Yeah, I’d be intrigued to see what they try to do with Goldberg. It’s a fine move in theory. They need starpower. But like Sting Fan said, I don’t know where he fits. Just seems like he would cloud the identity of the product even more.

If they keep building Hobbs as a force and then suddenly that music hits one night while he’s in the ring though, the place will go banana.

How dare they make wrestling fans actually watch wrestling. :roll:

Dave, I'm sorry. I know you are a big fan of the lucha guys, but it is ridiculous to expect people to go watch content from another company to help build a match, instead of doing it yourself.

All they had to was show a vingette of the guy on dynamite for a few weeks and talk about how epic the match would be.

But to do nothing, gives you no reason to care about the match. Sure, it's a spectacle. But without any real build up or emotion involved, its the wrestling equivalent of a tech demo.

Fignuts running over Dave like Rikishi ran over Steve Austin.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">From CM Punk’s Instagram story. <br><br>Holy shit. <a href="https://t.co/CE3ZyVZrON">pic.twitter.com/CE3ZyVZrON</a></p>&mdash; Louis Dangoor (@TheLouisDangoor) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheLouisDangoor/status/1639011295193190400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

lol Jesus Christ just pay the guy to go away already. Pay him out, have him sign an NDA and call it a fucking day. Even as a punk fan I’m tired of his ass.

lol Punk is such a bitch.

Also that last line about never putting the company above his health again....didn't he go out and do the match? That's confusing and seems contradictory unless he was cleared, in which case that whole spiel seems rather meaningless.

CM Punk is spot on

Who hacked Gertners account?

I figured he was saying “I put WWE ahead of my health in the past. I put AEW ahead of my health on this occasion. I won’t put any company ahead of my health again.”

Sorry, I don't get this at all. I don't think it's their responsibility anymore to control what I know as a fan. We have the internet now. If you wanna know what Vikingo can do, get on Google and find out!

I felt like they did plenty to put the match over. Excalibur explained everything there was to know, there's just not that much to it.

I’m so confused. If Moxley said he wouldn’t lose to Punk, then why did he lose to Punk?

I thought the same thing too but then I realized this must be about the match like 3 weeks earlier when Mox squashed him.

I absolutely fucking loved Punk’s first 9 or so months in AEW. Had a bunch of great performances against guys like Darby, Hobbs, and of course the MJF feud was brilliance. There were still a bunch of programs I wanted to eventually see Punk in.

But with that said, pains me to say it but they definitely just need to buy him out and send him on his way. Not even remotely worth the hassle.

But even in that interpretation Mox wins the first one and Punk wins the last one as a conquering hero. In Punk’s own words that’s explained to him as the plan. Mox is Clubber Lang and Punk is Rocky. Punk wins the feud.

It seems like Punk thought they either shouldn't do the match or that he should be the one going over the first time as well. I dunno. It seems weird that he wouldn't get why Mox was not gonna job to him in the first match knowing the outcome of the feud.

Knowing Punk he probably felt like jobbing to Mox in that first match was just punishment for him shooting on Page the previous Dynamite.

To this day I've never understood that squash in the middle of a Dynamite only for him to win it back after overcoming......something in his head...?....a couple of weeks later.

I swear this is all a simulation, AEW is just some ADD riddled kid playing Universe Mode and throwing shit against the wall.

Yeah......we did get the First Dance and MJF.......sigh......

In general you're right but I still want him back. I would start watching again. I can't help it. AEW has been the drizzling shits during his absences on just about everything since All Out. Now included.

Felt like things were headed in the right direction and everything was where it should be when he was there and without its an aimless holding pattern on everything.

I feel like a bit of the aimless feel is lack of recognised top of card talent at the top of the card. The shows feel skewed at times because as good as MJF is he doesnt feel familiar as a top guy.

