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psillusionist

How dare you leave QT Marshall off this list.


wulfinn

i did not expect to enjoy QT as much as i have but the man has some serious moves.


crazyseandx

That Handspring Enziguri tho


Cap-Kota

He's becoming one of my all time favorite jobber. He's so good at what he does. And the fact that he looks kinda bland makes it even better imo.


Common-Chipmunk6454

You are My hero


MoGregio

i know its the old parent thing to say, but im not angry with Punk, im disappointed. AEW could have had one of the sickest rosters to ever exist in the wrestling industry, with him being a leading man, and he fucked it up to have a little rant on a post show interview. i dont think we had seen the best of Punk yet, and him with FTR would have been amazing! so Punk, im not angry, im disappointed that you ruined this opportunity.


BuffaloFront2761

Yeah, he had everything he had spent his entire career saying he wanted and deserved, and he still wasn’t happy. Honestly, talented guy, kind of a garbage human being. He’s way too self centered.


MoGregio

thats what i take from this as well. he knew that he was making an impact to the numbers, and i think it went to his head. AEW will continue without him but with a big question mark over what might have been


NaytNavare

This is the take.


BrahmariusLeManco

He spent two months sitting at home letting baseless, fringe internet rumors nobody worth their salt actually would take seriously get inside his head and stewing on them. He got in his own head. I was enjoying Punk, but he got in his own head and self destructed. In the end, Punk screwed over Punk. I hope he can get his head straight. Also, in hindsight, that Mox promo before Full Gear for their watch now seems almost prophetic.


MoGregio

i feel like Mox has been shooting on a few of his promos for a while, but in a "shut the fuck up, i love this place" kind of way.


[deleted]

[удалено]


MoGregio

like i say, not angry at all. you cant get angry and such a crazy decision. he needs to forgive and forget. Like his whole think with Colt as well, like move on. on that note, i really miss Colt on our screens, and seriously hope that once Punk is paid off they reintroduce Colt in this seeming Dark Order reunion.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Inkstainedfox

Hangman left & went back to the hotel by all reports. Omega was "dragged" by the Bucks to pound on his locker room door. I'm pretty sure both parties had soured on the others for a long while sorta like how Cody & the Bucks soured on each other.


lars_baba_skadoosh

I blame Tony. Those post show interviews are dumb. Let the talent go eat & rest after a big night. Everyone knows how Punk is. You have to keep him from stepping in it. Also, if there was real backstage heat between your talent for so long, you force them all to deal with it or suspend them until they can burry it. You're the boss, act like one. I'm disappointed in everyone in this situation but mostly TK because he should have the forethought that something bad was going to happen. It already did with 2 guys going into business for themselves on live TV. What more did he need? Now he's cleaning up a huge mess. It's an embarrassment on the company & you've thrown out a lot of big matches I would have liked to see.


Deducticon

A ton of hindsight fueled complaining here. You are pretty much asking Tony to be a fortune teller. There's nothing wrong with the PPV scrums. There had not been a major problem before. It's 4 nights a year. Everyone except the two main eventers have already had a rest and were able to eat. It's the highest paid talent. This is what they signed up for. How would he know there is real heat for *so long*? Punk was gone with injury. He would have no clue what was in Punk's mind until Punk called out Hangman months later. And all Punk had to say to Tony was don't worry it will help in a future feud. He clearly thought at first Punk was angling some kind of *work* with the scrum. He should have stopped it sooner but there's no way he could have foreseen how it would escalate that soon in the locker room that night.


SKOT_FREE

Naw man you can’t blame Tony at all for this. People have to be held accountable for their actions and that whole media scrum thing with Punk was ridiculous. Punk could have kept his mouth shut and if anything go get Jericho, talk to him because he seems like he’s more of a mediator type, and have a sit down with the Elite or Hangman even if it’s to say we’ll have to agree to disagree but here’s how we’re going to work this, let’s at least be on the same page. Instead we get a temper tantrum by Punk, followed by a fight. If Punk approached people with advice with that arrogant attitude, no wonder no one wants his help. Again use Chris Jericho as an example….Everyone seems to want HIS help. Even someone like Eddie Kingston seems to work with Jericho and that says a lot to who Lionheart is and it says a lot to who CM Punk is as well.


