El-P

Chris Jericho took a risk with AEW. He could have kept on getting big checks from a then super hot NJPW, especially as they were losing the Elite and he would have been special attraction foreigner #1 and then get yet another big-ass check from WWE, which unless you're in complete denial you know he would have gotten, especially with a new opposition in town. There was no garantee AEW was gonna work, and *a lot of people* wanted them to fail so bad, for many reasons (and still do). At first TK wanted Omega, Jericho & Punk to build his company. He did it without Punk, and they managed to be more successful than anyone could ever dream of all things considered ("indie geeks", "don't know how to work", "don't know how to get over", "money mark", got stuck with NXT right in front of them). Successful to the point Punk finally agrees to come back, once all the base work had already been done by all these guys he totally shat on at the press conference, those guys who don't take advice, don't know how to run a company, don't know how to work and be stars. Well, newsflash boubou, those people who apparently aren't worth shit built that company that got hot and big enough for you to come back after 7 years and make shitload of money in the process. And Jericho was a big part of it, as with Mox he was the mainstream (as far as pro-wrestling goes) face of the company. Jericho did not just came in to cash a check with AEW, he took a legit risk of being the face of a failed jumpstart company, which would have hurt his value quite a bit in the market in term of perception. Hell, even Danielson made a tough choice when he left WWE, it was not an easy choice for him to make on several levels. CM Punk had it super comfy. And still ended up a toxic fuck.

No chance. Taven is a heel and faces Wardlow on Rampage. Mystery guy means it's a mystery. I would love PCO. And considering he's signed with IMPACT, it can be done in a heartbeat.

Of course he's not afraid of Hangman. The broader point is : Punk's camp is full of shit on this one and they are doing a piss poor job of damage control just when the Elite is being brought back after the investigation is over. Like working with Hangman Page, of all people, was some kind of unsafe working environment, sure. (maybe Punk is just salty he could not do that buckshot lariat twice, he sure sandbagged himself there) None of it make any sense at all. It's just plain embarrassing now.

BTW, Jericho is facing a former "ROH champion" next week, but it's not mentioned it's a former world champ. As a fellow former DVDVR shitposter, I would SO TOTALLY book Colt Cabana vs Jericho. That would be the most amazing troll ever.

That narrative is a total cop-out. Meltzer BURNED AEW and TK for their handling of the situation. Let it rest people, it's barely above the "A billion stars at the Tokyo Dome" meme by now. What Meltz reported as coming from Punk's side was the same as the other reporters. Stuff like the door being "kicked in" was retracted a while ago too. This is also the same "leak" that mentions the dog getting hurt. So, one part is legit and the other one is not ? Depending of whether that works in Punk's "favor" I guess... Seriously... Let's be real, if it was *anyone* other than the Elite on the other side (apart from maybe Sammy in the last few months), there would not be half the debates about this mess.

CM Punk being afraid of Hangman Page shooting on him is absolutely bonkers hilarious. How can anyone can take any of this bullshit seriously anymore ? Fuck, Coach TK should go on TV and do a "I have no sympathy for Phil Brookes. CM Punk screwed CM Punk" interview, in the spirit of Bret Hart tribute spots... (and then MJF can be Steve Austin)

Handshake agreement still mean something to some people. See also, Mox. WWE booking Anderson on a Saudi show no one cares about (or should care about, at the very least) says everything you need to know about their "new" approach.

Oh, don't tell me. I'm so outta there. And I hate to be that guy, whatever the story is, but your pet dog has no business at the workplace to begin with. And yeah that last part is like... really now ? Who thought that one was a good idea ? This kinda stuff really make them look like complete carny bullshiters... which... oh well...

Eddie Kingston tagging with Okada on NJPW's NYC show tomorrow, against Jay White & Juice Robinson. Give me Kingston vs Jay White all day, every day. Aussie Open vs MCMG and some people I don't know should be really good too. Some women's matches on the show too, so that is beginning too. And Muta having a last match at a NJPW show (the STARDOM joint show no less) in a rather random three ways (but then again, don't want him in a shitty singles match) that should be quite the celebration anyway. He's the last of his generation (well, with Sting I guess).

Yep, I'm impressed, best stretch of shows in IMPACT in a while. And Emergence had that Sami Callihan vs Steve Maclin, Jordynne Grace vs Mia Yim and Josh Alexander vs Alex Shelley combo that was pretty awesome, with a super solid undercard. Also, PCO being there was one more year is so cool. I believe he's the oldest guy still in action that I used to watch back in 1993 in WWF (with Billy Gunn, but he's not exactly having the same schedule or matches).

