The AEW Thread

[Lukovic]

I'm pretty sure the Tony incident was something completely different.

But yeah, daft to air it but suppose they just wanted it out there.

They're fighting an uphill battle though as no matter what they do everything will get taken in bad faith and be ran into the ground by all the sort of usual grifters about.

[djchapsticks]

Poor Tony Schiavone realising that this is a no win situation.

 

 

[Bert Raccoon]

One one hand, there's no such thing as bad publicity and although negative this has people talking. 
 

On the other, AEW just need to quietly go about their business, showcase the amazing roster they currently have a consistently put on bangers. Hopefully the reaction to this will draw a line in the sand but I doubt it.

[DukDukGoose]

6 hours ago, TheGoon said:

I agree they should ignore this shite for the most part, but I think Ospreay was well within his rights after Triple H basically called him a lazy b*****d on TV. 

The best thing they could do is move on from the All In stuff, but they’ve only leaned into it more.

They should just ignore it completely. 

 

[Shuggie_Murray7]

1 hour ago, Lukovic said:

...no matter what they do everything will get taken in bad faith...

I had no idea Tony Khan was even on P&B.

[Lukovic]

13 minutes ago, Shuggie_Murray7 said:

I had no idea Tony Khan was even on P&B.

He was a known forum poster back in the day I'm sure.

More just saying that although Twitter is a bit of a bubble it is a bit wild how much money there is for people to be made on anything negative towards AEW.

Like Cornette or Bischoff I guess but there's more put there.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

45 minutes ago, Lukovic said:

He was a known forum poster back in the day I'm sure.

More just saying that although Twitter is a bit of a bubble it is a bit wild how much money there is for people to be made on anything negative towards AEW.

Like Cornette or Bischoff I guess but there's more put there.

If you put on a shit TV show, you get called out on it. Tony is 100% disingenuous to suggest all criticism is "in bad faith". You can say that about any TV show ever made.

[forameus]

I'm actually surprised it was the footage they were hinting at, as I assumed they were pulling some kind of bait-and-switch despite vaguely saying they weren't. But...why?  If this was in the couple of weeks after All In, I could see there being more of a point, but now it just seems so pointless, even with them trying to tie it in with FTR for "but they're pals" reasons.

AEW have a real problem with just running their own race, and it's only getting worse.  They're absolutely incapable of just letting their product stand on its own, despite being absolutely capable of doing so.  They've got an incredible roster, and can put on terrific shows.  Why bother with this pish?  WWE probably even benefit from this, as McIntyre is almost certainly going to get some mileage out of it.  It doesn't make Punk look any worse, seems to just corroborate his story.  Then they have FTR come out with a ra-ra speech, and STILL they can't help but take a shot at WWE.  And not just any shot, but one that probably holds little weight given that if they were still in WWE, they almost certainly would have been featured very prominently as HHH fucking loved them.  As for Ospreay, I didn't see the comments HHH gave that prompted it, but even if he felt like hitting back...just don't.  What do you have to gain?  You're Will Fucking Ospreay and you're about to tear the house down with Danielson.  

End of the day, after Punk came across like an absolutely massive c**t for most of his time in AEW, they've actually managed to make him seem better with how they've acted.  Punk's just featured - while injured - in a prominent angle in front of 70000 people and has at least one massive feud ahead of him once he returns, and AEW are airing 8 month old footage and - playing while I post - having Chris Jericho continue to try and steal heat from anyone he can.  

3 hours ago, Lukovic said:

I'm pretty sure the Tony incident was something completely different.

Would Tony not be around the corner you can't see on the video?  After they're separated Punk seems to lunge in that direction and say something across some monitors, which would kind of track with the story told.  Of course, there's nothing in there to suggest that Punk was going to end him like Khan was making out.

