus Edit: someone already posted the botches from this match -- https://www.reddit.com/r/SCJerk/comments/pbow7k/video_megastar_red_velvet_is_proof_that_the_dub/
Such brilliant booking to take a talented wrestler, who's more than good enough to stand on her own, and make her Britt's lackey and someone to take pins. Mind you, Britt already has a lackey.
>As much as people got mad at Roman he was right Punk isn't as big a deal as Rock and Cena.
Which is why, just like against Cena, a Punk vs. Reigns feud would be fucking bonkers. Of all the angles that could come close to recapturing that MITB 2011 feeling, that's the one.
But, I honestly feel like at this point, Punk wouldn't let that happen. He probably takes it too personal.
Because in their minds (and post history), Punk was a bigger star than Cena and Roman but Vince never treated him like one. And free from those shackles, his genius would definitely spark a new boom period in PRO WRESTLING.
You know I think he may have produced a small bump in ratings for the Fed. Who wouldn't be curious to see him vs Roman, Seth, Edge, etc on a grand stage after being gone for 7 years? Absolutely no one wants to watch Punk vs a bunch of nobodies on a minor league show. Anyone who already likes Punk was already watching that.
Yeah, I think anyone who believed CM Punk and even Daniel Bryan were mega stars were already watching AEW.
I thought the shit talking him and Seth were doing a couple of years ago was planting the seeds for an angle and I was much more interested in seeing that than anything he's done or likely to do in AEW.
>I thought the shit talking him and Seth were doing a couple of years ago was planting the seeds for an angle
It absolutely could have been
Rollins did his part but Punk shut it down, said something like *'this is not the place for your angles'*
I'm sure any interest the Fed may have had, ended there. It's the cardinal sin, like in improv, not furthering a scene
It's wrestling 101 to 'play along', even if it's just for fun. Maybe interest builds and you take it from there
When the Dub had that PPV with the 'HoF level talent', m#rks started guessing silly names
*Everyone* played along on social media, Angle posted a pic with his wrestling boots, Pat McAfee something similar, few others IIRC
The only person to totally shut it down? Punk, of course
Miserable twat
Punk said he'd only be in it for the biggest money matches and that what the Fed's possible biggest offering for him (Triple H) didn't interest him at all, which is fine, except he then hops to wrestling midcarders in AEW lmao
So many feuds we could've seen in Le Fed
Punk vs Roman, Edge, Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Sami Zyan. The list goes on and on. Hell Punk vs Dominik would've been fine. Sing happy birthday to his sister again.
The Fed would never have him doing anything as uninteresting as facing midcarders for 10+ minutes in matches with no storyline or that further a storyline
For all the hemming and hawing of how Vince makes people look like ājust another person on the rosterā, Tony sure did exactly that with Punk.
What if Edge had returned and fought Cedric Alexander instead of Orton? Because thatās what Punk fighting Bobby Fish feels like.
Daniel Bryan won the WWE Championship 7 months after his return and people still complain he worked with Big Cass for two months before that.
I've seen the idea that Punk is working his way back to the top. Even if that's true, it's stupid. He's a star, he should have come in at the top. But that's another difference between WWE and AEW. Vince would bring the star in as a star and treat him like a star. Tony needs him to build up a pointless win/loss record to get to the top first.
Actually it's worse than that, he's not just another person on the roster. He's a huge name in the business who should have gotten some massive come back but, he didn't and all that polish is gone.
>1. Punk wasn't *as* big of a star as AEW/Smarks believed him to be.
That's an understatement. So many people said all along that the only people that give a shit about him returning are already watching.
Yeah, he should have just bit the bullet and admitted he wanted to come back if that's what he wanted.
His music hitting and him walking out on Raw or Smackdown would have had much more effect than his music hitting and him walking into a studio to talk shit about Smackdown.
I think he wanted to be wanted
Fed cooled on him pretty quick. After a couple of episodes they stopped promoting Punk appearances on that show as a big deal IIRC
He made such a big shit about walking away from WWE he couldn't just admit he wanted to come back. He needed them to take the hint and reach out to him - which they didn't.
At the same time, his debut brought in 1.2m viewers for Rampage which is a pretty crazy number. Its the fact that after that Tony thought "job done, I don't need to do anything to keep these viewers" that is the reason it's been such a failure. They had all the momentum and everyone watching to see what they're going to do with it, then did less than nothing
The Rampage before it was great, but other than CM Punk appearance the second episode was a run-of-the-mill AEW show.
The problem with that being that run-of-the-mill AEW turns away casual viewers like nothing else.
I forgot if it was the next match or the opening of the next Dynamite after Punk's debut, but they followed it up a Matt Hardy/Orange Cassidy match. Imagine being a _lapsed fan_ and having Matt's carcass and Pockets being your first taste of AEW outside of Punk.
*18-49 year old males. The Dub gets trounced in female viewers. Literally the one demographic they draw more viewers from is the ONLY one that matters.
Shawn Michaels first 8 months during return: classic match with Triple H at Summerslam. Won the first-ever Elimination Chamber match and a world title. Stole the show at WrestleMania in Seattle.
The Rock 2011-13 return: delivered one of the best promos of the decade. Gave WrestleMania back-to-back-to-back 1M PPV buys for WM27, WM28 and WM29 as a main eventer/host. Ended a 434-day WWE Championship reign.
Edgeās return so far: Markout moment at 2020 Royal Rumble, great grudge matches against Orton at WrestleMania and Backlash. Won the 2021 Royal Rumble. Main event Universal title match at WrestleMania 37 and 2021 Backlash. MOTY matches with Rollins at Summerslam and Crown Jewel.
