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Is the empire crumbling before our eyes?


C.S.

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2 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

More importantly, who would be Apollo Creed? Whoever it is, the mental image of Punk running on the beach in slow motion is cracking me up.

Decent odds of Punk not even making the PPV in that scenario, due to him probably blowing out a knee or rolling both ankles due to a wayward horseshoe crab or an elaborate sand castle that hadn’t been taken by the tide yet.

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3 hours ago, strobogo said:

How does Punk still manage to be the center of drama when he hasn't even been in the locker room for 9 months

Because he’s eligible to come back soon, so (probably) Jericho is trying to poison the well for him coming back by telling the Sheetz that he lawyered up to avoid doing a job.

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Mox talked about some of the drama in his latest appearance on Renee's podcast. Excerpts from cagesideseats 

Punk told his side of that story on Instagram. Mox doesn't do much social media, but his wife has a pretty popular podcast. So he gave his accounting of events to her, as the guest on a new The Sessions with Renee Paquette.

It's a very Moxley response to the situation:

"...It’s fucking annoying. Just because somebody said some stupid shit on social media, that’s not news, but it is and become a thing. I don’t want to get dragged into this dumb shit. I could fucking unload on a lot of fucking people right now. When I start getting dragged into this shit, it tempts me to do that, but I'm not going to fucking sink to that level."

"I will say this, I'm going to give you a tidbit of information, from my point of view. The entire summer, I was not under contract — no contract. Free agent. I was at SummerSlam weekend wrestling El Desperado and shit. I could have walked into SummerSlam that night with the AEW belt, had I been so inclined. Nobody knew that because I don't put my shit out there in the world and let everybody know everything about my business. I was not under contract.

"The reason being, if you're curious, because I got out of rehab, my contract was coming up, they extended it for the time that I missed — cool. I'm glad they did because I didn't want to feel like I owed them anything. They extended it, it was coming up, they were talking to me about it. The last thing I wanted to do when I first got out of rehab, because all they were telling me was — logic would tell you — don't go back to wrestling because you're going to fall into the same old habits. I wanted to ease back into it and see what life was like on the other side. The last thing I wanted to do was hurry up and sign a big long-term commitment. What if shit started going off the rails?"

In general, sober Mox loved wrestling and working with friends like Bryan Danielson & William Regal helped him decide to sign another contract with Tony Khan. But at the time Punk was coming back from broken foot, Mox wasn't legally obligated to do anything for AEW.

"That being said, during this time period, the night what's his dick [CM Punk] is talking about, in Minneapolis, the night he came back and was hopping around on one foot, bumping around after me and [Chris] Jericho wrestled. We're talking later about stuff — keep in mind, at this time, this is my whole point — I basically don't work there, for all intents and purposes. Tony is not my boss. I don't have to be in this room. I don't have to do shit. Even me being in this room and offering and agreeing to a storyline that puts you over at the PPV, if anything, I'm bending over backward for Tony and for this dude and the company and everybody. I didn't have to. I didn't have to do shit. If anything, I was bending over backward. That's it. It's not even controversial."

His new contract includes coaching and mentoring the roster, and Mox seems to realize he has his work cut out for him there.

"I don't complain, I see the good in everything and I'm having so much fun and life is good. I don't want any negative bullshit. I will say this, and I hate to say it because I don't think I've ever said anything even remotely negative about AEW, but I will say this. As an observer, I spent eight years on the indies, a couple years in WWE developmental, eight years in WWE — I have never seen so much bullshit drama in one place in my entire fucking life.

"I hate to say that. I don't know if it's the age of social media, shit gets blown out of proportion. One person types one stupid drunk tweet and all of a sudden it's all anybody wants to talk about."

It's not all bad, though. And it sounds like there are other drama-resistant folks Coach Moxley is looking forward to working with:

"Let me be clear, the vast majority of people there don't cause any bullshit, but they're getting sucked down into the shit like everybody else, into the muck. There are plenty of people who just want to get better and perform and just do this job. I'm not an official coach, I don't ever want to be a producer, an official producer. I don't want to wear a headset and write stuff down. I like being a coach, but I'm not an official coach. I can coach people that I think are worth it. I'll give time to anybody."

