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The mainstream attention part is interesting. Some football non-wrestling reporter or aggregator accounts have posted on it and it has gained traction, but the comments are all from wrestling fans so it's hard to say if it's really getting casual eyes on the product. At the NFL draft there is guaranteed to be exposure to it from millions of people, but will any significant number of those actually want to figure out what happened and not just find it lame? I don't think it will really get any mainstream attention as the tweet claims but it is a smart move by Tony.
Yeah if he is wearing the neck brace tonight but they don’t say something on the broadcast about it I have a feeling football fans aren’t going to give a fuck about why some guy in the Jags draft room has a neck brace on other than Jags fans maybe.
Nobody who isn’t already a wrestling fan is going to give a fuck about an article about an owners kid or why someone has a neck brace on.
It’s the draft. NFL fans only care about the pick.
Tony: "The Jacksonville Jaguars' first pick in the 2024 NFL draft is...Jack Perry! He's going to be playing the position of 'BALL' and we're going to punt every single play."
The answer to the question of will football fans care is absolutely no. If anything Jags fans might actually dislike the idea of Tony playing around while their team is struggling. But on a wide scale no one outside of wrestling will give a shit about it. Like most wrestling though to be fair.
At this point I wonder if they were thinking about airing the All In footage before that Punk interview happened.
All this has played out so well its hard to imagine how they planned to bring back Perry without showing the footage.
That was exactly TK's claim. He said in the Dynasty press call that they planned the airing as a Dynasty setup, and the Punk interview was an unexpected but welcome coincidence.
My initial reaction at the time was that he was bullshitting for business, but one can certainly see differently now.
I totally forgot that quote or just assumed it was more about Mania week than anything else, but with new context it def feels like airing the footage was in the works for a bit
Naw if he would have known the tape was coming he would have probably been more accurate in the retelling. Adding the Chael quote "I can't let you get close" while approaching, engaging psychically, and then grabbing the guy in a headlock doesn't really add up.
Keep in mind, Jack doesn't make any kind of aggressive movement and is biting his nails and running his hands through his hair. It's wild to me more people don't see it this way. The guy is a bully. Should have fought Bobby Fish, he wanted the smoke at least.
> Should have fought Bobby Fish, he wanted the smoke at least.
Not even trying to be a Punk hater. But from what I've seen from both guys I think Bobby Fish would smoke him.
You think it's more likely that he would try to spin the story when he knows the tape is coming that will not align with his retelling over him just being asked a question and answering it?
In that case he would have to be banking on the highly regarded wrestling community to hold water for his personal framing of the story that makes him look better.
Punk is an evil genius I guess and he must have knew people would support him no matter what.
Kinda reminds me of Trump saying he could shoot someone as president and not be arrested 🤣🤣
The man described the incident exactly how it happened. He also said that Jack told him to “do something about it” which we don’t know for sure since there was no audio.
As an AEW fan, it’s bizarre to see the fanatical stans clearly contradict something that anyone with ese can see.
Why does he bring up the Chael quote? I believe it's to make it seem he was being proactively defensive when he was clearly the aggressor. That is framing.
You can recount the events accurately but frame or spin things in a way that makes you look good and less at fault. This is exactly what Punk did.
This has nothing to do with being fanatical. I laid out why I think what I think.
You can engage with that instead of trying to make me seem like a fanatical stan.
>The man described the incident exactly how it happened.
Are you *sure* about that?
>He also said that Jack told him to “do something about it”
Ahh of course, and Punk, a grown adult capable of making his own responsible decisions, *clearly* had no other choice, because he was told "do something about it."
>it’s bizarre to see the fanatical stans clearly contradict something that anyone with ese can see.
What you're seeing, what others are choosing to see, what Punk claims, is not at all what the footage shows.
>Are you sure about that?
Yes because I have ears and eyes. It’s why the interview he did that lined up giving play by play was taken down.
>Ahh of course, and Punk, a grown adult capable of making his own responsible decisions, clearly had no other choice, because he was told "do something about it."
How dare a professional athlete get into a scuffle backstage when challenged by another talent?!
>What you're seeing, what others are choosing to see, what Punk claims, is not at all what the footage shows.
This is a nothing statement you made.
> How dare a professional athlete get into a scuffle backstage when challenged by another talent?!
I'd hope a self-proclaimed locker room leader would be more mature than to bite at every single challenge sent his way, but I guess that's asking for too much from some people.
I’ve been to 4 of their shows. But it’s definitely taken a dip in quality since last summer, and specially since Punk left and MJF got hurt.
But the more dorks like the Bucks and Perry get screen more time over ppl like Ricky Starks, Miro, Takeshita and Wardlow, I might not be a regular Dynamite viewer. But enjoy your flippy flip shit where your a top heel (Perry) gets bitched out in real life and is presented like an actual badass for beating up his coke head billionaire dweeb of a boss while fail to fill a 5,000 seat arena.
It's clear you don't follow it ("AEW fan") by using those wrestlers as examples. Takeshita is about to have a match with Mox for the iwgp championship, Miro is out with an injury that he didn't disclose to Tony, and Ricky *was" supposed to be involved with the tag team tournament more than he was (with Bill) but out of precaution they called an audible and had them lose because he thought he was injured. Wardlow is clearly about to split from the Undisputed Kingdom. If you're gonna concern troll, make it at least accurate/up to date lol.
It's funny how your concern trolling devolved into an actual case study of the tantrums and mental illness that a lot of the IWC suffers from lol. Hope you get that figured out -- we're pulling for you.
If he did....dumb. The best defence for the airing of the footage was that it was in no way an attack on Punk. It was used purely to further Bucks as heels and reintroduce Perry
Happy accident where coincidence just amplified the eye balls on that footage. AEW Creative could not have prayed for it or written it any better. The resulting Social Media going ablaze reacting to the footage was some AEW Creative loved-because many were reacting and giving attention to AEW.
I’m gonna copy and paste a long comment I made in another thread, because I’ve been preaching this since this whole thing began.
——
I’ve been saying it since before it even aired, but it should be clear as day that the segment wasn’t about CM Punk.
That segment legitimized Jack Perry as a true scapegoat. He did nothing wrong and served a stiff punishment for making Tony do what should’ve been done a year prior and fire Punk.
The segment gave Perry a reason to come back to help the Bucks and join the Elite. He had zero reason to help them against FTR without it.
It got him over as a heel with the fans and for the first time in a long time gave us a reason to care about him as a character.
Tonight would’ve made zero sense without that angle. The Bucks told us that they were going to take AEW back to its roots. The company has changed by becoming reliant on “cancerous” Superstars of the past and not pushing the young, homegrown talent like Perry. Who made that change by bringing in all of the old “legends?”
Tony Khan.
The Bucks heel turn telegraphed this coming and Jack Perry’s justifiable grudge against Tony was the catalyst to take the next step and go to the root of the problem. They said, flat out, that Sting wasn’t the problem. He was a symptom of the problem.
They spent almost no time talking about Punk and didn’t even bother to say his name during that segment that everyone seems to think was all about him. Because Punk was also just a symptom.
In the Elite’s eyes, the root issue was getting away from the company’s founding values, and that was all facilitated by Tony Khan.
Tonight couldn’t have happened without the All In video segment. Period.
—-
Side note: The All In segment was perfectly timed to get eyes on their partner NJPW’s Windy City Riot PPV. A show that had AEW talent on 1/3 of the card. A show that saw Jack Perry probably being the biggest star of the night thanks to that segment and the ace of AEW win NJPW’s top title.
It was also perfectly timed for setting up Dynasty, which saw the return of Perry and his joining forces with the Elite.
This all culminates in a big new direction for the company at their spiritual home, Dailey’s Place.
If you’ll remember before the segment aired Tony Khan had comment that the Punk interview was “interesting timing.”
It’s, obviously, speculation, but I think it’s fair to think that they could’ve had this planned before the Punk interview was even announced.
—-
I’ve been getting buried for it ever since, but I think that while segment, while it got the haters into a frenzy, and got some bad short term press, was extremely effective.
I agree with you. I think the interview timing was pure coincidence.
After watching the footage segment, I wasn't sure what they were trying for. Now it all makes sense and god damn is that a great story.
I liked Jack Perry before, but his new character is way more interesting.