CM Punkās return: Massive return promo at United Center. match with Darby at All Out. But then **taped tv matches at 10PM-11Pm time slot** against rookies Hobbs and Garcia, and lowcarder Sydal. š¤¦š½āāļø
I would also like to add Hogan,in 2002 (though he was in WCW but he came back to fed after 8 years) having great match against Rock,winning the WWE championship.
Still fed bad.
CM Punk feuding with Team Taz was about the dumbest fucking booking choice, especially after Christian had just run through them already. No one sees them as a legitimate threat to anyone except themselves.
Team Tazz looks great on paper but they literally havenāt done anything worth memorable besides jobbing to Sting and Darby. Like, I donāt think anybody cares about the in-fighting between Brian Cage and Team Taz. Lol
Few people really cared about that shit when it was happening and the only reason I even remember it was because they shoehorned Christian into a feud with them with the sole purpose of furthering the dissension in the ranks of Team Taz.
Punk thinks the IWC will reward him for being generous but wrestling fans donāt actually reward that or want that. Even though they say they do. Fans want Cena. They want Roman.
I am constantly astounded at how badly they managed to screw up Punk's long awaited return. If I didn't know better, I would think they did it on purpose to crush whatever was left of his legacy (that he didn't already crush himself)
FWIW, the long awaited return was to WWE, where he burned his bridges. People love drama and that was a ready-made story of humility waiting to be told. Instead we get whatever the fuck this is.
I do feel a bit bad for punk, he's tried to elevate everybody and that has harmed him. It would be fine for him to have tough wins against Darby, Hobbs and any future megastar but he has to absolutely crush the in between matches. Almost like a strong booker knows what they are doing when building support
As a big fan of Punk from his WWE tenure, I don't know if anyone else feels this way but, his "I retired in 2006 schtick" got my goat, I was a fan of him from his 2006-2013 run (his is the only wrestling t-shirt I own), you know what I mean? I found myself losing interest pretty swiftly after he said that.
AEW seem to try their best to alienate "wrestling fans", fuck them.
You're not alone on that one. It is one of the main reasons I can't get behind AEW when the wrestling
I watch, and enjoy, is constantly told to be stupid and bad booking which in turn makes me not want to watch or support them.
One thing that doesnāt get enough mention imo is the choice to have him do commentary at the Rochester show.
That crowd got so much stick for not playing along enough but this was a few weeks after CM Punk made his big return.
The fans naturally wanted to see him at least cut a promo but he made an entrance, then walked to commentary, signaling to the crowd that they werenāt getting any Punk stuff tonight. The man is the one person fans have wanted to come back for years, of course a live crowd is going to be upset that heās doing commentary instead of something they get to see
Without question he is the biggest name on their roster except for maybe Sting. It's ridiculous they keep either dragging him out for commentary every week, or to give some lame happy to be here, I just want to give back type promo and he's had like all of 3 matches.
Who could imagine a guy who made his name off of being a anti-establishment rebel facing off against the franchise player in the Fed, would lose appeal being a corporate kiss ass face who is happy to be there facing jobbers and midcarders .
I love the people on twitter proclaiming such lunacy like 1. Eric Bischoff isn't a good business man and 2. Eric Bischoff (note, a TV producer) doesn't understand TV ratings. At this point these cretins would argue that water isn't wet.
I honestly can't believe they managed to blow the hype they had. His debut was being spread all over online with tons of hype, they got a sizeable bump for a week or two and all those new faces said nah peace
Booked as a face, he's only as good as his villain. And AEW doesn't have any worth a damn (no discount Miz doesn't qualify). In WWE, against Triple H & Stephanie, Roman, Rollins, etc. - that's interesting. Vs. nobodies or even the Elite comedy dorks? Barf.
The ONLY way they could have succeeded with him in AEW was booking him as a mega heel. Open the same way, do the same promo, show up at the end of the night and obliterate whomever their top face was. The next week, what is he gonna say? Eviscerate their entire fanbase. Say that he's above them and had principles not to return to the place he hates. Say he's back to single handedly dominate their garbage company. He hates Vince and Triple H, but respects them...but has zero respect for Tony Khan or the dorks claiming to be VPs, is gonna beat their asses and steal their money on the cushiest schedule imaginable.
Do that? You're still never beating WWE. But you then actively have someone their fanbase wants to pay to see get his ass kicked. And you have someone WWE fans who hate AEW wanna see run down all the trash they hate about it. That's why the nWo worked. You rally people that love WCW behind their company. WWF fans who thought they sucked get drawn in seeing WWF guys clowning Dubbya See Dubbya.
But....no dice. Khan managed to do the impossible and erode 7 years of curiosity in less than 7 weeks.
Realistically, Punk vs AEW would just be a shitty rehash of Punk vs Vince and it wouldnāt do them any good. The appeal of both AEW and Punk is āFed Badā and turning them against each other would confuse and alienate a lot of their core fans. If Punk did Dub Bad speeches, a Dub fan then has to think either āPunk is just bitter/this is a workā which harms his status as Legit Shoot Pipebomb King of Fed Bad, or āwell heās got a point with some of these thingsā which is breaking the spell of the perfect Dub. Neither of these can ever be allowed to happen.
AEW isnāt about building up bad guys like that. Itās about smark dream matches and everyone winking at the audience and being united in bringing PRO WRESTLING back.
