AEW All Elite Wrestling #8: Grabbing the Brass Ring of Honor

[OG6ix]

Cornette feels like the only person 100% in Punk's corner

I don't always agree with him but I do with this whole elite punk sauga. Seems like the Elite have been quietly playing politics in the back. Either way you cannot have your EVPs go to a guys lockeroom right away in a situation like that. Also, why do it without speaking to Tony first? I feel like these guys think it's a shoot that they are owners of the company because Tony gave them the titles to lock them in to start the organization.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

I don't always agree with him but I do with this whole elite punk sauga. Seems like the Elite have been quietly playing politics in the back. Either way you cannot have your EVPs go to a guys lockeroom right away in a situation like that. Also, why do it without speaking to Tony first? I feel like these guys think it's a shoot that they are owners of the company because Tony gave them the titles to lock them in to start the organization.

Cornette is right about how the Elite should have acted that night. He is also right that Tony Khan should have nipped it in the bud as soon as Page went into business for himself. He is however wrong that Punk was justified when he buried Page on live TV and in doing what he did at the press conference.

Both sides were incredibly unprofessional and management did not handle things the right way. Everybody is at fault here.

 

[TD Charlie]

Cornette is right about how the Elite should have acted that night. He is also right that Tony Khan should have nipped it in the bud as soon as Page went into business for himself. He is however wrong that Punk was justified when he buried Page on live TV and in doing what he did at the press conference.

Both sides were incredibly unprofessional and management did not handle things the right way. Everybody is at fault here.

Sums it up. The talent have all acted like petty brats, and Tony appears unable to reprimand any of them or even attempt to cool things down. It's likely too late already. By the time Punk went off after the show it was already too late for Tony to step in, but for Tony to sit there with a totally blank expression and not say a single word is hilariously incompetent. I get that you're trying to allow (the guy who you think is) your golden goose to speak freely and be comfortable, but this crossed the line. Catapulted over the line.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Sums it up. The talent have all acted like petty brats, and Tony appears unable to reprimand any of them or even attempt to cool things down. It's likely too late already. By the time Punk went off after the show it was already too late for Tony to step in, but for Tony to sit there with a totally blank expression and not say a single word is hilariously incompetent. I get that you're trying to allow (the guy who you think is) your golden goose to speak freely and be comfortable, but this crossed the line. Catapulted over the line.

The line was crossed as soon as Hangman did what he did. It was pretty benign in the grand scheme of things, but it had to be addressed then. Squash it for good.

They surely tried (rumoured meetings), but it did not solve anything and a guy like Omega probably made it worse by saying that he would not have hired 80% of the guy. Of course, the 20% remaining are probably the people who have a similar philosophy to his.

So, at the end of the day, Tony f***ed up by making them executives and then he f***ed up again by not nipping the situation in the bud. Punk was an uber asshole by doing what he did at the press conference and the Elite are whiny babies who use dirtsheet to pass their messages.

 

[OG6ix]

I still keep punk over the elite and the elite's friends. He's still more of a draw then those guys. I personally don't find the young bucks matches entertaining but I guess I'm old school where I hate how they bury the ref and every match is basically a no DQ spot fest. Kenny can have some good one on one matches but his promo ability is fairly weak. His entrance is probably the best thing about his character work.

Also as EVPs you should not be barging into talent's locker room. Probably should be clearing it with the boss and legal. They acted like wrestlers not EVPs.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

I still keep punk over the elite and the elite's friends. He's still more of a draw then those guys. I personally don't find the young bucks matches entertaining but I guess I'm old school where I hate how they bury the ref and every match is basically a no DQ spot fest. Kenny can have some good one on one matches but his promo ability is fairly weak. His entrance is probably the best thing about his character work.

Also as EVPs you should not be barging into talent's locker room. Probably should be clearing it with the boss and legal. They acted like wrestlers not EVPs.

Honestly, I'd keep them all.

They all have value if used properly. However, Tony needs to reign them all in. No more playing with your friends and stupid bullshit. If that is all they want to do, then, yeah, they can go. Feel free to go work for HHH and find out what you are and aren't allowed to do. I am sure they would end up using Omega right. The Bucks? They better enjoy losing to the Usos AND then jobbing on Main Event.

 

[TD Charlie]

Honestly, I'd keep them all.

They all have value if used properly. However, Tony needs to reign them all in. No more playing with your friends and stupid bullshit. If that is all they want to do, then, yeah, they can go. Feel free to go work for HHH and find out what you are and aren't allowed to do. I am sure they would end up using Omega right. The Bucks? They better enjoy losing to the Usos AND then jobbing on Main Event.

