The Thread Killer

If Triple H does put Gargano over Roman, that should be considered proof positive that he is essentially trying to murder his father-in-law from a distance, by intentionally giving him a brain aneurysm or stroke.

Good Lord. Since his contract expired, it looks like Bobby Fish has made it his mission in life to give an interview to literally anyone who wants it, in which he relentlessly buries CM Punk for an ever expanding variety of reasons, praises The Young Bucks, (and Triple H, of course) and takes a series of increasingly less subtle digs at AEW and Tony Khan for daring to decide Bobby Fish wasn’t worth re-signing. I have seen at least four different interviews he has given over the past few days with these themes, being reported all over. This dude is starting to come off as an unhinged jackass.

Apparently they just re-signed him. So Jericho claims, at least. *Insert double facepalm gif*

I’m all for Danielson/MJF at Full Gear. That would probably involve BCC mixing it up with Stokely’s new stable in the lead up as well. It could be a good program.

That was precisely my feeling. It was perfect, why change it? Just because they want to own the guy’s name, it’s so stupid.

I probably wouldn’t have a problem with them giving him a new name if the name they ended up giving him wasn’t so stupid. I am not one of those people that automatically hates the new names that they give people. I thought Aleister Black was a huge improvement over Tommy End. I think Damien Priest is better than Punishment Martinez. But “Bron Breakker?” C’mon.

I really hope that now that Vince is gone, Bron can go back to being Rex Steiner. I know it seems like a stupid detail, but that name Bron Breakker really doesn’t work for me as a top guy, it’s so stupid.

I don’t get it either. Aside from his size (which might be a problem for some, but it isn’t for me, and it definitely isn’t for the AEW audience) I don’t see any argument against pulling the trigger on Darby Allin and making him one of your top guys and a solidified Main Eventer. I guess if you want to levy one other possible criticism against him, it could be that his high risk style is going to make him prone to injuries or he’s risky to make that kind of investment in? But the thing is…AEW’s highest paid, top guy right now can’t seem to sneeze without injuring himself and ending up on the shelf for an extended period of time…so that doesn’t really hold water either. The whole working with/teaming up with Darby and Sting has been fun and everything, and has created some great moments for sure…but let’s be honest. In the larger scheme of things, they haven’t really done anything “big” with Darby recently. He’s just kind of treading water. The occasional feud or big tag match, and then back to the same old stuff. He’s had some big matches against guys like Punk and MJF but he usually loses those. I’m not convinced he would have scored the pin on Black at the PPV if Malakai wasn’t on his way out the door. I know there are guys who can get over and stay over without winning a lot of matches, but that can also be overdone. Eventually there are some guys who I think if they lose enough big matches, the fans just end up assuming they are not a top guy after all. I would hate to see that tag get hung on Darby Allin. He is one of the guys who you can honestly point at and say he is an AEW original, not just another WWE release they picked up. He’s obviously extremely popular, especially with kids, which is huge and I don’t think AEW has done anything near as much as they could have to exploit that. He’s got personality and charisma. He’s not a great promo, but he’s passable and those little vignettes he films are a great way of communicating without the standard point n’ shout Pro Wrestling promo. He’s pretty much unique, to me that should be promoted not ignored. So in short, yeah. Pull the trigger, already. Tony Khan, put down the yayo and push Darby Allin, dammit.

I’m good with a Danielson/Guevara final, with Danielson winning the World Title. I have no interest in seeing Jericho/Moxley again and I live in fear of the possibility that is the direction they are going.

So it looks like that massive doofus Devon “Hannibal” Nicholson was arrested and just got out on bail today. That guy is one of Pro Wrestling’s biggest scumbags, I almost considered devoting a thread to him, but it feels too much like giving him attention he does not deserve.

Yeah that whole story that came out about him filming people peeing was like…yeesh. Just when you think the stories about him couldn’t get any creepier…somehow they do. This dude is a train wreck.

As Meltzer reported, the rumour going around now is that Punk was seriously injured during the match with Moxley, not the fight…and that the injury is serious enough that he would have had to vacate the title again regardless. They’re saying torn pec muscle, maybe? Easiest fix for that is just have Moxley as the former champ fight MJF who is now the #1 contender. Do it at that big show in New York, and there you go. New champ, move on. Supposedly TK will be addressing the fight and the suspensions on the show tonight and I am morbidly curious about how that is going to go.

That seems to be pretty much common sense, that none of those guys would be at TV tomorrow.

I don’t trust Meltzer on this one. He’s friends with TK, Omega and The Bucks. I have no doubt that he would hold stuff back if they wanted him to, or even worse release information that has the spin they want on it. I am not one of those blind Meltzer haters, but I don’t think he can be totally objective on this story.