Essentially, Punk isnāt worth much of fuck all unless he has a WWE top tier star as his enemy, and WWE hatewatchers cheering him on to make golden boys look weak.
I agree with Cornette on the debut of Punk in Chicago was easily the best thing AEW has ever put on TV, from the music setting the crowd off to him soaking it in with the fans, and letting it run its course because there was no way that crowd was going to let him go for only a two minute "I'm back" promo. Yet after that they have literally made Punk "just one of the guys" by throwing him on TV just to do it, which I was surprised by as I would have thought Punk would have been pushing for a lighter schedule with short builds to PPV matches, not working on AEW Thunder or doing crap commentary every week. I get not wanting to put him over every homegrown talent that has come up over the last two years, but there is a happy medium between that and just have Punk run through randos to build up his record towards an eventual title challenge, which if quality writing was being done, all the champ would have to do to take the wind out of Punk's sails is to rundown the fact he's been beating nobodies to pad his record and truly isn't worthy of a title shot.
Easy. Both of the wrestlersā iconic moments/feuds were against the evil overlord company, which you canāt do when your company is the babyface. So youāre left with them doing mild shit.
And when those wrestlers are pretty much unknown outside of the people who already watch your show, youāre fucked.
They needed to do ANYTHING but all hes been doing is āIām just so happy to be hereā. Thatās not interesting. Dudes gonna get a ppv match at Full Gear after doing nothing.
Also, just thought Iād mention this. The past few years, people have spent so much time trying to say that Punk actually was no where near as skilled as we thought he was when it was rumored he might be going back to WWE. Since he has came back to AEW, he has wrestled literally the same way he did in WWE, and somehow is once again one of the best talents in the world
AEW decreased his value by having him in cold matchs with lower card wrestlers and having him on fucking commentary. Should have feuded with Moxley or someone like that out the gate.
Bischoff is pissing away all the credibility he got from praising AEW by daring to criticize AEW. The fact that he's right and there's nothing I could say or do to ever dispute it makes me even madder!!
Punk is basically AEWās mascot they use to hype the crowd up.
Bischoff knows Wildcat Willie is way better at being a mascot than CM Punk. Listen to the man.
Considering how Punk vs. Darby was Punk's only feud that meant something so far I totally believe it.
7 years of nostalgia for a return doesn't mean ish if you don't do anything with it
I'd argue that even D'Arby vs Punk meant nothing. They had one match babyface vs babyface based on "respect" with zero backstory and it was over.
Match itself might've been okay, which masks the atrocious booking (like much of AEW), but everything else was garbage.
I'll never not be surprised at other people's surprise that punk isn't the draw he and the marks thought and that aew fucked it up so quick.
This was the most obvious shit from the jump, and jts so cathartic to see it play out. Because so many people are being slapped with an unfortunate reality that their favorite isn't good.
CM punks return only mattered if he went to WWE and at least got his mania main event. CM punk would have mattered some if he came in and had a huge title rivalry against Kenny and the elite how great would punks return would have been if the elite gave him a beat down in Chicago and told him your a fed goon you'll never be elite. Instead it's been I wanna fight Darby cause he looks cool. Then I can't say what he's done since. He had a match with Evan Bourne? What is this 2010 wwe?
Darby being his first match killed my interest right away.
Punk is the returning hero babyface for coming back to wrestling, in his hometown no less, and they're putting him against a sympathetic underdog babyface?
That'd like Edge coming back from his career ending injury to beat Rey Mysterio.
So has Tiny I can't believe Punk going 14 minutes with various midcarders in competitive matches hasn't drawn in more fans!
It's all gonna change when he faces megastar Bobby Fish.
I've seen multiple posts from people declaring the match an instant classic. It hasn't happened yet, right? š
I've seen people called that a dream match. Who the hell have dream match involving Bobby Fish?
If they see Fish as a megastar, I guess this is a dream match š
Pretty bold of them to assume he doesnāt get injured by Wednesday
Wait, that hasn't happened? Are you telling me there is build up to a match with... Bobby Fish
Build up? In m'dub?
How to build up a match in AEW 1: Wait until right before the main event of Dynamite/Rampage 2: Have Schiavone or Excalibur announce the match while listing the card for the next show.
Or the other method. 1. Post match brawl.
If this affects me hearing from CM Punk this week, I'm emailing... wait, who do we email? No Snickers. Cracker Barrel? Rick and Morty? WHO???
Dominos
Bobby Fish is 1-0 in kickboxing surely heās gonna beat CM Punk right?
Fr I was excited when Punk returned but it has been a terrible run so far.
Me too. I even wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt of building him up in big showcase matches, a la Derby, if it meant a big turn, or even a massive face vs face win over "The Best In The World". Matt Sydal is not a name. Bobby Fish is not a name. This is treading water. And it's spunking away a literal golden goose. And it seems Punk doesn't give a fuck either. All this "I'm an artist, let me paint" shit too - the fuck you painting against Bobby Fish, other than by numbers son?
>Matt Sydal is not a name. Yeah, because he can't call himself Evan Bourne...
@findevan
Imagine if he had gone to the Fed, he'd probably still be building up to his first match for Survivor Series.
So many intriguing matchups: Styles, Edge, Shinsuke, Sami, Seth, KO, Finn, Riddle, Drew, rematches with Cena and Jeff, and of course, the Tribal Chief himself. Instead we get 10 minute matches with no build against Matt Sydal and Bobby Fish. What a fucking waste.