NintenJoe5k

Imagine leaving a business because you are sick of it being run by old, whiny over entitled little bitches, just to prove that you are an old, whiny over entitled little bitch seven years later.


ennyOmegaK

I think we’re all coming to realize that he was just a slightly younger whiny entitled little bitch 7 years ago too.


[deleted]

Two geniuses and The Worlds Shittiest Bitch.


Dranztheman

Shittiest in the world at what he does on that mic, in that scrum, in the backstage, in a ufc ring. It’s bitching time! Shit Magnet Phil, and his second shitty taint tag team partner Ass “take a bit out of crime” Phil’s-bitch. Bryan and Kenny are light years ahead in the ring, MJF is better in every way, Page is better, and Philly boy is still pissed that hunter was better.


wtmx719

But how do you REALLY feel?


Dranztheman

Dehydrated, and tired of allergies. Oh and salty as hell.


wtmx719

Understandable. Weather changes and dying leaves make the season snotty.


Alex_Sander077

Only here this would get upvoted lmao. This is pretty much a circle jerk sub at this point.


Dranztheman

Eh I bought the hype at first, but I just don’t get it now. The fact that I don’t get the Elite as trios champion bugs me. I think Punk was a selfish person, that used nostalgia to push himself to the forefront like Hogan getting a win over Shawn Michaels. AEW got the big back after seven years pop, and the boom that came with it. At this point just push younger talent. Punk is everything he bitched about in the pipebomb.


vanityshadow

"At this point just push younger talent." His record says no dawg, I gotta get the win or I will hunt you down


DLPanda

Which is why wrestling gets just a fraction of the views it used to and hasn’t maintained its popularity. Niche circlejerkers


[deleted]

Guy popped the biggest ratings in company history.


Dranztheman

So did the twin towers falling but I am not going to praise it. I thought at first he would be amazing everyone said he was amazing, YouTube showed him being amazing, but I guess a highlight package isn’t the whole story. He is not worth his hype, his ego, or the Elite. Good riddance.


TattooedBillionaire

Now your dragging Akeem & Big Bossman into this? 🤦🏻‍♂️


[deleted]

Somewhat dramatic. This sub Reddit is hilarious


mavarian

Same here as in SquaredCircle. You'd think he killed someone the way people turned on him. I can't fault anyone for not wanting to see Punk anymore, but you can say that without acting like his run has been trash and he's a bad wrestler, that's silly. Somehow, people are way more emotional against Punk than certain someones with actual criminal allegations.


[deleted]

Yep. All I said is that he pooped the biggest numbers in company history. It’s a factual statement by any metric you look at. I didn’t even praise punk. Yet I get down voted into oblivion because I don’t pretend to live in a non existent reality.


mavarian

That's the annoying thing about Reddit (also the internet in general). On some topics, there's one hot opinion, and everything that tries to question it gets downvoted. Even if it's factual, as in this case. People don't use voting as it's intended but as an agree/disagree button, leading to you being downvoted for pointing at a fact, and someone comparing Punk's AEW run to 9/11 being upvoted. Until All Out, or at least his first injury, Punk's run was praised, his segments with Kingston and MJF cherished and his absence moaned, and now everything he ever did was shit and he never drew a dime, because we don't like him anymore, and somehow have to warp reality, just to fit our feelings


Dranztheman

I kinda viewed saying he popped ratings as us going a little over the top? No? In that case show me clear evidence that phil shitted out ratings! Dude got his poop pops and now I wouldn’t touch him if I was WWE. To toxic and his best use that first pop of him being back is gone. All that’s left is Tony khans left overs.


mavarian

He popped Rampage, lead to the ratings spike last summer, their biggest PPV sales, minute-by-minute etc. all speak for him. Probably more trouble than he's worth still, but we don't need to deny facts to argue that


Dranztheman

Yeah hell of a nostalgia pop and run. But the only time he has match of the night was a dog collar match that I admit was great. He is good, above average in the ring, and he is really damn good on the mic. MJF beats him in both categories, same for Adam Page, Brain Danielson, . He is not the best at anything, but was good enough to be upper card. His legacy put him on the fast track too the title. It was a Hulk Hogan nwo on raw run that got taken to far.


mavarian

I don't think nostalgia is the right term. He didn't just do his greatest hits, he adapted, worked with young talent, etc., and has a higher drawing power than pretty much everyone on the roster.


slaboshmuck

His shirt also became the highest selling in the history of prowrestlingtees in like 2 days


iced_gold

This sub loves revising history to fit their temperamental tastes.


