Flyin' Brian

I don’t see anyone saying ‘Punk’s side said this’ much though other than the initial report and the Larry stuff. Everything else has been an avalanche against Punk, supposedly the whole locker room is against him when in reality it’s just a handful of guys. Supposedly he’s a locker room cancer, when before almost everyone had been saying good things about him. He was doing stuff like carpool karaoke. Now all of that is conveniently forgotten because it doesn’t fit the narrative. I like your way of looking at things but I don’t see much ‘both sides’ criticism going on. I guess part of why I’m defending Punk so much is because the majority seem to be piling on. I don’t feel that’s warranted or justified. When I hear the Elite did no wrong and Punk did no good it just really rubs me the wrong way.

I had honestly not seen that reported anywhere. I don’t subscribe or listen to the observer. What Punk did was bad, but I don’t agree it was 100% times worse. They both took an unwarranted personal shot that neither could really defend themselves at the time. Page because he wasn’t there and Punk because he was blindsided and was actually complementing Page in his promo at the time. It wasn’t that kind of feud and came out of nowhere. Sure, Punk could have gone off script in the moment too but that wouldn’t have helped either. I don’t see how it’s a legal or moral issue. Far worse things have happened between wrestlers in and out of the ring and they found ways to coexist afterwards.

Speaking of Montreal, too bad there wasn’t someone there filming like the Wrestling With Shadows crew.

Lol. Thank you. And I guess thank Matt too.

100%. Even before that, something should have been done to clear up the Cabana stuff. After Page’s promo on Punk or Punk’s promo on Page someone should have sat everyone involved down and talked it out. And I think a big part of why Punk was pissed was that no one did. But ultimately that falls on Tony Khan.

Same here. I don’t want anyone to lose their job and never have. I don’t have any respect for Page or Jericho right now, but I honestly don’t have a problem at the moment with Omega or the Bucks. Not personally anyway. Just hate the narrative that this is all Punk’s fault and the whole locker room is against him now and once he’s gone everything will be sunshine and roses. He’s being railroaded and it pisses me off. I just don’t think people are being honest.

I’m being accused of hating the Elite but there sure is some pot and kettle stuff going on with people that have an irrational hatred of Punk.

Sure, Dave is going to admit it if the Elite is sending him info. Like if someone guessed the right name he would admit it. Really?

I don’t see HR in her title at all. She’s legal. And apparently she thought them going to confront Punk right then was a good idea too.

Also, you'll forgive me for not trusting people reporting on this that have personal relationships with the Elite and benefit from those relationships.

Except for one of the people that was actually in the room for some reason.

If you look at everything from the beginning, there's no way you can objectively say the Elite don't share some of the blame for what went down. They are the ones that decided it was a good idea to get a group of people together and go confront Punk in the middle of the night. No source reported it because no one is actually really talking to Punk and getting his side. I'd be surprised if Punk has spoken to any dirtsheet reporter personally. No one has spoken to Ace Steel's wife. I don't know if Ace Steel has spoken to anyone. The only people talking are the Elite and people on their side. It's hard not to talk about conspiracies when no one is putting their name to anything. I'm hoping a real journalist will tackle this at some point. I'd like to see an actual report instead of someone just telling me what's in it. I'd like to hear from people that were actually involved instead of someone just telling me what a 'source' said.

If I was conducting an investigation, these are the questions I would want answered: 1. Who was leaking info about why Cabana was moved to ROH and implicating Punk in having anything to do with it? Also interested in why, but have to find who first. 2. Adam Page is definitely someone you can talk to about why he felt compelled to bring it up in a promo on National TV when it had nothing at all to do with the match with Punk. 3. Who is the one leaking out all the info during the 'investigation'? Shouldn't that be kept private? 4. Why was Megha asked to come with the Eiite to the locker room and confront Punk? 5. Why was Ace Steel's wife not interviewed as part of the 'investigation'? 6. Who actually conducted the 'investigation'? I use 'investigation' in quotation marks because Khan is very familiar with how the NFL conducts investigations and this smells like that. Figure out what you want the result to be and find someone who will give you that result by working backwards and cherry picking the facts while only talking to the people that will give you the desired result. We'll probably never see an actual report or evidence, just more leaks from 'sources' who supposedly are in the know but won't put their name to anything. Looking back at the timeline of everything that happened, it's all sus.

I don’t hate the Elite. I care about the truth. But I find it funny that everyone dismissed the Larry the dog stuff and says WhY dIdN’t It CoMe OuT iN tHe BeGiNnInG but eats it up as 100% truth when Jericho says oh yeah I confronted Punk or Matt Hardy says he saw the whole thing. He was in the dressing room too when it happened? Whoever did the ‘investigation’ didn’t even speak to Ace Steel’s wife who was actually in the room? Doesn’t anyone with an objective bone in their body find that odd?