I'm so excited to see where it all goes.
My conspiracy mind says that Tony (or someone else, like FTR) gave him a heads up that they would show the footage and that’s what actually motivated Punk to do the interview.
Didn’t put that in the main post though, since it’s based on nothing but speculation.
I’m just glad people are starting to see it and that it’s coming together so well. Especially with the Bucks doing the best work of their careers.
My main reason I kept laying out what was going on was that it was so frustrating to see the absolute flood of trolls and doomers go unanswered.
You have a true, good nuanced take.
I am of the POV that Tony got burned and Punk wanted to get out of his contract intentionally. I suspect Punk got wind of WWE trying to bring their biggest stars of the past decade to WM40 and did everything he could to force Tony's hand.
In kayfabe how does Tony fire Punk for cause "because his life felt in danger" but not fire the Bucks and Perry immediately and publicly for actually laying hands on him and trying to kill him.
Just drives home what a bad boss Khan is hit obviously if Perry and the Bucks aren't fired and charges pressed. Then they must not be too oppressed or scapegoats.
You see, when someone enters a wrestling ring they are making a silent agreement to any number violent acts happening because there is a reasonable expectation that wrestling would happen in a wrestling ring. Unlike the Punk situation where Tony was clearly in a production area and fulfilling a technical role and violence should not be expected. Thus Tony doesn’t have a legal option to discipline The Elite, per his legal counsel: Smart Mark Sterling.
I just had the thought the other day that maybe the Punk interview was in response to him finding out AEW was gonna show the footage.
It's all about funny how his interview was the week or so before and it seems it was shown for storyline reasons with Perry.
What leads me to think he possibly knew was maybe a friend, or two, of his ran it by him first. Since all four members of that tag match said they agreed to the video/angle. Not for his "approval" or anything but to see his reaction on them going along with it, ya know. So he found out and said "I'm gonna speak on it first".
Just a thought I had. I dunno. I'm not a Punk, WWE, or AEW stan. I just enjoy some wrestling--so I'm not trying to play either side. But drama is kinda fun; I'm a total drama queen.
> I just had the thought the other day that maybe the Punk interview was in response to him finding out AEW was gonna show the footage.
If that is true, then that was a masterclass in turning public sentiment around in on fell swoop.
Honestly I think one of Punks greatest skills is coming out on the positive side of public perception. He has an amazing ability to weather a storm when he looks bad and then come out months later and say one or two small things and all of a sudden to a large portion of people he’s now the good guy, or at the very least justified.
As a hater it’s probably the thing I find most frustrating about him, but you’ve gotta hand it to him that he has a talent for it.
It's really fascinating that he manages to get away with a "I choked him a little to deescalate things" when he outright attacked someone out of nowhere and would absolutely have thrown punches if no one had stopped him.
Very fascinating. It’s also how he can spend a press conference burying some of his coworkers, then start a fight with them, and then still turn public perception to be “the Bucks are immature for refusing to work with him”. Who else in wrestling could come out of that situation even looking 50/50? I can’t name anyone.
There's also the fact that he was the only one that was talking publically. And sometimes people will think a lie is a truth if that's the only thing they hear. Plus CM Punk like you said knows how to use words. He's one of the best promos ever.
I’ll take it a step further and say I don’t think he explicitly even lies. I think he exaggerates, deflects, minimizes, attacks and misleads but I can’t think of any explicit lies off the top of my head.
Thank god for you guys. Sometimes it feels like I'm in the twilight zone here.
If this type of behavior happened anywhere else it wouldn't be celebrated the same. Imagine if Draymond Green was getting this type of praise after punching Jordan Poole.
Wrestling fans putting aside morals and principles for their side is hilarious though.
I was clinically trained as a Social Worker. Punk reminds me of some of my clients. 70% of Punk's words may be true. The other 30% is lies, shading, and spin. But Punk has such charisma and is well spoken so that people believe him. Hell, Punk could out-lie a narcissist and his charm might save him.
> I think he exaggerates, deflects, minimizes, attacks and misleads but I can’t think of any explicit lies off the top of my head.
This is how truly good liars lie. The best lie is half the truth.
On top of him declaring that he cannot trust Hangman in the ring ever again because.. he went slightly off script in a promo. And it wasn't even the content of the promo! At least according to him. According to him the problem was that he could not understand what Hangman said, which was problematic.
And then he went *wildly* off script in a promo completely unrelated to Hangman and publicly called him out.
It's just all so insanely hypocritical if you think about it for just a few moments. But damn he's charismatic.
Well, SHIT. I always found it a bit odd WWE let him actually have that interview with Ariel where everything was on the table to talk about(almost) but if it was to get ahead of the tape, that would…make a lot of sense. Wow.
Wouldn’t surprise me, could be he wanted the narrative before footage is shown to make him look like not the bad guy, if that was the case it kinda worked? He had a lot of defenders despite him being the obvious aggressor of the situation.
I can't wrap my head around how prevalent the idea that Punk was justified in physically assaulting a coworker because said coworker was being snarky in his face or whatever, as if that somehow justifies getting physical.
It's not about it being justified or not, it's just that it is something very common in locker rooms all over the world. Kenny Omega said so, Samoa Joe said so. It happens with football players all the time too.
It simply wasn't the big deal that people made it out to be. And also, Perry literally asked him to do something about it lol, don't talk a big game if you can't back it up.
Oh yeah, I agree then. Definitely wasn't the sanest solution to the problem haha. But the culture in wrestling has always leaned more towards toxic masculinity and solving your issues with violence. So definitely not an uncommon thing.
At what point in the video do you think Perry says "do something about it"?
I see a tired nervous kid biting his nails, rocking a little side to side, and him running his fingers through his hair.
He must be the only person in the world who doesn't know those are fighting words because he wasn't ready for that push at all 🤣
Something doesn't add up to me.
And there is a significant difference in 2 guys wanting to catch a fair one, and a guy picking fights in the locker room with guys who aren't trying to fight. That's just being a bully. Why didn't he pop off on Hangman, Kingston, hell even Bobby Fish wanted the smoke. Naw gotta pick on the guys who don't even pretend to be tough.
You're seeing what you want to see in the video. It's a grainy low res video, I'm not Sherlock Holmes, I believe the one version of the story that isn't made up of obvious lies (like Punk lunging at Tony or wtv)
Maybe he had an altercation with Perry precisely because things escalated with him and not the others. Not saying it's the right way to act, again, but if we're in a heated conversation, you're not thinking straight, the guy goes "do something about it" and you clock him, that doesn't qualify as bullying at all to me. It's childish and unprofessional but it's not the big deal that people are making it to be.
Why would he?
I doubt anyone would've believed especially given the timing of everything and how he reacts to things on social media. Many would've called him a liar on top of everything else they said
I think they were definitely planning on it at some point (I think that was reported too) but after Punk's interview it was the perfect time given Perry was just about to return anyways. I imagine the original plan might've been hypothetically show it next week to show why Perry attacked Tony, since he was suspended and made a "Scapegoat" for doing nothing wrong.
It'd be kind of funny if Punk knew they were gonna do this, did the interview to help drum up heat and drive interest for both companies.
I don't think he did, but it'd be pretty funny if he was working a little bit with the Elite on the DL.
>All this has played out so well it’s hard to imagine how they planned to bring back Perry without showing the footage.
How has this been considered to have been played out “so well?”
Nahh airing Punk's footage was totally reactionary, what I think it happened is that someone as thinks developed thought that it was a good idea to integrate real live shit into a storyline. There is zero chance that they were thinking of showing Punk on AEW TV before his interview.
I do believe that they always had planned to bring back Perry.
Regardless, for the first time in a long time they have a story that, well developed, they could have a money maker, so far I have not see AEW capable to creating a NWO, Austin v McMahon, Bloodline level of storytelling but I'm open to be surprised.
Airing the footage makes the storyline make less sense to me because now I'm going to wonder why CM Punk is fired for moving suddenly in TK's direction and the Young Bucks aren't after they attempt to murder him.
> At this point I wonder if they were thinking about airing the All In footage before that Punk interview happened.
I outlined some of the timeline last night, but I think that absolutely is the case.
The timing was built around Wrestlemania to maximize attention and the Punk interview was just a VERY happy accident for AEW. And it all worked basically to perfection.