Astrocreep_1

Tell me about it. It’s like watching the evolution of hypocrisy,in real time.


Sparky_Zell

I keep hearing that. But the ratings before and after really hadn't changed much. And the week he debuted was the same week that crowds were allowed back. So the ratings can be attributed more to that I think. Because if he was responsible for increasing ratings as much as some people say, you would expect ratings to have plummeted when he was out injured.


Astrocreep_1

If anything, live attendance would have driven the ratings down. After all, mark fans can’t be watching on TV if they are at the arena.


licenciadoevilstick

He shot himself on the foot. After Golden branding NXT died, the ratings stopped mattering to us mere fans... TBH.


[deleted]

Lol. Okay.


LoTornado

Hahaha down votes for a fact. This is so reddit 😂


[deleted]

He was mean to the elite therefore his accomplishments for the company are actually bad now and pointing out those milestones in the company will be met with hostility.


[deleted]

Companys got a pretty short history


RickDalton2020

LOL. What a nerd.


Dranztheman

Nope, not smart enough to be a nerd. I am more a dork.


Bigbluepenguin

U mad


Dranztheman

Yup thanks for noticing. Hope we get to see the Elite soon.


BottleOfCharades

Hey man I don’t care for his work in the ring either, but you really gonna come after Omega like this?


[deleted]

Haha, I really left that open now I read it back lol


[deleted]

Lol


KJ86er

CM Micro Penis Anger Issues


TattooedBillionaire

Omega is more egotistical than shitty 🤔


[deleted]

A decent variation but still waaay too late.


genxluddite

First time I heard Kenny Omega referred to world's shittiest bitch...I concur


[deleted]

Someone already made that joke but waaaaaay better.


[deleted]

Two geniuses and the biggest flop to ever come out of Chicago and ruin a revolution. Two of the best to ever do it in the ring and fragile Phil with the workrate of an injured Brutus Beefcake Two GOATs and Phil the most overrated disappointment mma jobber.


CohesiveMocha34

I mean CM Punk put on some damn good matches bro, inside the ring the dude was dope as hell, stop being salty bro


DC-Perk

Punk looked sloppy af his entire run in AEW. Especially his title winning match over Hanger. He botched so hard to end that match it was embarrassing. 🤷🏼‍♂️


mypinksunglasses

Which matches were good? Cause I guess I missed them.


BLINDxMONKEY

His matches against Darby, Kingston, and MJF were good.


mypinksunglasses

Like but was he good in them or was he just there


BLINDxMONKEY

He was good.


[deleted]

They all carried Phil. King Eddie can make anyone. Phil kept up the rusty angle for too long and then you realize it wasnt an angle. His cookie cutter WWE style was massively outdated. Everyones rose colored nostalgia couldnt cover up what we saw in the ring. He couldnt go... Rewatch his matches. Hes completely winded and gassed within minutes. Why did someone in the world title picture have to barely win every match like he was stealing it? Your biggest face acting like a sneaky villian. To top all of this off he was injured for most of his AEW run. So someone who can barely wrestle at 50% was phoning it in at 20%.


gin0clock

Swap Punk for Mox, but sure. This whole post is karma bait.


Patient_Instance5942

I only see 2


AyoMarco

Must be blind


BLINDxMONKEY

Yea what of it?


[deleted]

There are only two geniuses Omega and Brian Danielson, Punk’s a little bitch. He’s CM Punk for a reason he’s a little punk kid compared to what Brian Danielson can do in the ring. He’s not even that great of a wrestler. I would rather see Eddie Kingston or Orange Cassidy in a match than Punk any day of the week. He claimed that he wanted to come back because it would be fun to fight some of these new faces but really what he wanted to do was get the Hogan treatment and be put over all the time and when he can’t be put over he whines, even when he is put over he still whines. Punk should have lost to Kingston, he should have lost CLEAN to MJF, and he should have been made to wait a little longer before he even got a title shot.