He's gotta make an attempt at least. "This is a business, you guys are all adults and you're all gonna have to learn to work together or get the f*** out."

They don't need to be friends. They don't even need to like each other. But you gotta be able to go about your business like a professional. We all have co workers we don't care for but it takes a special kind of jackalope to start publicly shaming them all. I'm not singling anyone out here, a ton of these guys have done it just in the last couple months.

 

[Khelandros]

I still keep punk over the elite and the elite's friends. He's still more of a draw then those guys. I personally don't find the young bucks matches entertaining but I guess I'm old school where I hate how they bury the ref and every match is basically a no DQ spot fest. Kenny can have some good one on one matches but his promo ability is fairly weak. His entrance is probably the best thing about his character work.

Also as EVPs you should not be barging into talent's locker room. Probably should be clearing it with the boss and legal. They acted like wrestlers not EVPs.

You mean like going into Punks room with Megha Parekh, head of Legal? Maybe they should have let her go in first and Punk could have swung at her.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

You mean like going into Punks room with Megha Parekh, head of Legal? Maybe they should have let her go in first and Punk could have swung at her.

Come on.

They walked in with 5 people JUST after Punk spoke at the presser. Punk was in his locker room with his dog and Steel's wife (on crunches).

Megha Parekh being there or not doesn't change how dumb of a decision it was. You let things cool down and you call for a meeting later. They did not. They barged in with back up. What did they expect to achieve? They knew what would happen and if they did not, they are even bigger morons than I thought.

And, let's be honest, she was probably with them because she was afraid something would happen. I doubt she told them to go confront Punk at that moment and, if she did, well, she is a total idiot and should not be an executive. She should have tried to calm them down and tell them to wait until they can all speak with Tony. Heck, maybe she did and they would not listen, who knows.

When you are an EVP in a big company, you do not go start fights with employees. You also do not act on emotion. Their anger was justified. Acting on it was not.

If they had been wrestlers without executive titles, fine, shit happens. But as executives? What they did is BEYOND dumb.

This entire situation is a joke. Everybody looks bad. There is no babyface.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Honestly the Hangman promo is just straight up Streisand effect. If Punk wasn't a whiney little bitch it literally wouldn't be a thing. But he is a whiney little bitch and turned it into a big deal all on his own. I am sorry but where the Elite dumb for going to confront Punk right then and there? Absolutely but trying to act like both sides share the same level of blame in this is absolutely ridiculous to me. Punk openly buried the company and acted like a child, openly asked to be confronted and then took swings when shocker people took him up on said offer.

I think the Elite should have EVP titles taken but other then that they should be back as soon as possible. Ace Steele is shit canned and if 8 months calms Punk down maaaaybe you bring him back but he clearly is a cancer to that locker room and it is probably better off to just go your own separate ways. Also can we please...please stop acting like the Elite are the only ones that go to dirtsheets. I wonder which side of the story went to the dirtsheets with the whole "They kicked down the door" angle?

 

[Scandale du Jour]

They all are whiney little bitches, that's the problem.

Hangman's promo is a big deal not because of what he said in it, but because he went off script. Did he want to bury Punk? Maybe, maybe not. Who f***ing knows. Maybe he thought it would make the feud better. I do not know. If that was his intention, he should have cleared it with Punk first. He clearly did not. So, that's bad form and Punk is right to be offended (his reaction to it was ridiculous though, I agree). Honestly, that is where it should have stopped. Hangman should have apologized and Punk should have moved on. If Hangman did not want to apologize, Tony should have forced him or suspended him (after he dropped the belt). Get the match in the ring and then handle discipline. That is what Vince would have done.

Then, you have the Bucks who dodge FTR (Punk's friends) and allegedly spread the word that Punk got Cabana fired (which is not factual considering Cabana got a contract with ROH... and it is not as if Cabana brought any value). That's also bad form. Once again, Punk is right to be offended (if that's true) and ONCE AGAIN his reaction is over the top (to say the least). THEN, you have Omega telling the locker room that he would not have hired 80% of them. When you have a meeting to kill tension and make sure things stay in house, that's not the kind of message you want to send. Especially not as an executive... who is also a freaking performer. Who does he think he is? Ric f***ing Flair?

Punk does what he does and then the Elite go straight for his locker room. What did they expect to happen? Emotions are running high and you go there with 2 of your friends + an executive of the company knowing the guy is a hot head who is easily offended... what the f*** did you expect? To resolve the situation? If that's the case, you should never be in charge of anything ever again. If you wanted Punk to blow up to "get rid of him", well, that's even worse.

They all ARE morons and Tony must come hard on ALL of them + take a good look in the mirror. He let it go that far.

