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ACTIVE WRESTLERS WHO WOULD PROBABLY DO A PRETTY GOOD JOB MANAGING A TARGET John Silver - Amiable, works well in a group, likely owns a bunch of 'funny' ties Orange Cassidy - Cool under pressure, blasé façade covers up boundless well of rage, which is useful in retail settings Adam Page - Wouldn't hassle you too much about corporate metrics as long as the job gets done, probably has a little fridge with beer in his office. ACTIVE WRESTLERS WHO WOULD PROBABLY DO A PRETTY BAD JOB MANAGING A TARGET CM Punk - Tries to build camaraderie by shit-talking coworkers to you, does not realize that you know he is also shit-talking you to other co-workers. Powerhouse Hobbs - Neck will not fit in any standard polo shirt. Luchasaurus - Untrustworthy, is a dinosaur.

God, I hope my boss doesn't ask me why I've been less productive this week at work. "Well, you see, there was a pro wrestling show on Sunday and afterwards, they held a press conference..."

As someone who has been a manager at a Target, I'm going to go ahead and say that I don't believe there are 10 professional wrestlers in earth who could successfully manage a Target. CM Punk is probably the worst possible Target manager. It's a legitimately hard job, and most of it is being able to build interpersonal relationships.

Man, he must have seen some shit, in that case!

BTW Matt McCarthy said Colt is doing fine with money and could probably buy his mom a house. In case anyone was worried. ? My guess is Colt shares an account with his mom to help her out, but it’s nobody’s business and Punk is a dick.

The Bucks credit Colt with essentially writing the blueprint for making a living wage on the indies. Without Colt, maybe the Bucks don’t make it this far and there’s probably no AEW. They went to bat for him to get something instead of being released. The narrative is out there that Punk got Colt fired and the Bucks saved him. Punk thinks the Bucks leaked that story even though 1) Meltzer and Alvarez never mentioned it and say the Bucks never told them that story and 2) of course nobody had to leak it because anybody with functioning brain cells can consider “touchy main event jerk joins company and suddenly his lower card former friend whom he now loathes is fired” and put two and two together. You ask me, the guy pulled a power play, got outmaneuvered, and is mad about it.

Umm...I think the difference is that they gave MJF a microphone to go out on the show and say what he said. Punk, who has spent his entire career adding a bunch of "shoot" backstage shit into his promos, decided to act like a bitch about someone doing the exact same thing to him. Honestly, every complaint he has is a complaint that multiple people could have about him. Him accusing anyone else of behaving like a child while having a temper tantrum is absurd. He is the exact person he's complaining about. I believe that MJF was legitimately upset about his place in the company, his pay, and probably multiple other things, and they trusted him enough to let him go onto live television to speak about it. He aired out his grievances without throwing anyone else under the bus. That is not nearly the same as what Punk did. Punk got personal with a bunch of people in a public forum that lead to a brawl. The 26 year old was able to say everything he wanted to say in a way that could reflect poorly on himself, but no one else. The 43 year old started a fight with 3 of the people who founded the damn company.

Ooh, I have it. Ex-wrestler, big and imposing, charismatic, not signed with anyone: And y'all would pop like monkeys for it.

Well until now...

There's also a great comedy sketch somebody could write where Tony Kahn is constantly ducking Bobby Fish who is trying to corner him about having a kickboxing match.

The other thing with Punk - he made his money while working for the machine he raged against. Colt made his money by building up his own little niche after he got let go. He wrote a template for how to make a living in pro wrestling doing things your own unique way. I'm not a huge fan of the work of the Bucks or Omega but they also made a living by doing things without the confines of the traditional machine. Even Cody Rhodes found a way to go from lame mid-card act to what he became by stepping outside the confines of the machine his family helped build. Punk just said a bunch of things on TV that were approved by his boss and was jealous of The Miz. And then piggie-backed off the work everyone else did a year later.