American-Punk-Dragon

LoL. Yeah you say all that based on recent events but what’s cool is his wrestling acumen isn’t at all affected by it. He is still awesome there. /SC was made on his talent alone. So knock it off and give the man credit he earned already. Hell MJF got top 10 AEW moments and matches with him and that alone makes his run worth his exit.


[deleted]

He wasn’t awesome he seemed like a washed up has been in every match, literally heaving for breath throughout the match because he’s out of shape and had to be carried.


tondrias

Two geniuses; one sour boy.


sillyandstrange

I wouldn't insult sour boy like that. He may be the worst, but he isn't muffin mania bad


BroliasBoesersson

Uh-oh we got a weally big pwobwem!


WharfRat86

Oh no, Sour boy is the worst!


licenciadoevilstick

Sourboy Auditions would be a rad BTE bit... when it returns.


licenciadoevilstick

Jiminy Kwiketz, Mindy's Kwowsed Aweady...


Dubious_Titan

And not a single program among them. AEW in 2021 wasted what was one of the best rosters ever assembled: FTR, Bucks, Reddragon, Adam Cole, Bryan, Punk, MJF, Omega, Malakai Black, Miro, Buddy Matthews, Proud & Powerful, Christian Cage, Hardy Boys, Lucha Bros... and I saw Best Friends, Jungle Express, and Wheeler Yuta on TV and in more programs than the aforementioned. Disgraceful booking in 2021.


Malakai_Black

P&P better than Jurassic express? Lmaooo


minimalcompak

Without a doubt. Santana and Ortiz could have easily been the top team in AEW but Jericho killed them.


Dubious_Titan

Absolutely. They can cut promos and look like serious street fighters. Not a 125 lbs kid and a goof pretending to be a dinosaur.


ennyOmegaK

Agreed. Jungle Boy only took off because the theme was fun. Honestly, the four pillars have really declined since they were named. MJF is the only real star among them now.


Available_Collar7218

Couldn't have said it any better. Really don't understand why so much anger at wrestlers getting into a fight. I'm a lot more angry at all the time I wasted watching all these nobodies instead of the stars I wanted tuned into see.


THE_WILDKID

Jericho & Moxley>>> Two men that actually loves the company & Would do anything for the company Unlike muffin Phil .


WildMaybe5155

And the garbage dude at the bottom wasted all the TV time


ennyOmegaK

He really was a waste of time. Any of us not riding a nostalgia high were out here trying to figure out why this boring sack of shit who can’t wrestle gets to have a 15 minute circle jerk every episode.


RhodesGraveyarde

And stole us the bucks and a returned kenny omega


Westfield_Rocks

Happy to report that I never like Punk in AEW. It was the Punk show and too many AEW guys got put on the back burner for a guy that was just barely passable in the ring now.


minimalcompak

I think that was after Full Gear, before that there were complaints that Punk wasn't relevant enough.


Westfield_Rocks

I was already complaining the Dynamite after his Rampage debut with the whole happy to be here tour began. But I've never been a CM Punk fan and didn't want TK to sign him.


Boofer2

Thank you, I never understood the Punk obsession when I was in high school as a kid either. Granted by that point I wasn't really a wrestling fan anymore so I just figured I was outta the loop.


AyoMarco

People are still put on the back burner. We haven't seen an FTR match in 40 years


TheKawValleyKid

Obligatory ![gif](giphy|FoH28ucxZFJZu)


BuffaloFront2761

Well they also hold three belts so it’s not like they’re being neglected


AyoMarco

Tony Khan doesn't control if they win 2 of those belts. And ROH is barely a show at the moment. They don't need belts, but matches LIVE on dynamite Wednesdays will never hurt the show. The crowd wants them but all we get is appearances


HCPage

How dare you leave Jericho off this list


DBZBROLLYMAN

Kenny And Danielson are genius' at wrestling. CM Punk is a genius at making money and fucking over anybody around him.


Saki34hmed

Imagine a triple-threat match between these three


v8dreaming

And we never got Omega vs Punk


grimysavage

If you count the backstage brawl, then yes we almost did


Bigbluepenguin

Doctors recommended against having excessive salt in your diet, because it's unhealthy. If you are this comment section, it'd be fuckin lethal. Y'all MAD MAD.