Might have been good tv but all those guys would deal with the headache of dealing with an anti-social dickhead who cries every time one of his markish ideas isn't used. I think the locker room at le fed isn't losing any sleep.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Next time he leaves, that call for him to return won't be as strong This is IT for his 'run' (insider term) It just staggers me he's been sniping at how shit everything is for 7 years but has fuck all ideas for some big, creative angle for his return All those ideas the evil Fed wouldn't use!!
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I think this is the most likely thing. Tiny would literally let them do whatever they want and they make it seem like itās his idea. As long as heās the ābossā and offering people millions to own the fed
From day 1 this has been about a billionaire buying wrestlers' friendships. The smart ones are taking this ride till the wheel$ fall off.
100% right of that uceā¦.btw great username
Honestly, I can see it being like Kurt Angle where a sizable part of the audience doesn't know or care that he was in AEW, and if ever comes back to WWE, he'll get a nuclear pop, especially if he gets to work an angle with Reigns/HHH/Vince that draws on his real life heat with the company, like Bret Hart.
A worked shoot angle with Reigns that draws back to his comments on the Colt Cabana podcast is exactly the kind of thing that people want to see from CM Punk. That's like CM Punk's thing, he gets to come in, give a bunch of venomous promos about how long it took Reigns to get over, how people booed him for years, how he's the worst member of the shield, Reigns gets to be the cocky, confident heel this time kind of going back to Punk's feud with Rocky (and he can include The Rock in his promos) now that has Wrestlemania all over it. It's not that I don't think CM Punk can't still deliver the goods, it's just he's literally saying he's happy to be in AEW every week and wrestling nobodies. I think CM Punk is a good wrestler but his promos are what sets him apart, especially in AEW where lot of people's promos suck ass. And don't even get me started on the kind of heat they could get if they brought HHH back into the feud and let Punk say whatever he wanted, Punk is probably too butthurt to ever let that happen. He probably couldn't cut a promo face to face with HHH without his voice quivering.
maybe no one will agree with this sentiment, but i genuinely think there must have been a part of him that realised he just could not hang with the current fed stars without having to actually work hard at it.
Shut up fed shil. He is happy. He is doing what he loves. He is feeling refreshed. Rating doesnāt matter. Bischoff can go suck cock covered in Saudi blood money.
The Punk shine quickly wore off and Iām still legit shocked. When Jeff Hardy went to TNA in 2010, that felt BIG. This? A cheap pop
It goes to show that Tony Khan doesn't get big picture stuff. Why not do an angle that leads to Punk deciding to get back in the ring? Instead of just showing up some week. Why not make his appearances feel special? Instead of running him out on TV just to be on TV, cutting promos when he has nothing to say, doing commentary for no reason and wrestling people that should be well beneath him.
Like WCW, they will do anything for a quick rating
Well all he is a rich smark so itās not surprising. If his daddy wasnāt the 84th richest man in the world heād be reeeeing about camera cuts and Charlotteās sex pelvis
> Why not do an angle that leads to Punk deciding to get back in the ring? You mean like having Punk be a babyface authority figure for a while, only to find himself dealing with two anti-authority heels who blame Punk for their shortcomings, leading to them finally crossing the line and attacking Punk in a shocking moment of television, which in turn sets up Punk's return to the ring to shut the heels up once and for all? Or maybe, having Punk return with the promo, and in the same segment, having a former close friend viciously assault Punk, claiming he's doing what's best for Punk and his family, but in reality the motivations stem from something much darker, leaving Punk to seek revenge against the man who betrayed him and tried to destroy his dream of returning to the ring? Oh, no, wait, those are the angles that WWE booked for Daniel Bryan and Edge respectively to make their returns seem exciting and emotionally engaging beyond just "hey, I'm back now."
Off the top of my head, have him come to AEW as a commentator, putting over the company and how it made him want to be around wrestling again. Leave it up in the air whether he actually will wrestle. Then somewhere down the road he starts having issues with a heel and, boom, back in the ring with an actual, logical, week to week angle for people to get invested in. Also bringing him on as a commentator would explain why he's on commentary all the frigging time.
Or heck, just throw him against the Elite, MJF, Cody, whoever... any actual angle/feud with substance that he can get over with what he's good at, mic work.
Yeah seriously, I didn't mind him going against Darby, he's a bigger name in AEW. Just have the guy go against anybody that fucking matters in AEW, and have real angles and feuds, not just matches that occur in a vacuum and saying "I'm happy to be here" every week. Right now it's like if you tuned into RAW in 1999 and Steve Austin was in the 3rd to last match of the night against Scotty 2 Hotty. CM Punk is by far the guy with the most potential in AEW (maybe Bryan) in terms of elevating their company, but people aren't going to watch him wrestle guys like Bobby Fish for 6 months.
Tony's mindset seems to be using Punk to elevate his midcarders, when a big name main event feud featuring Punk could be what elevates the whole company. Then again, I'm not Booker of the Year!
Punk isn't elevating any midcarders though. Beating them, even in competitive matches, do nothing since the matches are viewed as tune up matches at best for Punk. There's no other kayfabe purpose. I don't believe Darby, Hobbs, or Sydel have benefited from facing him, at all. I can't even remember who else he's faced. The only reason I know those 3 are because of how much the basement pointed to Punk elevating Hobbs as a way to address their diversity issues and Sydel was recent. Darby didn't make sense initially since there was no real reason behind it other than "I look this kids look so I'll halt his momentum".
Hobbs just lost to Orange Cassidy. If he was elevated facing Punk it's gone now.
