Is the empire crumbling before our eyes?

[flyonthewall2983]

Anybody who owns an NFL franchise probably has some sort of deep family dysfunction going on.

[El-P]

I can't get over how gross that Woo! Energy logo is. 

[C.S.]

QT Marshall is gone.

Say what you want about his matches, persona, charisma, whatever, but he was one of the absolute backbones of AEW and one of the few grown-ups there.

Big, big loss. Another adult has officially left the room.

[KawadaSmile]

Sure an interesting choice of words 

[C.S.]

15 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said:

Sure an interesting choice of words 

Him or me?

[KawadaSmile]

QT, bubba. Talking about changes in direction and whatnot.

[The Thread Killer]

This is basically QT getting squeezed out by Jimmy Jacobs. Which is a shame, because it means no more QTV and that’s just a national tragedy.

[Timbo Slice]

I also don’t get how you don’t keep both all things considered as they seem thin when it comes to backstage personnel who can actually handle things week to week but hey, what do I know. 

[Stiva]

Kind of ominous to read “new direction” when AEW is already hurtling along the “let’s show how much forgettable content we can produce so we can get a bumper tv deal” route already 

[sek69]

I would venture the "new direction" is AEW wants Jimmy Jacobs and not him. 

[El-P]

The writing was on the wall when he signed an extension to the end of the year. I for one loved QT. Great, super underrated worker, apart from a very awkward shooty promo during the Cody feud was always super fun on the mic, the QTV stuff was midcard gold, his Mexican champion act was pretty fun. The whole angle involving the Bunny in the early days was quite fun too, and one of the only time Bunny was really used well. I'll surely miss watching him. Since he's a Cody guy, he may end up getting a backstage job at WWE or something, although I would very much rather have him actually work as a character in TNA, for my own selfish enjoyment.

I sure hope Harley Cameron & Johnny TV gets more serious TV time now though.

[NintendoLogic]

I'm worried this is a prelude to Jacobs trying to Q-pill the locker room.

[KawadaSmile]

Daniel Bryan is a god damn cop. What the fuck is happening

[Jmare007]

The whole report

Quote

CM Punk was terminated by AEW following a situation at AEW All Out by a quickly developed discipline committee, and we’ve learned more, largely because of a tweet that may have referenced it.

Recently, Fightful revealed that a long rumored member of the committee, Megha Parekh, had actually stepped back from a lot of her duties as Chief Legal Officer by that time and actually had nothing to do with the committee. We’ve since learned that AEW General Counsel Chris Peck, who assumed many of her responsibilities, was a part of the three-person committee, along with an outside attorney.

However, there was also one long-respected member of the AEW talent roster that was involved, in Bryan Danielson. When asking sources on the AEW roster about his inclusion, one called him an “appropriate moral compass who exemplifies objectivity" and said that he effectively headed up and was the face of the disciplinary committee. Danielson was said to have spoken to the roster when addressing them about Punk’s termination, and noted that the decision was a particularly hard one. He cited the positives that CM Punk brought and his longstanding friendship with Punk, but said that it was the decision that had to be made.

On November 27, Danielson tweeted “My dad always told me, “The right thing is often the hardest thing to do. It won’t always make the most money. It won’t always be the most popular. But it’s still the right thing." We’re told that’s what Danielson said when speaking to talent at the meeting months before.

We weren’t given any indication regarding the decision making process that occurred by the disciplinary committee. Those that we spoke to said they believed CM Punk was aware by now that Danielson was a pair of said committee, as many of his friends were included in the meeting where Danielson addressed them.

This is a continued duty for Danielson, as he's also responsible for handing out fines when necessary.

Sounds like TK doing damage control on some "even Danielson thought I had to fire him!"

[Embrodak]

Idk if I believe that the firing was Danielson’s idea or decision, seems more like he was there to make the medicine go down more smoothly with the boys who were still friends with Punk, but either way, I have to imagine that Punk is low-key grateful to get to leave a place that he somehow hated more than WWE.

[strobogo]

One Bill Phil was found guilty by a jury of his peers in Wrestler Court. You love to see it.

 

Anyway, in regards to the former WWE guys who didn't want to go to AEW and can't wait to go back to WWE:

FTR: Tried getting released constantly for a solid year before WWE released them

Miro: Tried getting released from his contract for many months prior to the release

Andrade: Tried getting released constantly for many months prior to his release

Malakai Black: Wasn't released, the office didn't realize his contract didn't roll over and also didn't realize he didn't have a 90 day no-compete. He immediately signed with AEW.

Buddy Murphy: Had a featured storyline abruptly dropped from TV and was basically absent from TV for 6 months before his release.

Toni Storm: Requested her release and has been heavily featured her entire AEW run.

Adam Cole: Was heavily courted to remain with WWE, finished his obligations and signed with AEW ASAP.

Bryan Danielson: Was heavily courted to remain with WWE, finished his obligations and signed with AEW ASAP.

Claudio: Contract expired, didn't like the re-up offer, opted to leave. 

2.0: This seems extremely unlikely 

Roderick Strong: ADAAAAAAAAAM

Samoa Joe: WWE got rid of him twice in a year and had moved him out of the ring for a year+, he shows up to AEW and is having another career resurgence and getting to do a bunch of side work.

