Tony Khan and the Young Bucks are promising to show footage from backstage at Wembley stadium. They haven't specifically said that it is going to be of the CM Punk Jack Perry confrontation, but also denied it being a bait and switch.
So, are they actually going to show it? If so, who does it help or hurt? Will you watch it?
Personally, I think it's a bait and switch. They say it's not, but they also didn't say specifically what it is footage of, so they could say afterwards "oh well we delivered exactly what we promised, backstage footage from All In at Wembley." If they show it, then I guess it will be interesting to watch, but I don't see who it benefits. It's not like we're going to see a match between Jungle Boy and Punk, or the Young Bucks and Punk. The time where this footage will draw money is long past. Maybe they just want to prove Punk wrong, and if the footage does that, then good for them I guess, but it doesn't seem like now is the best time to put the focus on a guy who is no longer there. Maybe they just want to show that Punk can't really fight, but a) we already know that because his UFC matches are public and b) that would make us question the narrative that Khan feared for his life at All In.
Personally, don't feel like it's a good idea, but my voyeuristic side will enjoy it if that's what is shown. Still thinking it will be a bait and switch and will be something totally unrelated to Punk.
Edit: Welp, not a bait and switch. They actually did show the footage of the backstage scuffle at all in. And it... went down exactly like Punk said?
Punk confronted Jungle Boy backstage and they talk for... a while. A good 30 seconds maybe? Long enough to make one wonder why exactly nobody stepped in to defuse the situation. Seems that CM Punk turned directly to Tony at one point before the fight. There is no audio so we don't know what was said. After a bit, Punk shoves Perry a couple of times, then Punk gets him in a front face lock, and then Samoa Joe breaks it up within a few seconds. This is pretty much in line with what Punk said in his interview.
Whatever you thought before about Punk, you probably still think the same. It was probably milder than what you may have imagined. Did he need to be fired? I dunno. It's weird because wrestling is a gray area. If this happened in an office job, the person would be fired 100%. If it happened between players on a football team during practice, it would probably blow over within a couple of hours. What is clear is... that Tony Khan has lived a very sheltered life or is a liar. Nobody in that situation should have been afraid for their life. This was a schoolyard scuffle at worst. There have certainly been other fights backstage in wrestling where the participants were not fired.
The bizarre thing is that after this, FTR came out to question what showing the footage accomplished. He talked about how people needed to move on and focus on the good stuff AEW is doing. I think last week Copeland came out to do a "love all wrestling don't be a tribal asshole" speech. So, Tony is booking all of the faces to point out how stupid and detrimental this is... yet he's still doing it. The Bucks are supposed to be heels for doing this, but the one actually doing it is Tony... so he's a heel I guess?
IMO just a strange strange choice overall. It seems Tony Khan is somehow trying to win the online narrative and vindicate himself. But, even if that was a good use of TV time, that didn't accomplish that goal anyway. Later on in the show when the Bucks were doing an angle with Okada, a new big free agent signing trying to get over, people were chanting for CM Punk. CM Punk was the #1 trend on twitter, and most of the chatter was in favor of Punk. Forbes listed in their results for Dynamite...
AEW is now trying to issue DMCA takedowns of the footage that they themselves aired... meaning they either don't think people seeing it is good for their brand or they fucked up by showing it, which could be a violation of privacy law. And if they're planning on bringing back Jungle Boy, how does showing him getting his ass kicked help? Why would any wrestling promoter ever want to show footage of one of their wrestlers getting beat by another promotion's star? Who do I want to see more of after this? The guy who's on the other show.
Hard to see anything good coming from this for AEW. Just need to move on.
Last edited by JWeinCom - on 10 April 2024