Jericho, Mox, Punk, Omega and to a significantly lesser extent Page all felt like the focus of the show. I think this whole MJF only does special appearances thing is misfiring especially if you want him to reign a long time. Probably Page as champ started this feel then the Mox vs. Punk stuff refocussed it.

The way to get a young main eventer feel like a main eventer is to keep them hot, have them appear and have them the focus of the show. MJF doesnt feel like that atm to me anyway and I think its throwing the show off balance same way Hangman did as champ and I say that loving me some Hangman.

This is 100% correct. Save your money match for your biggest show. Mox doesn’t need to trade wins. He’s carved himself out as AEW’s tough guy so losing to Punk wouldn’t hurt him.

But I still don’t understand why Punk is claiming Mox wouldn’t lose to him. Maybe he’s mistaken. Maybe that’s why he deleted it.

Considerate Malcontent Punk

Punk has a LOT to say considering he is the worst professional fighter of all time. Jericho beat up Goldberg, invented beating up Brock Lesnar, and would pound Punk's face into oblivion.

If the company wants me to care about a guy coming in for a "dream match," they need to be showing me why I should be invested. Not everyone can sit down and watch a bunch of matches from other places.

A few quick vignettes would have been a great way to sell everyone watching Dynamite (some or many of whom may not watch other promotions) on who this guy was and why this match was a big deal.

ALSO, what aspiring fighter isn’t familiar with the Rocky franchise?

Call me Captain Skeptical

I can believe that Punk maybe thought he was "too cool" to watch Rocky.

Wish Sylvester Stallone would post an IG story about Punk being a loser for not knowing Rocky.

Agree to disagree. I don't care what year it is, or how accessible other content is. A wrestling show should be able to stand on it's own, without needing supplemental content to fully appreciate it.

Like, fuck's sake I have to deal with that enough with comic crossovers, I don't need it in my wrestling too. I drive a dodge stratus and I am very important and I don't have time for that.

Forget about having to learn who Vikingo is, why can't Tiny book a dream match with one of the like 200 people he has under contract instead? All this accomplished was lettings fans know don't have to bother watching unless some special attraction is coming in for a match.

For me, the term "Dream Match" lost all meaning when Dante Martin vs Rey Fenix was hyped up as one, like it is Rock vs Hogan or Sting vs Undertaker.

Also, AEW assigns too much homework as is. To understand what's going on, I have to watch 3 hours of main programming, However fucking long the two Dark programs are, two skit shows, and a zombie promotion. And even then it's easy to get lost. It didn't work when the James Gang feuded with Team 3D about a pipe used in WWE, and people actually WATCH WWE.

The thing is, much of what fucked up ROH to the point that it is a zombie promotion are the shithead marks that gatekeeped it, among other things. But let's do the same thing with AEW...

Whether you’re #TeamPunk or #TeamMeltzer, I’m just glad both sides can agree on one thing.

Plans change.

I don't really know how the Vikingo match was promoted or presented... but I vaguely recall people from Japan/Mexico showing up for some random matches in WCW/WWF when I was a youngling and even though I didn't know who they were I thought it was "cool" to see that "expanded world"

I guess the difference would be that they were not brought in for "holy poop, look at this dream main event match!!!" but just "Here's a unique showcase" somewhere on the card

If Hijo del Vikingo was brought in for a "unique showcase" against a low card guy, it likely wouldn't have gotten the reaction it got when he was brought in for a "Dream Match" against Kenny Omega.

I'm not a big ROH guy, never have been but I feel you kinda just summed up wrestling fandon a bit unfortunately.

CM Punk firing off some rounds. Good for him. Moxley is a fucking mess — it’s why Brock big-dogged his bullshit at Mania 32. He thought the two title changes was a good idea? Sign that guy to a 5-yr contract and pick his brain.

Meltzer is indeed a liar.

Jericho is indeed a liar and a stooge.

Where are the lies?

