Is the empire crumbling before our eyes?

[sek69]

Honestly I don't think Bron, Grayson, or Melo should be taking advice from either guy. Not the guy who ripped apart his company live at a presser, or the Q pilled weirdo who wants to challenge everyone to a fight. 

[The Thread Killer]

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.

[The Thread Killer]

2 minutes ago, sek69 said:

Honestly I don't think Bron, Grayson, or Melo should be taking advice from either guy. Not the guy who ripped apart his company live at a presser, or the Q pilled weirdo who wants to challenge everyone to a fight. 

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

[sek69]

2 minutes ago, The Thread Killer said:

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 mean, Punk pretty much has to be fired, or at the very least put on ice for a long time. It's one thing to verbally roast your bosses but once you start laying hands on people there has to be consequences. I know he's a big draw, but if you don't draw the line and regain control you're in 2000 WCW territory. 

[The Thread Killer]

Just now, sek69 said:

I mean, Punk pretty much has to be fired, or at the very least put on ice for a long time. It's one thing to verbally roast your bosses but once you start laying hands on people there has to be consequences. I know he's a big draw, but if you don't draw the line and regain control you're in 2000 WCW territory. 

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.

[sek69]

IMO I would suspend the Bucks  (they were provoked into responding but they still should have known better) and fire Punk/Steel. As for Kenny that would come down to if he was there to fight, or just trying to break things up and got swallowed up into the melee. 

[The Man in Blak]

Punk is the world champion. What does firing him even look like?

Weirdly enough, shelving the Bucks -- the EVPs that arguably initiated this whole debacle -- is an easier play to make. And Steel is an easy fire because throwing a chair is a little outside the bounds of a Heated Wrestler Moment. (Also, he's Ace Steel.)

But do you really want to run back the Bret Hart scenarios leading up to Montreal with Punk? Does Punk strike anybody as the guy that's going to relinquish the belt quietly?

[The Thread Killer]

3 minutes ago, sek69 said:

IMO I would suspend the Bucks  (they were provoked into responding but they still should have known better) and fire Punk/Steel. As for Kenny that would come down to if he was there to fight, or just trying to break things up and got swallowed up into the melee. 

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.

 

[sek69]

Pretty sure if Steel gets fired, Punk bolts anyway. And if he doesn't relinquish the title willingly, then Tony makes a new belt and puts it on whoever he wants like when Mox was interim champ. It's not 1997 anymore, if the champ wants to fuck around, he can find out. 

To me it's a choice between your top draw who's also a problem causing moody-ass 43 year old who rubs everyone the wrong way, or the guys who helped start your company who are younger and you could get more out of in the long term. From a numbers standpoint alone, it seems like canning Punk is a "might sting in the short term, better play for the long term" move. Plus appearing to side with the guy nearly everyone else you employ seems to hate is not a good HR move. 

[sek69]

Also something else to consider: if the Bucks/Kenny/pretty much everyone else were to leave, WWE would be on their doorstop in a second. I don't think that would be the case with Punk. On top of everything else, you don't want to give your competition your top guys on a silver platter. 

[funkdoc]

SRS & Meltzer have been emphatic that none of the Elite guys had anything to do with giving them the stories on Punk or Colt, so either they’re lying or Punk and a bunch of folks on this board were just making assumptions.

SRS also says folks told him WWE would be interested in Punk if it comes to that - if that actually happens he’ll be confirmed at least 10x the carny Cody is

The more that comes out here, the harder it is for me to buy any “both sides” narrative though i do agree the EVPs shouldn’t act like the boys in a situation like that.

Also don’t be shocked if Jericho gets promoted to EVP over this - all the scuttlebutt is raving about how he’s been the one to step up as a leader ever since the Punk-Page drama first broke

[sek69]

I'm sure Hunter's feeling himself now that he's in charge and righting the wrongs like bringing back people who got budget cutted, so maybe he thinks he can be the one to tame Punk. I think the one lesson everyone should take from this whole adventure is that Punk is gonna Punk no matter where he goes so you take him on at your own risk. Bryan mentioned that several people in WWE's response to what happened was "now they know what we had to deal with". 