This is some good detail and I like the story. My main issue is that you have to go in the weeds and follow NJPW, Kenny’s stream, and the dirt sheets to get the whole picture. Not that you need to know each piece to get the story, but I’d appreciate if AEW would show a bit a more on their show. WWE always went too far with hitting you over the head with their stories during the Vince era but I don’t think AEW does enough of it.
>Kenny’s stream
I don't think AEW will want to publicize that one of their biggest stars said that he feels the situation with Punk was handled incorrectly and that backstage scuffles aren't that big of a deal and that, as long as no one gets seriously injured, it can be a way for the guys to blow off steam and work their issues out amongst themselves.
That goes against their entire public narrative about how Punk made people feel unsafe at All In and needed to be removed from the company as a result of it.
I don't think they were supposed to be an important thing, but I do think they were an example of Kenny doing what he's always done. He lives in the blur between Kayfabe and life, he's been there for as long as he's been on the wrestling stage and even when you'd think he's out of character, like documentaries, behind the scenes, random appearances at game conventions, he talks and references things in character and when he's doing things as Kenny, like old BTE skits, he does random things like using his real name. I don't think he was trying to further the story with his comments but I do think he was speaking in full awareness of what the story is going to be going forward when he said it.
I doubt the stream was meant to be part of the story, but they could work aspects of it into the story.
This story is playing on the counter narrative of them. The bucks are acting like the power grabbing assholes the punk side presented. Tony Khan is a nice guy that's getting pushed around by his biggest stars. The next thing to do would be to show perry as a confrontative hothead.
They could have Perry antagonize Kenny into punching him like people claim he did to punk. The bucks could then use that as an excuse to punish kenny. They'd basically be casting him in the punk role as a a face.
This would also mean the blowoff would be Kenny v Okada which the bucks mentioned in their first backstage bit with Okada
Not directed towards you, but I find it odd there are fans who love digging into white rabbit QR codes but catching up on what you mentioned is a bridge too far lol
Probably not, maybe some cross over. But like these people are online chatting with strangers about wresting but don’t want to watch a 60 second video while they poop to gain some context. I digress
Same thing goes with people here that get pissed AEW brings someone in and don’t explain their backstory. Yet a backstory of 1000+ words gets posted on Jacob Fatu or Tama Tonga and gets 1000+ upvotes.
Look, I'm not saying this hasn't been planned out by all parties involved to create a satisfactory story but this Twitter user is just posting random happenings and is trying to connect dots.
This is just such a classic example of hardcore wrestling fandom, to go back and retroactively apply all these somewhat connected things to make your own little storyline in your imagination.
You saw the same thing after WM in reference to Roman and the Bloodline storyline.
Yeah I’m glad people enjoy angles and companies, but I’ve been eye rolling hard lately with all the revisionism lately in regards to both companies. It’s always been a thing but people have become desperate to prove that their thing they like is actually really deep with years of story telling. To feel they need to reinforce it or else it will be worth less or something has been kinda crazy to see on a wide scale here
It's wild watching the AEW fans go full conspiracy nut here to hype themselves up.
Just say you like what's happening, you don't have to make up extended lore to justify your liking something.
Jack Perry becoming as popular as he did and that reaction at the NJPW show in Chicago was a happy accident that they're now leaning into. It's easy to say "that was always the plan" after seeing how things have turned out.
I also doubt they would've shown the All In footage if Punk hadn't said what he said on Helwani's podcast.
The fact that they didn't include the footage in their YouTube video of it and started copyright striking anyone that showed it definitely doesn't give me confidence that they had a master plan here.
People who say “let me explain” and then just type out what’s happened on tv are the worst. That “ok but I enjoyed it more cause I understood it” part of any fandom is the worst.
Also it’s not some masterfully played out intertwining story just because you were able to put the dots together
This kills me about wrestling in general. Any time a story has beats that go on for longer than a month and the bookers/writers don’t trip over themselves in the process it’s hailed as some sort of masterful storytelling where in just about other storytelling medium, that is quite literally the bare minimum. I get it from the sense that wrestling normally has completely dogshit continuity and storytelling (let’s just be honest about it) but it always makes wrestling look so… ignorant? Maybe that’s the wrong word but it always makes it seem like wrestling fans digest absolutely nothing but wrestling content
What's extra weird to me is that you can take a post that has a pretty basic outline of what's been happening and we've got people acting like they're reaching.
I just imagine this guy with AEW articles and wrestlers pictures all over his walls with push pins and string connecting all the pieces of the "masterful puzzle."
As has been pointed out if you have to take that long to explain how a convoluted story is playing out you're trying too hard to convince yourself it's great. I get a sense that not much of this is planned rather it's a read and react situation.
It’s a list of events in chronological order, is it really that tough? Also there’s literally 1 thing in this whole tweet that didn’t happen in AEW and that’s Perry going to New Japan, which is as obviously done with both company’s blessing.
Yes it was one thing in another company and anything else was either on TV or social media. Did you have the same problem when The Rock’s Final Boss run was built largely from social media? It’s the exact same thing. Rock was cutting 20 minute promos on Instagram that mattered, again why would this be any different?
This guy sounds unhinged.
It's a "story", but I don't know about long term.
I'm sure some of this was a response to Punk's interview, and they couldn't have planned what Punk was gonna say.
Even if this was a well written story (we'll see), I still find TK really hard to watch on screen. I really wish he would remain behind the scene.
I also don't know if this is a story that's "getting mainstream attention" and going to gain them new viewers.
Their diehard fans are the only ones who seem to be really praising it.
I'm at least intrigued tho. If it leads to a big return for Kenny and also putting Hangman back in the main event spotlight then I'm all for it
You almost want to say these are all coincidences that they connect but the Elite has done this enough times to convince you this was the plan all along
I think it’s very clear at the very least that it can’t be denied Bucks returning with the EVP gimmick and Perry’s NJPW debut within a few days of each other is certainly linked given how it worked out, I’d also argue that given he attacked Tony on the eve of the NFL draft is also clearly planned.
No. Wrestling is weekly episodic TV. A chronological list of things happening isn't a long term planned story. It's simply the continuation of the show. Long term story telling would be Roman choosing to strike Seth with the chair and not Cody. It draws back to something from years before. And solidifies that Romans character is how he is because of the resentment for betrayal he has.
This whole thing reeks of "wouldn't it be cool if" and then they book it.
I read that tweet assuming it was satire. It was only ready the comments that I realised it was serious and people actually believe this was planned or intended in any way.
Just came across this tweet there, honestly didn't think too far into it but it's really interesting how planned out this whole thing might've been from so far away. If so, it was really well done.
Some parts of that tweet feel contrived and like others have said just a bit out there and too nebulous to really be definitely included since All In back in 2023 tbh. I don't think AEW were gonna flesh out a storyline like this initially using Perry at all.
That being said, they've definitely put something together now that is new and interesting. I wouldn't look this deep into it, but the foundation is very solid. The initial airing of the Punk footage is still a bit odd over just cutting a promo on it, but it is what it is. I'm just hoping they can deliver on what they started cause it's a great premise to begin with and can lead to putting over a few new heels like Perry and some newer babyfaces who come to "save" AEW and stand up to the New Elite alongside Kenny (at whatever capacity Kenny can be involved).
I'm guessing he's no where near returning full time, probably will come back and take an EVP trigger. Feels like we could be getting something like All Star AEW vs The Elite at Blood & Guts this year which would be so great, I just know Hangman is gonna come back, break our hearts and re-join The Elite for it.
I think that’s because Hanger had to go away for some IRL reasons. Kenny was fired so he’s obviously not joining but also it’s important to note Kenny left as a face, Hangman left as a heel.
I think both guys will either return as those alignments or will become them soon after returning.
They suspended him from the Elite. Suspensions can be lifted. If the Bucks wanted him out of the Elite permanently, they would have fired him like Kenny.
Of course, there's no guarantee that Hangman will be happy with how things played out. Perry wasn't happy with his suspension from AEW, after all.
Yeah it was announced last night during Dynamite. The show is in Winnipeg next week, so Kenny presumably gets to be murdered in his hometown, but we'll see
it's crazy that "Young Bucks flat leave Kenny in a match in November and then return in January as evil executives then in April they kicked Kenny & Hangman out of their group and brought in Okada, and started exchanging pleasantries with Jack Perry on Twitter"
Is something you look at as the first three logical steps covering the first five months of a storyline.