I had started writing a long post about my experiences in punk/hardcore and how there are 2 kinds of straight-edge people, personified by Bryan Danielson and CM Punk. One just lives his life the way he chooses, tries to bring others along, and yeah they can be smug about it but they're not going to be in your face about their beliefs. The other has made it their personality, and goes around looking to start shit, knock drinks out of people's hands at shows while his buddies are at his side. The only difference in this case is that CM Punk didn't have a crew.

I appreciate the shout, @NikoBaltimore. However, knowing what we know now, I'd have talked even more shit. :). What a show. Normally I do a math by match breakdown with some hacky jokes and a special brand of inane comedy. Tonight doesn't feel like the right night for that. I love AEW. It's the only wrestling company I watch these days and the events of the last few months really got me a little down. It's not a secret that sometimes I ruminate on things more than I probably should, and I've spent a lot of the last couple days wondering who was leaving and if this was the beginning of the end. What a breath of fresh air this Dynamite was. MJF was phenomenal. At times I've found his act to be a bit "one note," but this was truly classic. Mox being the grouchy hero is perfect. This man is the 2022 wrestler of the year if he doesn't have another match this year. His promo transcended wrestling story and into the realm of general fandom. The best thing about the oversigning TK has engaged is is that even with Malakai taking an extended leave and with four of your top 8 stars suspended and maybe fired, you still had that kind of lineup to present. Maybe I'll get into a match breakdown later, but I finished watching this show with a big smile on my face. Well done, TK, and thank you Mox.

If a famous wrestler takes a piss on the wall outside a wrestling school the school hangs an 8x10 of them on their alum wall.

Khan is going to look to minimise potential headaches moving forward, and let's face it a live Jim Ross is one of them.

I don’t know, every punk I knew as a teenager regularly got hurt doing dumb show off shit and constantly bitched about fake friends. He’s punk in my book.

EDIT: because the first part of my post got eaten somehow. They basically went OHMSS last night, only they didn't even need to address the elephant in the room because everything was so killer. Seriously, did ANYONE miss Punk, Omega or the Bucks after Mox's State of AEW promo and the entire roster stepped up to the plate like Aaron Judge taking BP? God bless that crowd, they were 100% vested in babyface MJF and he dropped the other shoe like a GD nuclear bomb. "JOSH ALLEN SUCKS!" In case anyone was wondering about Garcia's gear:

I heard Ace Steel bit the Queen.

No famous/rich person would last ten minutes in retail or food service.

Taz has been killing it lately. He’s sort of turned into the Tony Romo of their commentary giving some really interesting insight into moves and execution and things like that. He’s always been good, but I feel like he’s hit another level lately.

PPV thread is closed, but I wrote words about the Darby, Danielson, and Punk matches in case anyone actually wants to read too many words about the text as opposed to the context: http://segundacaida.blogspot.com/2022/09/aew-five-fingers-of-death-829-94-part-2.html I conveniently did not write up Ishii/Kingston.

Punk is such a poser. Nothing says "punk ethos" like burying your coworkers while sitting next to a billionaire, starting shit based on third hand incorrect information, and then using a cop defense when shit goes down ("I punched him because I thought he'd punch me" is just like "I shot that unarmed guy because I felt my life was in danger"). Pay him and let him sit at home. Also, Illinois has no "stand your ground" law, so that defense probably doesn't work. I'm not a lawyer but I did work in IT for a law firm like 20 years ago ?

I liked the ROH PPV Garcia vs Yuta match a little more, but I thought things opened up when they were in the corner and messing with the turnbuckles during the break. The crowd was lovely for it and the struggle was good. It was just a bit tricky due to the shifting face/heel dynamics and I'm not sure it was put together (or really was able to be put together) in a way that maximized the crowd. Even things like the Germans I didn't mind because the selling was escalated and they weren't killshots execution-wise so much as mat returns/takeovers. It just needed some clearer beats that the crowd would be able to latch on to, maybe? I remember the ROH PPV match being very tight and very crisp and this was a little more nebulous. Garcia sacrificing a rope break early to get the hip toss over the top was probably my favorite moment though.

