Then, however, Tony Khan TERMINATED CM Punk following the events of All In 2023 at Wembley Stadium just weeks after AEW Collision began. This, on top of constantly pushing curse words unexpected on shows and pushing the violence tempo a bit too much. Worse yet, AEW Dynamite is struggling to get near or remain above 900,000 viewers, while Rampage and Collision are performing very poorly. With a lower viewed show that has language/violence issues, it’s likely that the show has low ad rates despite its almighty performance in that previous 18-49 demographic.

CM Punk is now with the WWE and viewership numbers have popped with him on their shows. Meanwhile, he’s behaving… No confrontations with trolling talents, thus far, and that’s amazing considering the legitimate heat between Triple H and CM Punk during the past. In case you missed it, Kevin Nash actually admitted that Triple H wanted to bury CM Punk at WWE Night of Champions 2011 on Nash’s recent Kliq This podcast. But now, Triple H and Punk are getting along and are ready to do tremendous business moving forward.

If you look at the 2024 business plans of the WWE or AEW, which would you desire as a television business partner? Right now, it’s WWE… AEW has not been doing well since the Wembley show, while WWE has had a rebirth since the Fall of 2020 with viewership, attendance, and merchandise.

So yeah, the odds of Warner Bros. Discovery jumping ship to the more highly viewed WWE have increased. Wouldn’t be the first time, as Viacom ditched ECW for WWE RAW during the year 2000.

HOWEVER – For anyone even reporting this news or even discussing it, we’re hearing feedback from the diehard AEW fans that “everyone wants AEW to FAIL”? Say what?

Who is saying that they want AEW to fail? Not me, not NoDQ as a whole, and not most wrestling fans I know.

You don’t find me EVER saying that. In fact, if you read my September 18th column entitled “The Most Positive Wrestling Column You’ll Read About AEW and Tony Khan”, you’ll see me praising the AEW promotion for creating a sense of competition, boosting wrestler salaries, and for accomplishing significant events as a new wrestling promotion in under 5 years. Then, a month later for October 19th – I wrote “My Advice for Tony Khan to Help Him Salvage AEW” in which I tried to help Tony, as he was clearly melting down on Twitter while everyone was still piling on him for the CM Punk exit. And if you read my columns of the past, you’ll see that I heavily suggested WWE needed a valid competitor during the 2010s because WWE became complacent and lazy on their booking.

So yeah, I’ve never EVER said that I want AEW to fail…

But, I’ll say this… If you consistently present a poorly created and presented product, I don’t have to watch. I’m not wanting you to fail, but I 100% have the choice to not watch your terrible shows.

During the 2000s and 2010s, everyone kept asking me why I didn’t cover TNA or Ring of Honor. Well, I didn’t enjoy their shows and believe me, I tried repeatedly to tune in. They did nothing for me… I watched several of Billy’s NWA shows and got bored quickly, so I stopped watching. Now, do I write columns to publicly tell everyone to STOP watching their shows or wishing them to fail? No, I just don’t want them and I don’t have to watch them either.

One of the main reasons why I cut cable during 2015 was because I could not endure watching 3 hours of RAW on Monday Night. It was torture to me. I much rather prefer the condensed 1.5 hour Hulu RAW or just catch clips on YouTube of the show. If those annoy me, I’ll watch less of them and just focus on the Paid Live Events (PLE). And if those annoy me and take up too much time, I’ll just watch the larger PLE events like Rumble, Wrestlemania, or SummerSlam. For the past year, WWE Smackdown has been awesome and I’ve been consistently tuning into that show.

See how that works? If your creative is good on your show, people will watch… If your creative is BAD, you’ll see less viewership.

The quantity of hours logged watching wrestling doesn’t not determine how “big” of a wrestling fan that you are. In my opinion, anyone who has the ability to waste their own time to withstand crap may have issues…

Right now, diehard AEW fans or “marks” are oddly desiring the enjoy the taste of crap sandwiches served to them by Tony Khan and the Elite fools supporting him. Numbers show that… Recent shows are struggling to even reach 850,000 while arena attendance has been very poor, even with “Buy 1, Get 1 Free” sales gimmicks.

And yet, anytime a longtime wrestling fan with an opinion displays theirs about AEW, they get nothing but attacks by the AEW mafia. Hell, anytime I write a column about WWE, I get attacked if I’m too positive towards WWE, not negative enough about WWE, or that I’m not covering AEW. Yet, when I cover AEW, you attack me…

And the usual doofus will keep writing response columns about each and every column that I write, whether it’s about WWE or AEW. For one, this AEW mark openly boasts that he does NOT watch WWE programming, whatsoever, and yet has the nerve to be a know-it-all about WWE. Then, when he speaks about AEW, it’s pure ignorance. Nevermind the declining numbers on TV, poor attendance in the arenas, or merchandise sales drop without Punk there… You know, FACTS… But just being in complete denial of AEW’s problems and immaturity.

AEW “fans” need to validate the following things for me:

(1) Has Tony Khan made any mistakes?

(2) What redeeming values do the Young Bucks bring to AEW, both as wrestlers and as executives?

(3) How did Kenny Omega win so many “Match of the Year” awards in New Japan, but can’t quite get near those honors now?

(4) Why is AEW signing so many WWE wrestlers well over the age of 45?

(5) Why haven’t any of the 2020-2022 WWE releases made it in AEW?

(6) Why is there such a large snitch culture backstage and feeding lines to Dave’s newsletter?

(7) What will impressing 1 newsletter writer do for your careers?

But you won’t answer those questions, or at least with any logic. No, you’ll attack me for even bringing up valid questions about why AEW is struggling right now.

AEW fans are like a cult… They are anti-WWE, they are in total denial of AEW’s 2022-2023 problems (losing Cody, Punk, and Jade), and they cannot comprehend facts even when it smacks them in the face. It’s like following a politician who purposely caters to a particular income segment, has increased federal debt, openly favors and dislikes particular demographics, and yet specific social issue stances are the hook to get you to ignore the previous items mentioned. Yeah, it’s a cult… You dislike the WWE machine so much that you’re clinging onto its antithesis even if AEW does not serve you well.