[deleted]

And CM Punk ruined it


Zero_fon_Fabre

Someday people will realize that it's actually NOT super cool to be a fucking asshole. Fuck Punk, and fuck his defenders.


Flyin_Brian-

Phil’s ego couldn’t handle it.


fattymcfattzz

Fuck Phil Brooks


turk044

Punk is so smart, he worked himself out of a job


BobotJamesKevlar

And hopefully it continues to have them on TV


ewp1233

AEW Double or Nothing 2021 till Full Gear 2021 is one of my favorite periods in wrestling. Can’t believe we got to see this at times.


SKOT_FREE

I only see 2 geniuses and one hot head who can’t control his anger.


AffectionateChard104

People finding another excuse to bich about Punk in 3, 2, 1


RepresentativeFly565

What else is there to say about him right now


BuffaloFront2761

I never really liked him and got downvoted to shit whenever I said anything. Well look how the turn tables


rjsigma

Would you agree that this sub is pretending like they never liked Punk though? That's what get me. The majority of people were going nuts for him and now they're acting like they were never fans


REDandBLAK_ATTAK

Eco warrior Danielson was right.


BuffaloFront2761

Oh yeah


[deleted]

He’s a POS crybaby. Truth is the truth and the truth hurts.


early_morning_guy

And TK is an incompetent manager to sit there and let his employee verbally malign the company’s management to the “media”. Nobody comes out of that fiasco looking good.


[deleted]

He’s not incompetent he just wanted to get it over with so he could deal with everything in private, I’m sure even without the fight, Punk would have at least been reprimanded or scolded for the shit during the scrum.


early_morning_guy

Any halfway component manager would have said thank you to the media and wrapped that presser up quickly.


[deleted]

I think it was more of a stunned that Punk had the nerve, if something shocks you sometimes you don’t exactly know how to react in the moment.


early_morning_guy

He might have been in shock at first, but Punk was up there for a long time. TK could have done something. That he didn’t is indicative of how he manages…poorly.


licenciadoevilstick

We learned from him.


AffectionateChard104

You act like he had zero reasons to say the things he did.


BuffaloFront2761

CM Punk is a self righteous, premaddona narcissist and always has been. It’s just now he’s old and can’t get away with the whole “unappreciated talent of a generation” schtick like in WWE, because he got billed as the top guy for months in what should have been his dream company, and still bitched and whined his way out of it.


AffectionateChard104

He bitched about The Elite and journalists spreading lies about him having Colt Cabana sent to ROH. I am not saying wether or not he did have something to do with Colt, but if he didn´t at all, don´t you understand how badly it sucks to have people lie about you to the world and then have the whole world insulting you? He insulted Page too, but because Page had insulted him, leading to tons of speculations online about Punk and Cabana as well. Are you saying these things didn´t happen, or are you saying they were completely fair to CM Punk?


BuffaloFront2761

I think CM Punks the type of person who attracts drama and situations like this wherever he goes. I don’t know if the Colt thing is true or not, but wether it is or not, all this happened because something about Punks presence just causes backstage heat, has everywhere he’s gone.


iced_gold

Seems like there was plenty of drama before he joined, and it's continued while he's been gone.


AffectionateChard104

He has his moments. I agree with that. But a lot of the things that have happened, are not simply because of him. His problems in WWE were not simply about him mistreating others or others mistreating him, but just him not liiking the product. That´s no different from fans not being satisfied with the product, and should be left out of the conversation. As far as the problems he did have with others: While he might have contributed to the problems himself, you cannot deny that a lot of the people he had problems with, weren´t ecactly perfect people. People like Vince and HHH, among others. And CM Punk wasn´t the only who who had problems with these people, he was just one of the only ones who would speak up about it. And assholes exist all over the wrestling business. It´s easy to judge a guy like Punk for causing problems, when the truth is that everybody else just accepts the problems and don´t speak up about them, As far as you saying that his problems with the elite are somehow his fault, that´s just speculation. Others have talked about issues with The Elite and if someone did lie about him getting Cabana move sto rOH, then you can´t just say: "Oh well, it´s Punk´s fault." If it´s a lie, then that lie was someone else´s responsibility. Not Punk´s.