[Londonwell]

Why on earth would they release something that corroborates Punk's version of events? If he'd lied or tarted things up to make himself look a badass then ok, probably still not a good idea to further AEW, but it would at least cement the idea for their fanbase that Punk is a liar and the company plays face. But this, at this time? Just comes across as desperate by a child owner who is crumbling under the pressure. They'll be ridiculed and rightfully so. Hopefully something is learned from this by Tony and they can move on but I'm really starting to have my doubts. 

[DukDukGoose]

2 hours ago, Lukovic said:

He was a known forum poster back in the day I'm sure.

More just saying that although Twitter is a bit of a bubble it is a bit wild how much money there is for people to be made on anything negative towards AEW.

Like Cornette or Bischoff I guess but there's more put there.

Cornette is negative on the things he hates.

Very positive on the things he likes.

[djchapsticks]

50 minutes ago, forameus said:

As for Ospreay, I didn't see the comments HHH gave that prompted it, but even if he felt like hitting back...just don't.  What do you have to gain?  You're Will Fucking Ospreay and you're about to tear the house down with Danielson.  

Again, it was neither an active jab at Ospreay nor was it on WWE TV, it was on McAfee's ESPN show.

The comments were basically HHH being asked to assess who might be a good fit for WWE and said 'If you're at the point in your career where you're still pretty young and would rather pick the reduced dates and easier schedule than the grind when you are fit, healthy and able to do so, then this probably isn't the company for you and it's probably for the best we didn't hire you'.

The fact that Ospreay in particular has reacted without being named suggests that there's an element of truth there (in fact, didn't Omega once call out his work ethic as well in this regard?) but personally I saw it more as a broad swipe at anyone WWE might have been interested in such as Jay White, Mercedes Mone, Ospreay, maybe not so much Okada as he's now firmly in the 'veteran' categor,y but the fact that Ospreay of all people has taken such umbrage to it despite not even being close to getting named is quite telling to be honest.

[forameus]

1 minute ago, djchapsticks said:

Again, it was neither an active jab at Ospreay nor was it on WWE TV, it was on McAfee's ESPN show.

The comments were basically HHH being asked to assess who might be a good fit for WWE and said 'If you're at the point in your career where you're still pretty young and would rather pick the reduced dates and easier schedule than the grind when you are fit, healthy and able to do so, then this probably isn't the company for you and it's probably for the best we didn't hire you'.

The fact that Ospreay in particular has reacted without being named suggests that there's an element of truth there (in fact, didn't Omega once call out his work ethic as well in this regard?) but personally I saw it more as a broad swipe at anyone WWE might have been interested in such as Jay White, Mercedes Mone, Ospreay, maybe not so much Okada as he's now firmly in the 'veteran' categor,y but the fact that Ospreay of all people has taken such umbrage to it despite not even being close to getting named is quite telling to be honest.

Cheers for that, hadn't seen exactly what was said but that seems...tame, to say the least.  And he's right too.  If you sign with WWE, unless you're up in the sort of Brock or Reigns category, you are almost certainly signing up to do a quite punishing schedule.  You can be the most talented wrestler there has ever been, you might still fall foul of that schedule.  And that's fine!  It's perfectly fine if you look at WWE and think "nah".  Which is pretty much what Ospreay did, isn't it?  He prioritised being more with his growing family than moving to the US and spending 400 days a year on the road.  In that case it is "best we didn't hire you" for all parties.

But no, go out there and talk about how HHH pumped his way to the top, like he gives a shit.  He's essentially running the biggest wrestling company on the planet.  I don't think he gives a shit.  He's the equivalent of Scott Brown pointing at the scoreboard and laughing.

[Shuggie_Murray7]

What's the end goal by showing the CCTV footage? Serious question. What did AEW/Tony think this would achieve?

My personal opinion was always that I thought Punk was a fairly egotistical arsehole, but who was, more often than not, correct in everything he was saying about the Bucks and their crew.

After Brawl In and the Perry situation, my take was that he may or may not have been correct in his actions, but that Tony/the disciplinary committee decision was a joke.