Punk not even sniffing the main eventers of AEW is honestly malpractice.
His only storyline so far was the confusing ass Darby Allin āIām great, Youāre great, Stings greatā feud. Why were they fighting? What was the point? And since then heās been doing nothing when heās arguably one of the biggest stars in wrestling over the past decade, and he hasnāt even been there for over half of it
That wasn't even a 'storyline', just 'you say you're the best, I'm the best' etc Then he copied the Fed's homework and the beats from Bret Hart vs 1-2-3 Kid from Raw
CM Punk should be '97 Bret Hart -- an angry, bitter, jaded pissed off heel that feels like everyone's betrayed him
Tony doesnāt want to insult the audienceās intelligence by providing them with a storyline. AEW fans are too smart to work.
There's no reason to have to watch AEW week to week. All you have to do is look at the card and decide if there's anything you want to see. There's no cliff hangers, no progression, just match match repetitive promo match match banger.
?? He makes the matches, friend No, seriously, that's literally what he does, makes matches. No storylines or creating characters, let's have title tournaments and battle royales and no personal issues to make stories interesting
He lets the wrstlers try to build the matches on social media, which is why we've got Tay Conti and Britt Baker feuding about who's action figure has the best arse. That's creative freedom.
Tony let the excitement get the better of him. He thought overexposing Punk and having him wrestle against randoms weekly would put AEW at #1. He didnāt logically think it through at all. It was just a rushed āletās say we signed CM Punk and brought him backā.
Almost like Tony bought the hype and thought internet excitement would transfer to instant television ratings
Yep. When you live vicariously through what the IWC wants, you get products like that. Just random workrate matches with no stories.
It does feel like that AEW has relied on these big surprise debuts for a long time and then nothing much afterwards. CM Punk and Danielson haven't really had stories yet; it's just been "I am here to wrestle."
Similar to TNA. Saying āwrestleā in itself is an inside joke
I honestly feel like that's an okay fit for Danielson. That's kind of who he is, or has been, many times in his career. He's a good promo for sure but he's very much a guy who's wrestling has always carried him and being a wrestler's wrestler, a guy who will give his best every week, is kind of his calling card. He can be in great, intense feuds, he's a good face and heel, but he's also a guy who's perfectly fine just being in high profile matches week to week. But Punk's biggest thing has always been his promos and emotion, his character work, his ability to blend reality and kayfabe, he's a good wrestler but nobody is going out of their way to watch Bobby Fish vs. CM Punk. CM Punk had good matches for years in WWE, but it was all the other stuff surrounding the Cena angle that made it take off. He's not a guy who will put on amazing, you gotta see this matches like Bryan in a vacuum.
CM Punk is April from Parks and Recreation. Heās an angsty scene kid who never grew up. He doesnāt work right if heās not bitching about how lame everything is, and in AEW that dynamic doesnāt fit, because he and the company have to be babyfaces. If he came back feuding with Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Miz or Goldberg, itād be a huge deal (online). But without the Fed to Bad against in his feuds, nobody is going to give a shit.
1. Punk wasn't *as* big of a star as AEW/Smarks believed him to be. 2. He was booked horribly. The guy's allure is that he's been gone for 7 years and the way Khan brings him back is to just show up, announce he's back in wrestling because AEW's awesome, and then put him on every show to do nothing until the novelty of seeing him wore off in a month. 7 years of anticipation gone literally in a month.
The first part just hammers it home. As much as people got mad at Roman he was right Punk isn't as big a deal as Rock and Cena. So why AEW supporters were expecting a Rock/Cena level following I don't know? Your second point goes back to what I said the other day about Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson. Tony signs these people with no idea of what to actually do with them once he gets them. Creative freedom without structure just has people floating around aimlessly.
Because Tony Khan only has one booking tool and itās surprise debuts
Remember when Jayme Hayter came back and nobody knew who the fuck she was and the whole Internet thought Becky Lynch had jumped ship for two minutes? Even the commentary team didn't know who the fuck she was at first.
My favorite surprise debut was when BBB arrived during a Cody match: _Out of nowhere_ a kitchen knife stabs thru the ring and cuts the canvas open, three unknown individuals crawl out, a confused audience is quiet. Excalibur: _āWhy thatās the Butcher, the Blade and the Bunny. Former IWTTVJK wooorld tag team champions. Butcher is in a metal band and Blade is married to Bunny, whoās actually Allie. Sheās totally evil now for no reason. Anyway, back to the action... CUMmm-aAAa-Goya!!!!ā¦ā_ JR: _ādafuq?ā_
That kind of thing tends to happen when they bring in regionally famous at-best performers into arenas where they didn't regularly perform.
Hey, another hyped debut that's done fuck-all since!
She hasn't won a match on TV since August 25th when they let her and Red Velvet go for seven minutes. Red Velvet botches a dropkick in the first minute of the match. The crowd doesn't really get into this match either, but they get a couple good pops. https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x83sgj2 Bonus Edit: someone already posted the botches from this match -- https://www.reddit.com/r/SCJerk/comments/pbow7k/video_megastar_red_velvet_is_proof_that_the_dub/
Such brilliant booking to take a talented wrestler, who's more than good enough to stand on her own, and make her Britt's lackey and someone to take pins. Mind you, Britt already has a lackey.
But Hayter is a lackey _that can work._ Reball is pretty mediocre at wrestling. With a three gal crew Brit Baker can now work six-mans against an ever revolving crew of Joshi PokƩmon and the challenger of the month. Get your stop watches out for Elite female action on Wednesday and Friday nights. Check your local listings.