Trust me, AEW fans are miserable right now… They lost Cody, lost Jade, and CM Punk is making them look incredibly bad right now. Arenas are looking 1/4 full and now, the threat of not being on a major Cable/Satellite channel is real. Oh, and the AEW Fight Forever game wasn’t that good… You can keep playing it all you want, but the game drops frames, it glitches, and the controls aren’t as responsive as they could be. Keep telling yourself that “it’s like No Mercy”, but you’re fooling yourself.

AEW is having a really bad second half of the year and that’s because of the mismanagement of Tony Khan and his reliance on the support of his EVP “Player Coaches” (© Jeff Meacham). Tony is in over his head, while Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks are too divided on being active wrestlers and trying to help others.

Their mishandling of CM Punk was embarrassing… How are grown adults spreading gossip backstage at their workplace and leaking stuff to dirtsheets? Now, CM Punk was in the wrong because he took the troll-bait and threw nuclear bombs on them as a response. Trust me, as speaking from experience, if you take the bait and respond harshly in return, they’ll punish the responder rather than the instigator. Had Punk just let the Bucks and their Elite trolls be idiots, he could have documented it and presented everything to Tony or legal. Instead, Punk took matters into his own hands and shifted the punishment focus to himself. When Jack Perry got aggressive with him backstage, rather than getting physical with him in return, Punk should have immediately alerted all of the backstage agents and even Tony who were witnessing it. Instead, they saw Punk front face-locking Perry and then cursing out everyone afterward. They saw Punk’s response as a later even than Perry’s instigation.

BUT, the fact is that the culture that enabled Adam Page and Jack Perry, who are Young Buck flunkies, to mouth off to a million dollar superstar remains. And no cleaning house efforts have ever happened since, aside from firing CM Punk. No, in fact, the Elite have signed new multi-year contracts to start 2023 as a reward instead. AEW is SCREWED because of rewarding those bad actors, but once again, AEW fans adore those guys.

Keep ignoring AEW’s issues and you’ll remain miserable an an AEW fan. You’ll keep attacking my columns because you REFUSE to look in the mirror as a wrestling fan.

So no, I don’t want AEW to fail… Go read my previous columns trying to help them. But in their current state, I’ll be watching LESS AEW and writing LESS columns about AEW other than covering current events.

I want AEW to improve, but they, themselves, don’t want their own promotion to improve. What Tony and the EVPs are doing right now is embarrassing and Tony’s dad needs to step in and clean house of its management group.

Nobody BUT Tony and his EVPs want AEW to fail. That’s a fact, or at least it seems that way with declining business right now of scaring viewers, attendees of events, and merchandise buyers away. What a joke.

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While past history does show some favoring of being aggressive towards your competitor, it can also blow up in your face. For example, Eric Bischoff revealing WWE taped spoilers during 1995-1996 was “cool and edgy” while revealing Mick Foley was winning the WWE Title during early 1999 was a mistake. Everything has a time and place… Tony Khan is still in the primitive years of being a wrestling promoter and AEW is almost 5 years old. His company is still young and Tony, himself, is still highly inexperienced.

Remember, Vince McMahon was cutting his teeth in the wrestling business for over 10 years before he could fully take over the WWF from his Dad. Eric Bischoff worked for years in the wrestling business before he became Executive Producer in 1993 and it took him 2 years to straighten WCW up as a company and took an additional year to get the roster and creative right. Many wrestlers turned promoters worked decades as worker and then another 5-10 years as an apprentice. Look at Triple H… It’s finally clicking after 3 decades of wrestling and over 10 years as a WWE excecutive backstage. WWE is on fire right now!

BUT, Tony Khan doesn’t have a good support system… Kenny Omega & the Young Bucks are his direct reporting Executive Vice Presidents and those guys are whom he is advising… Supposedly, the EVPs are to take advice from any of the wrestling veterans backstage, but they clearly don’t and have admitted as such in interviews. Bucks and Omega are active wrestlers themselves, and thus have their attention divided between how to get themselves over or getting other wrestlers over. Wrestlers have egos, so therefore, they’re getting themselves over. It seems like Papa Khan is OK with Tony’s AEW operation and is giving him freedom, as long as it makes a profit. Aside from the failing video game, which was expensive to make and has sold poorly, the company has mostly made money.

The real issue is protecting Tony from himself… To me, those tweets are “cries for help”. He’s losing it, mentally, as I believe he fully expected the AEW All In from Wembley to catapult him as the greatest promoter ever and to carry momentum for AEW for the rest of 2023 and into 2024. Instead, that may be the PEAK of AEW… Instead of hearing praises about AEW All In, we heard nothing but drama surrounding CM Punk. Then, Tony publicly fired Punk. Following this, attendance here in the United States has been poor lately with weaker attendance now showing up on the camera angles of AEW shows. Then, he just lost homegrown talent Jade Cargill to the WWE and she’s making an instant impact.

I believe Tony is losing it… He’s showing signs, to me, that he’s not sleeping well and is highly caffeinated to prop himself up… Or whatever he’s taking. Look, I’m not going to judge what anyone takes recreationally, but there are stories with him regularly partying with the boys. To me, Tony has become hyper aggressive during interviews and his tweets, while looking a big agitated during his personal appearances.

Furthermore, he’s trying to do too much and has over-exposed himself as the promoter. We should barely see him as AEW’s owner, but instead, we see too much of him. Instead of letting his wrestlers do the talking, he’s getting involved. Then, his social media posts are highly disturbing and presents a highly confusing picture of himself and AEW.

Put down the damn phone, Tony… Take a vacation…

Within the last 5 years, AEW probably grew too fast and created high expectations both of wrestling fans and AEW employees themselves. Creating a wrestling promotion is HARD to do from scratch and takes YEARS to build a roster full of wrestlers that a Cable/Satellite channel would want to feature. AEW did that in 6 months and started television in 9 months. Holy cow… But the passage of time hasn’t been kind to AEW and Tony and instead of learning from past mistakes of other promoters, he’s repeating them… Particularly mistakes of the past.

In short, here are the mistakes of Tony Khan since 2019:

(1) Unable to manage people, let’s heated situations fester until they blow up.

(2) Taking too much Creative responsibility onto his shoulders.

(3) Putting himself front and center, taking attention away from the talent.

(4) Hiring ex-WWE veterans and assuming they’ll draw (besides Jericho, Moxley, & Punk)

(5) Weak support system in place.

(6) Lack of prior experience in the wrestling business, leading to a weakness in problem solving or knowledge of the business.