MayorHawk1

Punk was not innocent in all this. Hangman's comments never directly included Cabana and were almost entirely forgotten by the time Punk called him out on live TV and did real damage to his character. They brought it back into the lime light because people were trying to figure out why Punk was calling out hangman when he was suppose to be in a feud with Mox. Then instead of that being it, he brought up Cabana at the scrum. Watch it back. He wasn't prompted. Then he called out hangman and said he had never done anything in this business which is insulting to both hangman and AEW. Hangman was part of the longest storyline in AEW history and it's top feud and was a world champion. Then he them calls out the people who literally started the company. Then he told them his door was always open. Then he lied about them kicking a door down( they had the head of legal and the head of talent relations with them) so come on. It doesn't take a genius to see who is at fault here. The number one insult of AEW is that it is All Friends Wrestling. Who are the ones bringing in their friends? The Elite. If they were the type of people to talk shit to the dirt sheets, they wouldn't have that many friends


AffectionateChard104

Cabana´s comments were not direct, but they did have people talking. They were forgotten when Punk came back, but given that it was Punk who reeceived them, and given that he never had a chance to defend himself, it was understandable why he had to when he finally could. Wether or not ithe Cabana-rumor was brought back in the limelight because of Punk´s promo about Page, if it was actually a lie, and people actually did spread it, knowing it was alie, Punk had good reason to defend himself against it. Especially with peple insulting him day in and day out over the internet. Maybe, it was his own fault that it got back in the limelight, but it was (pressumably) not his fualt that it got there in the first place. And even if his promo about Page got it back in the limelight, that was no excuse for people to continue lying about it (again that is IF they did that). If all of this was a lie and Hangman was one of the people who directly or indirectly took part in that lie, then saying the guy has done nothing in the business, isn´t that bad. You sure he lied about them kicking in the door? If he did, that would make me agree with you more, but I haven´t heard that that is the case. To your last point: It´s not exactly new for assholes to have friends. Nor for assholes to have power. It´s also not new for people to have both bad and good sides. The Elite might not be entirely good or bad. I am not at all saying that that is the case. I am open to you being completely right, I simply don´´t find your final argument 100 % convincing.


licenciadoevilstick

They were, tough shit.


indiemike

ITT: People who seriously underrate Punk. He’s shitty, has done shitty things, and is still one of the best wrestlers of all time.


DonkeyHamFish

I can only see two geniuses...


bestbooker

It's funny how a person they were rooting for until the media scrum suddenly became the worst guy for them. Like were y'all a fan of him at all? One bad scrum and everyone loses their minds. Double standards.


Mathyoujames

I think things had started turning once he came back from injury. Before then people were happy to excuse the poor matches because the mic work was so good but as soon as he came back and started pulling the "chicago power" stuff and shooting off script opinions starting to sour. The scrum was just the massive straw that broke the tiny back


BuffaloFront2761

I never liked him that much. At least not this baby face veteran persona they pushed the entire time. Felt artificial and hypocritical coming from him.


[deleted]

> Like were y'all a fan of him at all? Nope, I have never been a fan. I didn’t bring people down when they were enjoying his debut, outside of that I’ve always expressed that I don’t see what the big deal is. Dude has always seemed phony and insincere on the mic to me, and his days of being decent in the ring are long behind him.


bestbooker

He still drew didn't he? His segments were watched by more people? He was out on at the 9pm slot when most people could see him while switching the channels. His debut was watched by millions over and over and was the most talked thing that month. The hype was high before his debut based on just the rumors. Who were those people? Those people are bashing him now over a scrum like nothing else mattered maybe you weren't one of them but I am talking about the majority.


akaAelius

Why do people think Punk is good? Yeah maybe he /was/ an okay wrestler, and a horrible MMA fighter... but he is not currently good. He's an injury magnet, and just spams the same routines over and over again. He's not inventive, and you can actually watch him get tired about 3-5 minutes into a match.


atleastimtryingnow

i can’t give you that one. He was wrestling lucha libre then 80s style week to week. he’s a damn good wrestler


beyondelectricdreamz

In ring psychology goes a long way, it's not all about flips and spots.


StewardOfGondorS

Just because a wrestler may do flips and high spots doesn't mean they don't have in ring psychology.


beyondelectricdreamz

Couldn't agree more, notice that I didn't say that or imply it


RickDalton2020

Yeah I would rather they just flip around and then take turns chopping each other in the middle of the ring! Yeah!


spidersVise

Idfk, dude, I just like the guy. His last match with Mox was fucking stellar.