 

[ShelbyZ]

I've been wondering if some of this stuff was caused by "clickbait" journalism to start with...

Considering that Cabana and Punk both traveled with AEW for around 3 months or so and that other rarely utilized guys from Dark Order (and AEW altogether) had their contracts not renewed...

...is it entirely possible that the rumor Tony was going to let Cabana's contract expire and then his real life "re-assignment" to ROH had absolutely nothing to do with Punk?

And that the Young Bucks and other talent "going to bat" for Cabana so that Tony would re-sign him had nothing to do with Punk?

And Hangman's "going into business for himself" was just him doing worked shoot stuff similar to what we heard from MJF and Kingston during their feuds with Punk?

And maybe all of this grew out of a Wrestling "journalist" hearing about Cabana not getting a new deal and sprinkling in some speculation around Cabana's infamous history with Punk rather than just highlight it similarity to the expiration of contracts to guys like Janella, Marko Stunt or Stu Grayson?

Just seems like with the Bucks apparently squashing the rumors of the "feeler from WWE" that it could be a possibility... Hell, I don't even know what to believe with the whole Malakai Black situation.

 

[Emperoreddy]

Page's comments weren't really all that different from other folks promos directed at Punk. It always felt like Kingston, Mox, MJF were kind of shooting on him.

Is the only difference here that Page was alluding to Colt and Colt is Punk's berserk button?

 

[Scandale du Jour]

Page's comments weren't really all that different from other folks promos directed at Punk. It always felt like Kingston, Mox, MJF were kind of shooting on him.

Is the only difference here that Page was alluding to Colt and Colt is Punk's berserk button?

I would guess that Kingston, Mox and MJF asked Punk first.

Page did not.

Punk going berserk is still unacceptable, but Page was out of line. It should never have gotten close to what ended up happening.

 

[JackSlater]

So, at the end of the day, Tony f***ed up by making them executives and then he f***ed up again by not nipping the situation in the bud. Punk was an uber asshole by doing what he did at the press conference and the Elite are whiny babies who use dirtsheet to pass their messages.

The funniest thing is that everyone lived up exactly to how they are stereotyped in this situation. Khan, Omega and the young bucks (and Meltzer), Punk. This is exactly how you would expect each of them to act in this sort of situation. No one looks good but it will be a fun part of whatever documentary features come out covering AEW in the future.

 

[GKJ]

I think Punk thinks it was tit-for-tat and that if people are going to be assholes, no one’s gonna out-asshole him.

There’s parts of this that are becoming legend and will continue because of how unlikely it is that we’ll get his side of the story.

 

[Soldier13Fox]

Still believe it's a work, not sure anything any of you or random scummy wrestling "journalists" can do to convince me. We will probably never know the truth, similar to the Montreal screw job.

Like I said before, definitely am aware I could be wrong and wouldn't be butt hurt if I was. Just my own humble opinion.

What i do think odd about the situation revolves around the fact that punk is stripped of his title and the Elite are stripped of theirs with suspensions handed out willy nilly to everyone that was even adjacently involved. And yet.... no official statement given on dynamite or AEW official socials. TK knows that his fan base consist of, a majority, of smarks. The majority of his fan base knows what went down and why the titles were vacated. There's no reason to hide the situation at all. At the same time... for the minority of AEW fans that are casual... and / or the casual fans he hopes to court... they aren't going to understand shit. If they aren't watching media scrums, reading boards, or keeping up with dirt sheets they aren't going to understand anything. So they tune in Wednesday night after watching (or hearing) punk win the title back and all of a sudden he is stripped of the title and the same happens with The Elite with no explanation. There's no positive to keep this completely quiet. At a bare minimum TK could have come out last Wednesday and said that some things went down between these particular people and this is why we are vacating titles and suspending them pending an investigation. No details needed to be divulged, but I feel like it's kind of insulting to both hardcore fans and casual fans.

 

[JackSlater]

Still believe it's a work, not sure anything any of you or random scummy wrestling "journalists" can do to convince me. We will probably never know the truth, similar to the Montreal screw job.

Like I said before, definitely am aware I could be wrong and wouldn't be butt hurt if I was. Just my own humble opinion.