It sounds like Punk either compromised his health in the first match back, and he won’t do it again, or they wanted to do it earlier and Punk told them to get fucked because he was hurt. Either scenario is a bit fucked, but the second one in particular is sketchy as hell.

Bobby Fish Gimmick Infringement.

Noid with the exact take everyone knew he would have. Shocking.

If they made him go out there to do a stupid match/angle while not medically cleared, the press conference blow-up makes even more sense.

There he is. Knew Dale would be here to stan for his lover Noids take.

Punk in more drama, and it's everybody else's fault AGAIN.

Wonder how the Shitman feels about finally losing his title as the bitterest there was, the bitterest there is, and the bitterest there ever will be?

In fairness he will probably get the title back in a couple months when TK signs Oldberg.

This is the thing that set Punk off, for the record.

https://i.imgur.com/rkGQy8G.jpeg

For the love of god, Punk, get offline.

Punk vanity searches himself for negative comments and leaves random comments on Twitter and Instagram accounts with like 200 followers. I just don't get it.

What's not to get? He's a typical attention whore.

I more just don't get attention whore behavior in general. Particularly people who already have made a shitload of money. Same goes for Jericho on the other side of the coin.

Hilariously Punk also made a post saying "I'm too old for this shit" and it's like, man, pot calling the kettle black there.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="zxx" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/31ex7D1kXt">pic.twitter.com/31ex7D1kXt</a></p>&mdash; WrestleCringe (@WRESTLECringe) <a href="https://twitter.com/WRESTLECringe/status/1639038220758335489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

ahahahahahahahaha

I mean, the phrase "tony putting his foot down" makes me question the validity of dave's entire comment.

He is great at putting his foot down

https://media.tenor.com/wkA8HKnMyIEAAAAd/aew-tony.gif

I'm convinced.

I’m not ruling it out that this could be a work.

It’s on the table.

All of AEW is a work being perpetrated by Vince McMahon.

If Vince ever bought AEW I'd want the transaction to somehow be kept secret until Dynamite. Turning on Nitro and seeing Vince was surreal, but just imagine that except it was a total secret until Dynamite went on the air.

Obviously would never happen given they are major corporations and stockholders involved, but fuck.

In someone's TEW game, Tony Khan actually bought WWE. Similarly would be hilarious for it to just happen and he walks out on Raw doing his usual coked up speech.

Would be horrific for the business for anyone to have another monopoly, mind you. But still hilarious to imagine.

LMFAO YES! I called this whole bullshit company narrative from day Fucking one. I Fucking KNEW IT!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Was CM Punk told to take down his Instagram post? <br>Here is Section 19 of AEW's Talent Playbook: <a href="https://t.co/UIW7yuIfhO">pic.twitter.com/UIW7yuIfhO</a></p>&mdash; The Great Brian Last (@GreatBrianLast) <a href="https://twitter.com/GreatBrianLast/status/1639283899804024846?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 24, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

https://b1671682.smushcdn.com/167168...strip=1&webp=1

https://b1671682.smushcdn.com/167168...strip=1&webp=1
https://www.ringsidenews.com/2023/03...ny-censorship/

look in my eyes. What do you see? A call made by the lawyers of Tooooony.

ngl I stole that comment but it's mine now

Odd how this never seemed to keep certain talent from casting doubt on the severity of a certain ex Women's Champion's injuries...

:lol: True

Company doesn't want its talent disparaging the brand in public. Local retard thinks this is shocking. In other news, everybody poops.

If only Tiny would have listened to the wise words of Slik 50 months ago!

So the point flew right over your head huh? It is not that they have such a policy, it is that they from day one were selling the fans a load of bullshit, while secretly having the exact same kind restrictions on their talent as everybody else.

Again, their narrative has been bullshit since day one. THAT is the point.

Gertner, Noid, Dale and screech are spot on.

Alright gents, pay up. Told you I could make Fan publicly agree to a Noid take.

