An Embarrassing Shitshow
AEW’s behind the scenes chaos sours goodwill.
Ace Steel and CM Punk (Credit:AEW)
It’s utterly amazing to think of the difference between this year’s All Out from last year’s in terms of optics.
All Out 2021 was like a celebration, almost a coronation for a new era. Not only was the PPV one of the hands-down greatest and most lauded, reaping universal praise on the scale of WrestleMania x-7 and The Great American Bash ’89. The show ended with the one-two punch of Adam Cole and Bryan Danielson’s surprise debuts after the in-ring return of CM Punk. You left thinking not only could there be a chance for this dream scenario of their not being a monopoly on the wrestling business anymore, but maybe, just maybe, there could be a chance it wouldn’t be a 1A and a 1B in terms of American promotions, but maybe most unfathomably, a 1A and 1A?
Untimely injuries, juggling a big roster, acquiring ROH, and promoting an international, inter-promotional PPV put that wishful thinking on pause. One could argue AEW was serving too many masters. But after this All Out, Tony Khan promised, he had the roster nearing full strength again. Maybe we could get back to the sentiment from last year of, “what if?”
All Out 2022 was a very good show. The worst this year of AEW PPVs if you’re gonna be a dick about it, but nevertheless, a very good to sometimes great show if you’re measuring it against any other company. But that PPV need not exist anymore because the real show was minutes afterward.
CM Punk unleashed scathing rants on the wrestling media, his peers, and the company itself in what could charitably called a meltdown. Based on his vantage point—if true—has its merits. For instance, wrestling journalists do not cite their sources and that is a frustrating annoyance. (Not to make this about ourselves, but it’s why Wrestling Elitists would never do news/rumors if we couldn’t name a source publicly; there’s an asterisk that needs to be added because the field is not considered credible and at its worse, agenda driven and biased.) I get that frustration if rumors about him getting Colt Cabana fired make him out to be an asshole to fans and the locker room. And I’d be pissed if it was true that the EVPs/The Elite are in any way behind that narrative being spread (or also as frustrating, not squashing this rumor as being Executives in the company while being one of the boys, too.) He destroyed “Hangman” Adam Page, too. Hypocritically and ironically, of course, as he talked about the EVPs who couldn’t manage a Target that step on their dicks by burying babyfaces. He big-timed the the EVPs and Hangman, and if you read the subtitles on mute, you’d think it was from some bitter, faded star from the Attitude Era.
Punk being Punk, some of it was genuinely hilarious, too. Or maybe just unintentionally hilarious. He was sipping on seltzers and eating muffins while he ranted and pissed all over the company, including, albeit indirectly, the owner who was sitting right next to him looking completely out of his element. More on him later.
I made this joke on the podcast, but I genuinely have no clue how the hell he thought this would land. Did he really think he could talk all that shit and then just be like, “Alright, onto Grand Slam where I’ll wrestle Powerhouse—see ya!”
Tony Khan looks like he had zero control of his locker room. There will be memes and people will tease him for his facial reactions (and even he’ll have to admit years later, he looked like he bit into the worlds sourest lemon) but he could have just shut it down. At what point was enough, enough? His nodding along while Punk went unhinged would naturally fire up the EVPs, especially, if they feel that Punk had his facts wrong. I wouldn’t let employees bash each other in private when it was just me hearing a grievance, I don’t understand why Tony felt he could allow it go beyond the first few minutes publicly. But maybe he planned to address it that night before shit hit the fan, who knows?
We won’t know the details until an investigation is concluded. But Punk and Ace Steel fought The Bucks and Kenny Omega immediately after backstage, and now they are all suspended (or fired, we’ll find out, referring to Steel and Punk). Tony needs to make major, major changes in discipline and getting control of the locker room and he’s going to have to make an example of all involved. Punk may need to walk. EVPs most likely should lose their EVP titles. And Tony is going to have to set up some major mediation and if people can’t handle their business, they need to walk. It’ll put the company two steps back, it’ll cost money, it may hurt them as they head into a time period when they need the ratings to be their highest to get a richer TV deal. AEW, as it was thought of and conceived of, as this wrestling heaven from bullshit and walking on eggshells backstage will be completely eviscerated if this continues to go on.
Fuck turning this into the hottest angle since Montreal. This locker room, this collection of grown ass adults, are acting like children, and they seemingly can’t cut promos and coexist without being thin-skinned and getting worked into a shoot. Tell me if I’m telling any lies. Reality based storylines only work if the people portraying the characters don’t make their personas their real life. Isn’t the wrestling business bipolar enough without having to play a persona at every hour of your work day?
Indulge me with a little false equivalency here, but when Mox took time off to get sober, nobody, nobody fucking cared. Because we didn’t want to see him ruin his real life. We don’t want anyone else to die from the fucked up lifestyle of the 80s and 90s like all our favorites growing up. So likewise, it’ll make for good TV in the moment for blurring the lines and hyper shades of gray, but the wounds of hitting each other with stiff, shoot comments non-stop and making the backstage the front stage is going to cost so many wrestlers mental health issues and it’s just not worth it to have an endless dick-measuring-contest and headgames every single time someone performs on Wednesdays.
Nobody wants the product to say their prayers and eat their vitamins. You can still have a sophisticated product geared towards adults. But you also don’t want to know as a viewer these guys are all assholes in real life, or deeply flawed miserable people.
I want to be wrong, but it looks like the wrestling business made Punk say go fuck yourself to too many people and he needs to leave for good. But is it really better to burn out than fade away?
(Credit:AEW)
Follow us @ https://twitter.com/WrestleElitists
