WWE followers had been proclaiming the Angle Period was again a couple of weeks in the past with The Rock’s bloody beatdown of Cody Rhodes.
Effectively, now we’ve got our WCW, too. Not less than for one week.
AEW, the main competitor to the professional wrestling behemoth, made the shocking choice on Thursday (AEST) to air footage of the real-life backstage battle between CM Punk and younger wrestler Jack ‘Jungle Boy’ Perry at their huge All In occasion at Wembley Stadium final yr.
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The corporate has notably been quiet on the collection of backstage incidents which ruined Punk’s in any other case profitable run within the firm – first, his battle with The Younger Bucks and Kenny Omega at All Out 2022, after which his dispute with Perry which led to his firing.
The 2022 incident, which adopted Punk struggling a triceps damage in his essential occasion match, has not been mentioned publicly attributable to reported nondisclosure agreements signed by the events concerned. However it was believed he attacked the Bucks first, punching Matt Jackson, whereas his buddy and former AEW staffer Ace Metal threw a chair that hit Nick Jackson, earlier than biting Omega and pulling his hair.
Punk needed to show that incident into an on-camera feud to make some cash, however the Bucks weren’t , and when Punk returned to AEW a brand new TV present – Collision – was successfully created due to and for him, permitting him and his allies to seem at separate tapings to the Bucks and their camp.
But Punk nonetheless acquired concerned in a dispute after Perry needed to contain the actual glass of a rental automotive’s windshield in an damage angle on Collision, with Punk and others inside AEW telling Perry it was a foul concept.
On the All In occasion, throughout a match early within the present Perry was concerned in a spot utilizing glass, then saying into the digicam “it’s actual glass, cry me a river”.
Punk, listening to these feedback, confronted Perry backstage and the pair fought – that was all that was identified for certain till Thursday’s version of Dynamite.
That was when AEW really confirmed footage of the battle.
Punk, getting ready for his match with Samoa Joe, could be seen going as much as Perry with the pair then speaking for 30-45 seconds.
Perry didn’t seem aggressive, even fixing his hair within the seconds earlier than Punk acquired aggressive, pushing after which making an attempt to choke Perry earlier than the pair had been pulled aside.
Punk can then be seen going over to the gorilla place the place AEW boss Tony Khan was sitting, knocking some displays, and in response to Punk’s personal account instructed Khan “you’re a clown, I stop”.
Punk’s account was filled with exaggerations in regards to the incident to make him look much less dangerous. And it was this dialogue of the incident that clearly led AEW to displaying the battle.
For months AEW has tried to take the upper floor, not speaking in regards to the incidents with Punk publicly or privately, whereas Punk fortunately spoke to media members on background to offer his aspect of the story after which spoke immediately in regards to the battle final week.
It appears clear Khan and the Bucks had been merely sick of just one aspect of the story being instructed, and needed to show Punk’s fact wasn’t the entire fact.
The issue is, displaying the footage was by no means going to persuade anybody they had been proper. Punk’s followers – largely simply WWE followers – will watch the footage and see what they wish to see. Punk’s critics will say the footage was unsurprising as a result of it’s already very clear Punk is extremely dangerous at coping with criticism and battle.
Displaying the footage publicly felt like a transfer out of the WCW playbook; an try and pop a TV score with no precise storyline motive. Eric Bischoff, who has turned a few years of success into many years of relevance and now makes cash criticising AEW (largely incorrectly and saying issues he is aware of aren’t true), would’ve been proud.
AEW tried to show the footage right into a storyline by framing it across the upcoming Younger Bucks vs FTR (fka The Revival) match at their Dynasty pay per view. The Bucks, in character, claimed they had been distracted by the Punk battle of their roles as govt vice presidents which is why they misplaced, and pointed to the well-known friendship between FTR and Punk.
The issue right here is that the Bucks are the heels on this feud. So what’s displaying the Punk footage imagined to do, in storyline? Make us like FTR and, thus, Punk?
