Punk's media scrum, Page 54, Muffins, Biting People Bad™

[The Ichi]

Damn, 500 pages.

You know what, here's to 500 more.

[Texas Tornado]

Might drive to Chicago for a celebratory muffin in honor of page 500

[DichEvans]

WE DID IT

[ASYLUMHAUSEN]

WVU opened up their lead on Virginia Tech here in the 4th quarter and I thought….”lemme go check the Punk thread”

BOOM!

FIVE HUNDY!

[Lizuka #BLM]

Just for maximum comedy I really want a mod to lock this thread when it's at 9,999 posts.

[Ecks Ecks Ringout Ecks Ecks]

Page 500 has been suspended, investigation pending

[The Ichi]

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PAGE

[ookkie]

I’m sure my post won’t say anything that hasn’t already been touched on by others, but I figure I might as well put my thoughts out there in this epic thread.

I can’t claim to have been following AEW since day 1, but I did make a conscious effort to be there for the first ever Dynamite when it aired on TV. And it was such a breath of fresh air from a creative and wrestling-focused standpoint. I loved it, and it reinvigorated my interest in pro-wrestling when I had been struggling to pay attention to WWE shows for their full weekly runtimes. I watched every Dynamite episode since that day and lord knows I would watch Rampage too if Khan had a better deal with TSN and its obsession with showing the same CFL games on every damn channel.

There have definitely been some story flops and fizzles (Brian Cage comes to mind), but even when the narratives have seemed to stall the ultimate payoff tends to hit home. You feel rewarded for watching and investing your time in the product, and you opt to support it - by paying for PPVs despite the big price tag. I liked the idea that I was using my money to speak loudly for where my interests leaned. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not anti WWE and am happy when that company hits the mark with great matches and storylines, but for a long time AEW accomplished that in a way the ‘E hadn’t.

And when covid hit, AEW offered an escape from a horrible, monotonous and sad time in my life. I know we dunk on Cody for his self-indulgent and self-aggrandizing promos, but his opener talking about the importance of the product for escapism during difficult times on the first covid show really resonated. For the long months that followed every Wednesday was an oasis in the desert of stresses and worries about my family’s health and safety and the general state of the world.

And when Brody died - one of my favourite undervalued wrestlers in the WWE and shining in his TNT championship run - it was devastating. But the way that the company rallied around his family and one another was special to see. Yes, it’s a business trying to make money, but it felt authentically good. I still can’t watch the recap video of their time in the covid era without tearing up - for Brody’s boots in the ring and for the memory of how those performers helped me to feel like I could find some outlet when the world around me was changing.

I’ve always appreciated Punk’s work in the ring and on the mic and I’ve been sympathetic to his situation with the WWE. So to hear that he was possibly returning - and to see his actual arrival - was wonderful. I appreciated that he didn’t immediately get the title and that he worked with different people to hone his skills having stepped back through the ropes and to elevate others in the process.

But this whole situation has been ugly. I don’t know what’s going on with Punk psychologically and don’t care to diagnose him from the tv persona he puts forth or the snippets of the real person we catch glimpses of in shoot interviews. But I do know that whether or not his grievances have any merit, the handling of them so publicly, condescendingly and dismissively have hurt his legacy and undermined the foundation of what appeared to be a more tight-knit company community. Or perhaps it is more accurate that it more clearly revealed an ugly truth about the tension submerged by positive press and inspiring video packages. Regardless, it makes me sad for AEW and I hope that the company comes out stronger for it - in terms of management and morale.

I’m still watching Dynamite, and when I can afford to I’d like to order the ppvs again. But more than anything I want to recapture that feeling of camaraderie, of the pursuit of a single goal that seemed so ever-present during the covid era. I hope they can do it - for the company’s well-being and our own as fans.

[One of the Cooler, Candid TOKs]

Sept 22, 2022 21:58:13 GMT -5 The Ichi said:

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PAGE

Either injured, in booking limbo because of everything in this thread, or just debuted last night depending on who you mean. Maybe Vince had a point on the names

[Denny Zen is Cooking™]

My Facebook targeted ads decided to ring in Page 500 by calling my attention to this company:

scrummysweets.co/

If only they sold muffins.

[Dub H]

Sept 22, 2022 22:00:03 GMT -5 ookkie said:

I’m sure my post won’t say anything that hasn’t already been touched on by others, but I figure I might as well put my thoughts out there in this epic thread.

I can’t claim to have been following AEW since day 1, but I did make a conscious effort to be there for the first ever Dynamite when it aired on TV. And it was such a breath of fresh air from a creative and wrestling-focused standpoint. I loved it, and it reinvigorated my interest in pro-wrestling when I had been struggling to pay attention to WWE shows for their full weekly runtimes. I watched every Dynamite episode since that day and lord knows I would watch Rampage too if Khan had a better deal with TSN and its obsession with showing the same CFL games on every damn channel.