 

I get why TK gave Mox the belt at the time with all the injuries the roster had, but considering his free agent situation and the leverage he had because of it, he should have gone with someone else. I guess learning on the job while in the middle of a wrestling war is nor a good combination.

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7 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

Do I have this right? Did AEW really book someone not under contract against someone not medically cleared to wrestle in the main event of a PPV? If so, that is beyond insane.

Not exactly right. Tony wanted to rush Punk to do the job for Mox, who wasn't under contract, for a Dynamite episode. I'm not sure when Mox signed his new deal so I don't know if he was still a free agent by All Out.

Still, no wonder Tony went with his "Rocky III" (I hate calling it that because it really is nothing like that movie)  idea. Mox had all the leverage in that situation.

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On 9/6/2022 at 5:25 PM, The Man in Blak said:

Fire Punk, fire the EVPs, close AEW as a brand, change everything over to Ring of Honor, give MJF the strap and — most importantly — release AEW Fight Forever anyway so that the fans can smash their CM Punk and Elite action figures together in The Spiritual Successor to No Mercy (IGN.com)

There's still time!

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I don't think there was much risk in belting up Mox without a contract.He's made it clear he never wants to go back to WWE so the worst that could happen is he shows up on some indy shows or a New Japan show, which wouldn't be the worst thing. 

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27 minutes ago, sek69 said:

I don't think there was much risk in belting up Mox without a contract.He's made it clear he never wants to go back to WWE so the worst that could happen is he shows up on some indy shows or a New Japan show, which wouldn't be the worst thing. 

THANK YOU.

I didn't what I was reading the last few posts. Everything said and done completely forgotten. Including his excellent book and even better audiobook. 

It has been REALLY clear who has and hasn't listened to full podcast based by the reactions.

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I listened to the whole podcast and kinda wish I hadn’t. Clearly Moxley is not impressed with the absurd amount of backstage drama that goes on in AEW. (And really…how could you be?) But he was mature enough not to point fingers, name names, or do anything else which would perpetuate the cycle of stupidity and clickbait.

The rest of the hour consisted of him talking about working the indies, their new cat, his wife kissing his ass and gushing over what great legs he has, and him grousing about how old timers have the audacity to criticize the fact that his matches are ridiculous over the top gore fests, and that he seems to be incapable of appearing on TV for more the 30 seconds without bleeding all over the fucking place.

I’d say about ten minutes of the hour long interview was actually interesting, and that’s probably being generous. If anything, I found it interesting what he didn’t say…not what he actually said.

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2 minutes ago, sek69 said:

Also it's starting to become clear that despite his potential as a draw, everyone seems generally tired of Punk's bullshit at this point. 

Strongly disagree. Saying “everyone” is an overstatement in my opinion. I think there is a large number of guys in the AEW locker room that don’t want him back, but there is also a bunch of guys who would be perfectly happy if he did come back. I don’t question the theory that the anti-Punk camp is bigger…but I don’t think we’re talking about everyone.

The problem is that the guys who don’t want Punk back are a hell of a lot more vocal than the ones that do. And at this point, it seems to be increasingly obvious that a certain aging, balding, alcoholic, wannabe rock star is the one leading the anti-Punk ranks…not even the EVP’s.

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20 minutes ago, sek69 said:

Yeah I noticed that, and it also seems clear Punk noticed that too. To the point where even if somehow the beef was squashed between him and the EVPs, I would expect that would very much be not the case with Jericho. 

I don’t know if it will happen and it probably won’t…but I still think there is money in an Elite vs. CMFTR feud and I think all those guys are professional enough to pull it off. And thanks to all this drama, the heat and fan reaction would probably be off the charts.

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Matt Jackson tore a bicep, so it looks like even if Punk does come back, that program won't happen right away anyway. I agree though, all six of them seem like smart enough business guys to see the value in sucking it up and doing it even if you don't completely love the guy. 

Also I wonder if Dax would slide it in his demands to re-sign with AEW that Punk gets brought back. I could see him being the type to use his leverage to step up to the plate for his hero. 

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