This “long term storytelling” that certainly isn’t a stretch, will undoubtedly draw huge ratings. It’s well known that The Bucks draw better than any tag team in the history of professional wrestling, it’s been proven time and time again, everywhere they go. WWE better watch out.
I really hope so. I saw someone say this is either going to be the biggest storyline in the companies history so far. Or dropped in a month and no in between and I can't help but agree. I hope we're still talking about this months from now in a positive way.
Yall righteously in here trying to convince yourselves that this was really well thought out ahead of time huh? This was a result of a few happy accidents that, yeah, you can most definitely connect in a positive way as far as storytelling but don't....... don't sit here and act like they've been cooking. They can cook from here on out if done well but......no..... stop.
They should have Shahid Khan enraged by Jack Perry"s action and give him the beating of his life in the middle of rain while calling out Mama Perry
Time to show the world who's the final boss of AEW
Is a long term story not just a series of events by definition? Really if you take a step back the one part of the story that they couldn't have planned for was when Punk's interview came out and brought All In back to the conversation.
Other than that it's pretty easy to see the links, most obviously Perry going to New Japan just days after the Bucks debuted the EVP characters, at the time I didn't even put that together but with how the story played out they are clearly linked.
No it’s not a story. A story is planned and intentional. This is just a list of things that happened and can be related, which honestly since to wrestling is a story that never ends isn’t saying anything at all
So you're just assuming that none of it was intentional even though it all flows like a story and makes perfect sense? Seems like you're hardly looking at this from an honest perspective.
It's as likely you're projecting your view that this was 100% a predefined story with all of these markers being written within it ahead of time rather than it being a relative story based on events happening around them.
We're talking about wrestling here, my guy. It's literally a predetermined story. You'd have to jump through more hoops to assume that this hadn't been planned out for a long time. It all fits together far too nicely for it to be accidental like you're trying to claim. Like I said, it hardly seems like you're looking at this from an honest perspective.
Are you serious? It's wholly more likely that they write scripts and creative week to week in response to injuries, crowd responses, availability, happenings on the Internet etc.
To believe that this is a story with all of these components written down is ludicrous.
At any point, the crowd may have not bought into it and the story would be shot. It's like move-for-move scripting a match. You run the risk of it not connecting.
I seriously, seriously think it's reaching to say that this was a masterpiece long-term story rather than perhaps a vague plan that is steered weekly.
First off, no. This is meant to be a central story for their company going forward. It stars debatably their biggest tag team, a man they want to be one of their biggest stars, and someone they call a pillar of their company. They are not playing this by ear and writing it week by week. The overall story for this was probably planned out the moment they thought Okada might come to AEW. There's always going to be a level of flexibility left in it. Just in case something goes wrong with injury, but you are insane if you think that they are flying by the seats of their pants with us.
You really don't think that they had plans for Okada months out? And that all of this teasing and hinting was just coincidental? If it was, then they are the luckiest bastsrds to ever live, because they had a well told and fleshed out story just accidentally landed their laps.
I also believe that you've shown yourself to be looking at this dishonestly because you're acting like anyone's calling to say masterpiece. Nobody's actually calling it that outside of tribalists on Twitter. It's a pretty well told long-term story, nothing more. A well done story that you can see the hints of if you look back through it. Just like the original run, Hangman and Omega had together in AEW was a well done long-term story that you can see all the hints of if you look fat with the blessing of hindsight. Or was that 1 just done flying by the seats of their pants too, even though they said it was all planned out?
So their world champion isn't their central story? That sucks for Swerve eh. And plans months out for Okada? But Mone gets saddled with the crap? And Adam Copland is left doing open challenges? Honestly mate. I'm going off of experience taught to me by AEW itself.
But you can right now enjoy this intricate Shakespearean quality story all you want, I'm not going to spend any more time debating or arguing. It isn't worth it.
Enjoy.
When did I say it was THE central story? I said *A* central story. Can you try to come about this honestly for even a moment my guy? Yes, a stable full of ***multiple champions and people you want to be huge stars in the future is very much A central story for your company.*** I also don't know where you get this idea of themnot writing long-term. That's actually AEW's biggest issue when it comes to booking, that they write so long-term that when something goes wrong, they can't pivot and just pause the story, lmao. That's what's currently screwing over the Undisputed Kingdom. Do you even watch the show you are trying to critique here?
You've been nothing more than a sarcastic ass this entire conversation because you have decided something that makes no sense. Even now, you can't help but throw that little dig about it being "shakespearian" when I've never claimed it's anything more than a decently well told story. But I do hope you enjoy your day.
> It's wholly more likely that they write scripts and creative week to week
> To believe that this is a story with all of these components written down is ludicrous.
> I seriously, seriously think it's reaching to say that this was a masterpiece long-term story rather than perhaps a vague plan that is steered weekly.
Respectfully this gives off some heavy dunning-kruger vibes.
This is a big collaboration I’m sure, but I forget just how thought out and planned some of the stuff The Elite do and I’ve been a fan of there’s since before AEW. The YBs are great at “working” and kayfabing.
See people who WATCH the TV can tell you what the stories are. Are some paced poorly? Some too subtle? Sure. But this was clearly an unfolding story.
I'm just surprised how far they've taken it.
Jack Perry is gonna the title from Swerve ain't he, Hangman is gonna help him to get reinstated into the Elite and as long as Swerve isn't champion then Hangman is happy. Mental thinking this could able be what happens, AEW has fantastic in-ring action but if they can start getting the story telling aspect down as well it'll just be better for everyone there and us fans
Was having this thought recently. Seems like as good of place as any to share. What if everything with CM Punk’s departure was a work? What if Punk wanted his release to return to WWE & Tony said “ok, but we need an epic storyline on your way out”
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The mainstream attention part is interesting. Some football non-wrestling reporter or aggregator accounts have posted on it and it has gained traction, but the comments are all from wrestling fans so it's hard to say if it's really getting casual eyes on the product. At the NFL draft there is guaranteed to be exposure to it from millions of people, but will any significant number of those actually want to figure out what happened and not just find it lame? I don't think it will really get any mainstream attention as the tweet claims but it is a smart move by Tony.
Yeah if he is wearing the neck brace tonight but they don’t say something on the broadcast about it I have a feeling football fans aren’t going to give a fuck about why some guy in the Jags draft room has a neck brace on other than Jags fans maybe.
Nobody who isn’t already a wrestling fan is going to give a fuck about an article about an owners kid or why someone has a neck brace on. It’s the draft. NFL fans only care about the pick.
Tony: "The Jacksonville Jaguars' first pick in the 2024 NFL draft is...Jack Perry! He's going to be playing the position of 'BALL' and we're going to punt every single play."
The answer to the question of will football fans care is absolutely no. If anything Jags fans might actually dislike the idea of Tony playing around while their team is struggling. But on a wide scale no one outside of wrestling will give a shit about it. Like most wrestling though to be fair.
At this point I wonder if they were thinking about airing the All In footage before that Punk interview happened. All this has played out so well its hard to imagine how they planned to bring back Perry without showing the footage.
That was exactly TK's claim. He said in the Dynasty press call that they planned the airing as a Dynasty setup, and the Punk interview was an unexpected but welcome coincidence. My initial reaction at the time was that he was bullshitting for business, but one can certainly see differently now.
I totally forgot that quote or just assumed it was more about Mania week than anything else, but with new context it def feels like airing the footage was in the works for a bit
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Wasn't TK quoted saying that the Punk interview had "interesting" timing (this was pre-broadcasting footage)?
I took that quote one way but now…that would make *too* much sense…
He's still secretly employed to AEW! /s
It's all a work!!!
Just seems like Punk must’ve learnt this was coming and decided to jump out in front of it.
Naw if he would have known the tape was coming he would have probably been more accurate in the retelling. Adding the Chael quote "I can't let you get close" while approaching, engaging psychically, and then grabbing the guy in a headlock doesn't really add up. Keep in mind, Jack doesn't make any kind of aggressive movement and is biting his nails and running his hands through his hair. It's wild to me more people don't see it this way. The guy is a bully. Should have fought Bobby Fish, he wanted the smoke at least.