What i do think odd about the situation revolves around the fact that punk is stripped of his title and the Elite are stripped of theirs with suspensions handed out willy nilly to everyone that was even adjacently involved. And yet.... no official statement given on dynamite or AEW official socials. TK knows that his fan base consist of, a majority, of smarks. The majority of his fan base knows what went down and why the titles were vacated. There's no reason to hide the situation at all. At the same time... for the minority of AEW fans that are casual... and / or the casual fans he hopes to court... they aren't going to understand shit. If they aren't watching media scrums, reading boards, or keeping up with dirt sheets they aren't going to understand anything. So they tune in Wednesday night after watching (or hearing) punk win the title back and all of a sudden he is stripped of the title and the same happens with The Elite with no explanation. There's no positive to keep this completely quiet. At a bare minimum TK could have come out last Wednesday and said that some things went down between these particular people and this is why we are vacating titles and suspending them pending an investigation. No details needed to be divulged, but I feel like it's kind of insulting to both hardcore fans and casual fans.

We know basically the whole truth of the Montreal screwjob. Give this one time and we'll probably get a very accurate picture.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

Knowing Punk the whole Hangman should have apologized thing, I would expect Punk didn't even say anything about it to Hangman's face and just stewed on it for 3 months until he could get his "receipt" back...and then of course burying him even more in the presser. Making his whole issue with Hangman going into business for himself hilarious. Like I said there are levels to this and Hangman is pretty damn close to the did absolutely nothing wrong level. Punk acted like a bitch at every stop and then the Elite just added fuel to the fire at the end. He is a thin skinned man baby. Should have stayed retired.

 

[GKJ]

Still believe it's a work, not sure anything any of you or random scummy wrestling "journalists" can do to convince me. We will probably never know the truth, similar to the Montreal screw job.

Like I said before, definitely am aware I could be wrong and wouldn't be butt hurt if I was. Just my own humble opinion.

What i do think odd about the situation revolves around the fact that punk is stripped of his title and the Elite are stripped of theirs with suspensions handed out willy nilly to everyone that was even adjacently involved. And yet.... no official statement given on dynamite or AEW official socials. TK knows that his fan base consist of, a majority, of smarks. The majority of his fan base knows what went down and why the titles were vacated. There's no reason to hide the situation at all. At the same time... for the minority of AEW fans that are casual... and / or the casual fans he hopes to court... they aren't going to understand shit. If they aren't watching media scrums, reading boards, or keeping up with dirt sheets they aren't going to understand anything. So they tune in Wednesday night after watching (or hearing) punk win the title back and all of a sudden he is stripped of the title and the same happens with The Elite with no explanation. There's no positive to keep this completely quiet. At a bare minimum TK could have come out last Wednesday and said that some things went down between these particular people and this is why we are vacating titles and suspending them pending an investigation. No details needed to be divulged, but I feel like it's kind of insulting to both hardcore fans and casual fans.

You’re not aware you could be wrong. You’re already wrong. It’s kept quiet as there’s ongoing legal matters. If it was a work, they wouldn’t have avoided saying any of their names. Pending legal matters, it doesn’t really matter if you are insulting fans, what the lawyers say and tell you to do is more important.

They didn’t really have any kind of atypical ratings bump either other than it being the first show after a PPV.

 

[Troublesome 85]

So who do people think the next champ is? I would love for it to be Danielson but it doesnt fit storywise. Same with Jericho. I see Mox winning feuding with MJF. Mox better get a long vacaction after.

 

[OG6ix]

You mean like going into Punks room with Megha Parekh, head of Legal? Maybe they should have let her go in first and Punk could have swung at her.

I heard they were told not to go in the room (fightful select podcast). It's all hearsay at this point - it's just logical not to go in the same day. They were pissed off and decided to also do something irrational.

So who do people think the next champ is? I would love for it to be Danielson but it doesnt fit storywise. Same with Jericho. I see Mox winning feuding with MJF. Mox better get a long vacaction after.

Storylines are pretty much out the window - Danielson should get a run imo. Moxley is going to take time off eventually and I see MJF getting the title early next year and going for a long run.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

I think Danielson and MJF could come up with a pretty great feud. I think Moxley and Danielson are going to face each other and there isn't really a bad choice in who to put over....but I would put it on Danielson and let Moxley go have his vacation lol

 

[hockey20000]

So who do people think the next champ is? I would love for it to be Danielson but it doesnt fit storywise. Same with Jericho. I see Mox winning feuding with MJF. Mox better get a long vacaction after.

has to be mox or danielson.. unless they pull a shocker and give it to sammy or something but cant see it

 

[Scandale du Jour]

You have to give it to someone who can take the L versus MJF. You also need that W to be meaningful for MJF.

Jericho, Danielson and Moxley would all be great wins for MJF.

Mox lost the title twice already, I doubt you want him to lose again, unless he goes on hiatus after.
Danielson has not been book strong enough to lose his first feud as champion and have it have maximum impact. The match would be tremendous though.
Jericho is a heel and at this point of his career, he cannot give MJF the match he needs.

The best choice is Moxley. Danielson second. Jericho third.