Good show and good layout. Get the bullshit out of the way right away and then fly right into the good stuff. AEW is going to be okay, guys! How is MJF so good at playing a heel pretending to be a babyface, but then so bad at being just a heel? It's amazing how everything pre-Moxley was so good, and everything after was so bad. Mox was on fucking fire. Just rallying the fans and troops after all this absolute bullshit. Give him the belt for 5 years, fuck it. "Just be a little better than you were yesterday, even if you're the only one who notices." That shit hit me in the feels, as the kids say. I was hoping they'd give the belts to the Best Friends to keep the feelgood stuff going but Death Triangle is fine. WIld-ass trios match, as always. They should really lean into it and just have Rick Knox ref all these matches, sitting in a lawn chair at ringside with a tropical umbrella drink and only come in to count the pin. No JR tonight! I swear he quit over TK not settling this the way Watts would have: KUMITE KUMITE KUMITE KUMITE Did Jericho mention facing Danielson in his promo? Not "I hope he wins so we can fight again," but actually like it was going to happen and he fucked up and gave away the booking? Note: I was drinking at this point. Holy fuck, let Danielson and Hangman wrestle at least once a month. These guys make magic every single time. Hangman is pretty good for a dumb fuck who doesn't listen to his elders. 40 guys at ringside in bright red outfits looking like some Handmaid's Tale or Us shit. Beeee caaarefuuuuuul. HEEL SWERVE is so great. WARDLOW IS TIRED OF THIS BULLSHIT. Out of control Wardlow is going to be great if they commit to it. Excalibur goes over the Pure Rules and then Garcia and Yuta forget to shake hands before the match. LOOOOL TK needs a proxy to make these announcements. He's so socially awkward and his crazy eyes weird me the fuck out. Acclaimed are winning the belts in NY and it's going to be awesome! Ford and Storm were great! Garcia unifies the ROH Pure and PWG World titles!!! ? Incredible match, but not as good as Hangmin/Dragon. But what could be? Ethan Page as Wish.com The Rock (which is who he always wanted to be) is lame. Page's gimmick is "has charisma" but he was outshined by LEE MORIARTY of all people there. It's already been said, but this is such a credit to their roster. They REALLY don't need CM Punk, for so many reasons.

Tony Khan is just here to play, to smash his favorite wrestling figures together on television, except the wrestling figures are humans with distinct personalities and not collectibles that he can show off at his post-PPV scrums. Those scrums boil down to a clueless rich guy sitting next to a wrestler and going LOOK WHAT I BOUGHT.

I completely disagree with this. It is like the Deshaun Watson situation. If you are a freak, I'm not judging what you do in your bedroom. BUT...if you're the kind of freak that ends up on the news, don't come looking my way for sympathy. CM Punk is an asshole, we all can be assholes, but if you are the kind of asshole that reporters come calling about, you should have probably thought about that before you became a raging asshole. That's the game. You can't be mad that people talking to the reporters, because you gave them something to talk about. The reason freedom of the press is important is because when people act inappropriately, there are people who buy ink by the barrel to air your shit out. I've been pretty quiet about this entire saga, but I feel like none of this would have happened if CM Punk wasn't completely and totally dedicated to acting like a bitch. You don't have to like your coworkers, matter of fact, you can hate their fucking guts, but when you get in front of a microphone and talk shit about your coworkers, they might come find you. It would be one thing if he was actually talking about their work or something relating to the business of the PPV, but he was just stating his petty personal grievances. If I was Tony Khan, I would have fired him during the press conference. You can't have someone win your championship, and the first thing he does is take a shit in the middle of the locker room and light it on fire. There is very few people I respect less than people who throw rocks, then hide their hands. He's the kind of person who behaves in a way that will get you punched in the face and then threatens legal action if you punch him in the face. I remember I was talking to a coworker because some dude wanted to fight him over a pretty mean spirited joke. I flat out told him, you challenged that dude to a fight, and then were surprised when he wanted to fight you. There was no reason to believe that the guy would find that shit funny, he just wanted to laugh in his face. This is the same situation. There is no reason to believe that you can get in front of a microphone and say all the shit he said without those dudes coming to him about it. When he should have been on top of the world after coming back from an injury and winning the world championship, he was too big of a bitch to just enjoy his moment. He needed to publicly air out everyone's dirty laundry, and I hope he gets fired for it. Fuck him, you can't let someone like that come back. If this is how he acts when he's on top, it isn't going to get better when he's not.

