TimLivingston

I think SRS is overhyping the amount of heat on Punk because you have to get to that point to equate it with him being forced out. More than likely, It’s a bunch of talent eager to talk and project their thoughts to someone just as eager to run with things without accountability. More than likely, there’s heat on Punk, but not to the degree being speculated against. And even upon return from a suspension, there would be degrees to which he has to act or else he’s gone for good. The bottom line is the next three weeks have a ton of eyes on the product for better or worse. Maximize it while minimizing the fallout and this thing goes away. I don’t trust Tony to do that though.

Dave is now leaning towards suspensions/people not being at TV tomorrow, which is…strangely the right move?

The issue is more about their most recent bookings when they were hot. The Bucks went the route of dropping the belts to the Lucha Bros, then winning them back, then not dropping the fall when Swerve in Our Glory won, all the while FTR was on the roll of their lives and holding three major tag titles.

Omega and the Bucks have been sources to Meltzer for years. They can deny they did anything specific regarding Punk/Page, but they absolutely have fed him things for quite a while. I think assuming they’ve been tight-lipped throughout this entire saga is assuming quite a lot. And Punk did what he did the way he did it because Page did it the way he did it. Tit for tat. Punk is a fickle asshole and because he felt he was blindsided, he figures the recourse would be to do the same to him. Not defending it because it’s bullshit all of it happened in the first place but whatever. The other thing I’m happy to point out here is that there’s a long history of the Elite going into business for themselves because they knew they were on top, both with promos and booking decisions. It’s the whole reason the damn YT show exists in the first place. To jab away at that notion and poke fun and be tongue-in-cheek. So for them to all of a sudden feel like they’re being wronged because someone is doing what they’re used to doing but with more vitriol behind it is a bit funny to me. Hence my comment earlier about these two being made for each other.

I posted this over at PWO but this is how it is from the 10,000 foot view at this point: Everyone did this to themselves: -The Bucks and Omega did it because they’re the leakers to Meltzer and the like to sow the seeds of discontent with Punk. -Punk did it because he reacted with the unheralded vitriol that made him leave the business in the first place and the first sign of malice was an opportunity to give into his worst impulses. -Page did it because he worked himself into a shoot and it made things difficult to actually confront Punk about it because in his eyes, he should be the face of the company, worked it into multiple promos related to Punk, and then more or less did what his on-screen character did in the locker room. -Tony did it because he grew up reading dirtsheets and thought using them as a vessel to drive “organic” interest in the product no matter how it actually manifests itself is worthwhile because that’s what got him interested in wanting to do this shit in the first place. -And the sheets did it because they run a perpetual motion machine that when actually confronted with needing to report on something, show their collective asses because their sources are obvious and their behavior screams, “How can I get more clicks off this?” The ecosystem that allowed this to fester is something that won’t go away anytime soon, and the fallout from it is not going to be as interesting as anyone hopes. It will be sudden, it will be dumb, and it’ll end with whoever decides to take a side saying the other person did it.

The issue is that now the race is on for it to be as much a work as possible. The blurred lines are driving clicks and subs and allowing things to be blown out of proportion. Everyone wants to dig in and find the facts here: They’re long gone. Only the stories remain. Even Tony going on record isn’t going to help matters.

For what it’s worth, Punk gets triggered by the backstage bullshit and the Bucks are notoriously fickle about being knocked down a peg or two so this is a match made in heaven far as I’m concerned.

Hope Punk and Tony still lurk here because they’re gonna love seeing some of these responses.

The stuff Punk says screams the same worked shoot stuff Ospreay and Omega have been doing for weeks now. Punk is just a curmudgeon about it, which makes it come off more realistic instead of cute. It absolutely sets up the type of work Punk wants to do.

Ready for Dom and Rhea to be Eddie/Chyna 2.0.

Punk doing what he’s doing is more based on reports of Page “blowing off the vets” more than anything else, I’d wager.

Takeshita in the Breaking Bad universe? I smell a sequel.

All those names in the same article for a national website is incredible stuff. And that’s not even counting the names you got in in the intro.

Jack as a heel with a beret and a fake cigarette coming out, with that annoying French laugh after every cartwheel. Mustache optional.

The Evangelion rebuilds were mentioned a few pages back and 2.0 and 3.0+1.0 were the standouts. At the time, I think I still had EOE over all of them, even though EOE starts with a truly reprehensible scene that I took as the biggest middle finger to fan service ever. Didn’t know about how Anno treated his staff; the tortured genius narrative around him is earned but also, don’t do that shit to others. Such a weird series: He knew how to get 3/4 the way through the story but went through a half dozen ways to end it and none of them really took. The ambition alone is noteworthy, I guess, but I don’t know if I came out of the Rebuilds necessarily thinking better of the series as a whole.

There were times where the action slowed down to cue Takeshita interacting, and the sequencing was a bit out of whack, but the actual execution was pretty damn good. I wish they could have simplified a few things, and I think they have a better match in them. Still a good match, though.

Soup needs an AEW-produced YouTube show where he visits all the fast food joints. It would rule. Mance Warner will punch a motherfucker right in the face. Swerve tried to kill a man with a toolbox. A good hour of professional wrestling.

There was a Battlebots commercial tonight, congrats to TK on getting the TNN deal.

Daddy issues, mainly.

“Have YOU seen our bull ropes?”

The look on Jesse’s face doesn’t make it look like it tastes great.

I love that website for its ability for me to host roughly 160 recordings of the podcast my brothers and I did AND for professional wrestling. Incredible.

EDIT: I can’t figure out how to upload photos. Because I’m old.

NJPW guys showed up. This show was insane and haphazardly booked but also worked and somehow showed a template for how these cards could be optimized. Even the commentary was great given it was a 4-man booth. Hell, we even got an actual DEAN~! review out of it. A great night in the history of our sport.

Also, Boston was hyped up due to talent, but the lack of cohesion was covered up by that talent. They never faced a team truly cohesive in the playoffs before the finals. They faced talented teams, but not a single one had an identity that was worth a damn. Not even the vaunted “Heat Culture,” which was so scattershot by the time they faced off it didn’t matter anymore. I’d be more worried about the Grizzlies than the Celtics next year.