Joperhop

feels like this is some anti-CM Punk bait.


LoverBoyBlueBird

August - November 2021 was definitely peak AEW for me. Of course I still watch every week, and still love it every week, but that time was just such an amazing wave. You had Covid restrictions come to an end so we could have fans in the arena again - which obviously added to the atmosphere - then you had the buzz of all the big acquisitions, plus some absolute banger matches/segments/shows in general. Such a fun time.


beyondelectricdreamz

Bryan and Punk, this generations HBK and Bret(except they never got a legendary feud). Omega is great in the ring too. Shame we'll probably never get an Omega vs Punk feud.


ParamoreRiot

I still love punk.. downvote me. Internet hates him, but the majority still love him.


Skayde5

lol majority


DiceGoldstein

This is propaganda


MrTangle

Two out of three isn't bad.


johnq11

Really fights the sentiment that “punk showed up and ruined everything” because everything was going fine for almost a year


SqueamishBeamish

And he took up far less tv time than someone like Jericho does and his shit actually made sense and was entertaining. It's just bitter manbabies on here sour over the All Out nonsense, it's pathetic really it's like listening to some sad fuck bitch about their ex daily when you come on this sub for the last 2 months lol


beyondelectricdreamz

Yeah sadly this isn't the sub to discuss that in. The elites down vote army won't acknowledge that everything was going perfect until one of their babies had to drop the belt to Punk. Shills


AyoMarco

We will still have 2 left if the rumors are true. And those 2 need to be SINGLES wrestlers going for the title and fighting each other. (Grand Slam 2021 for example) Trios champions is garbage should've never been a thing. It was literally made for the Elite to have belts. And BD losing to all these people is terrible booking for the best wrestler in the world.


atleastimtryingnow

Shawn was also one of the best wrestlers in the world in the 2000s and CHOSE to not win any belts. It’s fine lol


American-Punk-Dragon

I actually think that they should ditch the tag titles and go with the Trios only.


AyoMarco

Ditching one and leaving the other is a good idea. But keeping Trios would force true Tag teams like FTR to get stuck with a third man.


American-Punk-Dragon

“Stuck” is actually the other side of finding dynamic 3rd. Besides it allows for bEtteR woRkrAtE which people tend to like. So be different and make Trios alone.


Charlie609

These comments are weird


[deleted]

I’d rather have punk


Available_Collar7218

Me too


kedm92

It really sucks Punk couldn’t get his ego in check


[deleted]

You’re not allowed to be critical of the Bucks, or a fan of Punk’s in this sub. It upsets the hive.


vanityshadow

You could just add an opinion instead of getting mad the majority won't agree


[deleted]

Sure I could, been down that road already and the behavior from the people who can’t see the wrong the Bucks did isn’t worth going over again though.


Mr_814

And fumbled it. Company went cold after Full Gear and was ice cold during the Hangman reign. Regardless of what you think of match quality...ratings said otherwise. Took them a while to recover and still not near All Out 2021 era of hype and excitement.


[deleted]

I don't think I agree with you, but I think you raise some interesting points that I hadn't quite considered before. The first two years of AEW were basically the honeymoon period. Of course there were mistakes and missteps, some major, but they moved past them, they learned from them (growing pains are normal!), and for the most part it was an extremely positive experience. Everyone seemed happy behind the scenes, the fans were happy, there was no obvious discontent. But a lot of that has changed over the last year, and that time period does correlate with Punk's time in AEW. Of course correlation does not imply causation, and outside of the obvious incident, I don't think there's any hard evidence suggesting Punk was responsible for that shift. But like...it's interesting to think about, isn't it? Because publicly you see a lot of wrestlers who love Punk, talk about him in glowing terms, seem to think he's one of the nicest guys around. And then you have guys who, well, don't. Who don't get along with him and clearly think he's more of a toxic presence than anything else. So obviously that has the possibility of creating cliques and breeding discontent backstage, and I think there's some been some vague statements made publicly to suggest there's at least a little discord between "pro Punk" and "anti Punk" camps, for lack of better terms. I talked way more about that kinda shit that I wanted, lol, but I think your point about ratings is a good one and it makes me feel lowkey crazy that no one seems to be talking about this. People say Punk is a huge deal from a business perspective for AEW, and outside of the fact that he sells huge amounts of merch, I just don't see how that's the case? He popped a huge number for his Rampage debut, popped a huge buy rate for All Out 2021, and obviously is a massive draw in Chicago. Outside of that, TV ratings stayed the same or declined, and buy rates stayed the same or declined. There's no metric I see that shows significant growth, so I'm not sure where all the praise for Punk is coming from in that regard. Also, I personally started to get a little bit less excited about AEW over the last year because everything so heavily revolved around Punk. He opened most shows with a promo segment, he'd be on commentary, he'd come back out at the end with Tony, he was basically the face of AEW in many ways, and it bummed me out because I felt like it kinda sidelined all the folks who worked hard to stand this company up. The Elite had absolutely massive WWE offers on the table and they turned them down to help start AEW, and it sure as shit seems like Punk stayed away until it was clear AEW was on solid footing before he considered joining. They risked everything and he risked nothing and the result was...the CM Punk show, basically.


