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The AEW Brawl & Its Fallout


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11 hours ago, odessasteps said:

Seems like real sports is full of double standards for the stars and the rank and file. Could Barry Bonds have gotten a bench player cut or traded during his peak with the Giants? Did Michael Irvin get fired over the barber shop incident? 

That's just how things are, fairly or unfairly. 

What. The. Fuck. I had never heard of this as a kid somehow. That whole story is madness. So long as you have money you can truly get away with anything in certain systems. Horseplay, lmao. 

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I'm a reporter and used to work in public relations before getting back into journalism. I've been to a few press conferences and have helped plan some live media events. So just some general thoughts on that from my perspective:

1) I have no idea why AEW even wants to have press conferences right after an event for something that is a staged performance. I get that "real" sports have post-game press conferences but wrestling is more like a Broadway play. I know there are a lot of differences, but what the hell are they trying to do? There's no upside in having these press conferences that I can see (the Wrestling Observer is the main trade publication covering the industry and they were going to skip because the past ones were so worthless) and the downside risk is this. 

2) There are usually at these events PR people on hand to shut them down if someone starts getting out of hand. That at least limits some of the damage. Tony also could have shut it down at any point by just standing up and saying "okay, we have to move on..." and moving Punk out of the room. Or even ending the whole event. That's part of what you're expected to do.

3) That's not to say Tony had a nefarious reason or agreed with what Punk was saying. It looked to me more like he had no idea what the hell to do or didn't think what Punk was saying would have led to anything backstage. The guy's not good in front of a camera and probably needed someone to tell him he's not good in front of a camera and doesn't have the skills needed to handle a live TV appearance if it goes awry. There's nothing wrong with that. Not a lot of people do. It's also really hard for anyone to tell the person writing them their paycheck "you're not good at this so you shouldn't do it." They have broadcasters like Tony S. who can handle those sorts of

4) Tony asking media members to attend the press conference personally is really not a big deal. If you're having a press conference, you want to press to go. That doesn't mean this was a pre-planned work. 

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In summary, "I'm pissed that I have to sit up here and address this topic," says man who addressed this topic on his own.  Somehow I missed that part; not that it happened, that he openly complained about it in exactly the aforementioned manner.

Yeah, I'm done with Phil.  He can fuck off back to whatever nothing he was doing before he came back.

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1 hour ago, madl said:

Meltzer’s noted that backstage fights have always been a thing in MMA and wrestling, but the difference is that most fights don’t take place near media and in full view of a corporate attorney “from the real world”.

This literally just happened yesterday with the UFC.

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8 minutes ago, Greggulator said:

I'm a reporter and used to work in public relations before getting back into journalism. I've been to a few press conferences and have helped plan some live media events. So just some general thoughts on that from my perspective:

1) I have no idea why AEW even wants to have press conferences right after an event for something that is a staged performance. I get that "real" sports have post-game press conferences but wrestling is more like a Broadway play. I know there are a lot of differences, but what the hell are they trying to do? There's no upside in having these press conferences that I can see (the Wrestling Observer is the main trade publication covering the industry and they were going to skip because the past ones were so worthless) and the downside risk is this.

I think TK wants to copy the New Japan post-match "pressers" that they do. But those are really more a dude cutting a promo in front of some reporters than an actual press conference.

My wife and I have both worked in media and she's in PR now. She spends a high percentage of her time working to get media to show up to press conferences. So, I can second @Greggulatoron his fourth point. Nothing out of the ordinary there.

Also second the idea that Tony needs a real PR person at these (if they choose to keep doing them) to stop anything like this from happening in the future.

It's pro wrestling. These things should be used to advance angles or start feuds or whatever. There's no need for any "real" shit here. Talk about how tough Mox was and that you're looking forward to getting your hands on MJF again.

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1 hour ago, madl said:

Meltzer’s noted that backstage fights have always been a thing in MMA and wrestling, but the difference is that most fights don’t take place near media and in full view of a corporate attorney “from the real world”.

 

UFC alone nearly cornered the market on this stuff especially in the McGregor era

 

 

 

Granted the bus one wasn't in full view of the fans but that had clips making the rounds online almost immediately

 

This was right after the closing moments of a ppv *right after Khabib finished Conor*

 

 

 

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31 minutes ago, Jiji said:

What. The. Fuck. I had never heard of this as a kid somehow. That whole story is madness. So long as you have money you can truly get away with anything in certain systems. Horseplay, lmao. 

Boys Will Be Boys is a fun read (it is done by Jeff Pearlman who is the same person who did the Lakers Showtime book)

And too be fair - I think the book coming out is when the story came out

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13 minutes ago, Craig H said:

This literally just happened yesterday with the UFC.

For context on this

https://www.espn.com/mma/story/_/id/34552291/ufc-cancels-news-conference-fights-break-backstage

Quote

The UFC 279 news conference was canceled Thursday at MGM Grand Garden Arena after several altercations broke out backstage among fighters on the card and their teams.

