AEW - All Elite Wrestling (*Spoilers for Latest Show*)

Loughc

This is set to get very messy.

copied and pasted from another site.

CM PUNK’S PHYSICAL ALTERCATION FOLLOWING AEW ALL OUT HAS BECOME A LEGAL ISSUE (ATW)

CM Punk made his debut last year at AEW Rampage: The First Dance and instantly became one of their top stars. For a long time, it felt like a fairy tale but that is long gone now. Punk also isn’t exactly the most likeable person in the locker room right now.

During the post-AEW All Out media scrum, CM Punk went nuclear on Colt Cabana, Hangman Page, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks. It was reported that Omega and the Bucks threatened to leave AEW over Punk’s words.

CM Punk got into an altercation with The Elite and that shocked fans and wrestlers alike as well. While speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted that the entire ordeal is not a work and that legal situations are involved.

It absolutely, 100% it’s not a work. I can tell you, there’s legal people involved – a lot of legal situations involved and it can be very messy. I think that’s one of the reasons why AEW is not allowed to talk about it.

CM Punk was also called selfish and arrogant by many in WWE. There’s a lot more to this story.

Loughc

With all of the CM Punk discourse going on, Miro has taken to Twitter this morning to re-share a response to a previous Punk tweet from earlier this year, reminding everyone very simply how he feels on the matter.

Agent Coulson

Bobby Fish confirms he is now a free agent and........lol

"I'll indulge. Let's just make this a formal invitation to Phil [CM Punk]. I'm down. If that's the direction he wants to go, he can pick the time, the place, we can do it in Chicago. It can be boxing, kickboxing, MMA. We can do this bare knuckle. Whatever sounds good to Phil. He can pick the weight, the place, let's make it official. Phil, LET'S **** GOOO!"

BobDole22

AEW is a mess how in God's name did they think it was a good idea to put the strap on that narcissist Punk? There seems to be absolutely no discipline in AEW whatsoever.

Clegg

Lack of discipline has been an issue in AEW for a lot longer than Punk has been there for. This is just the most high profile falling out.

Punk is mostly at fault for this one, but I don't think The Elite come out looking good from this either. Someone has been leaking stories about him to the media and he obviously feels that it's one of them.

Punk has to go for AEWs sake. The place is a toxic environment and he's at the centre of it right now. But Tony Khan really has to rein in his wrestlers. Their conduct has been slowly worsening for years now.

Meltzer says Punk may have a serious injury following the match/Bucks confrontation. If he's truly injured, the best thing for all parties is to vacate his title, let his contract quietly expire and put the belt back on Moxley. He's one of their main event calibre wrestlers who hasn't come out of this situation looking like a total dipshit.

F.nelson

Whether it's a work or not, I'll probably watch Dynamite live so it's working.

Really enjoyed the PPV, the crowd for the acclaimed v Swerve in our glory was great. That will be a regret I'd sat not putting the belts on the acclaimed, they'll never get a crowd as hot again

Lithium93_

Best case scenario; MJF cashes his chip in early and beats Punk this week, or the following week at Grand Slam, send Punk home, get the situation smoothed over, Tony or AEW's Legal Department mete out the necessary punishments.

Ace Steel is definitely canned IF it's true he bit Kenny & threw a chair flying in Nick's general direction.

ThePott

Even if it is a work, which I don't think it is.

I am so tired of this worked-shoot nonsense. This is the company that's meant to be about 'wrestling' and they're consistently taking the audience out of the immersion wrestling creates with backstage drama and the real lives of the wrestlers. It's exhausting and for me does little to add to the story, if you can't tell an interesting rivalry without telling me, these guys actually hate each other though then you're not a good storyteller.

Like if I watched the Dark Knight for the first time and found out Bale and Ledger actually hated each other on-set. What good would that do for me? Unless it's on screen and in the performance I don't care. It's like method acting, I don't give a **** how method you went, was the performance good or not?

I know at some point, they'll maybe briefly mention backstage stuff on TV and people will immediately applaud it being some fantastic work, does that count as pay-off? Especially when it made your company look like an absolute mess. When they play some promo package and it has a headline from PWInsider or some Dave Meltzer audio clip, are we really going to get excited because we're told these people have drama which rarely played out on television?

Lithium93_

The fact that Loughc's copied & pasted post from elsewhere, mentions LEGAL ISSUE. I'd be inclined to lean towards nah, this is an absolute real **** show.

The White Wolf

Might be an unpopular take but I thought Tony did the right thing by sitting there and saying nothing while keeping as much a neutral face as he could. If he tried to quell it there by telling Punk to shut up it would have gotten ugly quick, whereas by staying quiet he's kept himself separate from the situation while he makes his decision. Had Tony spoken up in that moment Punk would have diced him making the latter look even worse. Now he can just release a statement and say this is the deal and be done with it.