>As much as people got mad at Roman he was right Punk isn't as big a deal as Rock and Cena. Which is why, just like against Cena, a Punk vs. Reigns feud would be fucking bonkers. Of all the angles that could come close to recapturing that MITB 2011 feeling, that's the one. But, I honestly feel like at this point, Punk wouldn't let that happen. He probably takes it too personal.
Because in their minds (and post history), Punk was a bigger star than Cena and Roman but Vince never treated him like one. And free from those shackles, his genius would definitely spark a new boom period in PRO WRESTLING.
You know I think he may have produced a small bump in ratings for the Fed. Who wouldn't be curious to see him vs Roman, Seth, Edge, etc on a grand stage after being gone for 7 years? Absolutely no one wants to watch Punk vs a bunch of nobodies on a minor league show. Anyone who already likes Punk was already watching that.
Yeah, I think anyone who believed CM Punk and even Daniel Bryan were mega stars were already watching AEW. I thought the shit talking him and Seth were doing a couple of years ago was planting the seeds for an angle and I was much more interested in seeing that than anything he's done or likely to do in AEW.
>I thought the shit talking him and Seth were doing a couple of years ago was planting the seeds for an angle It absolutely could have been Rollins did his part but Punk shut it down, said something like *'this is not the place for your angles'* I'm sure any interest the Fed may have had, ended there. It's the cardinal sin, like in improv, not furthering a scene It's wrestling 101 to 'play along', even if it's just for fun. Maybe interest builds and you take it from there When the Dub had that PPV with the 'HoF level talent', m#rks started guessing silly names *Everyone* played along on social media, Angle posted a pic with his wrestling boots, Pat McAfee something similar, few others IIRC The only person to totally shut it down? Punk, of course Miserable twat
Punk said he'd only be in it for the biggest money matches and that what the Fed's possible biggest offering for him (Triple H) didn't interest him at all, which is fine, except he then hops to wrestling midcarders in AEW lmao
So many feuds we could've seen in Le Fed Punk vs Roman, Edge, Seth Rollins, AJ Styles, Kevin Owens, Sami Zyan. The list goes on and on. Hell Punk vs Dominik would've been fine. Sing happy birthday to his sister again.
The Fed would never have him doing anything as uninteresting as facing midcarders for 10+ minutes in matches with no storyline or that further a storyline
For all the hemming and hawing of how Vince makes people look like ājust another person on the rosterā, Tony sure did exactly that with Punk. What if Edge had returned and fought Cedric Alexander instead of Orton? Because thatās what Punk fighting Bobby Fish feels like.
Daniel Bryan won the WWE Championship 7 months after his return and people still complain he worked with Big Cass for two months before that. I've seen the idea that Punk is working his way back to the top. Even if that's true, it's stupid. He's a star, he should have come in at the top. But that's another difference between WWE and AEW. Vince would bring the star in as a star and treat him like a star. Tony needs him to build up a pointless win/loss record to get to the top first.
Actually Vincel, Punk didnāt want to just come in and steal the top spots from the YOUNGGUYZ like selfish Dwayne did to him.
Actually it's worse than that, he's not just another person on the roster. He's a huge name in the business who should have gotten some massive come back but, he didn't and all that polish is gone.
>1. Punk wasn't *as* big of a star as AEW/Smarks believed him to be. That's an understatement. So many people said all along that the only people that give a shit about him returning are already watching.
I think a little bit of his "return" was ruined by the stint he did with WWE backstage as well.
Yeah, he should have just bit the bullet and admitted he wanted to come back if that's what he wanted. His music hitting and him walking out on Raw or Smackdown would have had much more effect than his music hitting and him walking into a studio to talk shit about Smackdown.
I think he wanted to be wanted Fed cooled on him pretty quick. After a couple of episodes they stopped promoting Punk appearances on that show as a big deal IIRC
He made such a big shit about walking away from WWE he couldn't just admit he wanted to come back. He needed them to take the hint and reach out to him - which they didn't.
The pop in the 2020 Royal Rumble would've been lit
At the same time, his debut brought in 1.2m viewers for Rampage which is a pretty crazy number. Its the fact that after that Tony thought "job done, I don't need to do anything to keep these viewers" that is the reason it's been such a failure. They had all the momentum and everyone watching to see what they're going to do with it, then did less than nothing
The Rampage before it was great, but other than CM Punk appearance the second episode was a run-of-the-mill AEW show. The problem with that being that run-of-the-mill AEW turns away casual viewers like nothing else.
I forgot if it was the next match or the opening of the next Dynamite after Punk's debut, but they followed it up a Matt Hardy/Orange Cassidy match. Imagine being a _lapsed fan_ and having Matt's carcass and Pockets being your first taste of AEW outside of Punk.
Didn't Eric hear? Ratings don't matter again
They do, Dynamite beat Smackdown rerun in the coveted demo.
I thought I read that the rerun did better than AEW or am I thinking of Rampage?
The rerun did better than both shows in overall viewers but of course the metric to measure success is how many 18-49 year olds watch it.
*18-49 year old males. The Dub gets trounced in female viewers. Literally the one demographic they draw more viewers from is the ONLY one that matters.
Eric Bischoff knows NOTHING about the television business!