Folks, there is a REASON why Cody Rhodes abruptly left during early 2022 to return as a wrestler away from being in an EVP for AEW. There is a reason why CM Punk couldn’t work out, even though signs during 2021 were that he was a great acquisition (then blew up during 2022 and 2023). But Jade Cargill leaving hurts. AEW made her into a star and pushed her from the ground up, yet WWE now gets to reap the benefits of her being an experienced performer. On top of that, I predict that MJF and Wardlow will take the WWE plunge as well unless Tony overpays both.

Things are getting worse with Tony appearing more on television and media events, while going ballistic on Social Media. He is completely exposing the business and placing all attention on him INSTEAD of his company or its talent. That’s when the downfall begins. Don’t believe me?

– With Dusty Rhodes as booker and also an active wrestler, NWA Mid Atlantic peaked but then it started to slide… While the acquisition of Bill Watts’s promotion and trying to expand through Texas is often blamed, I thought Dusty overpushing himself after the Dusty vs. Ric Flair feud peaked shoulders some blame. Doing things like trying to turn the Road Warriors heel to get sympathy onto himself was a bit much.

– World Championship Wrestling as the #1 company began to internally die during November 1996 when Eric Bischoff joined the NWO. All of a sudden, Eric began focusing on how to get his NWO character over rather than managing a company with highly paid ex-WWE stars. The end result was a 1997 year that had booking-on-the-fly and a completely botched StarrCade 1997 finish. If it weren’t for Bill Goldberg’s sudden rise, 1998’s decline would have occurred much sooner but Bischoff began hotshotting everything out of desperation anyway.

– I personally enjoyed Vince Russo‘s late 1999 run with WCW, as they finally pushed Bret Hart, Chris Benoit, and many other midcard stars correctly… Then, Russo was abruptly sent home during January 2000. While Russo came back to a tire fire during the late Spring of 2000, what hurt his second run was becoming an on-screen character and later making himself WCW World Champion. Had he just stayed in the background and let the talent execute his creative ideas, it may have been a better year for WCW during 2000. Instead, he became champion and Bash at the Beach 2000 incident happened. Russo would be much better with TNA later by being just a creative mind and not as much an on-screen character.

– Dixie Carter got a taste of fame when appearing on-screen, and as time went on, her screentime increased. Wrestling fans soured on that and TNA began to go downhill by the late 2000s and really fell off during the early 2000s when she thought Hogan and Eric Bischoff could “save her”.

– Vince McMahon was a great heel character during 1998, but the character became overplayed during 1999… But instead of getting less, we received more. Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, and even Linda McMahon became regular on-screen characters featured on RAW and soon-to-be Smackdown. Hell, Wrestlemania 16 was marketed as a “McMahon in every corner” and that event wasn’t as well received as it could have been. For the past 20 years, we’ve seen a LOT of Stephanie, Vince, and Shane… Shane even tries to be an in-ring performer to overshadow the wrestlers.

– Triple H became a backstage executive during the early 2010s, and his role overseeing talent increased during mid-2012 and with creative during late 2013. Yet, he couldn’t differentiate himself as a manager of talent versus trying to get his “COO” or in-ring worker over. He also had biases towards older friends, such as wanting Randy Orton and Batista to headline Wrestlemania 30. However, when Triple H backed off from the in-ring spotlight and pushing his COO character, became more enjoyable to wrestling fans. HHH cares about the talent that he’s developed and treats them as if he were their Dad. THAT is the successful Triple H that can thrive as a WWE manager, which is why he’s thriving through 2022-2023 and moving forward. He’s focused only on managing the company and hence he’ll be successful.

Tony Khan just needs to RELAX… While he has probably grown AEW faster than any other company on the planet, he may have caused his promotion to also peak faster than any other company. Yes, the Wembley Stadium event, whether it was 81,000 tickets sold or 72,000 people who actually attended, was a big success… But your company had other problems brewing before and after that event. Those are “trial and error” problems of any start-up company. AEW is still a brand new company that was started by inexperienced people. At least with TNA wrestling (now Impact), it was started by the Jarretts with lots of wrestling experience. Tony and his EVPs lacked experience to carry on a weekly television show and it has showed.

Get off the damn phone, mind your own business, and surround yourself with legitimate wrestling hands who can help you. Jim Ross, Adam Copeland, Christian, Mark Henry, Big Show, Tony Shiavone, Arn Anderson, Dean Malenko, Dustin Rhodes, and many other veterans are there in AEW to help Tony, yet he refuses to confer with them. Instead, he vaguely listens to the EVPs or takes on too many decisions by himself. Then, Tony shows immaturity by partying with the boys and posting like a teenager on Social Media.

What I worry is that a nervous breakdown occurs, or even worse… You never know these days with what happens with medications taken. Furthermore, if Warner Bros. Discovery sees Tony’s peculiar behavior and opts to cancel their TV deal with him, that could further drive him over the edge. Tony needs good friends to support him and attempt to take this “me vs. the world” burden off of his shoulders.

His promotion feels so much like the early 2010s version of TNA… Dixie Khan needs to mature a bit or you’ll be seeing some bad television contracts soon.

And until you regularly defeat the WWE in viewership, stick to worrying about your own problems. Taking unnecessary shots at Vince McMahon, Shawn Michaels, and Triple H is ridiculous. You have zero credibility to even call them out. You don’t need to know what a screw-up Vince McMahon is… We all know, but we don’t need to be reminded by someone who has their own version of erratic behavior. And right now, Shawn Michaels and Triple H are CRUSHING your promotion and should easily steal your precious “booker of the year” award from the rigged voting at the Observer Boyz’s house.

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BUT

What everyone should be doing is THANKING the wrestling Gods for AEW’s existence.

Yeah, I said it… And this column is NOT sarcasm…

Before we go deep into reviewing AEW as a company, you should look at their obvious contender, WWE. Since AEW’s inception, hasn’t the WWE greatly improved in terms of showcasing and pushing talent while Creative has greatly improved? Consider these WWE improvements:

(1) WWE wrestlers are getting paid more than ever, thanks to the threat of joining AEW.

(2) Roman Reigns was finally turned heel. Years upon years of them shoving Roman’s babyface character down our throats, the WWE finally switched him heel.

(3) NXT call-ups are being treated better lately. Why? Because each of them could bolt and join AEW. Hence where there is more thoughtful use of any call-up.