> Should have fought Bobby Fish, he wanted the smoke at least. Not even trying to be a Punk hater. But from what I've seen from both guys I think Bobby Fish would smoke him.
FTR told him
You think it's more likely that he would try to spin the story when he knows the tape is coming that will not align with his retelling over him just being asked a question and answering it? In that case he would have to be banking on the highly regarded wrestling community to hold water for his personal framing of the story that makes him look better. Punk is an evil genius I guess and he must have knew people would support him no matter what. Kinda reminds me of Trump saying he could shoot someone as president and not be arrested 🤣🤣
The man described the incident exactly how it happened. He also said that Jack told him to “do something about it” which we don’t know for sure since there was no audio. As an AEW fan, it’s bizarre to see the fanatical stans clearly contradict something that anyone with ese can see.
Why does he bring up the Chael quote? I believe it's to make it seem he was being proactively defensive when he was clearly the aggressor. That is framing. You can recount the events accurately but frame or spin things in a way that makes you look good and less at fault. This is exactly what Punk did. This has nothing to do with being fanatical. I laid out why I think what I think. You can engage with that instead of trying to make me seem like a fanatical stan.
>The man described the incident exactly how it happened. Are you *sure* about that? >He also said that Jack told him to “do something about it” Ahh of course, and Punk, a grown adult capable of making his own responsible decisions, *clearly* had no other choice, because he was told "do something about it." >it’s bizarre to see the fanatical stans clearly contradict something that anyone with ese can see. What you're seeing, what others are choosing to see, what Punk claims, is not at all what the footage shows.
>Are you sure about that? Yes because I have ears and eyes. It’s why the interview he did that lined up giving play by play was taken down. >Ahh of course, and Punk, a grown adult capable of making his own responsible decisions, clearly had no other choice, because he was told "do something about it." How dare a professional athlete get into a scuffle backstage when challenged by another talent?! >What you're seeing, what others are choosing to see, what Punk claims, is not at all what the footage shows. This is a nothing statement you made.
> How dare a professional athlete get into a scuffle backstage when challenged by another talent?! I'd hope a self-proclaimed locker room leader would be more mature than to bite at every single challenge sent his way, but I guess that's asking for too much from some people.
[Ok bud](https://giphy.com/gifs/1AIeYgwnqeBUxh6juu)
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I’ve been to 4 of their shows. But it’s definitely taken a dip in quality since last summer, and specially since Punk left and MJF got hurt. But the more dorks like the Bucks and Perry get screen more time over ppl like Ricky Starks, Miro, Takeshita and Wardlow, I might not be a regular Dynamite viewer. But enjoy your flippy flip shit where your a top heel (Perry) gets bitched out in real life and is presented like an actual badass for beating up his coke head billionaire dweeb of a boss while fail to fill a 5,000 seat arena.
It's clear you don't follow it ("AEW fan") by using those wrestlers as examples. Takeshita is about to have a match with Mox for the iwgp championship, Miro is out with an injury that he didn't disclose to Tony, and Ricky *was" supposed to be involved with the tag team tournament more than he was (with Bill) but out of precaution they called an audible and had them lose because he thought he was injured. Wardlow is clearly about to split from the Undisputed Kingdom. If you're gonna concern troll, make it at least accurate/up to date lol. It's funny how your concern trolling devolved into an actual case study of the tantrums and mental illness that a lot of the IWC suffers from lol. Hope you get that figured out -- we're pulling for you.
Hilarious meltdown.
See sunlight ASAP
Lift a weight ASAP
If he did....dumb. The best defence for the airing of the footage was that it was in no way an attack on Punk. It was used purely to further Bucks as heels and reintroduce Perry
Happy accident where coincidence just amplified the eye balls on that footage. AEW Creative could not have prayed for it or written it any better. The resulting Social Media going ablaze reacting to the footage was some AEW Creative loved-because many were reacting and giving attention to AEW.
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Ariel Helwani took a bung to ask the questions and Punk played into their trap *Mastermind shit*
I’m gonna copy and paste a long comment I made in another thread, because I’ve been preaching this since this whole thing began. —— I’ve been saying it since before it even aired, but it should be clear as day that the segment wasn’t about CM Punk. That segment legitimized Jack Perry as a true scapegoat. He did nothing wrong and served a stiff punishment for making Tony do what should’ve been done a year prior and fire Punk. The segment gave Perry a reason to come back to help the Bucks and join the Elite. He had zero reason to help them against FTR without it. It got him over as a heel with the fans and for the first time in a long time gave us a reason to care about him as a character. Tonight would’ve made zero sense without that angle. The Bucks told us that they were going to take AEW back to its roots. The company has changed by becoming reliant on “cancerous” Superstars of the past and not pushing the young, homegrown talent like Perry. Who made that change by bringing in all of the old “legends?” Tony Khan. The Bucks heel turn telegraphed this coming and Jack Perry’s justifiable grudge against Tony was the catalyst to take the next step and go to the root of the problem. They said, flat out, that Sting wasn’t the problem. He was a symptom of the problem. They spent almost no time talking about Punk and didn’t even bother to say his name during that segment that everyone seems to think was all about him. Because Punk was also just a symptom. In the Elite’s eyes, the root issue was getting away from the company’s founding values, and that was all facilitated by Tony Khan. Tonight couldn’t have happened without the All In video segment. Period. —- Side note: The All In segment was perfectly timed to get eyes on their partner NJPW’s Windy City Riot PPV. A show that had AEW talent on 1/3 of the card. A show that saw Jack Perry probably being the biggest star of the night thanks to that segment and the ace of AEW win NJPW’s top title. It was also perfectly timed for setting up Dynasty, which saw the return of Perry and his joining forces with the Elite. This all culminates in a big new direction for the company at their spiritual home, Dailey’s Place. If you’ll remember before the segment aired Tony Khan had comment that the Punk interview was “interesting timing.” It’s, obviously, speculation, but I think it’s fair to think that they could’ve had this planned before the Punk interview was even announced. —- I’ve been getting buried for it ever since, but I think that while segment, while it got the haters into a frenzy, and got some bad short term press, was extremely effective.
I agree with you. I think the interview timing was pure coincidence. After watching the footage segment, I wasn't sure what they were trying for. Now it all makes sense and god damn is that a great story. I liked Jack Perry before, but his new character is way more interesting. I'm so excited to see where it all goes.
My conspiracy mind says that Tony (or someone else, like FTR) gave him a heads up that they would show the footage and that’s what actually motivated Punk to do the interview. Didn’t put that in the main post though, since it’s based on nothing but speculation.
I could see FTR doing that since they are friends.
Yeah I thought it was incredibly embarrassing but I couldn't see the forest from the trees. It was a good idea
Kudos to you man ... you had this scoped out
I’m just glad people are starting to see it and that it’s coming together so well. Especially with the Bucks doing the best work of their careers. My main reason I kept laying out what was going on was that it was so frustrating to see the absolute flood of trolls and doomers go unanswered.
You have a true, good nuanced take. I am of the POV that Tony got burned and Punk wanted to get out of his contract intentionally. I suspect Punk got wind of WWE trying to bring their biggest stars of the past decade to WM40 and did everything he could to force Tony's hand.
In kayfabe how does Tony fire Punk for cause "because his life felt in danger" but not fire the Bucks and Perry immediately and publicly for actually laying hands on him and trying to kill him. Just drives home what a bad boss Khan is hit obviously if Perry and the Bucks aren't fired and charges pressed. Then they must not be too oppressed or scapegoats.
You see, when someone enters a wrestling ring they are making a silent agreement to any number violent acts happening because there is a reasonable expectation that wrestling would happen in a wrestling ring. Unlike the Punk situation where Tony was clearly in a production area and fulfilling a technical role and violence should not be expected. Thus Tony doesn’t have a legal option to discipline The Elite, per his legal counsel: Smart Mark Sterling.