[The Thread Killer]

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.

[sek69]

It really seems that people saw Colt, who let's be honest was like the 4th or 5th guy in is own faction, getting phased out and immediately jumped on "PUNK DID IT" as if Colt was headlining shows before he showed up. Like there was no other possible reason behind it, as if Tony wasn't just doing a guy a solid by signing him in the first place and then decided to put him on the new brand (that Colt has history with!) to help get it off the ground. Nope, had to be that nasty Punk. 

[The Thread Killer]

2 minutes ago, sek69 said:

Bryan mentioned that several people in WWE's response to what happened was "now they know what we had to deal with". 

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.

[The Thread Killer]

2 minutes ago, sek69 said:

It really seems that people saw Colt, who let's be honest was like the 4th or 5th guy in is own faction, getting phased out and immediately jumped on "PUNK DID IT" as if Colt was headlining shows before he showed up. Like there was no other possible reason behind it, as if Tony wasn't just doing a guy a solid by signing him in the first place and then decided to put him on the new brand (that Colt has history with!) to help get it off the ground. Nope, had to be that nasty Punk. 

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.

[C.S.]

Yeah, @The Thread Killer and @KawadaSmile, I meant Fish.

I don't see a universe where Punk ends up back in WWE.

23 minutes ago, funkdoc said:

Also don’t be shocked if Jericho gets promoted to EVP over this - all the scuttlebutt is raving about how he’s been the one to step up as a leader ever since the Punk-Page drama first broke

He won't. He already mocked it as a mark designation, and said when he was offered the title in the beginning, he turned it down for more money because there's only one boss.

[sek69]

1 minute ago, C.S. said:

I don't see a universe where Punk ends up back in WWE.

Even if Hunter is down to try again, I don't see Punk wanting to go back to the place he feels tried to kill him the last time. Plus it's not like his main beef was with Vince, it was his "idiot daughter and his doofus son in law". 

[funkdoc]

And now one of the mods on the F4W board is saying that unless things change after the most recent company call, Punk & Steel are getting fired and the Elite are all getting suspended. Best outcome if true imo

[Blehschmidt]

So what do people think actually comes out of this?

Steel gets fired, then Punk takes his ball and goes home?

The Bucks get suspended and potentially "demoted?"

I suppose Omega's fate will definitely depend on whether he was just trying to de-escalate or if he was part of the problem.

and Adam Page who kinda started the whole thing, walks away clean as a whistle?

[sek69]

Just now, funkdoc said:

And now one of the mods on the F4W board is saying that unless things change after the most recent company call, Punk & Steel are getting fired and the Elite are all getting suspended. Best outcome if true imo

That's really the only call to make if you're Tony. You have to put your foot down and make it clear this bullshit will not be tolerated and that there will be consequences for actions. 

[Stiva]

I don’t know how this is going to shake out but I’d imagine MJF will be walking out of Arthur Ashe with the AEW title

[SirEdger]

FWIW, PWTorch is doing a free/live special show in 20 minutes. Looks like we might have massive developments around that time.

[sek69]

9 minutes ago, Stiva said:

I don’t know how this is going to shake out but I’d imagine MJF will be walking out of Arthur Ashe with the AEW title

I kind of got the vibe that was going to happen regardless but it seems like a lock now. 

[Childs]

10 minutes ago, sek69 said:

That's really the only call to make if you're Tony. You have to put your foot down and make it clear this bullshit will not be tolerated and that there will be consequences for actions. 

Don't agree at all. You're trapping yourself into a bad decision with that mentality. As the boss, you let this situation get out of hand. So work to find an actual solution instead of this either/or bullshit. If you fire Punk, you're still presiding over a trash fire, but you're doing it without someone a lot of fans will continue to want to see. Now, if you try to hit him with a reasonable punishment and he walks, that's a different story. But if I'm TK, I'm not racing toward an apocalyptic confrontation.