Fightful:

The last thing they saw would have been the promo in the crowd with someone who now regrets naming their baby after him.

I like me to think of TK as a Nathan Fielder type that is manufacturing awkward backstage moments to recreate his favorite wrestling memories.

I giggled when Meltzer this morning was saying how TK should have just ended the scrum and been like "no further questions" (to get Punk to stop) before pausing and then going "... well Punk wasn't really taking questions so I dont know if that would have helped"

I don't think chemistry can be overrated when it comes to a broadcast team. You had Gorilla and Heenan who would take shots at each other, but you could tell deep down they loved working together. I think Excalibur and Taz have that and Impact's team right now does too.

For expert testimony, the plaintiffs call @just drew

Which is what they have now.

And hilariously so Punk is also in his 40s and well past an age where he should be talking about being straightedge and just more cozy up with a soda and tell people he doesn't drink. That's what I do. What a fucking lame human being. It was really funny and awesome when he was doing the evil sXe guy and slipping in Youth of Today references in promos since it felt like it was made for the kids in high school both into punk and wrestling, or as I like to call them, "me." But real life Punk just feels like the lamest possible dude - the old guy going to basement shows and lecturing 25-year-olds about how they lack ethics and respect.

My wife was where on the 6th of January 2021?

I kid. I kid, because I relate.

He wasn't even supposed to be there today.

Darby vs Sammy - World Title Tournament match! Obviously, gonna be a great match. I expect to feel legit fear w/r/t Darby's well being at least twice during this match. Dax vs Claudio - For the ROH belt! Obviously, gonna be a great match. Dax selling for Claudio will be gorgeous. They are gonna tell a compelling little story in the ring. Serena Deeb vs Madison Rayne The floor for this is a really fun Deeb squash. The ceiling is a great back and forth match that makes Dean's poll. Also Joe will talk. Samoa Joe. Don't know if he'll fight. Avoiding spoilers. I should be 100% stoked. Man. Fuck CM Punk. I still can't flip between pages on long threads on this site (or post pictures). If I'm being stingy with the likes and hahahas, it's prolly cuz I can't easily read everything on the site. Some pages are inaccessible. I have so many first world problems. Life is still good. Rampage tomorrow. BBQ party with some of my wrestling friends in Osaka the next day (Sunday here). How YOU doing?

This reminds me of the story of Peter Steele ODing and telling the doctors he was on alcholol cocain and redheads

Agreed. His interaction with MJF this week was off-the-charts as well. To be absolutely honest, I really see no reason to deviate from Taz/Excalibur as your anchors, with Schiavone, Regal and Coleman on rotation - no issue with Jericho appearing either; I'm just saying when you're playing with that kind of line-up, you can really leave Ross on the bench for very, very special occasions. It's easy to sleep on how good the commentary is these days.