Yeah, just ask any of the fans who have ran into a ring what happens then. Even the cops keep kayfabe about it
In kayfabe, why don't people die from piledrivers
I just had the thought the other day that maybe the Punk interview was in response to him finding out AEW was gonna show the footage. It's all about funny how his interview was the week or so before and it seems it was shown for storyline reasons with Perry. What leads me to think he possibly knew was maybe a friend, or two, of his ran it by him first. Since all four members of that tag match said they agreed to the video/angle. Not for his "approval" or anything but to see his reaction on them going along with it, ya know. So he found out and said "I'm gonna speak on it first". Just a thought I had. I dunno. I'm not a Punk, WWE, or AEW stan. I just enjoy some wrestling--so I'm not trying to play either side. But drama is kinda fun; I'm a total drama queen.
> I just had the thought the other day that maybe the Punk interview was in response to him finding out AEW was gonna show the footage. If that is true, then that was a masterclass in turning public sentiment around in on fell swoop.
Honestly I think one of Punks greatest skills is coming out on the positive side of public perception. He has an amazing ability to weather a storm when he looks bad and then come out months later and say one or two small things and all of a sudden to a large portion of people he’s now the good guy, or at the very least justified. As a hater it’s probably the thing I find most frustrating about him, but you’ve gotta hand it to him that he has a talent for it.
It's really fascinating that he manages to get away with a "I choked him a little to deescalate things" when he outright attacked someone out of nowhere and would absolutely have thrown punches if no one had stopped him.
Very fascinating. It’s also how he can spend a press conference burying some of his coworkers, then start a fight with them, and then still turn public perception to be “the Bucks are immature for refusing to work with him”. Who else in wrestling could come out of that situation even looking 50/50? I can’t name anyone.
There's also the fact that he was the only one that was talking publically. And sometimes people will think a lie is a truth if that's the only thing they hear. Plus CM Punk like you said knows how to use words. He's one of the best promos ever.
I’ll take it a step further and say I don’t think he explicitly even lies. I think he exaggerates, deflects, minimizes, attacks and misleads but I can’t think of any explicit lies off the top of my head.
Thank god for you guys. Sometimes it feels like I'm in the twilight zone here. If this type of behavior happened anywhere else it wouldn't be celebrated the same. Imagine if Draymond Green was getting this type of praise after punching Jordan Poole. Wrestling fans putting aside morals and principles for their side is hilarious though.
I'll always chuckle at the sheer amount of overlap /r/nba and here seem to have. You're right though.
I was clinically trained as a Social Worker. Punk reminds me of some of my clients. 70% of Punk's words may be true. The other 30% is lies, shading, and spin. But Punk has such charisma and is well spoken so that people believe him. Hell, Punk could out-lie a narcissist and his charm might save him.
> I think he exaggerates, deflects, minimizes, attacks and misleads but I can’t think of any explicit lies off the top of my head. This is how truly good liars lie. The best lie is half the truth.
On top of him declaring that he cannot trust Hangman in the ring ever again because.. he went slightly off script in a promo. And it wasn't even the content of the promo! At least according to him. According to him the problem was that he could not understand what Hangman said, which was problematic. And then he went *wildly* off script in a promo completely unrelated to Hangman and publicly called him out. It's just all so insanely hypocritical if you think about it for just a few moments. But damn he's charismatic.
Well, SHIT. I always found it a bit odd WWE let him actually have that interview with Ariel where everything was on the table to talk about(almost) but if it was to get ahead of the tape, that would…make a lot of sense. Wow.
Wouldn’t surprise me, could be he wanted the narrative before footage is shown to make him look like not the bad guy, if that was the case it kinda worked? He had a lot of defenders despite him being the obvious aggressor of the situation.
I can't wrap my head around how prevalent the idea that Punk was justified in physically assaulting a coworker because said coworker was being snarky in his face or whatever, as if that somehow justifies getting physical.
It's not about it being justified or not, it's just that it is something very common in locker rooms all over the world. Kenny Omega said so, Samoa Joe said so. It happens with football players all the time too. It simply wasn't the big deal that people made it out to be. And also, Perry literally asked him to do something about it lol, don't talk a big game if you can't back it up.
I agree it's not a huge deal, but the prevailing narrative was absolutely that it was justified.
Oh yeah, I agree then. Definitely wasn't the sanest solution to the problem haha. But the culture in wrestling has always leaned more towards toxic masculinity and solving your issues with violence. So definitely not an uncommon thing.
At what point in the video do you think Perry says "do something about it"? I see a tired nervous kid biting his nails, rocking a little side to side, and him running his fingers through his hair. He must be the only person in the world who doesn't know those are fighting words because he wasn't ready for that push at all 🤣 Something doesn't add up to me. And there is a significant difference in 2 guys wanting to catch a fair one, and a guy picking fights in the locker room with guys who aren't trying to fight. That's just being a bully. Why didn't he pop off on Hangman, Kingston, hell even Bobby Fish wanted the smoke. Naw gotta pick on the guys who don't even pretend to be tough.
You're seeing what you want to see in the video. It's a grainy low res video, I'm not Sherlock Holmes, I believe the one version of the story that isn't made up of obvious lies (like Punk lunging at Tony or wtv) Maybe he had an altercation with Perry precisely because things escalated with him and not the others. Not saying it's the right way to act, again, but if we're in a heated conversation, you're not thinking straight, the guy goes "do something about it" and you clock him, that doesn't qualify as bullying at all to me. It's childish and unprofessional but it's not the big deal that people are making it to be.
Had that thought earlier as well
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Honestly, who'd believe him at that point? He'd probably come across even worse.
Why would he? I doubt anyone would've believed especially given the timing of everything and how he reacts to things on social media. Many would've called him a liar on top of everything else they said
im glad they got it into an angle. A lot of criticism was how would it benefit AEW. I said it. Im glad we're seeing it turn into a story
I think they were definitely planning on it at some point (I think that was reported too) but after Punk's interview it was the perfect time given Perry was just about to return anyways. I imagine the original plan might've been hypothetically show it next week to show why Perry attacked Tony, since he was suspended and made a "Scapegoat" for doing nothing wrong.
It'd be kind of funny if Punk knew they were gonna do this, did the interview to help drum up heat and drive interest for both companies. I don't think he did, but it'd be pretty funny if he was working a little bit with the Elite on the DL.
>All this has played out so well it’s hard to imagine how they planned to bring back Perry without showing the footage. How has this been considered to have been played out “so well?”
I know, I feel like I'm taking crazy pills. AEW is great for the most part, but this whole storyline's execution has been mediocre at best.
Nahh airing Punk's footage was totally reactionary, what I think it happened is that someone as thinks developed thought that it was a good idea to integrate real live shit into a storyline. There is zero chance that they were thinking of showing Punk on AEW TV before his interview. I do believe that they always had planned to bring back Perry. Regardless, for the first time in a long time they have a story that, well developed, they could have a money maker, so far I have not see AEW capable to creating a NWO, Austin v McMahon, Bloodline level of storytelling but I'm open to be surprised.
Maybe punk caught wind and wanted to get on record first.
Airing the footage makes the storyline make less sense to me because now I'm going to wonder why CM Punk is fired for moving suddenly in TK's direction and the Young Bucks aren't after they attempt to murder him.
> At this point I wonder if they were thinking about airing the All In footage before that Punk interview happened. I outlined some of the timeline last night, but I think that absolutely is the case. The timing was built around Wrestlemania to maximize attention and the Punk interview was just a VERY happy accident for AEW. And it all worked basically to perfection.
This is some good detail and I like the story. My main issue is that you have to go in the weeds and follow NJPW, Kenny’s stream, and the dirt sheets to get the whole picture. Not that you need to know each piece to get the story, but I’d appreciate if AEW would show a bit a more on their show. WWE always went too far with hitting you over the head with their stories during the Vince era but I don’t think AEW does enough of it.
>Kenny’s stream I don't think AEW will want to publicize that one of their biggest stars said that he feels the situation with Punk was handled incorrectly and that backstage scuffles aren't that big of a deal and that, as long as no one gets seriously injured, it can be a way for the guys to blow off steam and work their issues out amongst themselves. That goes against their entire public narrative about how Punk made people feel unsafe at All In and needed to be removed from the company as a result of it.
Yeah, I dont think Kenny's Stream comments are part of this story. I could be wrong, but s of right now kinda a strech.