Pierre Bourdieu knows. (and I mean, of course they would, why not. Still, it's not like she won't have more opportunities than anyone else, while not really even needing to work to begin with. Not her fault either obviously)

Holy fuck. Does he have Alberto's number ? I do not even want to listen to Drake's shit. How is this shit even real ? EDIT : WAIT WAIT WAIT : In French no less. So, Jasmine is actually a real-life racist piece of shit, this is not an act, people. (context : a young 12 girl was killed by a woman that happens to be an irregular immigrant and the extreme-rights and fascists have jumped on this like the worst people on earth that they are to weaponize the poor girl's death and make it about immigrants, last week there were actually people manifesting "for Lola" to the chants of "Immigrants, murderers", yep, that is happening in France right now and it's vomit inducing, the country is gonna be like Italy, Sweden or Hungary in 5 years at this rate)

I agree 100% with all this. And again, I *like* CM Punk as a performer, a whole lot, and I also probably agree with him about a whole lot more beyond pro-wrestling than I would with the Young Bucks for instance (I have no idea what Omega's social/political thoughts are). I will always praise him for wearing that shirt in fucking Texas. But it is what it is.

Did they really need to book Karl Anderson (of all people, BTW) at the Saudi show ? Of course not. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Yeah, I'm sure that ends whatever goodwill there was between the two companies. And really now, Micheals talked about NXT Japan in the future, so you know where this is going again.

AEW doing what they do best, rebounding from a bad show (and really now, Rampage last week was not good, with some legit hilariously cringe moment like Jade leaving the ring 5 seconds after saying she would take the show hostage and not leave). This Dynamite was pretty awesome, excellent matches after excellent matches, the MJF babyface turn in motion, Renee Paquette's influence apparently already showing with interview segments, the Elite vignette signaling their return while taking in account the "AEW Doom & Gloom" melancholic aspect that has been felt by the first days audience, Riho & Hayter killing it together (damn, Riho is so good, everytime she comes back it's like I forgot how actually good she is) with the right person winning, leading toward the Storm match with no bullshit. I love the banter between Taz & Schiavone during PiP too (I must say I do not miss JR one bit on the show, as he's being phased down apparently). Yep, great rebound.

Because no one wants to talk about Vince being outed of WWE for being a sexual predator. Everyone is too busy praising Triple H for saving pro-wrestling again. Vince being erased is comfy for everyone involved, especially since the company is hotter that's it's been in a while (which, honestly, began under Vince's last months).

Sure, of all the things that had been reported, and BTW what was reported always came from Punk's side and not the Elite, for those who bother, the fact a FUCKING DOG got injured just did not slip through before. Like it was not something that would have got out immediately and get *everyone*'s sympathy toward Punk, despite his melt-down. Just now that Steel has been fired and Punk basically is on the outs and the Elite is coming back, Punk's camp adds a "Oh BTW, my dog got injured". Sure... As Bix put it : And really now, "none of the stuff at the scrubs seemed like a big deal", but Hangman's little dig during a promo was enough for him to lose his shit ? Seriously now. That got a legit laugh out of me. Previous details agreed upon before was that the dog was across the room with Steel's wife, and now he had his teeth knocked out by a locked door that was kicked in ? And this part of the story never was told before while everybody agrees Steel threw a chair and Punk punched a guy ? And there's this stuff about Omega actually trying to get the dog out of the way to protect him too. This is really getting confused now...

I had listened to it of course, and I did not take it that way. Listening to it again, he says that Punk was going in with the veteran mindset of wanting to teach a bunch of people the way to do things, and because some of them had been told over and over again that what they do is wrong, despite the fact they have been very successful doing things that way, then it comes off the wrong way to them and therefore they don't want to listen. Then he goes on about he, himself, when he first saw those guys (and really we're talking mostly about the Bucks here I'm guessing), he thought they were doing everything wrong. And he admits he actually had to learn *from* them because it was successful. From there he goes about on about a broader point about the business changing quickly and tells the story of the interview he did with Watts, which is a story he tells pretty often (with the followup call to Pillman). Then he says that Punk was away from 7 years BUT : "He does have a lot of experience and some of the things that he says are right, are going to be right, and some of the young talent could learn a lot from his experience. You can always learn from experience. But others, because they have learned from their own experiences more recently (...) when someone tells them something is wrong (...) they are gonna block it out and say we've heard it all before." So yeah, he did not paint CM Punk as an out of touch boomer offering prehistoric advices, and he did not compare him with Bill Watts either. Thanks for the timestamp.

The Jeff Jarrett vs Dixie Carter's promos in September about holding shares in the company and power overturns are absolutely fascinating considering this entire angle was basically real life, as basically the Carter's were legit buying Jarrett out for good after he left in 2013, so they agreed on the HoF spot and GFW promotion on their TV (well, what was left of it) in exchange for Jarrett going the fuck away (until he came back with Anthem.... before leaving again, because he's Jeff Jarrett). I can't wait to hear the podcast episode about that one.

