AEW All Out - 9/4 - Live On PPV

[C.S.]

Jericho seems to confirm an MJF babyface turn.

[sek69]

9 minutes ago, funkdoc said:

especially with ol' Billy Ass apparently being the last missing piece for them.

The most over Billy has ever been was when he was telling people to Suck It and now when he's Scissorin' Daddy Ass. That's the kind of stuff that makes pro wrestling great. 

[C.S.]

Tony Khan has the weirdest facial expressions and eye expressions. 

[KawadaSmile]

TK will make it snow in Jacksonville, bubbas. 

[sek69]

2 minutes ago, C.S. said:

Tony Khan has the weirdest facial expressions and eye expressions. 

A combo of geeking out over wrestling and...uhhh alleged other "activities".

[C.S.]

3 minutes ago, sek69 said:

A combo of geeking out over wrestling and...uhhh alleged other "activities".

A former cocaine user on another board - can't remember if it was Cageside or Reddit - said Tony clearly wasn't on cocaine but on adderall.

[Jmare007]

6 minutes ago, C.S. said:

Tony Khan has the weirdest facial expressions and eye expressions. 

The face he made after that "I have way more fucking money than Crocket and not gonna take this shit" had me DEAD. I need the gif of it.

[Jmare007]

1 minute ago, C.S. said:

A former cocaine user on another board - can't remember if it was Cageside or Reddit - said Tony clearly wasn't on cocaine but on adderall.

I mean, he's called Adderall Man for a reason.

[sek69]

I love TK but him thinking WWE is going to speak respectfully of their first real competition in 20 years is some real markish BS. Maybe he thought he would have better luck with fellow wrestling history nerd Paul at the helm, but ffs Tony what did you expect?

[C.S.]

Punk transcripts here:

https://slamwrestling.net/index.php/2022/09/05/cm-punk-openly-slams-aew-evps-hangman-and-colt-cabana/

https://www.cagesideseats.com/aew/2022/9/5/23337439/cm-punk-tirade-colt-cabana-hangman-page-young-bucks-all-out-media-scrum-aew-drama-tony-khan

But trust me, it's much better to hear it than read it!

[Jesse Ewiak]

Also, contract tampering isn't really a thing that exists in the actual legal world in the way people think happens - somebody at Google can call up somebody at Apple and see what their situation is. Sure, if they've signed an agreement not to leave for x time, they can't break that, but it doesn't mean nobody can negotiate with them, or remind them why Apple is bad and Google is good, or whatever. 

The only reason it's a thing in the NBA or NFL is all the teams agree not to do it. There's nothing Tony can't actually do much about somebody who is friends with Black texting him. 

[sek69]

32 minutes ago, Jesse Ewiak said:

The only reason it's a thing in the NBA or NFL is all the teams agree not to do it

Even in those cases, you see a bunch of big name signings/deals made the second the window opens so you know they were worked out beforehand. Basically the agreement is to at least do it on the d/l and not be open about it. 

[Jesse Ewiak]

Just now, sek69 said:

Even in those cases, you see a bunch of big name signings/deals made the second the window opens so you know they were worked out beforehand. Basically the agreement is to at least do it on the d/l and not be open about it. 

Oh sure - there's a ton of FA signings announced at 12:01 or whenever FA starts, as well. 

But my point is, and I'm sure Tony knows this, and is just playing to his base, is that he can't actually do much about Trips texting Tommy End and sending him gifs of being in NXT main events right before he does the job to 65 year old Sting and Darby Allin. Or however WWE is currently reminding AEW talent of greener grass, currently open to them. 

Obviously, End can't break his contract, but if he can get Tony to release him, that's something else entirely. 

[sek69]

A security guy was seen running from the room during the presser (when Keith Lee and Swerve were up)  allegedly because shit was threatening to go down in the locker room. Also SRS reported that Kenny and the Bucks were supposed to be at the presser and Tony had to call an audible to get Jericho out instead. 

[sek69]

Also at this point Dave is probably resigned himself to not sleeping for at least the next week or so.

[sek69]

Speaking of, Dave mentioning an "altercation" happening backstage after the Punk presser, involving the Bucks and Punk which Dave described as a melee. 

Bret vs Shawn drama is back, boys!

[Dale Wolfe]

That Punk interview was a good laugh but it feels like a work to me

However, if its not a work - much like i said when Cody left - whats the point in being an "EVP" if you get no stock options, have no equity in the company, and there's a lad you obviously detest winning the big belt and talking shit about you without any comeback. When the only reason the place exists is because of the legwork you all put in

Can't blame them for wanting to let out frustrations on Punk if that was a shoot

Interesting place AEW. 

[subatomic_elbow]

This is where I get off. AEW brought me back but the run from Punk beating Hangman to now tells me that this isn't the company for me, anymore. I hope everyone enjoys what it has become, but I'll find something else to watch.

[Coffey]

2 hours ago, Dale Wolfe said:

That Punk interview was a good laugh but it feels like a work to me

What would be the point? Drop a bunch of F bombs and start a feud with another babyface to an audience that's a lot smaller than Dynamite? Seems stupid and counterproductive. 

This just makes everyone involved, and the company as a whole, look like shit. 