(4) Taking women’s wrestling seriously. Look at how much Bianca and Rhea have grown, along with other NXT call-ups who are thriving on the main WWE roster. This creates an atmosphere for a Jade Cargill to desire to join.

Without AEW, you wouldn’t have WWE improving. PERIOD. The threat of losing any talent, failing on Roman Reigns, and botching any NXT call-up is all due to the existence of a real competitor who has a REAL television deal. Sorry NWA and Impact, your TV deal or lack of television puts you at a major disadvantage. AEW is on 3 nights per week on TBS/TNT, which are available in more than 80 million households.

Let’s look at it on the flip side…

AEW is another option for any wrestlers who leave the WWE, voluntarily or involuntarily. Before 2019, there was seriously nothing. Impact Wrestling would be your best choice, other than flying to New Japan (which was a good option, if you’re willing to travel and/or live there for a while). But Impact has a bad television deal and no mainstream audience. They seriously have like under 150,000 viewers per week and I know that only because some of the AEW crossover stuff pumped their numbers to make them briefly appear on the viewership report before dropping back down. Ring of Honor was about to hit a final nail moment once COVID hit.

WWE shredded much of its audience during 2020, 2021, and 2022 and many wrestlers found much needed homes that paid well with AEW. Again, their only choices are NWA, Impact, and Japan (which isn’t for everyone). Could many of those ex-WWE stars be used better? Sure… But maybe those ex-WWE stars had reasons for their releases, too. That’s a tough reality to accept, but until someone makes the WWE pay for taking them for granted, it’s proving the WWE right on their releases unfortunately.

Everyone complains about the WWE’s Tag Team Division, or lack thereof. AEW has a pretty solid and committed tag divisions. Isn’t that what you want?

Everyone complains about the WWE’s lack of respect for guys under 6 feet tall and/or under 200 pounds. AEW regularly features those wrestlers and pushes them as top stars.

Many veterans that you love are still finding work and thriving with AEW. Chris Jericho, Sting, Christian, Jim Ross, Tony Shiavone, Arn Anderson, Dean Malenko, Diamond Dallas Page, Big Show (Paul Wight), and Mark Henry have all found something in AEW to do and to get paid. Those WWE legends contracts don’t pay much and WWE controls part of your appearances. Now, these guys can work for AEW and freely make money off their careers and good names at conventions and other appearances. Being prominently featured on AEW boosts their abilities to make more money for appearances, too.

AEW tries to feature international wrestlers, most notably from Mexico and especially Japan. Has it been perfect? No… But if it ever clicks, it presents AEW tremendous adversity that helped make WCW big in the 1990s. They just need to push and present the right talent from those regions.

Yes, Tony is struggling as a manager… But this company is about to turn just 5 years old once 2024 rolls around, but their TV show AEW is just 4 years old now. Television executives don’t just give any geek off the street prime time timeslots on TBS or TNT for nothing. This young company is drawing between 700,000 to 1 million per show, and at a much cheaper rate than what TBS/TNT is paying for NBA/NHL leagues, movie rights, or reruns of popular TV shows. I hate to hear Meltzer bragging about the 18-49 demo, but that number is somehow the trick to win over advertisers to make your show profitable.

While I wasn’t a big fan of AEW Fight Forever, the fact that they made a wrestling video game attempt is important. Have you noticed how good the past 2 WWE 2K games have been? That’s after being heavily criticized for poor attempts previously. It’s a good start to build on, as the control, graphics, framerate, and online mode could only improve on future entries.

AEW showed WWE what they were missing with CM Punk. Yes, I’m 100% aware that it ended poorly during August 2022 and August 2023. But go back to August 2021… Remember how much optimism we all had with CM Punk returning? Then on that Friday Night AEW Rampage show in Chicago, we were soooooo happy to see him back. We lost over 7 years of him as a wrestling character thanks to the WWE burning him out. But for a brief moment in time, CM Punk was happy to be there and energized AEW to have record breaking gates and PPV buys along with viewership topping 1 million again.

See, that’s what most people don’t realize… The latter half of the 2010s were ROUGH for Pro Wrestling fans. TNA became Impact and made zero impact on pro wrestling. Ring of Honor began to die and Sinclair Corporation neglected them. WWE lost John Cena to Hollywood and shoved an inexperienced Roman Reigns down our throats as a babyface. Wrestling was so bad that we over-valued NXT as a great brand simply because it was an alternative to the main roster WWE. Then, AEW arrives and changes the entire narrative of the wrestling business and forces WWE to change itself.

I know, it’s easy to get frustrated by the Elite… They probably shouldn’t be Executive Vice Presidents for Omega and the Bucks. But those guys were stars in their own rights and made it big OUTSIDE of the WWE. That’s more of an accomplishment than many others can say, as other wrestlers refuse to leave their WWE comfort zone to make it elsewhere. Cody left the WWE and made a name for himself, while Bucks/Omega could never arrange a full run in WWE but made it on their own. They packed an arena of over 10,000 fans together at 2018’s All In event, which help spur the creation of AEW.

Look, Omega and the Bucks can only sign the contracts that they are offered… Tony Khan could have offered them less money and removing their EVP titles, but he didn’t. Why? Because those wrestlers were the horses that he rode in on and together, they’ve had decent success together. CM Punk has always been there, but the Bucks have consistently been there (besides a brief suspension) and so has Omega, besides the injury time-off (and suspension). They’ve been there to help draw 800,000+ viewers, people in arenas (even though it fluctuates), and were a part of the Wembley Show even before CM Punk made his 2023 return.

Yes, Tony is making mistakes… But the company still makes money, still has a firm TV deal in place, and they are about to potentially start streaming on MAX (formerly HBO Max) which has about 76 million subscribers (much more than Peacock). Tony is about to cross 5 years in the wrasslin’ business total for his career… Compare to that Vince McMahon, who was still working for his dad by his 5th year in 1974 with 8 more years before he took over the WWE company. With Eric Bischoff, he was just finishing up with AWA as an announcer in 1991 before joining WCW as an announcer that same year. He wouldn’t become an executive until 1993, and that was a difficult year for him. Tony is making mistakes on the fly and we’re all seeing it in real time with social media and streaming replay videos, which is something that Vince and Eric didn’t quite have in their early tenures.