Precisely my point. People "reading between the lines" doesn't mean anything in the grand scheme of things. Whatever the "truth" may be about Cabana's position, whatever it was, being hurt by Punk's arrival, the thing is, we don't really now what happened. Hangman using the line was a good line for a promo, which back then was very much a case of Shawn/Bret in 97, with stiff shots taken that played on backstage stuff. Like I said, Punk had all the right to be pissed about it, whether it was right or wrong. But the way he retaliate was highly unprofesional because it fucked with the program. What also did not happen as far as "people reading between the lines", is a grand conspiracy by the Elite feeding their friend Meltz who talked about Punk as an "out of touch boomer" (which *never* happened, anyone not hate-listening to Meltz knows that, he never painted Punk that way). It's the same thing as the infamous "Young Bucks are avoiding FTR because they don't want to put them over"... then the Bucks put FTR over on TV in an great match but there's no way to winning that argument anyway, the Elite trigger people for reasons that have nothing to do with anything other than people are pissed at them forever. Even when the "antagonist" is CM Punk, who was the poster boy for being a volatile prick for basically his entire career. This. The entire thing is a debacle, and the Elite (although the role of Omega isn't clear in term of was he a cool down factor or not) should not have acted the way they did, but in term of strictly business, one guy fucked with the program, one guy totally shit on the company during a press conference and one guy threw a punch. It's the same guy and it's Punk. And although I'm sure some people around here still paint me as "the Elite stan" and you know what, as far as pro-wrestling goes, sure. But I LOVED Punk's stint until then, and this will deprive me of matches I really though I was gonna get, one of which being Punk vs Omega, so indeed, it's not fun. But at this point, I already moved the fuck on from Punk. His absence really hasn't hurt the company like some people thought it would after the press conference, and although the silence on this from TK gets to the point of being ridiculous (really now, AEW was better than this at first), one thing the company has done pretty well is moved on too in term of booking, which they would have too anyway since Punk got injured.

It's not a double standard. There's a HUGE difference between taking a shot that may be a low-blow during a promo exchange that is part of building toward a big match and calling out someone who is not even there and who is not supposed to get in the ring at this point and reply.

Brian James making a fool out of himself in the process. A normal day at the office. Dutch, I'm disappointed about. I thought he was smarter than this. Untrained "wrestler", complete with quotation marks, really now ? Maybe he's gonna end up in Bray Wyatt's new family or something....

Maybe this source red between the lines that Colt Cabana vanishing in thin air once CM Punk got hired had everything to do with Punk pulling his political weight to screw his former friend... And so reading *this* between the lines is complete bullshit, but reading between the lines of an elaborate political hit by the Elite against CM Punk is just making sense is a very objective manner ? Sure... As far as Hangman using that line in a promo, why the hell not. It was in a context of an exchange inside the ring building for a match, using stiff points on each others *back and forth*. CM Punk did not like it (and he had every right to not like it, whether the assertion was true or not BTW), but instead of dealing with it as a pro, he chose to make a stupid, unscripted call-out of Hangman and insulted him *while he wasn't even there*, *while he was not involved in an angle with him*, on live TV, knowing he would make Hangman look like an idiot for not responding. He crossed the line of being unprofessional *during the show*, it had nothing to do with building a match at all by then. And then of course the ridiculous public meltdown and the punching backstage, which pretty much everyone agrees on as @NintendoLogic said. Really now...

Through their anti-Elite bias. I mean, let's be serious for a minute here. CM Punk is the one who had been acting like a complete unprofesionnal prick *twice*. It's easy to "read between the lines" and make up stuff about political hits and whatnot, but there's one guy who has been acting like a little shit on TV and during the press conference here. I don't see where the sympathy comes from, really. And I have been enjoying Punk a whole lot, so it's not like I wasn't a fan of his stint thus far either, no certainly no anti-CM Punk bias from me. I love everybody (well, not everybody everybody, ok ?). I for one hope the Elite gets back on TV soon now and this debacle gets put in the rearview mirrors. As far as Punk goes, there's something that gets totally undersold, is that his body has been betraying him very badly. Wins the title, hurts his foot and out for months. Gets back, wins the title and gets hurt *again* and was gonna be out anyway even if the debacle had not happened.

It's kinda funny, Bray Wyatt seems to be one of those "super creative" people who actually has about two or three ideas and recycles them over and over with slight variations. In that sense, yeah, he's made to work in Hollywood making shitty horror franchise re-boots over and over again. Isn't there some half-ass Cicada3301 references in this ? That's.... dated.