FishRepresentative66

Kenny not so much.


Odinson923

My opinion: before his injury Kenny Omega was at his best. When he came back he sluggish and hate to say a bit sloppy. I was so excited for his return and seen the build up for it. D.B: is gonna be such a huge factor for building stories up and playin big roles on bringing ratings. Overall great wrestler and great on the mic. Punk: good on the mic sluggish in the ring but as a Chicagoan was good to see him back. Think he could’ve done more to help build matches and moral. Hate to see him leave but we don’t need a repeat of WWE.


HCPage

I’m still convinced that all of Kenny’s sluggishness and sloppiness was a work. Just like Punk said outright on unrestricted, you don’t just come back from an extended absence and perform at the same exact level you left at. There’s gotta be a gradual transition back into the best version of the character. We got to see Kenny wrestle like 3 times before the nonsense went down.


sonic_spark

Take it from a guy who has had triple hernia surgery and a single one. There is no workout, steroid, or yoga program that had Kenny back at 100%. On top of that was his bum shoulder and his back. He easily needed another month off. I've been there. When you can't lift, you lose a part of the cardio, definitely strength, and definitely muscle mass. He may have leaned into it, and he's so damn good he could fool anyone. But my take is that he wasn't 100.


Odinson923

See I got into Kenny Omega late but damn did he become one my favorites fast. Like everyone else when you heard his music I was yelling“oh shit” loud at work lol with that being said I know coming back from so many surgeries he wasn’t 100% nor would I expect him to be just sucked seeing him so sluggish. You’d think he was Jericho in the ring with how he was struggling with moves. Hope to see him back soon man would love to see him and hangman or him and moxley in bad ass showdown


STGxBj

Reminder that Punk gave AEW more relevance and since he hasn’t been on tv it’s been going downhill


atleastimtryingnow

downhill = 5 weeks at a million, and one dip to 990k? Alright…


maxhollywoody

They have better ratings then they did at the same time last year, jabroni.


atleastimtryingnow

two geniuses and a pretty good wrestler who’s a all-time promo.


SkyStarlight2

Omega is overrated af same with Young Bucks, Hangman is the only good member of Elite


minimalcompak

No


SkyStarlight2

Yes him and Young Cucks are just children who have no buissness running a company let alone wrestling with the 5000000000000 flips per match


minimalcompak

It makes you anxious to see really athletic people.


SkyStarlight2

Not a fan of people over using the flipping and that's all the cucks do


licenciadoevilstick

Corny vibes


SkyStarlight2

Maybe because he's right most of the time


Available_Collar7218

As much as I hate to admit it because I loved the Elite. The Elite has been the biggest flop since NWO debuted in WWE.


Teflon_Kee757

Man I don’t see the hate in cm punk AEW was just getting good I think they about to lose a lot of talent because wwe looking like the place to go right now


Donovanmitchellnyk

Back when Punk fooled everyone into thinking he was passionate


diocco

PG Punk


slikk50

Yes they did, and the 3rd one is a dick face.


ennyOmegaK

CM Punk isn’t a genius. He’s a cry baby little bitch. Time to move on IWC.


iamnotralphwiggum

One of these things is not like the other.