Of all days, you pick when CM Phil melted down over a Dave Meltzer forum post??? Don't kick #Fan when he is already down. Down and out, like CM Phil in the UFC
:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

The Mox part of this is the funniest part to me. Whether you agree with the booking decision of Mox squashing Punk or not, feels like barely anyone actually buys Punk when he claims "Mox refused to put me over unless I lost first". You can love or hate Mox all you want but literally anyone else who talks about him says he doesn't involve himself in political bullshit and he does whatever the company asks of him.

What feels more likely to me is Mox made the suggestion that he thought it'd make more sense if he won first before Punk going over and explained his reasoning, and Tony ultimately agreed with him. Again, whether you agree with the booking or not, it feels more like he made a suggestion vs. saying nope I'm not gonna put this guy over.

But of course Punk would interpret it as "HE REFUSED TO PUT ME OVER" because he has a very obvious victim complex.

Feel like Punk is one of those people that is convinced he is the smartest person in the room to the point where he can't accept when people don't agree with him.

Resident transphobe xrodmuc316 makes a fair point when he says pointing out that someone agrees with a Noid take is the equivalent of kicking them. Very mean.

Oof @ the betrayal though.

Now let me talk about the Miro shit. So the "sheets" have been claiming for a while that the only reason Miro's been AWOL is because he didn't want to do some of the plans AEW had for him and so they're just waiting to agree on a new angle.

I was skeptical of these reports, but the guy has been gone for ages and there's literally millions of ways you can use Miro. Is he really being a next level pain in the ass shooting everything down? Did he turn them down so many times AEW just said fuck it, stay home and get back to us when you tell us what you want to do? Maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle.

The latest rumor is he was pitched a program with Hangman in September which would've seen them be the final two at the Grand Slam battle royal, Hanger would win but Miro would beat the fuck outta him and they'd have a program set up going into Full Gear. And Miro said no.

I take all of this with a grain of salt, but let me just hypothetically assume it's true. In that case I think it reflects poorly on everyone.

For Miro, it's like....I love the guy, but if he thinks he's too good to work with one of the top positioned guys in the company, I don't know what he was expecting. That's the kind of shit you do if you're trying to get fired, which in Miro's case would be a mere few months after he signed a new 4-year deal.

But for Tony Khan...just kinda an example of how he can't seem to handle the prospect of not being everyone's friend. Maybe he thinks it's better for morale to not book people who aren't happy, but how is giving a guy on a six figure salary an endless vacation a punishment? It's wrestling, you're never gonna make everyone happy. Grow a pair and tell the guy to come in and do his job, or cut him loose.

TLDR: Miro's been gone for 8 months and whatever's going on, both sides should've had ample time to sit down, sort their shit, and figure out a path forward one way or the other.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">So tired and need to rest after surgery but Bully King and Pepsi Phil are forcing Danhausen to see John Wiz 4 at 11. <br><br>They aren’t even going, they just said they’ll piss my pants if I didn’t go.</p>&mdash; Danhausen (@DanhausenAD) <a href="https://twitter.com/DanhausenAD/status/1639447892745134080?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 25, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">CM Punk, Jon Moxley, and Tony Khan going over the Undisputed AEW World Championship match: <a href="https://t.co/UeDrjKuFne">pic.twitter.com/UeDrjKuFne</a></p>&mdash; NHATional Scissoring Day ✂️ (@nhathaniel_h) <a href="https://twitter.com/nhathaniel_h/status/1639034583696957441?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Here are a lot of CM Punk updates, provided by Fightful:

- Punk communicated to people familiar with the situation that he was not comfortable going through with the match on August 24 before he was fully cleared. Special travel arrangements were made to accomodate Punk on the day of the match and he floated the idea of additional pay over wrestling without being cleared.

- There is heat between Punk and Mox, based on those Mox spoke to after All Out.

- Jericho and Punk had a verbal fight after Brawl Out where Jericho called Punk a cancer and Punk shouted back.