Look at who AEW made into stars… MJF and Jade Cargill. MJF wrestled places previously, but in AEW, he’s left a mark and will likely catapult himself into a bigger AEW contract or be a big free agent signing for WWE in 2024-2025. Fact is that AEW took a chance on him and he’s now a household name. Ditto with Jade Cargill. Yes, she has been green, but they booked her as a female Bill Goldberg and it worked. They gave her the platform that maybe WWE wasn’t quite ready to offer her unless she spent months, if not years, in their developmental system. Now, WWE will inherit what AEW made. WWE could have signed both wrestlers, but didn’t… They went to AEW instead and became stars in spite of WWE.

Let’s be honest about CM Punk… He has a pattern of behavior about always being disgruntled backstage, even when times are going great. Fact is that when Kevin Nash went unscripted on CM Punk just after SummerSlam 2011 (“Waffle House” comment), CM Punk didn’t seek revenge or fight anybody. Why? Because he had fear of Kevin Nash, Vince McMahon, and Triple H. Punk kept his mouth shut and kept working until he left the company. In AEW when the Elite trolls got under his skin, he acted way differently even though he’s supposed to be 7 years older and supposedly wiser or mature. Nope, he got into fist fights with the Young Bucks and Jack Perry, cut an unscripted promo multiple times on Adam Page, and went ballistic at the All Out 2022 Media Scrum. If he truly lunged at Tony Khan, as some reports suggest he did, then that’s even more concerning especially at AEW’s biggest show ever.

Speaking of that biggest show for AEW ever, Wembley stadium… Whether the number is 80,000 or 70,000, it’s still a ton of people who attended that live AEW event. Yes, I know Tony bragged about 90,000 as some rich kid without much discipline would do, but 70,000 is still an amazing number to attend a wrestling event. Geesh… If he would have only drawn like 20,000, then we could make fun of Tony and AEW. But for 70,000 people? Come on… Get over yourselves, and the WWE has only drawn near that amount of bodies just a handful of times.

Things could be much, much worse in AEW… They could be losing money, but they’re not. They’ve made money, other than 1 year where the video game expenses became excessive. They’ve made wrestlers money, both in the WWE as competition but also any castaways who had issues getting into WWE or retaining a job there. By being legitimate competition, they’ve pushed WWE to be better.

And could you imagine AEW without freakin’ COVID-19 ruining their television shows without live audiences during the first year on television? Nobody gives them credit for that disaster happening to them during their 2nd year of existence and 1st year on television.

In short, give AEW credit… They’ve had a bumpy ride for the past 5 years, but they forced much needed CHANGE and CHOICE in the wrestling industry. They forced WWE to change itself but also gave fans an alternative to watch and follow if they are burned out on WWE. Could it be better? Yes… But I’d rather watch wrestling during the 2020s than I would the 2010s. Much better now thanks to competition from Tony Khan’s AEW.

See, I can write positive columns on AEW…

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Therefore, for what I’m about to write, don’t think that I’m anti-Punk because I’ve heavily supported the guy. I was hoping that AEW would sign him and give him a chance. I was delighted when they signed him and loved his return.

But the facts have changed.

And a pattern of behavior has emerged.

It’s time for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) to realize that CM Punk is no longer good for their company and is a Human Resources + Public Relations problem that won’t get resolved.

Facts:

– Adam “Hangman” Page shot on CM Punk during AEW Dynamite regarding Colt Cabana being moved from the AEW roster to Ring of Honor.

PUNK’s RESPONSE: Cut an unscripted promo on Adam Page several months later, which nobody knew was coming.

– Members of the Elite kept spreading information to dirt sheets (or Meltzer) about CM Punk getting Cabana transferred to Ring of Honor. Tony Khan met with the Young Bucks in particular and released a statement to counter these rumors.

PUNK’s RESPONSE: Following the 2022 All Out Pay Per View, CM Punk went on the attack during the Media Scrum using vulgarity, attacking Adam Page, ripping the EVPs, and declaring “I work with children”. Completely unscripted.

– Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, 2 flunky wrestlers, and a few other backstage officials went into CM Punk’s locker room. Whether that entrance was forceful or not, as both sides conflict that story, CM Punk did throw the first punch on one of the Young Bucks.

– Most participants on that incident were briefly suspended, but all have been returned. Technically speaking, CM Punk was suspended as he was recovering from an injury.

– Warner Bros. Discovery gave AEW a Saturday Night timeslot under the condition that CM Punk would be brought back.

PUNK’S RESPONSE: He’ll return, but he has creative control over that show and that includes talent. Anyone associated with the Elite has been disallowed to appear on the show.

– After one such AEW Collision show, CM Punk ridiculed Adam “Hangman” Page’s inability to move action figure merchandise. Reportedly, Punk actually apologized for this incident.

– CM Punk reportedly gets into a shoving match with Jack Perry (formerly Jungle Boy) over the decision to use real glass or not for a spot at Wembley’s All In event, the biggest AEW event ever. Punk eventually had him in a chokehold before everything was broken up.

This last incident is ridiculous… For one, why are you picking fights with a midcarder? Secondly, why not let him learn his lesson by getting banged up going through a real windshield instead of a gimmicked one? Lastly, is this worth getting into a fight backstage at AEW’s biggest show ever?

Look, AEW is a hot ungoverned mess… You don’t have to tell me twice, as I quickly noticed how bad things became immediately following the 2019 Double or Nothing show. With few exceptions, active wrestlers don’t do well with managerial or creative duties given to them and are often self-serving. Plus, being a pro wrestler is HARD WORK in the first place, and focusing in on that while trying to manage a wrestling company usually doesn’t work out. Hence why Kenny has botched the women’s division and why the Bucks have a hot mess with the tag team division. Going further, look at what Cody Rhodes enabled while he was EVP…

All of the facts were there when CM Punk elected to sign an AEW contract during 2021. He still signed, and yet he’s shocked with the Elite clique backstage starts to mess with him.

HOWEVER – Rather than handling things like men and discussing things behind closed doors, we have public displays of unprofessionalism.

– Cuts unscripted promo on Adam Page
– Cuts unscripted execution of the entire AEW following 2022’s All Out PPV during the Media Scrum
– Throws first punch following that Media Scrum
– Cuts unscripted promo on Adam Page about unsold action figures
– Gets into a backstage fight at Wembley Stadium, AEW’s biggest show ever, with Jack Perry

Yes, AEW’s backstage is full of trolls and bad management. No disagreements here. But Punk is lowering to their levels and giving them the EXACT response that they want. He has fallen into their trap because the Elite wants him OUT of AEW. Instead of just letting the Elite expose themselves for pushing crap onto the dirtsheets and being unprofessional themselves, CM Punk has given them reason for their cause to want him out.