If something it made Perry, who has been suspended from AEW and wrestling in New Japan Professional Wrestling (with AEW’s blessing) calling himself ‘The Scapegoat’, really appear to be a scapegoat as a result of apart from desirous to do one thing harmful and getting a bit snippy together with his on-air remark, he actually did nothing flawed. He actually didn’t assault a colleague backstage for the second time, like Punk did, warranting his firing.
And let’s be clear – Punk is within the flawed right here. AEW could not fully be in the best however Punk was a disruptive backstage presence who preached desirous to make amends for a previous dispute with the Bucks… but reportedly rejected the thought outright together with his former buddy Colt Cabana, when Cabana approached Punk backstage at an AEW present. He has been hypocritical at many occasions all through this course of.
However for no matter motive within the present web wrestling panorama, AEW and Tony Khan have change into the dangerous guys. A few of it’s the very partisan nature of a wrestling warfare, with WWE followers turning into evangelists and never understanding why individuals would love the opposite firm.
A few of it’s former wrestling figures, just like the aforementioned Bischoff but additionally Jim Cornette, getting cash by spreading disinformation and hatred about AEW. The corporate is nowhere near folding due to the Khan household’s unimaginable wealth, and appears prone to be drawing a revenue as soon as a brand new TV deal is signed within the coming months; their attendance has been poor at occasions lately however their TV rankings are stable, at all times within the prime few reveals for the evening on cable. Extra to the purpose, they’re inarguably successful, moreso than any competitor to WWE because the heyday of WCW.
But the final narrative on-line about AEW is that they’re failing, as a result of that’s what the likes of Bischoff and Cornette falsely declare. Khan, who’s probably the most on-line particular person you’ll ever see, clearly doesn’t get pleasure from taking all of this fixed criticism and generally lashes out – generally pretty, generally not, however nowhere near what Vince McMahon did over his many years in control of WWE.
The straightforward truth is AEW appears to be like chilly proper now as a result of WWE is sizzling, and it’s at all times exhausting to be the No.2 wrestling promotion when the No.1 firm goes so nicely. AEW’s peak, in late 2021 with Punk concerned, was proper when WWE had pushed off its most followers attributable to years of complicated reserving – when the wrestling viewers extra broadly was at its most disgruntled.
Now WWE followers love the product, and AEW has fluctuated between making an attempt to be a real different with a professional wrestling focus – and the in-ring motion has at all times been higher than WWE, because the firm was based – or a second sports activities leisure promotion, with MJF’s controversial reign as champion and angles involving Adam Cole extra befitting WWE than what AEW was regarded as.
Even now, the ladies’s world title is glued to the extremely divisive Toni Storm storyline, a personality gimmick the place she pretends to be a Hollywood actress from the primary half of the 1900s, with some discovering it hilarious and others seeing it as one-note and making her matches worse. The angle, seemingly an try and have a extra WWE-style component to the AEW programming, has not drawn any WWE viewers throughout.
All AEW can try to do is present a real different however wading again into the mud with Punk doesn’t assist that. It’s price noting when Punk talked about AEW, it was not on WWE’s largest weekly TV present; and it’s actually clear any try to attract the warmth off of AEW and again onto Punk hasn’t labored. This gained’t go away, in the identical manner that loopy individuals will nonetheless attempt to declare the Montreal Screwjob was pretend.
What they actually need to do is get sizzling – and having lately signed the perfect wrestler on the planet Will Ospreay, the earlier finest wrestler on the planet and New Japan ace Kazuchika Okada and Mercedes Mone (fka Sasha Banks, who has been considerably awkward as a babyface since coming into the corporate), that needs to be considerably simpler. They’ve acquired some unimaginable potential matches and storylines on the desk.
However as a substitute they’re responding to Punk. And, as anybody who’s ever been in a battle at college is aware of, it’s not the instigator who will get in hassle – it’s the one that responds.