Wild Times in AEW & WWE Finding Its Way

AEW has set Wrestling Twitter ablaze this week and not necessarily for the all of the right reasons. After last Sunday’s successful All Out PPV, newly minted AEW World Champion CM Punk used a press conference to go into business for himself and completely torch Colt Cabana(unprovoked), EVPs the Young Bucks & Kenny Omega and Hangman Adam Page. He also blasted the media for reporting on rumors that were “bull****”. After he left the media scrum, Punk was involved in a physical altercation with the Young Bucks & Omega. Nick Jackson ended up with a black eye from a chair reportedly being thrown at him and Omega was allegedly bitten by former CM Punk trainer Ace Steel.

As I stated earlier, CM Punk was out of line to use a post-PPV media scrum to publicly air out the EVPs, Adam Page & Cabana. That was unprofessional and reckless as hell. The fact he knew he wasn’t going to look good & still decided to pop off says everything you need to know about how bad that was. The Bucks & Omega share in the blame by confronting Punk when it was clear Punk was pissed off. I can certainly understand the Bucks & Omega being pissed off at Punk for the comments but they’re EVPs. They have a bigger responsibility as management and cooler heads needed to prevail. They need to be held to a higher standard.

At the core to all of the leaks, dysfunction and silliness is the owner, GM & booker Tony Khan. His inability to keep everyone in line falls at his doorstep. People can say whatever they want about Vince McMahon (and please… have at it) but Vince wouldn’t have allowed what has happened to AEW happen in WWE. Tony Khan has been acting like a fanboy & mark… and that spells doom for any company. When you allow the boys (The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega) to run the asylum you get the nonsense that you’ve been getting from AEW as of late. I can clearly see why Cody Rhodes, also one of the founding AEW EVPs, left.

To try and begin getting things right, Tony Khan started Wednesday’s edition of Dynamite by announcing CM Punk had been stripped of the AEW Championship and the Young Bucks also stripped of the AEW Trios Championship. Punk, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega and Ace Steel were among the ones suspended. There was no mention of their names on Wednesday’s show, Punk, the Bucks & Omega were removed from the show opening video and there is currently a legal, internal investigation. To top it off, CM Punk will be out for 8 months with a triceps injury suffered either in his match against Jon Moxley at All Out or in the physical altercation following the PPV.

One final thought about this – Wrestling Twitter is toxic as f***. I get being fans of wrestlers but the vitriol spewed by Wrestling Twitter is ridiculous. These folks are getting their “facts” from biased media “journalists” and running with it. If you hate Punk then everything you see and hear is truth. Same for The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega. Nobody knows what happened except the people involved. I’ve always said the best thing about Twitter is everyone has a voice. The worst thing about Twitter – everybody has a voice.

While AEW is embroiled in dysfunction & chaos, WWE seems to finding its way. Image courtesy of WrestlingHeadlines.com

SmackDown overall had another good show with the highlight being the six-man tag match of Imperium(with their original music & titantron screen) vs. The Brawling Brutes. The level of brutality, the psychology and the tag team work was outstanding. I can watch these six men battle all day. The match between Drew McIntyre and Solo Sikoa was better than I thought it would be. Sikoa being in the main event of SmackDown was a big moment and Sikoa met the challenge. Though he had the rest of the Bloodline with him I was impressed with the way he was able to hold his own with a top star like Drew McIntyre. Karrion Kross attacking Drew while Scarlett watched with evil glee was a cool spot and a hot way to end the show. What I didn’t like was the Fatal 5-Way to determine the #1 contender for the SmackDown Women’s title at Extreme Rules. The roster has been thin since Naomi & Sasha Banks left and Charlotte took a leave of absence. It was basically a squash match for Ronda Rousey and the match served no one else in that ring Friday night. Natalya, Xia Li, Lacey Evans and Sonya Deville were complete afterthoughts. No one took them seriously as threats to beat Rousey. Triple H is going to have a big job on his hands rehabbing the SmackDown women’s division.

With Naomi, Sasha & Charlotte still out, the SmackDown’s Women’s champion and the Tag Team champions just don’t do it for me. Liv Morgan has not had a good run as champion and part of that is because how she’s been booked as champion. The other part is the title is making her and not the other way around. Having a character fans can get into and being able to go in the ring gets you over. Sure, Liv has her fanbase(and they’re going to come for me) but it’s more of an internet darling thing. She’s not bad… but she’s not a main event talent. The right move going forward would be Rousey to beat Liv at Extreme Rules & to begin feuding with Shayna Baszler for the belt until Charlotte returns. It’s the same story with the tag team champions. Raquel Rodriquez should be a heel like her run in NXT and Aliyah is just not very good. Their match with Toxic Attraction was carried by Toxic Attraction. I also think the right move is having IO SKY & Dakota Kai going over Raquel & Aliyah and eventually set up the feud with Naomi & Sasha Banks when they return. The belts need to be on a team that can elevate the titles and not the other way around.

God’s son. Husband. Father. Critical Sports Enthusiast.
Morehouse Alum. Truth Teller. Smart Aleck.
Eat. Sleep. Acknowledge Me. Repeat.

THE CTJ REPORT