All airing the footage has done has shown me that Punk accurately described the situation.

I don't know if Tony/AEW thought it would be some sort of gotcha moment. But for me, all it's done is show that Tony is in fact a clown and that Punk, as much of an arsehole as he always comes across, was actually telling the truth here.

It was a stupid move and everyone except Tony knew it would be.

Edited April 11 by Shuggie_Murray7

[Bert Raccoon]

As I mentioned earlier, yes it's negative publicity but it's publicity none the less. As an example this thread would normally have two maybe three posts after an episode of Dynamite. 

Still think it is a very petty and ill-concieved idea but can't deny it has people talking

[forameus]

Is it useful publicity though if that is leading to people actively criticising the choice or outright laughing at it?

In the run-up, people were suggesting it was done for Jack Perry's benefit to heat him up ahead of him presumably returning to AEW.  If that was the plan, big ooft, because he just ends up looking like a bewildered wee boy.  

So was it to somehow get the last word in on Punk?  If so, fucked it again, because it essentially corroborates what he said.  Sure, Punk seems like an arsehole but then he always has.  He's openly admitted what happened, and now has footage to prove it.  He's already on instagram taking the piss.  He's fine.  

Was it to hype up Bucks/FTR?  Now this holds a bit more weight, but if it was the case, they kind of didn't land it.  They seemed to make an attempt to, but got stuck kind of halfway between it being just to take a shot at Punk and bring FTR into it.  And with the Bucks as heels, are the audience now supposed to cheer Punk as the opposite face?  The guy who isn't with the company anymore?  Mission accomplished, as Punk would say, because there were CM Punk chants against the Bucks and Okada.  Good job.

This - combined with the constant shooting towards WWE on the show - has to go down as an absolutely enormous own goal.  Khan has always been a questionable boss with the way he let CM Punk walk all over him multiple times, but that was admittedly a difficult situation.  It is not difficult, however, especially with the roster AEW have, to just ignore what's going on and concentrate on putting on a great show.  They've usually managed that.  Last night they spectacularly failed.

[GNU_Linux]

As someone with no real stake in this my main take away is the AEW vs WWE discourse is going to be even more insufferable than it already is on /r/squaredcircle & the like.

[Londonwell]

1 hour ago, Bert Raccoon said:

As I mentioned earlier, yes it's negative publicity but it's publicity none the less. As an example this thread would normally have two maybe three posts after an episode of Dynamite. 

Still think it is a very petty and ill-concieved idea but can't deny it has people talking

It’s publicity for Punk. A guy who doesn’t work for them anymore. 

[untitled00]

I said before they aired that I wasn’t sure how smart it would be to show it and I cant see how this is going to help AEW at all. 

I doubt millions will have tuned in to see it and even if some did, I’m not sure there was much on the show that would convince non AEW fans to stay for future shows or buy PPV’s - which should kinda be the whole point….

 

[forameus]

9 minutes ago, untitled00 said:

I said before they aired that I wasn’t sure how smart it would be to show it and I cant see how this is going to help AEW at all. 

I doubt millions will have tuned in to see it and even if some did, I’m not sure there was much on the show that would convince non AEW fans to stay for future shows or buy PPV’s - which should kinda be the whole point….

 

Another decent point.  If they'd allied this curious decision to one of those episodes of Dynamite that seem like a mini-PPV in its quality, yeah, I can maybe see a net benefit.  But they allied it to probably one of the worst episodes they've managed to put together since I started watching.  If any new eyes were on the product to watch that footage, they aren't coming back.

[FifeArab]

WWE put on a wrestlemania weekend last week where they sold 145K tickets and brought in 78% more revenue than last years mania at $40 million.

The last thing I’d be doing if i was AEW is taking shots at WWE. It seems like a desperate attempt to score ratings off of them and all it did was make Tony Khan look pathetic and give more star power to CM Punk.

id be catering to my own audience and trying to build my stars up to the power of MJF, Omega and the young bucks.