But there is more to this pattern of behavior…

– When Rock returned to WWE, reports were Punk was the one sending leaks to dirtsheets about WWE wrestlers being upset at part-timers.
– Various WWE officials, including Triple H, are documented in saying CM Punk was not open to discussion on any matters. They’d hear backstage chatter that he was upset about something, but he’d deny it when they inquired.
– Quit the WWE abruptly following Royal Rumble 2014, which changed Wrestlemania 30 plans.
– Attacked the WWE during November 2014 regarding Colt Cabana’s podcast, revealing backstage details, alleging steroid use of Triple H, and poor medical treatment (which caused a defamation lawsuit).
– Personally attacked the Miz, which he reportedly apologized recently at a WWE show personally to him.

But there were reports for years about CM Punk being sometimes difficult to work with… WWE would have released him had Paul Heyman not stood up for him. But reportedly, his in-ring style was hard to translate for WWE prospects and he was a bit stubborn to alter his style towards what WWE wanted. Once in the WWE, there was a backstage issue with the Undertaker about professionalism backstage which led to one of Punk’s early title reigns ending much earlier than planned. Then, the “Pipebomb”. As much as we love that promo, he said some rough things in that promo about WWE officials and would continue to say things on the mic about those same WWE officials for the weeks to come. This created bad relations with Triple H, who already wasn’t a fan of Punk to begin with, that would keep bubbling until CM Punk left before the RAW following Royal Rumble 2014.

There’s no denying that CM Punk is a great wrestling talent who has charisma, personality, great mic skills, etc… One of his pillars was that he was a good in-ring talent. However, that pillar is starting to crumble as he’s in his mid-40s and can’t quite work the style that he could in his 40s. He’s also becoming more injury prone, though to be fair, he was getting injured somewhat often during 2012-2013 while in the WWE, too.

If CM Punk’s in-ring ability isn’t there and he’s more prone to injuries, is he really worth the Human Resources & Public Relations troubles? Is he worth the liability issues from other wrestlers?

Sometimes, you just have to admit mistakes and move on. Look at the San Francisco 49ers. They completely botched trading up to draft quarterback Trey Lance and did so by giving up 2 future First Round draft picks and swapping another. That team is loaded and ready to win now, but not with Trey. The 49ers just traded Trey Lance to the Dallas Cowboys for a 4th round pick. Ouch…

I’m guessing that AEW probably signed CM Punk for a 3-5 year deal. We’re 2 years into it. I’m guessing that AEW is paying him around $2-3 million per year? Just let him sit at home for the remainder of the contract and use his likeness, as needed, to recoup some of the funds. For example, if AEW makes a sequel to their AWFUL Fight Forever video game, he could appear in that or if they make a mobile video game, etc.

Or just release him…

Let him return to the WWE. Why not?

WWE has a good thing going right now and the locker room is quite unified. Many wrestlers who remember Punk from 2012-2014 don’t exactly have good vibrations from him, as Seth Rollins has spoke out against him for example. And again, Punk has been dogging the Miz for years and only recently realized he needed to apologize to him.

Granted, the WWE has made-up with wrestlers in the past whom they were involved with litigation, creative disputes, or other issues. Bruno Sammartino, Ultimate Warrior, and Hulk Hogan. Guys like Randy Savage, Lex Luger, and Jeff Jarrett were 3 wrestlers where things were very personal and they never really came back. Savage began to allow his likeness to be used, Luger has been involved in documentaries, and Jarrett was a producer briefly (until Triple H returned and axed him). Jarrett was allowed into the Hall while he was alive, Savage was added after he passed away. Luger has not been added to the Hall of Fame yet.

CM Punk accused Triple H of somethings on the November 2014 podcast that are hard to forgive, along with accusing WWE of things as well which Vince McMahon would take personally. While I believe CM Punk would be more afraid to go public with things while he’s under WWE contract, as Vince still rules with an iron fist and I don’t believe Punk would swing a punch at Triple H, it’s still not a risk WWE is willing to take on a wrestler in his mid 40s. There would need to be a major mending of fences, I believe, for the WWE and CM Punk to ever do business again.

But why return to the WWE? Go prove your worth and make TNA, NWA, or other Indy promotions worth their salt? If you’re as good of a draw that many suggest that you are, any promotion can grow with you and your ice cream bars.

I think with AEW, it’s just not working out… They can just send him home or release him. The financial loss will suck, but so does having incidents during your biggest show ever. Then, let the WWE take on the baggage. Sure, AEW will be stuck with the Elite, but at least the Elite isn’t publicly slandering their own company, its members, etc. They are weasels that Tony must deal with over the next 4 years thanks to the extensions that he gave each (Page, Omega, & Bucks). However, it’s apparent that CM Punk doesn’t want to be there and could be a continuous HR nightmare for the company. Getting into a fight with Jack Perry? Really?

For CM Punk, self-reflection is needed… Why have bigtime runs in the WWE and AEW eroded so quickly? While both can be trainwrecks, not every pro wrestler shares the same experience as you. I have YET to see anyone go on a Media Scrum and attack their own company, while fights backstage are few and far between these days. Something is wrong and if nothing is pulled back, his long-term association with pro wrestling could be gone forever. He needs some trusted veterans, like Foley or Austin, to sit down with him and share experiences of brushing up with management of promotions.

That Media Scrum incident remains the most insane thing that I’ve EVER seen in pro wrestling, as I’ve never seen an existing employee shred their company and its employees like that. Honestly, it’s a miracle that he’s back for AEW Collision and had it not been for Warner Bros. Discovery, he’d still be gone. Now, thanks to fighting with Jack Perry, he’ll be gone anyway and Warner Bros. Discovery executives are going to be angry from the egg that was thrown at their faces. With Punk gone, the viewership will really tank on Saturday Nights and that will spell problems for AEW.

AEW should have cut their losses after that Media Scrum, but now, they have to deal with the consequences of being a disorganized company who cannot manage its own talent.

What a disaster and what a shame. This CM Punk/AEW run could have been great, but cooler heads just didn’t prevail.