There have definitely been some story flops and fizzles (Brian Cage comes to mind), but even when the narratives have seemed to stall the ultimate payoff tends to hit home. You feel rewarded for watching and investing your time in the product, and you opt to support it - by paying for PPVs despite the big price tag. I liked the idea that I was using my money to speak loudly for where my interests leaned. Don’t get me wrong - I’m not anti WWE and am happy when that company hits the mark with great matches and storylines, but for a long time AEW accomplished that in a way the ‘E hadn’t.

And when covid hit, AEW offered an escape from a horrible, monotonous and sad time in my life. I know we dunk on Cody for his self-indulgent and self-aggrandizing promos, but his opener talking about the importance of the product for escapism during difficult times on the first covid show really resonated. For the long months that followed every Wednesday was an oasis in the desert of stresses and worries about my family’s health and safety and the general state of the world.

And when Brody died - one of my favourite undervalued wrestlers in the WWE and shining in his TNT championship run - it was devastating. But the way that the company rallied around his family and one another was special to see. Yes, it’s a business trying to make money, but it felt authentically good. I still can’t watch the recap video of their time in the covid era without tearing up - for Brody’s boots in the ring and for the memory of how those performers helped me to feel like I could find some outlet when the world around me was changing.

I’ve always appreciated Punk’s work in the ring and on the mic and I’ve been sympathetic to his situation with the WWE. So to hear that he was possibly returning - and to see his actual arrival - was wonderful. I appreciated that he didn’t immediately get the title and that he worked with different people to hone his skills having stepped back through the ropes and to elevate others in the process.

But this whole situation has been ugly. I don’t know what’s going on with Punk psychologically and don’t care to diagnose him from the tv persona he puts forth or the snippets of the real person we catch glimpses of in shoot interviews. But I do know that whether or not his grievances have any merit, the handling of them so publicly, condescendingly and dismissively have hurt his legacy and undermined the foundation of what appeared to be a more tight-knit company community. Or perhaps it is more accurate that it more clearly revealed an ugly truth about the tension submerged by positive press and inspiring video packages. Regardless, it makes me sad for AEW and I hope that the company comes out stronger for it - in terms of management and morale.

I’m still watching Dynamite, and when I can afford to I’d like to order the ppvs again. But more than anything I want to recapture that feeling of camaraderie, of the pursuit of a single goal that seemed so ever-present during the covid era. I hope they can do it - for the company’s well-being and our own as fans.

If it helps it has been said that the locker room has been much more positive since that incident and has been very united

[SneakMan]

Honored to be part of history.

[ookkie]

Forgot one thought in my rambling post… let poor Mox have his vacation already!

[markymark]

Obviously GQ isn’t in the business of spreading rumors or gossip, but AEW had a pretty tumultuous situation go down a few weeks ago. Given that you’re one of the biggest leaders in the locker room, I feel like I’d be remiss not to ask what the mood has been like backstage lately.

Chris Jericho: Without getting into specifics, it happens all the time. That's one of the things about being around as long as I have: You just recalibrate and you focus on the positives and realize we got a great locker room, a great group of guys and girls. I think we re-established that [on TV the last few weeks]. We know that this is a pretty special place, and we're gonna go out there and we're gonna kill it. That's what we did. It's a reset and that's exciting for everybody involved, including me. We're just gonna keep building upon it. That's what you do. That's how you have longevity.

I bet you the Edmonton Oilers were terrified when Wayne Gretzky left, and they won a Stanley Cup that year. That's just how it goes when somebody leaves—somebody else steps up. That’s the best thing about wrestling, or pro sports, or even SNL. Adam Sandler leaves and suddenly Jason Sudeikis is the big name or whatever. So absolutely we're not gonna miss a beat. We're gonna go on and become bigger and better and stronger than ever.

www.gq.com/story/real-life-diet-chris-jericho

Jericho alluded that Punk is gone for good.

[Lizuka #BLM]

In honor of page 500 let's retroactively give Orton custody of This Fire Burns.

[DichEvans]

Did the mods delete a bunch of posts so we can get to 500 again?

[Beets by Schrute]

What is the record for pages on this forum?

[XIII]

But who can eliminate the 500 page Big Punk thread!?

The mods that’s who.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

500 PAGES!!

THE BOYHOOD DREAM... HAS COME TRUE!!

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

Page 500: *Keeps getting taken away*

FAN Posters: I'M TRYING TO RUN A F***ING BUSINESS HERE!