UFC president Dana White attempted to keep the news conference going by bringing up the six fighters separately in twos, per fight. But after Kevin Holland and Daniel Rodriguez spoke to reporters and fans in attendance about their fight on the pay-per-view card, White scrapped the event altogether.

White said in a media scrum following the cancellation that the skirmishes were started by Khamzat Chimaev and Holland, who are not fighting each other Saturday night at UFC 279. None of the fighters required medical attention, and according to White, none of the fights scheduled for the card are in jeopardy.

"It was a complete s---show," White said.

When Dana White is calling something a shit show

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25 minutes ago, Greggulator said:


1) I have no idea why AEW even wants to have press conferences right after an event for something that is a staged performance. I get that "real" sports have post-game press conferences but wrestling is more like a Broadway play. I know there are a lot of differences, but what the hell are they trying to do? There's no upside in having these press conferences that I can see (the Wrestling Observer is the main trade publication covering the industry and they were going to skip because the past ones were so worthless) and the downside risk is this. 

I was always under the impression that TK wanted it to be treated like "real sports" and that is why he was doing them. (Plus at the time they started, they were doing it to differentiate themselves from WWE)

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3 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

I was always under the impression that TK wanted it to be treated like "real sports" and that is why he was doing them. (Plus at the time they started, they were doing it to differentiate themselves from WWE)

The idea was both of these and to borrow from what NJPW does.

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The biggest difference between this and the UFC puts conferences is that the UFC guys are going to actually fight. @Greggulator has a point with these press conferences being completely unnecessary. If you're going to have a press conference for a worked event,  the press conference should probably be worked as well. As someone who studied journalism, I know that you can't trust just anyone with a live microphone. I had an adjunct professor for broadcast journalism who was a reporter for the local NBC affiliate,  and one of the first things she told us was to protect the microphone. Don't let some stranger get you fired because you gave them access to the microphone. Having a press conference where you let people talk candidly for a make believe sport is the opposite of protecting the microphone. There is no reason you should be asking Phil Brooks questions about a wrestling match. You can ask CM Punk,  because he's a character in the show, but if you aren't going to keep kayfabe, it's totally unnecessary. 

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On 9/8/2022 at 1:46 PM, just drew said:

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

Not sure if you're familiar with Fire Pro but for curiosity's sake I first played then simulated UFC-style matches where Punk first went against Matt then Nick Jackson.  They were made by the same creator and I had them at a high CPU level.

When I controlled each Buck they won though Matt was able to take out Punk quicker.  And to my surprise when it was a simulated match each Buck won their respective fights.

So yes this is from a game but considering all that goes into making edits for Fire Pro (spoiler:  It's a shit ton) I can hereby declare that each Buck can defeat CM Punk in a fight.

I'll gladly accept those fives of dollars now please and thank you.  ?

And if all this seems nonsensical please note it's Friday and slow here so I'm just chilling before I learn some stuff.

Edited by NikoBaltimore
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4 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

Problem will all kayfabe press conferences is you have embarrassing things like Roman Reigns demanding all the reporters "acknowledge" him

This is the far less embarassing alternative. Punk wants us to acknowledge that Colt Cabana's mom shares his bank account. 

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Either have worked reporters (WWE did this for a little while a few years ago) or have fully shoot press conferences (“We really liked that transition spot, we saw it in a New Japan match from 1997…”) or don’t have press conferences.

Imagine if they had press conferences after a Broadway play where the actors and actresses were sort of in character and sort of not? That is the stupidest sounding thing ever.
 

Pro wrestling is theater. It is not sports. It is sports-as-theater. So either keep it as kayfabe or fully shoot or even easier just do not have press conferences. 

And don’t give a live mic to a guy who just a few weeks ago went off-script to embarrass a co-worker while he had a live mic.

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39 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

Well the easier solution is knowing who you should and should not put in front of a live mic at a press conference

This. They gave a live mic to a guy who tried to embarrass Adam Page because of a personal slight when he had a live mic. 

I have no idea how going off-script like that would not get someone fired right away. Imagine if someone on Saturday Night Live just started improvising some stuff on air? Let alone in a way to make someone else on the cast look bad? They'd get fired as soon as the show ended. Is their any difference? 

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1 hour ago, Jiji said:

I'm going to spontaneously combust if Omega leaves next year. My spirit will cease if he signs with WWE. 

God, Omega in WWE would be so weird. Like, I literally can’t picture him doing a WWE-style match. 

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1 hour ago, supremebve said:

 

I had an adjunct professor for broadcast journalism who was a reporter for the local NBC affiliate,  and one of the first things she told us was to protect the microphone. Don't let some stranger get you fired because you gave them access to the microphone. 

When Jake the Snake Roberts grabbed my shoulders from behind, I knew he was getting my microphone one way or another. So I didn't put up a fight. The show devolved into chaos and ended up on TMZ. Sometimes, everything is going to blow up, and there's nothing anyone can do to stop it.

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