Swerve: Lol
 

Keith Lee: That one I could see, but he's still not back to where he was pre-COVID and I don't see him getting much more shine in WWE than he's gotten in AEW for the same reason.

[NintendoLogic]

Andrade and Malakai have both repeatedly asked to be released or tried to get fired so they could go back to WWE. To be honest, I don't know what the right course of action is for guys like them. One the one hand, it probably isn't a good idea to create the impression that your company is a sinking ship people are desperate to leave by releasing anyone who asks. On the other, a handful of malcontents who clearly don't want to be there can poison the whole locker room, especially when you're an increasingly distant #2.

[funkdoc]

The interesting thing is Malakai never struck me as a "malcontent" in the same sense as a Miro or Andrade - he seemed to like the folks he worked with in AEW, gave good effort in the ring, wasn't pulling any "that doesn't work for me, brother" nonsense, etc.  But his wife being in WWE definitely had to have taken its toll over time, plus he's legitimately banged up IIRC and i can't imagine it helped that Brody King kinda took over as the star of the stable literally named after him...

One interesting point my friends raised, on a related note: Sting & Christian having spent years in TNA likely made them more sympathetic to that #2 position, as they clearly seem to treat AEW like it's every bit as important as WWE.  The conclusion i've increasingly come to from all this is that a startup promotion needs to find its own identity (which AEW did a great job of!) then refuse to compromise any part of that identity for big names from the outside.

[The Man in Blak]

I’d say there’s a solid argument that Malakai is dead last in his own stable. Julia Hart’s had as much of a push as anyone in the women’s division over the last few months and Buddy has had a few highlight singles matches earlier this year. They’ve actually been featured in a way that Black has arguably never been.

Other than the trios title win over the Elite, the most notable moment that Malakai has had in AEW since his debut against Cody was a sit-off against Punk on one of the Collision multiman tags. His AEW career is effectively a two-year-long black hole between injuries and…whatever is driving his booking and usage. I’d want to get the hell out too.

[C.S.]

1 hour ago, NintendoLogic said:

Andrade and Malakai have both repeatedly asked to be released or tried to get fired so they could go back to WWE. To be honest, I don't know what the right course of action is for guys like them.

If they can get more money from WWE, they should go. In every other respect, it would be a lateral move for them.

They're career midcarders, period. No, they can't be more than that - other than maybe a cup of coffee at the top. They've both been exposed badly, and the shine is off.

What Andrade did in Mexico doesn't mean he can do the same in U.S. Totally different market and style. Not everyone can cross over like Rey and Eddy. 

Fun wrestlers, sure, but that's a long line.

[El-P]

9 hours ago, funkdoc said:

The conclusion i've increasingly come to from all this is that a startup promotion needs to find its own identity (which AEW did a great job of!) then refuse to compromise any part of that identity for big names from the outside.

Totally agree. 

Funny, Mox just did an interview where he just mentions that fact, that they should always keep themselves as the alternative.

As far as QT leaving because of a change of direction, the kinda baffling thing is that he said it was going more toward NJPW style vs storyline. Wait, what ? They never seem to have ran more angle and WWE-style stuff than in the last 6 months. Also, the guy's aspiration is to be a wrestling star and not a coach. Well, good luck with that. Like I said, I enjoy the guy a lot in his various midcard roles, but he ain't gonna get much more than this in WWE, even as a Cody guy. Maybe TNA is the right place, but even there, they have this mentality now of mostly sticking with TNA originals and guy they really build up for years when they come from bigger places until they are seen as IMPACT/TNA people first and foremost (like Steve Maclin). 

[Dale Wolfe]

Its a bit of a catch-22 really but signing these ex-WWE lads when your roster is full of injuries is on paper a smart move but over the last year the unique-ness of the product has dipped massively 

Arguably the only real quality intake has been Christian and the rest have floundered

This statement about keeping your identity is spot on, and i think AEW have definitely lost some of theirs.

Some really great PPVs mind

[Embrodak]

Well it’s a Catch-22 because the identity that AEW had before they started signing all of these WWE guys was “2010s meta-and-cheeky-yet-heartfelt indie wrestling meets 2010s NJPW, but with a big budget”, which clearly has an audience and created a *ton* of loyalty but also has a cap in terms of its mainstream appeal. I think it probably looked like it made a ton of sense to hire certain WWE castoffs, but when you get to the point where you’re hiring fucking Edge, I think it’s pretty clear you’ve lost the plot.

[Alucard]

During a Flair/Sting in ring promo taped for tomorrow's Rampage, Flair apparently had a line about inviting all the women to his hotel room that people expect to be edited out.

Flair posted an apology, telling Tony that if he embarrasses the company, he'll walk away. 

[Jmare007]

A part of me feels like the crowd that followed The Elite everywhere and spent money on them on a level we had never seen before on a niche product/act had their series finale once Hangman beat Kenny for the belt. 

I could be completely wrong but I feel those fans that started the wave in the mid 2010's and basically made it possible to create AEW and make it a viable n°2 option in the U.S weren't gonna stay by 2023 no matter what. At least not in a way that could've saved the company from falling to the level it's been at for the past year.