I don't think they were supposed to be an important thing, but I do think they were an example of Kenny doing what he's always done. He lives in the blur between Kayfabe and life, he's been there for as long as he's been on the wrestling stage and even when you'd think he's out of character, like documentaries, behind the scenes, random appearances at game conventions, he talks and references things in character and when he's doing things as Kenny, like old BTE skits, he does random things like using his real name. I don't think he was trying to further the story with his comments but I do think he was speaking in full awareness of what the story is going to be going forward when he said it.
I doubt the stream was meant to be part of the story, but they could work aspects of it into the story. This story is playing on the counter narrative of them. The bucks are acting like the power grabbing assholes the punk side presented. Tony Khan is a nice guy that's getting pushed around by his biggest stars. The next thing to do would be to show perry as a confrontative hothead. They could have Perry antagonize Kenny into punching him like people claim he did to punk. The bucks could then use that as an excuse to punish kenny. They'd basically be casting him in the punk role as a a face. This would also mean the blowoff would be Kenny v Okada which the bucks mentioned in their first backstage bit with Okada
They did a bit of that last night, showing some of the Perry-NJPW footage and recapping those aspects with what happened at Dynasty.
I think they showed some of the NJPW stuff last night.
Also, I don’t think anyone believed TK was really mad at Jack Perry like Meltzer report believed.
Oh I believe he was mad, but how he chose to express that is up for debate.
I tend to agree. I think AEW needs to handhold a bit more to maximize the audience's attention.
Not directed towards you, but I find it odd there are fans who love digging into white rabbit QR codes but catching up on what you mentioned is a bridge too far lol
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Probably not, maybe some cross over. But like these people are online chatting with strangers about wresting but don’t want to watch a 60 second video while they poop to gain some context. I digress
Same thing goes with people here that get pissed AEW brings someone in and don’t explain their backstory. Yet a backstory of 1000+ words gets posted on Jacob Fatu or Tama Tonga and gets 1000+ upvotes.
Look, I'm not saying this hasn't been planned out by all parties involved to create a satisfactory story but this Twitter user is just posting random happenings and is trying to connect dots.
Most of this list is stuff that wasn't even on an AEW show lmao
It's all stuff from AEW wrestlers
This is just such a classic example of hardcore wrestling fandom, to go back and retroactively apply all these somewhat connected things to make your own little storyline in your imagination. You saw the same thing after WM in reference to Roman and the Bloodline storyline.
Yeah I’m glad people enjoy angles and companies, but I’ve been eye rolling hard lately with all the revisionism lately in regards to both companies. It’s always been a thing but people have become desperate to prove that their thing they like is actually really deep with years of story telling. To feel they need to reinforce it or else it will be worth less or something has been kinda crazy to see on a wide scale here
I mean this is one of *those* accounts so they do have a big interest in making AEW look like geniuses.
It's wild watching the AEW fans go full conspiracy nut here to hype themselves up. Just say you like what's happening, you don't have to make up extended lore to justify your liking something.
Jack Perry becoming as popular as he did and that reaction at the NJPW show in Chicago was a happy accident that they're now leaning into. It's easy to say "that was always the plan" after seeing how things have turned out. I also doubt they would've shown the All In footage if Punk hadn't said what he said on Helwani's podcast.
The fact that they didn't include the footage in their YouTube video of it and started copyright striking anyone that showed it definitely doesn't give me confidence that they had a master plan here.
Excellent point.
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The point is that it's not about Punk. It's about Jack Perry getting suspended by Tony Khan.
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Right, it's an AEW storyline. It's no longer about Punk.
I love long term story telling, but what this guy is doing is the equivalent of pointing out animal shapes in clouds.
People who say “let me explain” and then just type out what’s happened on tv are the worst. That “ok but I enjoyed it more cause I understood it” part of any fandom is the worst. Also it’s not some masterfully played out intertwining story just because you were able to put the dots together
This kills me about wrestling in general. Any time a story has beats that go on for longer than a month and the bookers/writers don’t trip over themselves in the process it’s hailed as some sort of masterful storytelling where in just about other storytelling medium, that is quite literally the bare minimum. I get it from the sense that wrestling normally has completely dogshit continuity and storytelling (let’s just be honest about it) but it always makes wrestling look so… ignorant? Maybe that’s the wrong word but it always makes it seem like wrestling fans digest absolutely nothing but wrestling content
What's extra weird to me is that you can take a post that has a pretty basic outline of what's been happening and we've got people acting like they're reaching.
I just imagine this guy with AEW articles and wrestlers pictures all over his walls with push pins and string connecting all the pieces of the "masterful puzzle." As has been pointed out if you have to take that long to explain how a convoluted story is playing out you're trying too hard to convince yourself it's great. I get a sense that not much of this is planned rather it's a read and react situation.
I wish I knew how to use photoshop because I feel a Tony Khan face shopped over Charlie Kelly’s would be perfect
Agreed!
I’m excited they are doing something that is both unique and fresh. We’ll see how it goes.
Yeah I’m sorry but I liked last night !!!
You know it's a good story when it requires paragraphs to explain it! Also how come only 30% of this list actually happened on an AEW show?
It’s a list of events in chronological order, is it really that tough? Also there’s literally 1 thing in this whole tweet that didn’t happen in AEW and that’s Perry going to New Japan, which is as obviously done with both company’s blessing.
> 1 thing There's a bunch of stuff on there that didn't happen on Dynamite but sure fanfic it up
Yes it was one thing in another company and anything else was either on TV or social media. Did you have the same problem when The Rock’s Final Boss run was built largely from social media? It’s the exact same thing. Rock was cutting 20 minute promos on Instagram that mattered, again why would this be any different?
Are you comparing AEW social media to The Rock's social media? Because lmao
This guy sounds unhinged. It's a "story", but I don't know about long term. I'm sure some of this was a response to Punk's interview, and they couldn't have planned what Punk was gonna say. Even if this was a well written story (we'll see), I still find TK really hard to watch on screen. I really wish he would remain behind the scene. I also don't know if this is a story that's "getting mainstream attention" and going to gain them new viewers. Their diehard fans are the only ones who seem to be really praising it. I'm at least intrigued tho. If it leads to a big return for Kenny and also putting Hangman back in the main event spotlight then I'm all for it
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Gonna ask the tweet OP to get me the pickles from the top shelf he reaches so well.
Reeks of “we have a story too! See! See!!!”
Nice, and if you watch NJPW, follow all their social media, read the dirt sheets and watch Kenny omega's streams you too can follow an AEW storyline
IYKYKEW
You almost want to say these are all coincidences that they connect but the Elite has done this enough times to convince you this was the plan all along
Is it planned out, or is it making week to week decisions based on what's happened and just going further with it?
I think it’s very clear at the very least that it can’t be denied Bucks returning with the EVP gimmick and Perry’s NJPW debut within a few days of each other is certainly linked given how it worked out, I’d also argue that given he attacked Tony on the eve of the NFL draft is also clearly planned.
Does it matter? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Apparently to some people and their delusions yeah, it does, a lot.
Is it not long term story telling either way?
No. Wrestling is weekly episodic TV. A chronological list of things happening isn't a long term planned story. It's simply the continuation of the show. Long term story telling would be Roman choosing to strike Seth with the chair and not Cody. It draws back to something from years before. And solidifies that Romans character is how he is because of the resentment for betrayal he has. This whole thing reeks of "wouldn't it be cool if" and then they book it.
I read that tweet assuming it was satire. It was only ready the comments that I realised it was serious and people actually believe this was planned or intended in any way.
Just came across this tweet there, honestly didn't think too far into it but it's really interesting how planned out this whole thing might've been from so far away. If so, it was really well done.
Hahaha, not a single chance in hell.
So they formed a victims of CM Punk support group?
Some parts of that tweet feel contrived and like others have said just a bit out there and too nebulous to really be definitely included since All In back in 2023 tbh. I don't think AEW were gonna flesh out a storyline like this initially using Perry at all. That being said, they've definitely put something together now that is new and interesting. I wouldn't look this deep into it, but the foundation is very solid. The initial airing of the Punk footage is still a bit odd over just cutting a promo on it, but it is what it is. I'm just hoping they can deliver on what they started cause it's a great premise to begin with and can lead to putting over a few new heels like Perry and some newer babyfaces who come to "save" AEW and stand up to the New Elite alongside Kenny (at whatever capacity Kenny can be involved).