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But the AEW signing never happened until the Summer of 2021. Before then, CM Punk reportedly was seeing inquiries and negotiations via text message by the company’s EVPs (reportedly, the Young Buck). He disliked that way of negotiating declined their inquiries. However, things changed during 2021 after AEW’s viewership numbers were beginning to tank after a tough 2020 year during COVID-19 era and none of the prior former WWE wrestler signings were sticking. They needed to sign bigger names, to which CM Punk and Daniel Bryan (or Bryan Danielson) were signed.

CM Punk started off well, as viewership numbers started popping at or above 1 million again and then AEW Pay Per Views beginning pulling $1 million gates and higher buyrates with Punk on or headlining the cards. Punk’s merchandise was selling quite well… Then, business sort of leveled off after the initial pop. Why? Did Punk become “just one of the guys” (great moving, by the way) or was Father Time holding back CM Punk from the wrestler we all remembered?

Before we could fully know, the Elite political machine sprang into action. Probably jealous of CM Punk’s lucrative contract, creative control, and drawing ability, they had convinced a gullible and idiotic Adam “Hangman” Page to actually shoot on CM Punk during an AEW Dynamite promo. If you don’t know how STUPID Adam Page is, just watch his performance from the 2018 All In show. Yes, that is him losing to Joey Ryan on that show, along with being surrounded by guys in disgusting costumes. He’s a stooge of the California Indy crowd and he allowed himself to be easily swayed to attack CM Punk.

Through Tony Khan’s own actions, he moved Colt Cabana from the AEW roster to the Ring of Honor roster. The Elite tried to insinuate that Punk had Cabana “demoted” to the ROH roster instead and got Page all stirred up that this actually happened. Page, like a complete stooge and mark for the Elite that he really is, complied and alleged that Punk had Cabana demoted on live AEW television. Then, the EVPs were spreading same story to the dirtsheets (which Tony apologized to Punk about during the All Out Media Scrum, as one of the Young Bucks did that). After the All Out event, CM Punk had enough of the political games and destroyed Page and the Elite EVPs at the famous media scrub event. “I work with children”.

The Bucks, Kenny Omega, and a couple of stooges then tried to confront CM Punk in his own locker room about comments made at the AEW All Out 2022 Media Scrum and a big fight broke out. In the end, this caused multiple suspensions but CM Punk was not suspended, as he was recovering from an injury actually sustained at AEW All Out 2022. Everyone was reinstated and in fact, the Elite were given 4 year extensions.

CM Punk has since returned to work, as he’s now on the AEW Collision Saturday Night show and was requested to be there by the Warner Brothers Discovery group in order for AEW to receive $50 million over several years for this show. Money talks.

Now, CM Punk is back… He is 44 years old, about to turn 45. Several injuries have mounted in AEW, as he injured his leg and tore a muscle in his arm during 2022. He was actually becoming injury prone during 2012-2013 and actually had a defamation lawsuit filed against him by the WWE physician based on comments that CM Punk made regarding working through pain. Punk has been wrestling since 1999, so thus by the time he walked out of the WWE, he had about 14-15 years of mileage on his body. He joined AEW with over 7 years off, but he was also over 7 years older, too, past the prime years of your 30s.

Punk is currently working on the Collision shows, and there is zero interaction with the Elite. None of those guys want to get along and make money. Furthermore, Punk is showing his age inside the ring based on trying to still work the in-ring style of his younger self. People online have been savaging his recent attempt of his GTS finisher on Samoa Joe, where Punk was clearly struggling to lift and then drop the heavier Joe.

2 years in for AEW… Was it really worth it?

To grow as a Professional Wrestling company, it is typically done with one of the 3 following things:

(1) Great creative mind running the show.

(2) Signing free agents still in their prime.

(3) Organically growing or developing your own talent.

The WWE benefits well from all 3. You can argue with me all day about Creative, but the Bloodline is killing it right now for the WWE. Free Agent wise, Cody Rhodes is crushing it and they are really thriving on celebrity signings lately. Before that, Ronda Rousey, Brock Lesnar, Bill Goldberg, etc. were great free agent signings. WWE’s farm system has carried the WWE company for the past 25 years, though the NXT developmental system is struggling. The OVW and FCW talent are still crushing it for the WWE.

WCW did well with all 3, too, at least before 1997… Eric Bischoff pushed for more reality-based storylines and hence the NWO storyline. Bischoff, though he struggled at first, began to really nail the free agency with Hogan, Savage, Hall, and Nash. Bischoff also raided ECW, Japan, and Mexico of much of its top talent to create incredibly diversity and different styles in WCW. The WCW Power Plant wasn’t as good as Jim Ross’s system in the WWE, but it still pumped out Bill Goldberg as a talent.

Go back to ECW… They were strong with (1) in Paul Heyman and (3) with organically growing/developing their own talent. Problem with ECW is that their R-rated style couldn’t allow for them to grow and their lack of money caused all of that talent to be easily raided.

TNA wrestling was hit or miss on creative, often signed free agents past their prime, and had issues with growing their own unique talent. They were very focused on the free agents signed and Dixie Carter was infatuated with them as “stars”.

For AEW, however, they are WEAK at Creative. I don’t care what the markish Wrestling Observer subscribers voted on for consecutive years now. Tony Khan is NOT “Booker of the Year” and creative ideas are laughed at often. His television shows are not growing, attendance is still struggling, etc. He’s lucky that Cable Television is desperate for cheap sports content and hence why his terrible storylines drawing 800,000 viewers won’t get kicked off the air. Secondly, they are just like TNA in that they are signing ex-WWE stars past their prime. WWE terminated multiple wrestlers from 2020-2022 and AEW has seriously not benefitted from signing any of them. Furthermore, AEW signs much older free agents like Sting and Christian. The Bucks and Omega have made many, many bad free agent signings of their indy buddies.

But the last point is where AEW truly struggles… They are NOT creating new stars. They have nothing worthwhile in place to develop and grow new stars. Yes, they have a training facility, but is being operated by the right people? They keep refusing to use Jim Ross for Talent Relations, even though he developed the OVW system that has filled the WWE roster for decades now.