- Those in AEW believe that in a "Mox or Punk" situation, AEW would choose Mox.

- Some heat on Punk over All Out has died down but a lot still remains.

- Punk and Tony have been in contact and/or had a couple meetings. They were supposed to meet in February but that got delayed because of Jerry Jarrett's funeral.

- Those close to Punk initially believed he wanted out of his contract without a non-compete, which changed to wanting to go back/being open to coming back to AEW in the past weeks.

- One person claimed Punk said he was willing to apologize over the media scrum portion of the night and had expressed some regret over his actions on that part. It is unkown if it would be a public or private apology, or who he would apologize to.

- People close to Punk said he was originally going to pursue legal action however that doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

- Sources in AEW lost confidence that Punk would return after yesterday's post. He's currently still under contract.

- Punk had a meeting with AEW officials over the Hangman promo before Double or Nothing, while Hangman just tried to stay out of the situation and move past it. Whatever came out of that meeting was not a satisfying resolution for Punk.

- Punk should be cleared from his injured very soon. He originally expected to be cleared by late January.

- New Brawl Out info:
Other talent were present at the brawl but did not get suspended as they were not physically involved.
A previously unrevealed production employee got struck with a chair.
Omega and Punk spoke had a brief conversation in the immediate moments following the brawl where Punk told him that "the issue wasn't with him" but apparently did not speak more after that, as Punk was prepping for surgery and Omega had other plans. People said Omega was surprisingly composed after it all went down. Ace Steel was still being dealt with at this point.

- NJPW did not know Punk was going to attend Battle at the Valley (Lars Frederiksen only told Rocky Romero that he was bringing "a friend") and they quickly cleared up with AEW that there wasn't any kind of conspiring going on.

Man, I would love a Hangman vs. Miro program.

I'm so over the Punk stuff, my guess is he will appear on AEW again, if the above recap is right it sounds like anger has subsided and reality has set in that maybe he wasnt in the right. That being said who knows if the report is right. I imagine if Punk thought he had a case or anywhere else to go he would be suing so I do think that parts telling.

If im running a company and I had to choose Mox or Punk I take Mox pretty easily tbh.

Mox bleeds at house shows.

Miro and Punk being back would be a shot in the arm for AEW. I'd watch again.

I've also been to Mindy's Bakery recently. Its fucking fantastic.

AEW is devoid right now of top of fresh top of the card talent. Punk and Miro would help that issue. I’d love to see Miro back. Don’t know why he wouldn’t want a featured program with Hangman.

lol Punk and the word fresh have no business being mentioned together.

I'm assuming Miro probably feels like he needs a big win to rebuild his "monster" image after being out so long and feels like jobbing to the Cowboy as soon as he comes back doesn't do that.

Not even Tiny could be stupid enough to alienate Jericho, Mox, Omega, Page, The Bucks, and whoever else is loyal to those guys, just to bring CM Turd back.

The only positives would be:
1. He would likely get injured again anyways
2. Maybe FTR Bald would whine just a little less

Punk could do the obvious mega feud if he comes back then work ROH as the top guy :shifty:

I just cannot see how anyone takes AEW’s side in this shit, or still convinces themselves that Punk wants to come back to that shitshow. They tried to get him to work hurt, he’s mad at so much (and justifiably so).

You don’t have to like Punk to see this and lolAEW.

That works both ways. You don't have to stan for a toxic CM Punk just to lolAEW. Dude ends up in drama everywhere he goes, always pisses off people in power and can't keep his mouth shut to save his life. Just because TK/Elite are turds and the situation was handled poorly doesn't suddenly mean Punk was right.

#punkwasright

Seph started it.