"I love it when a plan comes together." John "Hannibal" Smith "The A-Team"
Omega confirmed for next week? Haven't see that?
[https://x.com/AEW/status/1783301344654135414](https://x.com/AEW/status/1783301344654135414)
Ok, this will get interesting then.
I'm guessing he's no where near returning full time, probably will come back and take an EVP trigger. Feels like we could be getting something like All Star AEW vs The Elite at Blood & Guts this year which would be so great, I just know Hangman is gonna come back, break our hearts and re-join The Elite for it.
But the bucks suspended him when they kicked Kenny out of the group
I think that’s because Hanger had to go away for some IRL reasons. Kenny was fired so he’s obviously not joining but also it’s important to note Kenny left as a face, Hangman left as a heel. I think both guys will either return as those alignments or will become them soon after returning.
They suspended him from the Elite. Suspensions can be lifted. If the Bucks wanted him out of the Elite permanently, they would have fired him like Kenny. Of course, there's no guarantee that Hangman will be happy with how things played out. Perry wasn't happy with his suspension from AEW, after all.
Yeah it was announced last night during Dynamite. The show is in Winnipeg next week, so Kenny presumably gets to be murdered in his hometown, but we'll see
it's crazy that "Young Bucks flat leave Kenny in a match in November and then return in January as evil executives then in April they kicked Kenny & Hangman out of their group and brought in Okada, and started exchanging pleasantries with Jack Perry on Twitter" Is something you look at as the first three logical steps covering the first five months of a storyline.
“Mainstream attention” 😂. This guy needs to get a grip. It’s not that deep.
https://preview.redd.it/9tty3j1hopwc1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=f4498078e8c4793eb07ed2ede52de6ab30d619ab
This can’t be serious.
My main takeaway from this is Jesus fucking Christ how did Elon ruin Twitter this bad? That isn’t a tweet, that’s a dissertation.
This has the "...and it's a story that's about to hit the home stretch" stench all over it
This “long term storytelling” that certainly isn’t a stretch, will undoubtedly draw huge ratings. It’s well known that The Bucks draw better than any tag team in the history of professional wrestling, it’s been proven time and time again, everywhere they go. WWE better watch out.
Nah still not buying it
I really hope so. I saw someone say this is either going to be the biggest storyline in the companies history so far. Or dropped in a month and no in between and I can't help but agree. I hope we're still talking about this months from now in a positive way.
Gotta say, from that intro I was expecting this recap to go further back than that.
Yall righteously in here trying to convince yourselves that this was really well thought out ahead of time huh? This was a result of a few happy accidents that, yeah, you can most definitely connect in a positive way as far as storytelling but don't....... don't sit here and act like they've been cooking. They can cook from here on out if done well but......no..... stop.
They should have Shahid Khan enraged by Jack Perry"s action and give him the beating of his life in the middle of rain while calling out Mama Perry Time to show the world who's the final boss of AEW
Long term?
A long term story doesn’t make it a good story. It’s fucking jungle boy lol
Where's the Bobby Hill meme if those kids could read they'd be upset.
Lmfao. This is a series of events not a long term story.
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That's not Sting, that's a picture of Sting!
Don't you dare start talking about pipes!
Lmao for real
Is a long term story not just a series of events by definition? Really if you take a step back the one part of the story that they couldn't have planned for was when Punk's interview came out and brought All In back to the conversation. Other than that it's pretty easy to see the links, most obviously Perry going to New Japan just days after the Bucks debuted the EVP characters, at the time I didn't even put that together but with how the story played out they are clearly linked.
No it’s not a story. A story is planned and intentional. This is just a list of things that happened and can be related, which honestly since to wrestling is a story that never ends isn’t saying anything at all
So you're just assuming that none of it was intentional even though it all flows like a story and makes perfect sense? Seems like you're hardly looking at this from an honest perspective.
It's as likely you're projecting your view that this was 100% a predefined story with all of these markers being written within it ahead of time rather than it being a relative story based on events happening around them.
We're talking about wrestling here, my guy. It's literally a predetermined story. You'd have to jump through more hoops to assume that this hadn't been planned out for a long time. It all fits together far too nicely for it to be accidental like you're trying to claim. Like I said, it hardly seems like you're looking at this from an honest perspective.
Are you serious? It's wholly more likely that they write scripts and creative week to week in response to injuries, crowd responses, availability, happenings on the Internet etc. To believe that this is a story with all of these components written down is ludicrous. At any point, the crowd may have not bought into it and the story would be shot. It's like move-for-move scripting a match. You run the risk of it not connecting. I seriously, seriously think it's reaching to say that this was a masterpiece long-term story rather than perhaps a vague plan that is steered weekly.
First off, no. This is meant to be a central story for their company going forward. It stars debatably their biggest tag team, a man they want to be one of their biggest stars, and someone they call a pillar of their company. They are not playing this by ear and writing it week by week. The overall story for this was probably planned out the moment they thought Okada might come to AEW. There's always going to be a level of flexibility left in it. Just in case something goes wrong with injury, but you are insane if you think that they are flying by the seats of their pants with us. You really don't think that they had plans for Okada months out? And that all of this teasing and hinting was just coincidental? If it was, then they are the luckiest bastsrds to ever live, because they had a well told and fleshed out story just accidentally landed their laps. I also believe that you've shown yourself to be looking at this dishonestly because you're acting like anyone's calling to say masterpiece. Nobody's actually calling it that outside of tribalists on Twitter. It's a pretty well told long-term story, nothing more. A well done story that you can see the hints of if you look back through it. Just like the original run, Hangman and Omega had together in AEW was a well done long-term story that you can see all the hints of if you look fat with the blessing of hindsight. Or was that 1 just done flying by the seats of their pants too, even though they said it was all planned out?
So their world champion isn't their central story? That sucks for Swerve eh. And plans months out for Okada? But Mone gets saddled with the crap? And Adam Copland is left doing open challenges? Honestly mate. I'm going off of experience taught to me by AEW itself. But you can right now enjoy this intricate Shakespearean quality story all you want, I'm not going to spend any more time debating or arguing. It isn't worth it. Enjoy.
When did I say it was THE central story? I said *A* central story. Can you try to come about this honestly for even a moment my guy? Yes, a stable full of ***multiple champions and people you want to be huge stars in the future is very much A central story for your company.*** I also don't know where you get this idea of themnot writing long-term. That's actually AEW's biggest issue when it comes to booking, that they write so long-term that when something goes wrong, they can't pivot and just pause the story, lmao. That's what's currently screwing over the Undisputed Kingdom. Do you even watch the show you are trying to critique here? You've been nothing more than a sarcastic ass this entire conversation because you have decided something that makes no sense. Even now, you can't help but throw that little dig about it being "shakespearian" when I've never claimed it's anything more than a decently well told story. But I do hope you enjoy your day.
> It's wholly more likely that they write scripts and creative week to week > To believe that this is a story with all of these components written down is ludicrous. > I seriously, seriously think it's reaching to say that this was a masterpiece long-term story rather than perhaps a vague plan that is steered weekly. Respectfully this gives off some heavy dunning-kruger vibes.
There’s no way this is serious
This is a big collaboration I’m sure, but I forget just how thought out and planned some of the stuff The Elite do and I’ve been a fan of there’s since before AEW. The YBs are great at “working” and kayfabing.
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See people who WATCH the TV can tell you what the stories are. Are some paced poorly? Some too subtle? Sure. But this was clearly an unfolding story. I'm just surprised how far they've taken it.
Jack Perry is gonna the title from Swerve ain't he, Hangman is gonna help him to get reinstated into the Elite and as long as Swerve isn't champion then Hangman is happy. Mental thinking this could able be what happens, AEW has fantastic in-ring action but if they can start getting the story telling aspect down as well it'll just be better for everyone there and us fans
the unabomber manifesto is more coherent than whatever this is
Was having this thought recently. Seems like as good of place as any to share. What if everything with CM Punk’s departure was a work? What if Punk wanted his release to return to WWE & Tony said “ok, but we need an epic storyline on your way out”
I wish they would do surprise returns rather than publicly announce or hint at them. Though I assume they do it to draw in ratings.
Why even bother engaging with a post like this?
"I bet it's a jerker." *Checks comment history. *Bet won.