You're right. That's the funniest part of the whole Colt Cabana drama...long before Punk showed up, it's not like AEW was doing jack shit with the guy anyhow. He was basically a minor player in Billy Corgan's NWA of all damn places, before he showed up in AEW, did a forgettable angle with The Dark Order, joined them and then was basically reduced to standing around in backstage skits grinning like a doofus for the rest of his run. From what TK has said, Cabana is supposed to be wrestling and producing in ROH, it's probably a much better gig for him anyhow. Even if Punk did get him fired (which he didn't) it's not like he was a featured player, he was doing nothing. It's pretty damn obvious he was hired because of his friends and is basically on par with Michael Nakazawa and Brandon Cutler. But even they got more TV time than he did.

That's what is kind of amusing about this. This was really bound to happen, and I guess a lot of people saw it coming on a lot of different fronts. Somebody else today (I think it was actually @rovert) pointed out rightly that The Young Bucks have had problems literally every place they have ever worked behind the scenes. They stir shit. What happens when you mix a couple of guys who like to stir up trouble, with a salty asshole who can't get along with anybody, in an environment where there is no leadership? You get this mess, every time. It was inevitable.

I still have a degree of sympathy for Punk and his situation. He walked into AEW and got a big, fat contract and pretty much instantly became the #1 guy there. That clearly rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, and set the gossip mill running overtime. The whole "poor Colt Cabana got fired because of CM Punk" talking point started to spread like wildfire, to the point where different Pro Wrestling "media" outlets were reporting it. Punk was pissed off because it's supposedly not true (which Tony Khan has confirmed as much) but also he seems to have it on a pretty good authority that Kenny and The Bucks were not only doing nothing to discourage all the gossip, they might have actually been perpetuating it and leaking shit. You'd think if they really are "Executive Vice Presidents" that is pretty much the exact opposite of what they are supposed to be doing. He should not have called them out at the press conference and he definitely shouldn't have been involved in a physical confrontation with them (even if they get into his personal space and his face.) But I think he has some valid points. As everybody seems to agree, the real person at fault here is Tony Khan. He's letting the inmates run the asylum, and it has blown up in his face in a huge way. And based on that interview clip that has been circulating today, none other than Cody saw this shit coming from a mile away. So it probably could have and definitely should have been prevented.

One of the details which I would be interested to know, which we probably never will know, is regarding the reason Ace Steel went nuts. Supposedly it was his wife who was in the room with Punk’s dog. They are saying that when the Bucks barged in and started hollering it scared the hell out of Steel’s wife and the poor dog, and that’s why Steel went nuts and threw the chair. Which is an odd choice because I don’t think the solution for helping people who are freaked out already is to throw a chair, but what do I know.

Agreed. And I am sorry, but if the story about The Young Bucks barging into Punk’s dressing room to confront him are true, then there should probably be some consequences there too. It’s one thing if a wrestler confronts another wrestler backstage and things get physical. But these guys are supposedly Executive Vice Presidents. Honestly, they don’t get the luxury of acting like just another guy backstage. I’m not saying they should be fired, but if they really did it, they should probably just be put on talent contracts like everybody else.

I think the odds of Punk ever working for WWE again, especially with Triple H in charge now, are pretty much nil.

Speaking of the aforementioned Wrestling News, they are reporting that pretty much everybody involved in the dressing room fight has been suspended from AEW. The rumour has it that there may actually be some firings over this after a couple of weeks of investigation etc.

I think @C.S. was talking about Bobby Fish, brother. Fish has been giving interviews lately talking about how much he loves Triple H. I think the assumption has been that now Fish is gone from AEW, he might just end up back in NXT. Problem is, if the rumours are to be believed, Fish is a bit of a nut. Not to mention, he is 45 years old. I don’t know how much of an upside he brings with him. Especially without O’Reilly. I would be mildly surprised if Fish ends up back in NXT. That would make me question Triple H’s decision making. Then again, he did just hire Road Dogg back, so perhaps I am expecting too much.

I am not a huge fan of Brian Last as a human being, I think he’s an arrogant jerk. However…he definitely has sources inside AEW, there is no doubt about that. And that new outfit The Wrestling News is a legit operation with some respected and reputable guys on staff, guys like the aforementioned Mike Sempervive and Brian Solomon. They have even purchased Norm Kietzer’s PWE archives which go all the way back to the 70’s. I’d be just as quick to believe The Wrestling News as I would Meltzer, Keller or Mike Johnson. I think as far as Pro Wrestling News goes, these guys are going to be the real deal. Their presentation has been very slick and professional so far, too. I get the impression that Last and company want to take a legit run at The Observer. And he has the team to do it.

Apparently, it is now official. Fish released the delayed second episode of his podcast and confirmed that his contract with AEW has expired, and they have not offered him a new one. Fish also allegedly made some complaints about Tony Khan avoiding meeting with him. And to top it all off, he has apparently continued to talk shit about CM Punk, and has now challenged him to a shootfight.

So that’s what it was for, I didn’t know the reason but he was definitely missing for a few weeks there and everybody seemed to agree it was a suspension.