If AEW is going to succeed, they need to sign the right free agents and at the right time. Go back and look at WWE signing the Undertaker, Mick Foley, Steve Austin, and Triple H. All 4 wrestlers had YET to peak as performers and WCW actually neglected them. WWE signs all 4 and converts them into the biggest stars in the business. AEW is out of their minds if they sign Edge. He is about to turn 50 years old and on top of that, has years of neck injuries including the one that retired him for almost a decade.

For CM Punk, AEW signed him as an ex-WWE star who was past his prime.

Now, it wasn’t apparent when they signed him, as that goodwill was there for the first few weeks of him being with AEW. But then, you saw him inside the ring… He’s not as good as he once was, as getting older does that to everybody including greats like Tom Brady and Michael Jordan (returning for the Wizards). Eventually, you hit a wall physically but in the case of Pro Wrestling, you need to have the passion to keep moving forward in your 40s. I just don’t think Punk has it anymore, and lost that love for Pro Wrestling during 2013 when his hard work wasn’t appreciated in the WWE (hence why he walked out). I believe that CM Punk initially thought it would be a great idea, but he over-valued the younger talent in AEW and didn’t fully realize how big of political monsters that the Elite actually were.

I also believe that creatively, AEW is still trying to push CM Punk too hard as a babyface. Half of that audience is actually mad at Punk for the comments made at the Media Scrum last year. That’s not going away, as it was a public relations nightmare and made AEW look really awful in the process. Whether you like the Elite or not, they do have loyal fans…

If this CM Punk thing is to succeed, Creative not only has to change, but so should CM Punk.

Punk has to realize that he’s physically NOT the same wrestler he once was… The GTS finisher has to go, as he no longer has the strength and flexibility to pull off that finisher. Get something new that doesn’t require heavy lifting. Have an honest conversation with a guy like Chris Jericho, who has adopted new moves into his set that fits his older self to be less depending on aerial moves like his younger self could do. Jericho does fewer Lionsaults and now has a Judas Effect finisher instead. Where is all of that MMA training that CM Punk did? Why not incorporate more grappling into Punk’s style, along with more ground & pound?

Leaping from the top rope often and trying the GTS isn’t going to work well with that 44-45 year old body. In fact, his physical gifts are only going to disappear more with age. Thus, he needs to evolve as a wrestler and develop a style that is not only safer for him, but safer for other wrestlers, too. Anytime someone starts botching moves, the opponent’s health is at risk too.

The bigger issue is the drama that having CM Punk brings to your backstage. Yes, the Elite trolled him, but we’re seeing a pattern of behavior of attacking an entire company. After he left the WWE following Royal Rumble 2014, he burned that bridge to the ground during November 2014 with the Colt Cabana podcast and he continued taking shots at WWE throughout the 2010s. With AEW, he went delivered his receipt on Adam Page with the unscripted promo, but went in further with the Media Scrum attack on AEW, Adam Page, and the Elite with lots of vulgarity. One would figure that adults would get into the same room and figure out a way to make money. Nope, upon CM Punk’s return, he’s relegated to his own Saturday show and kicking out anyone remotely associated with the Elite. Then, he mocked Adam Page heavily in a post-show promo for merchandise sales (calling Adam Page a “peg warmer” because his action figures don’t sell). Months before all of this, he appeared unannounced at a WWE show backstage to meet and greet with various wrestlers while reportedly trying to meet with Triple H. Is Punk really worth this effort? In many ways, I argued that Tony should consider releasing him and let WWE deal with his bitterness towards the wrestling business especially with Punk and Triple H having past issues.

The beauty about Pro Wrestling is that you can last longer than say NFL or NBA players… The gift of speaking on the microphone and having the ability to script matches beforehand can keep wrestlers relevant well into their 40s and now 50s. If CM Punk simply adjusts his in-ring style by scaling back the high risk, implementing a new & easier finisher, and focuses more on the pre-show stuff like angles, promos, and psychology, he’ll be fine. However, if Punk keeps thinking this is 2013 and doesn’t realize it is 10 years later, he’ll keep looking bad inside the ring as he just did with the botched GTS on Samoa Joe the other night.

A good “Booker of the Year” would notice that about CM Punk and work with him to adjust his in-ring style…

But Tony Khan is NOT that kind of guy. He’s a kid born with a silver spoon in his mouth and spending his dad’s money on a wrestling company.

Free Agent opportunities are going to dry up soon, especially once this Endeavor deal is completed. I believe that Endeavor’s WWE will sign a MAJOR television contract or two for 2024 that will net them beyond the $400 million per year that Comcast and FOX pay the WWE right now. Thus, AEW has to focus on growing and developing their own talents. Instead of constantly pushing guys whom the WWE doesn’t want and that the public has previously seen, they need to present wrestling fans with a new star that they really haven’t seen before. That or they need to get creative and repackage one of the signed free agents. Are you telling me that you can’t do something with Miro?

CM Punk wasn’t that free agent and he doesn’t have a good AEW roster of “young talent” to work with. Completely contrary to that, as the matches haven’t been good and CM Punk’s older abilities are struggling to keep up with today’s speed. He needs to adjust his in-ring ability ASAP to work like a smart veteran rather than an older risk taking wrestler. If he doesn’t, he’ll be opened to more injury and a lack of good matches.

The bigger shame was the crack that the WWE was smoking during 2011-2013 when they completely disregarded CM Punk’s work there. Just look at 2013, alone, and be shocked at the quality of matches he was pumping out. Just watch Wrestlemania 29 (Undertaker) and SummerSlam 2013 (Brock Lesnar) alone for CM Punk’s work… That should have been praised and rewarded, not ignored. WWE is weird like that, as they were beginning to reconfigure a WWE with Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar on top. Being honest here, though it took like 6 years with Roman Reigns, it’s hard to deny the WWE’s thinking in hindsight. But I believe that CM Punk headlining Wrestlemania 30 would have been a better idea than Randy Orton vs. Batista.

If I were CM Punk, I’d either adjust my in-ring style or just mail things in for the next 2-3 years until his AEW contract expires. Then, see if the WWE wants him… But I gotta tell you, publicly burning bridges with your employer isn’t the wisest of moves, but time heals everything I suppose. The Elite getting 4 year extensions will only mean that Punk is going to be miserable throughout the rest of his AEW contract.

The Bucks and Kenny have no idea how to grow or develop talent, and neither does Tony. Hence why their idiotic business plan of signing past-their-prime free agents and independent wrestler friends has stunted AEW’s growth.

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