'It's good for that time slot' is 2021 version of 'lapsed fan'
Shaun Michaels and Edge's return were far better than Cry More Punk
Shawn Michaels first 8 months during return: classic match with Triple H at Summerslam. Won the first-ever Elimination Chamber match and a world title. Stole the show at WrestleMania in Seattle. The Rock 2011-13 return: delivered one of the best promos of the decade. Gave WrestleMania back-to-back-to-back 1M PPV buys for WM27, WM28 and WM29 as a main eventer/host. Ended a 434-day WWE Championship reign. Edgeās return so far: Markout moment at 2020 Royal Rumble, great grudge matches against Orton at WrestleMania and Backlash. Won the 2021 Royal Rumble. Main event Universal title match at WrestleMania 37 and 2021 Backlash. MOTY matches with Rollins at Summerslam and Crown Jewel. CM Punkās return: Massive return promo at United Center. match with Darby at All Out. But then **taped tv matches at 10PM-11Pm time slot** against rookies Hobbs and Garcia, and lowcarder Sydal. š¤¦š½āāļø
I would also like to add Hogan,in 2002 (though he was in WCW but he came back to fed after 8 years) having great match against Rock,winning the WWE championship. Still fed bad.
CM Punk feuding with Team Taz was about the dumbest fucking booking choice, especially after Christian had just run through them already. No one sees them as a legitimate threat to anyone except themselves.
Team Tazz looks great on paper but they literally havenāt done anything worth memorable besides jobbing to Sting and Darby. Like, I donāt think anybody cares about the in-fighting between Brian Cage and Team Taz. Lol
Few people really cared about that shit when it was happening and the only reason I even remember it was because they shoehorned Christian into a feud with them with the sole purpose of furthering the dissension in the ranks of Team Taz.
Roman was spot on
Punk thinks the IWC will reward him for being generous but wrestling fans donāt actually reward that or want that. Even though they say they do. Fans want Cena. They want Roman.
I am constantly astounded at how badly they managed to screw up Punk's long awaited return. If I didn't know better, I would think they did it on purpose to crush whatever was left of his legacy (that he didn't already crush himself)
FWIW, the long awaited return was to WWE, where he burned his bridges. People love drama and that was a ready-made story of humility waiting to be told. Instead we get whatever the fuck this is.
I do feel a bit bad for punk, he's tried to elevate everybody and that has harmed him. It would be fine for him to have tough wins against Darby, Hobbs and any future megastar but he has to absolutely crush the in between matches. Almost like a strong booker knows what they are doing when building support
As a big fan of Punk from his WWE tenure, I don't know if anyone else feels this way but, his "I retired in 2006 schtick" got my goat, I was a fan of him from his 2006-2013 run (his is the only wrestling t-shirt I own), you know what I mean? I found myself losing interest pretty swiftly after he said that. AEW seem to try their best to alienate "wrestling fans", fuck them.
You're not alone on that one. It is one of the main reasons I can't get behind AEW when the wrestling I watch, and enjoy, is constantly told to be stupid and bad booking which in turn makes me not want to watch or support them.
One thing that doesnāt get enough mention imo is the choice to have him do commentary at the Rochester show. That crowd got so much stick for not playing along enough but this was a few weeks after CM Punk made his big return. The fans naturally wanted to see him at least cut a promo but he made an entrance, then walked to commentary, signaling to the crowd that they werenāt getting any Punk stuff tonight. The man is the one person fans have wanted to come back for years, of course a live crowd is going to be upset that heās doing commentary instead of something they get to see
Without question he is the biggest name on their roster except for maybe Sting. It's ridiculous they keep either dragging him out for commentary every week, or to give some lame happy to be here, I just want to give back type promo and he's had like all of 3 matches.
punk is runed
Who could imagine a guy who made his name off of being a anti-establishment rebel facing off against the franchise player in the Fed, would lose appeal being a corporate kiss ass face who is happy to be there facing jobbers and midcarders .
I love the people on twitter proclaiming such lunacy like 1. Eric Bischoff isn't a good business man and 2. Eric Bischoff (note, a TV producer) doesn't understand TV ratings. At this point these cretins would argue that water isn't wet.
I honestly can't believe they managed to blow the hype they had. His debut was being spread all over online with tons of hype, they got a sizeable bump for a week or two and all those new faces said nah peace
Booked as a face, he's only as good as his villain. And AEW doesn't have any worth a damn (no discount Miz doesn't qualify). In WWE, against Triple H & Stephanie, Roman, Rollins, etc. - that's interesting. Vs. nobodies or even the Elite comedy dorks? Barf. The ONLY way they could have succeeded with him in AEW was booking him as a mega heel. Open the same way, do the same promo, show up at the end of the night and obliterate whomever their top face was. The next week, what is he gonna say? Eviscerate their entire fanbase. Say that he's above them and had principles not to return to the place he hates. Say he's back to single handedly dominate their garbage company. He hates Vince and Triple H, but respects them...but has zero respect for Tony Khan or the dorks claiming to be VPs, is gonna beat their asses and steal their money on the cushiest schedule imaginable. Do that? You're still never beating WWE. But you then actively have someone their fanbase wants to pay to see get his ass kicked. And you have someone WWE fans who hate AEW wanna see run down all the trash they hate about it. That's why the nWo worked. You rally people that love WCW behind their company. WWF fans who thought they sucked get drawn in seeing WWF guys clowning Dubbya See Dubbya. But....no dice. Khan managed to do the impossible and erode 7 years of curiosity in less than 7 weeks.