Anyone who has managed difficult personalities (in our modern HR red tape filled environment) will tell you there's only one way to deal with them, and that's to let them keep talking - because eventually they'll dig their own grave.

CastorTroy

Did they hire Mark Sterling as their legal representative?

Like I said, Punk should be suspended at least. Like I had to google what Kingston was suspended for only after someone here mentioned he apologised and it wasn't even nearly as bad as this. This is a lot more public than that with bigger names involved.

Would you really trust him to go out this week and take a pin to lose the title?

J. Marston

This is the company that's meant to be about 'wrestling'

That has always meant nothing and is just a thing a certain demographic cling to for whatever reason, to appear more mature or something. They're every bit as "sports entertainment" as WWE are and have been from day one...

• Broadway musical numbers
• Boxing weigh-ins for wrestling matches
• Celebrities (Tyson, Snoop, Shaq)
• Teleportation
• Absurd gimmick matches (20 lawyers/security guards/whatever vs Wardlow, Stadium Stampede, Shark Cage, that Mimosa thing, the dentist match, Sting/Darby cinematic etc)
• Ridiculous crossovers (Rick and Morty/Ghostbusters/Space Jam)

Etcetera.

JP Liz V1

Brian Last tweeted: "The Wrestling News has learned that several AEW personnel who were in the room for the CM Punk / Elite altercation have been suspended. @SuperPodcasts"

Last added the following in a follow-up tweet: "The Wrestling News has learned that several AEW personnel who were in the room for the CM Punk / Elite altercation have been suspended."

TonySniff

AEW Stars Believe CM Punk Could Be Fired After Backstage Fight - WrestleTalk

ThePott

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119580988#Comment_119580988

Oh I agree but I don't see how even the staunchest can't see it with work/shoot stuff lately.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119580826#Comment_119580826

I can see the point in what you're saying but Tony offered no rebuttal, not defense. Had he simply said, "I think this is a discussion for after the scrum" or "That might be a controversial take, etc." There's a professional way of handling conflict in the workplace and de-escalating a situation. The idea that he should have let Punk tear into so many people who are pivotal to his company because it could get ugly is absurd.

It got ugly, far uglier because of Punk's comments. Tony is meant to be his boss and he walked all over him, calling it his company, cutting him off constantly etc. HR is a way of handling it but, considering the conflict had gotten to this point, their HR had clearly failed or never tried handling the situation or did so poorly. Managing difficult people is part of a workplace, especially so with wrestling and if Tony can't do that without letting his champion tear into his EPVs resulting in a fight, where some of them are possibly injured, then he's unfit for the job or needs to hire someone who can handle it because obviously the locker room meeting didn't work. Seriously at the end of the presser he asked CM Punk if he could have one of his drinks sheepishly and called him a sweetheart, the guy seems to be too enamoured with Punk to call him on his ****. It's time to put on the boss pants.

The White Wolf

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119581127#Comment_119581127

I think Tony did try to cut him off once or twice but guys like Punk are a nightmare, give them even a hint of defiance in public and they'll have no problem making an even bigger scene.

Tony has been praised for a lot of things over the last 3 years and rightfully so, but this is his first major obstacle. Bosses aren't always going to know what to do especially when they're relatively inexperienced and that needs to be acknowledged, all they can do is take their time before a decision is made having listened to all advice.

It's pretty sad watching all these posters on Reddit and Twitter tear into him when they should, and were I'm sure, be thanking the guy while also acknowledging there's no quick easy solution here. This hasn't really happened since Bret and Shawn and even Vince, Mr Pro Wrestling himself, botched that through inaction.

I just think it's absolutely mental the abuse that Tony's getting, and really it's more to do with how people project their own failings onto a authority figure in their lives.

riffmongous

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119580978#Comment_119580978

Swagger to be added to any title match? :pac:

TonySniff

• He received a text at 05:00, followed up by a phone call at 05:30, that suggested that Discovery wasn't happy about the situation. He originally wasn't going to talk about it, but since people keep ****-talking his journalistic skills (my words, not his), he decided to. He prefaced it as "incredibly, remarkably unconfirmed", but Punk may have received an email saying that he was expected to be fired or that led him to expect to be fired, with a meeting scheduled for 13:00. He emphasised that this was not confirmed.

Punk's gonna be gone, lads.

Agent Coulson

The general backstage environment looks fun and the food damn looks amazing.

https://twitter.com/EmiSakura_gtmv/status/1566618320148774913?s=20&t=hypMiyjtBHQnrqM08tIYTQ

Furious-Red

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119581393#Comment_119581393

Tbh he deserves to be fired no matter what and I would have any sympathy for him. He will try blame everyone bar himself for what happened but its clear he is the real issue(not that many people will be surprised)

TonySniff

• He received a text at 05:00, followed up by a phone call at 05:30, that suggested that Discovery wasn't happy about the situation. He originally wasn't going to talk about it, but since people keep ****-talking his journalistic skills (my words, not his), he decided to. He prefaced it as "incredibly, remarkably unconfirmed", but Punk may have received an email saying that he was expected to be fired or that led him to expect to be fired, with a meeting scheduled for 13:00. He emphasised that this was not confirmed.