I really want to see the quarter hour ratings for Jericho vs Cabana. AEW’s big surprises bring in one of the worst demo ratings of the year (msn.com)

I didn't watch this episode, but let's go over what happened and why anyone would want to watch. 1. Darby Allin, supposedly one of the pillars of the company, was beaten by Jay Lethal with an assist from some guy in a Sting mask. Jeff Jarrett shows up and hits Darby with a guitar and drops some good old slapnuts. Jeff Jarrett is All Elite. 2. Jon Moxley beats a jobber to kill time before facing MJF at the PPV. Ethan Page is the next jobber in line to kill time. 3. Saraya supposedly still needs to check with some doctor. Is she really cleared to wrestle? Guess they are drawing this out until the PPV too. I don't have high hopes. 4. Billy Gunn and the Acclaimed are a bright spot, although no one really seems to be all that concerned with what Strickland did to Gunn's hand. Yay, more Firm. Then an Acclaimed/FTR standoff that will go nowhere because they are both faces and the Bucks don't want FTR to tie them for most AEW title reigns. 5. Jericho vs Colt Cabana. No wonder they had to advertise it as 'former ROH champion'. I can't wait to see the ratings breakdown on this. Glad everyone in AEW behind running Punk off can get their jollies though. 6. Never ending BCC vs JAS feud. What is the point of this? Who is it getting over? What is the endgame? Garcia was in a great position until the swerve and now he's right back to being Jericho's flunky. Kind of like Sammy too unfortunately. 7. Orange Cassidy vs Luchasaurus vs Rey Fenix sounded great and might be the one thing I will go back and actually watch this episode. 8. We're to the point where they are feeding Jade Cargill leftovers now. I don't understand this whole stealing the belt angle. Everyone is just kind of going along with it and not doing anything with it or about it. 9. Storm and Hayter will be a good match. Need to drop the interim thing. I like Rosa but who knows when she is coming back. 10. Your main event on AEW Rampage was for the ROH TV Title. Sigh. Joe beat Cage who is nothing but a jobber either. This was your main event. To recap, there were the same number of ROH title matches on this show than AEW title matches. Isn't that a problem? 11. Glad that Powerhouse Hobbs isn't being punished for saying good things about Punk in the past. Him vs Wardlow should be good. So out of all that, there's one match I'm interested in watching, and maybe one angle. I'm keeping up with this company until they officially release Punk. After that, if this is all that I'm interested in I'll just keep cherry picking the one or two things that sound good out of the mess AEW has become. But sure, blame it all on Punk. And I'll stop complaining because by then it will be too late anyway.

Yeah, probably so. I'm still going through the stages of grief. Waiting on Ric Flair to show up and form the Dark Riders with Jeff Jarrett, Jay Lethal, and Andrade.

Vince McMahon is officially out as the chairman and CEO of WWE. WWE Reportedly Makes Final Decision On Vince McMahon (msn.com) AEW bound baby!

Colt Cabana huh? Bet that will boost the ratings. Glad that Jericho and AEW can troll Punk while the company goes down in flames. That will teach Punk to have worn an abortion rights are human rights shirt on national tv.

We ran CM Punk off, but we’ve got Jeff Jarrett. Yee haw! please hire Vince Russo next. WCW speed run indeed. This is fine.

Jericho’s Facebook page is definitely toxic. They post Mick Foley taking a break from Twitter because he’s not sure how things are going to go there and tons of people pop up to rake Foley over the coals.

That’s great, and I’m glad to see sometimes in this world the good guys do win instead of the liars.

Personal experience is coloring my opinion about this. It’s getting to the point where it’s not about wrestling and it’s not fun anymore. It’s not fun to have everyone pile on you for something you didn’t do. I guess that’s the part I sympathize with. Everything after the point Punk’s promo on Page happened you can blame him for. Everything up to that point I don’t think he did anything wrong.

It’s always the person who retaliates or fights back that gets punished instead of the person that started it or created the situation. People are just expected to take it when they are treated like garbage, stand up for yourself or push back and suddenly you’re the bad guy or acting crazy or making a big deal about nothing. AEW is a shitilly run company but Tony and the people in charge seem to like it that way. Punk isn’t the problem. This same stuff will keep happening even after he’s gone because it’s the culture now that it has been allowed to happen and keep happening with no consequences for the people that initiate it.

AEW did nothing to address the leaked comments and set the record straight. They did nothing to stop them or find and punish the people doing it. There’s nothing wrong with Hangman bringing it up when it had absolutely nothing to do with the feud or match, yet when Punk sends a receipt because again nothing was done about it then he is wrong and unprofessional? I’m not saying Punk is 100% in the right at all. I am saying there is a double standard and people are defending the Elite and they are getting a pass when their behavior has been just as wrong.