[Dale Wolfe]

I dont see the point of it in the slightest, but thats never stopped these work/shoot angles before

If it's actually just Punk being a dickhead then they need to give him a good kicking really 

[Jimmy Redman]

People love to jump in with "It's a work!" because we hate the idea of actually... being worked. And so they can feel superior and "I told you so!" when/if stuff like this is later turned into worked shoot fodder for promos when/if everyone cools down and works together.

But if this is a work, it's the dumbest fucking work of all time and benefits nobody.

Punk looks like an asshole for apparently having got most of the people that matter in the locker room offside. For shooting on Page for the pre-DON promo months later, in public where Page obviously couldn't reply, when nobody knew what he was on about OR would have even remembered it ever again had he not brought it up. For apparently being so mad at the promo that he was ready to no show the PPV over it, when all of his feuds up to then were built on insider-y worked shoot comments. And for going off his tree here on everybody when, again, nobody can possibly defend themselves and he's blowing up the company to air his shit out because he can't get along with the Elite boys.

Page looks like an asshole for cutting the promo in the first place, when any idiot would know that Punk would never have anything to do with Colt and bringing him up on TV (even cryptically) was a non-starter. For consequently creating the rumour mill about Punk getting Colt shoved out of the company, and then steered to ROH. For being the "I refuse to take advice" guy and acting like a dork. And him and the Elite generally leaking all this stuff to make Punk look bad, which again serves nobody when you're trying to turn your fanbase against your top babyface in real life.

Tony Khan looks like an asshole for letting this happen and not being able to keep a lid on all these morons. One of his weaknesses has always seemed to be him being too friendly with the talent, instead of their boss, and it seems apparent here when he literally sits still while Punk mouths off like that. He's let this go on and now he's in an impossible situation if these guys can't work together, because he will alienate either his top drawing card, his EVPs, or both.

What is this doing for anyone exactly? How does he even fix it if things are this bad? Does one side or the other have to go? Does he have to create the Punkverse and never have them interact ever? Does he Vince it and book them together and let people wonder how much everyone is shootin' brother? None of that shit sounds good.

I've had a weird feeling about the Elite on TV lately, and in hindsight it feels like they have already been living in their own kind of Eliteverse for a while, doing their own thing in a corner while Punk, MJF, Mox, Jericho, BCC etc. are working on top and interacting. Not to mention Page becoming completely irrelevant the minute he lost the title. The Codyverse should have been a red flag, and this seems to have been too.

This has all set fire to any actual programming now. Like, MJF just fucking returned in a huge angle, and it feels like it happened a week ago and is already old news compared to the Punk presser. We'll all eventually calm down, but right now nothing on TV seems as interesting as this real life mess. I really couldn't possibly care about MJF anymore, let alone anything else.

Punk already got a mixed reaction here, in Chicago, after the big underdog angle, and I'm sure one of the reasons why is all of this backstage gossip souring enough people on Punk. If that's the case, it's going to be 100% worse now. They did this mini angle to re-establish him as a fighting babyface ace, he's supposed to be their drawcard, and the crowds will just turn him heel by the end of the month. And you have another Cody that wants to be the babyface ace but crowds reject the notion and all their plans are out the window.

And in the best case scenario, all this leads to everybody eventually burying the hatchet and working together enough to make some money and we get some worked shoot-y feuds down the line. I honestly assume that will be the case, eventually. Worst case, everyone involved has just blown up the company by being wildly unprofessional, with nothing to show for it.

[Tetsujin]

Man Mox/Punk was fucking awesome. What a delightful little story they have told in just four weeks, finishing It with an absolute banger of a fight. Maybe my AEW MOTY right now.

[Matt D]

8 hours ago, Jmare007 said:

Well, MJF better win in New York, sorry @Matt D

 

There's no way that Punk can stay a face in this environment. The crowd was 50-50 for the most part in Chicago after a rah rah Chicago build (there were probably a lot of fly-ins but still) already just based on the Cabana rumors. You don't MJF as a face with that entourage but him going over with one big face pop and immediately reestablishing himself as a heel is fine.

Granted, if the Bucks, Omega, and (especially) Page all walked out over this and never showed up again, it'd eliminate almost everything I don't want to see in the promotion, so that'd be the biggest babyface thing in the world for me. It'd probably siphon off about 30% of the fanbase though, so maybe not a great idea.

I think all of this is going to be great for ratings, though, though it might be hard to tell with football coming back.

And yes, the Acclaimed tag might be the best tag I've ever seen in AEW proper which is saying a lot.

[Jimmy Redman]

What also shits me is that the women's matches were so cold that I was all ready to come in off the long run up on Tony and his booking of the women's divisions, and now that all seems like absolute minutiae compared to the raging dumpster fire that's burning now.

I'm legit disappointed if we're all going to ruin what has been for me an enjoyable and mostly well-booked (men's divisions) wrestling promotion and a total salve after I fell completely out of love with WWE.

[Embrodak]

Punk is an asshole, but I can’t find any lies in what he said. That weird-ass promo Kenny cut off-air when he returned did not do him any favors against the accusations that he and the EVPs have shut themselves up in a bubble of self-regard, and supposedly there was a similarly off-kilter speech by him during the talent meeting. Idk, it feels like something has popped in AEW in the last six months, and they’re going to have a hard time fixing the leak without doing further damage.