Punk's gonna be gone, lads.

hynesie08

Punk on Cornettes podcast is going to be the greatest most libellous thing ever.

Neil3030

They'll be doing well to have this situation dealt with by tomorrow's show.

For e.g., in this piece on WrestleTalk:

Fightful also noted that there appear to be conflicted views on who started it, with a source stating Omega and Young Bucks ‘aggressively’ approached Punk’s locker room.

Which could mean an "X's word vs Y's" regarding who threw first, and what the context was.

That will require a lengthy internal review (in addition to any legal inquiry).

ThePott

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119581356#Comment_119581356

He did try and cut him off.. and then didn't and nodded along while he tore into them and complained about the media who they invited to a presser. If Tony can't speak up and defend his employees or keep them in line then what good is he?

Tony deserves a lot of praise for what AEW has done and accomplished but he's also not above criticism and people have said for a long time that he doesn't come off as a boss to his talent. We can say this is his first challenge (we've said it before) but it's also something he continually refused to nip in the bud and now it's going to cost him. Inexperience can be acknowledged but it's not an excuse. I'm not dogging him for not taking action yet on the backstage brawl (that takes time) but strictly on the press conference, he did not help his case and I have no doubt talent will see his inaction as totally placating Punk at the expense of other talent.

Vince is a POS and no one is saying he handled Bret/Shawn well but do you think for second he would have stood silently nodding while a champion tore into one of his top babyfaces and some of his top guys/executives? I don't think he would.

Nobody is saying Tony is not in a difficult position. I think it's disingenuous to say people are projecting but I digress. Especially as Tony is the authority figure and people are wanting him to take action and he didn't. That's weak, it's situation of his own making and if it had been properly handled. Keep in mind that talent meeting reportedly did not address the Punk/Hangman drama. So he didn't address the ticking time bomb* until it blew up in his face.

*I deliberately didn't say pipebomb here and I'm quite proud I did.**

** Heard someone refer to the scrum rant as the Gripebomb and it deserves more attention haha

Pentecost

They'll have to suspend Punk and the Elite and do an investigation. Then decide what's appropriate punishment.

Agent Coulson

If it turns out an employee defended themselves and an Executive Vice President of a company started an aggressive confrontation that became physical with an employee there is the only one side winning in any independent investigation.

ThePott

Regardless, I don't think anyone looked good coming out of this for the way it was handled.

Also worth noting the rumour that Punk may have torn a pec, possibly during the Mox match as opposed to the brawl but some of the press seem pretty definitive that Punk is hurt. Another interim champ?🤣

I mean if he is injured be even less surprised if the title was stripped from him and he was fired. Definitely seems like if anyone gets fired it will be Punk as opposed to the Elite. Also the possibility that Punk realising he was injured and going back on the shelf is what drove him to burn bridges.

J. Marston

No main eventers are getting suspended. Ace Steel, whoever the fùck he is, can carry the can if any of it is true.

This hasn't really happened since Bret and Shawn and even Vince, Mr Pro Wrestling himself, botched that through inaction.

Edge and Matt? Funnily enough, Matt spoke last week about how Vince handled that...

"We're sitting and the first thing Vince says, he says, ‘Adam (Edge), Matt, you know, the WWE is my company, right?’ He says, ‘You know that this event, SummerSlam, is my event that I created, right? We both go, ‘Yes.’ He says, ‘You know that I have rented this venue for the night, right? So this is basically my arena. Do you understand that?’ We go, ‘Yes.’ He said, you know, that wrestling ring out there? That is my wrestling ring. Do you understand that? He said."

"I'm going to tell you about this right now. If either one of you go out there tonight and try and take liberties with each other, if you try and intentionally hurt one another, I am the most powerful man in this industry. I promise you neither one of you will ever work a day in this industry again. Do you understand? We go, ‘Yeah, sure. We understand.'"

Agent Coulson

The newest BTE

Release the Snyder Cutler Cut

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rO1OLdsWi_4&ab_channel=BeingTheElite

Shiminay

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119581419#Comment_119581419

Getting away from all the horrible stuff for a moment, I think it's a great show of how well Emi Sakura must be loved that everyone had genuine smiles for her doing her video.

Top athletes need top food. I spent some time in the Hotel game and used to have GAA teams regularly eat in the place I worked in Mayo - always the best of ingredients and utmost attention from the chefs (along with weekly consultations from team dieticians and nutritionists). AEW is several levels above and the food service industry in the US is probably at a higher level generally than in Ireland (but their ingredients aren't as good). Some of it looked pretty mouth-watering :D