THURSDAY REFLECTIONS: Watching again, I didn't notice the "Danhausen Is Alushe" thing they did again. PAC isn't evil enough to bring the heat over kicking a mini in the face. Alex and Jose are also Alushes, which is weird/awesome. Toni Storm does a SUWA dropkick! In the first picture in picture, Penelope Ford looks fucking GREAT, and Toni Storm beheading herself to make Ford look like a destroyer had to be something Ford looked forward to when getting back in the ring. Storm is the Sammi Zayne of the AEW Women's division in her ability to take an assbeating and make her opponent look like a total killer. This match is twice as good on the INTERNATIONAL FEED! Penelope Ford is awesome. Toni Storm is AWESOME! I love how Danielson always wrestles like the 1975 NWA champion- not a face or heel, just a guy who is going to beat your ass and win. How did I miss the Rick Rude UNDULATIONS?!? Regal being a 1988 raver makes sense. Hangman leaning into the flying dropkick against the barrier was COMPLETELY manly. I'm noticing that AEW without JR rambling is a better AEW. I don't hate JR, it's just that the lacks the focus of TAZ and Excalibur. Hangman leaning into the ass beating by Dragon is pretty awesome. I love Hangman conveying that he has no idea what to do with this guy. The INTERNATIONAL FEED is so great at enforcing the mangling of the arm by Dragon. I love Hangman selling the pain after delivering each chop. I notice that the difference between the finishing sequence of this and the main event is that Hangman doesn't have any submissions at his disposal. But Barry Windham and Stan Hansen didn't have submissions either. That finishing sequence WAS awesome though- it just had no trading of submissions, so this was more traditional US pro style, but with bigger moves. Bryan Danielson is pretty good. I remember seeing him live at the Super 8 against Low Ki in 2001 and KNOWING that wrestling would be different from that point on. And it was. Wheeler Yuta's jacket is preposterously amazing. I love the blood/ink. It is weird that Garcia beat the Alpha of the stable to get a shot at the low man in the stable. I love that they do a new variation on the New Japan striking challenge with German Suplexes. The heat was kind of strange during that. I would say that's the signature spot of the match. The sequence where they crush each others skulls on the ring ties to lead up to Superplex was the reason you watch this on the INTERNATIONAL FEED. That was fucking awesome. That finish is so fucking good. So BattlARTS. That fucking ruled.

I would pay fives of dollars to watch this deposition...

Hall of Pain, baby

Plenty of adults have co-accounts with a parent. You can have it for any number of reasons. Maybe you have it in case of an emergency. Or like above someone is on the road a lot. Or a person and a parent just give each other money a lot because of shared purchases. But the bottom line is: Who fucking cares? Punk brought that up to hurt someone who wasn't there to defend themselves. He did it just to be a complete and total asshole. He wanted to make Colt look like a sponge who doesn't deserve the respect of a locker room that's pissed at him for dicking over a guy they all like a lot. Punk also dropping the line about Colt supposedly wanting to settle the lawsuit after the joint bank account was discovered -- and, also, no proof of that beyond what Punk's firing off at a press conference -- was meant to try and shame Colt and it included a dismissive tone about his mom. But if that's true at all, somebody could also just say "That's really fucking low to get my mom involved with this, let's end it now." That's just the work of a total petty bully. It's someone who was gifted a level of power because of past success and public forum digging a hatchet into a guy who has nothing to do with any of this.

Watch your boss surprise you by responding, "Ooh, the CM Punk thing? Did you hear that, uh, I think one of the Young Bucks bit Punk's dog, I can't really remember. Someone reported it."

I mean Tony Atlas annoyed CM Punk and gave him crap about how he wrapped his hands. And then he cut a promo on him to the people in the back during a meeting in OVW. We've come full circle here. Say what you will about Jericho, but it seems the difference between Punk and Jericho is that Punk walks around and calls himself a locker room leader. While it seems Jericho IS a locker room leader and has most everyone's respect. Once again, leaders lead. They don't call themselves leaders.

He needs to keep going down the roster till he gets someone who will say “yes, I’ll join” like Peter Avalon or someone. Except Andrade doesn’t listen and is like “you don’t wanna join me? Then I’ll see you in the ring” ”no, I said I do want to join your team” ”I’ll see you on Rampage, and I’ll kick your ass”

If you want to get a heel turn over, cut Max Caster's rap off on a night like tonight.