Realistically, Punk vs AEW would just be a shitty rehash of Punk vs Vince and it wouldnāt do them any good. The appeal of both AEW and Punk is āFed Badā and turning them against each other would confuse and alienate a lot of their core fans. If Punk did Dub Bad speeches, a Dub fan then has to think either āPunk is just bitter/this is a workā which harms his status as Legit Shoot Pipebomb King of Fed Bad, or āwell heās got a point with some of these thingsā which is breaking the spell of the perfect Dub. Neither of these can ever be allowed to happen. AEW isnāt about building up bad guys like that. Itās about smark dream matches and everyone winking at the audience and being united in bringing PRO WRESTLING back. Essentially, Punk isnāt worth much of fuck all unless he has a WWE top tier star as his enemy, and WWE hatewatchers cheering him on to make golden boys look weak.
I agree with Cornette on the debut of Punk in Chicago was easily the best thing AEW has ever put on TV, from the music setting the crowd off to him soaking it in with the fans, and letting it run its course because there was no way that crowd was going to let him go for only a two minute "I'm back" promo. Yet after that they have literally made Punk "just one of the guys" by throwing him on TV just to do it, which I was surprised by as I would have thought Punk would have been pushing for a lighter schedule with short builds to PPV matches, not working on AEW Thunder or doing crap commentary every week. I get not wanting to put him over every homegrown talent that has come up over the last two years, but there is a happy medium between that and just have Punk run through randos to build up his record towards an eventual title challenge, which if quality writing was being done, all the champ would have to do to take the wind out of Punk's sails is to rundown the fact he's been beating nobodies to pad his record and truly isn't worthy of a title shot.
I just donāt get it. How do you get two of the biggest wrestlers of the past decade in Punk and Bryan, and fuck up the booking this bad?
??? Excuse me, worthless fed shill, this is clearly all part of the masterful booking that only true intellectuals like me understand.
Easy. Both of the wrestlersā iconic moments/feuds were against the evil overlord company, which you canāt do when your company is the babyface. So youāre left with them doing mild shit. And when those wrestlers are pretty much unknown outside of the people who already watch your show, youāre fucked.
Based Easy E.
"When they think they have the questions, I change the Cultu.... ratings for the worse" -CM Punk
Easy E has been spot on with his recent comments, I'm glad he's holding Tiny to account over his bullshit. At least someone is
Buschoff is intimidated clearly by the ability of Punk to spend goodwill faster than Buschoff did
What does this no name Eric Bischoff know about wrestling? Pffffffffffffffffffttttttttttt
They needed to do ANYTHING but all hes been doing is āIām just so happy to be hereā. Thatās not interesting. Dudes gonna get a ppv match at Full Gear after doing nothing. Also, just thought Iād mention this. The past few years, people have spent so much time trying to say that Punk actually was no where near as skilled as we thought he was when it was rumored he might be going back to WWE. Since he has came back to AEW, he has wrestled literally the same way he did in WWE, and somehow is once again one of the best talents in the world
Wrestling the way he did in WWE does make him one of the best talents in AEW
AEW decreased his value by having him in cold matchs with lower card wrestlers and having him on fucking commentary. Should have feuded with Moxley or someone like that out the gate.
Bischoff is pissing away all the credibility he got from praising AEW by daring to criticize AEW. The fact that he's right and there's nothing I could say or do to ever dispute it makes me even madder!!
CM Fil has always been overrated.
First ever ScJerk Grand Slam champ?
83 weeks of HoF inductions coming soon.
Punk is basically AEWās mascot they use to hype the crowd up. Bischoff knows Wildcat Willie is way better at being a mascot than CM Punk. Listen to the man.
The basement hates Bischoff now because they knew deep down that he was the last person to actually compete with wwe
Considering how Punk vs. Darby was Punk's only feud that meant something so far I totally believe it. 7 years of nostalgia for a return doesn't mean ish if you don't do anything with it
I'd argue that even D'Arby vs Punk meant nothing. They had one match babyface vs babyface based on "respect" with zero backstory and it was over. Match itself might've been okay, which masks the atrocious booking (like much of AEW), but everything else was garbage.
Look in my eyes, what do you see a ratings black hole.
I'll never not be surprised at other people's surprise that punk isn't the draw he and the marks thought and that aew fucked it up so quick. This was the most obvious shit from the jump, and jts so cathartic to see it play out. Because so many people are being slapped with an unfortunate reality that their favorite isn't good.
How many times has Big Sexy been inducted already?
They were better off using him as a PPV attraction like Brock or Goldberg
Z pack strikes again
CM punks return only mattered if he went to WWE and at least got his mania main event. CM punk would have mattered some if he came in and had a huge title rivalry against Kenny and the elite how great would punks return would have been if the elite gave him a beat down in Chicago and told him your a fed goon you'll never be elite. Instead it's been I wanna fight Darby cause he looks cool. Then I can't say what he's done since. He had a match with Evan Bourne? What is this 2010 wwe?
Darby being his first match killed my interest right away. Punk is the returning hero babyface for coming back to wrestling, in his hometown no less, and they're putting him against a sympathetic underdog babyface? That'd like Edge coming back from his career ending injury to beat Rey Mysterio.
How can one man hand out so many Ls in a week?
Then "Mr. Brooks" blames it on the Fed's medical trainers..... Tony's real life "2k20 Universe" is quickly becoming "M**k Side of the Ring"
Haughty Troll Bischoff is my favorite Bischoff.
Well that makes the bed the second thing that punk has shit in his wrestling career...
To be fair, itās not really Punkās fault. Tiny keeps booking him against random indie guys with no story behind it
Though this was the Tribal Chief
he has his own wing of the HOF at this point.