Supercard of Honor Lineup

<b>ROH World Championship</b>
Eddie Kingston vs. Claudio Castagnoli (C)

<b>ROH Television Championship</b>
Mark Briscoe vs. Samoa Joe (C)

<b>AAA Mega Championship</b>
Komander vs. El Hijo del Vikingo (C)

<b>ROH Pure Championship</b>
Katsuyori Shibata vs. Wheeler Yuta (C)

<b>ROH Women's Championship</b>
Yuka Sakazaki vs. Athena (C)

<b>"Reach for the Sky" Ladder Match for the vacant ROH Tag Team Championship</b>
The Lucha Brothers vs. Aussie Open vs. The Kingdom vs. La Faccion Ingobernable

<b>ROH 6-Man Tag Team Championship</b>
AR Fox, Blake Christian, and Metalik vs. The Embassy (C)

fuck me....this card looks fun

You don’t burst into someone’s personal space without expecting some sort of fight out of it. Probably violated Punk’s contract too. Good stuff. :y:

Dave is now apparently apologizing for the mess he’s caused because now Punk’s come out with more details about what fucking asswipes AEW management are.

Thoughts of ROH:

* Don’t care about any six-man belts. They’re always a detriment. Yawn.

* Remember when ROH used to make a big deal out of their Ladder Wars? Oh well.

* Fuck Athena.

* Yay for men dying in the ring.

* Vikingo sucks. Wooo, flips!

* Mark Briscoe vs. Samoa Joe could be good.

* Claudio vs. Kingston could also be good, but they’ve really done their best to make you not care about either guy.

Yeah, looks like the shits.

Dave withheld the information that Punk’s injunction was because he wasn’t medically cleared. When you believe all that weird shit clunking around in your head about Punk being a cancer or whatnot, you are absorbing the bullshit of an extremely jealous and insecure locker room.

The “news” out there is designed to protect AEW’s image. Use some critical thinking when it comes to the situation. It’s not that hard to decipher. AEW is a mess and how things have been handled from the start would make the most sane people bend.

In this case, yes. Should he have buried the company at the scrum? No. But Page did it and didn’t get any repercussions. Why are you holding shoot media scrums anyway?

LolAEW

Punk was legitimately trying to make AEW better. For his own ego or bottom line? Very likely. But that is what he was trying to do. And he was having minor success until he came up against the egos of the “everything is awesome” crowd. You don’t have to love the guy to admit that. The “Punk is trying to hurt AEW” shit comes from that Jericho/Elite camp.

That camp, by the way, is the one holding AEW back. Punk’s Rampage anomaly showed how they’ve niched the company. They don’t want it to be more successful than it is, because what’s possible makes what they’ve actually achieved look feeble. And if you’re going to wring millions of dollars out of a billionaire’s son, you want him to believe you’re doing the best job possible.

You also have to throw in the self-consciousness these guys have around Jim Cornette and traditional wrestling philosophy. These guys don’t want to have to admit that logical, credible work is the route to wrestling having appeal. The last thing they want to do is go out there and prove Cornette right. It’s got to be under “logic can be thrown out the window” terms. Pink ruffled that by talking to young guys and pointing out there is a more effective way to do things.

If Danielson held seminars where he tried to train the guys up zero them in on effective techniques to get over, Omega would start a smear campaign against him too.

Imagining Noid "simmering" behind his computer/phone screen and just keeping coming back to add on another thought like "I'm not done yet"

Lol, I’m not simmering, but I do have a lot to say on it. It’s just baffling to me how people can look at this scenario and go “Yep, Punk’s the bad guy.” I guess there are all types in this world, but I just cannot disconnect from reality that much. And that’s coming from fantasy-living me, lol.

I think most people's opinion is that they're all jackasses.

Punk was fucking ambushed on live television and Tony does nothing.

I dunno — that seems like the safe position and there are differing levels of jackass.

I honestly wish people would stop supporting this bush league. I guess they are tuning out, but not as fast as they deserve. I want the shoot interviews lol.

Approx. 93% of everyone involved with the rassling business is a jackass