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Post by honsou on Sept 9, 2022 13:57:36 GMT -5
Probably? Its hard to say because in the grand scheme of things he's such a private person. My guess? He really wanted to be that elder stateman type wrestler, like Terry Funk or even Sting now but also wanted to be in the main event and couldn't deal with that. Also I just think he has too thin of a skin now a days for the types of promos people are going to do now a days. There is also an aspect where he thought he could live with Colt being on the same roster but slowly realize he couldn't and it was just gnawing at him
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Legion
Fry's dog Seymour
Amy Pond's #1 fan
Hail Hydra!
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Post by Legion on Sept 9, 2022 14:56:07 GMT -5
I think he expected to be treated more like a Flair; as some huge star and icon and locker room leader and instead he was treated as just another guy in a locker room that already has lots of leaders and has some actual icons around.
In essence, he bought his own hype and then expected everyone else to buy it with him.
They didn't.
Chuck in his body failing on him, and his pride already hurting and that just helped embitterment grow.
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Post by xCompackx on Sept 9, 2022 17:11:56 GMT -5
If nothing else, Punk is so very clearly not over Colt Cabana; dude is literally running the "I'm going to insult him, that'll make him respond!" play.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2022 17:14:30 GMT -5
If nothing else, Punk is so very clearly not over Colt Cabana; dude is literally running the "I'm going to insult him, that'll make him respond!" play. There's a YouTube clip of a fan chanting Colt Cabana while Punk was in the ring and Punk scolded the fan. |
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Fade
Patti Mayonnaise
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Post by Fade on Sept 9, 2022 17:44:30 GMT -5
True plus weren’t a few people chanting colt cabana at him at the start of that promo? Yeah, in retrospect, I think it was very telling how viscerally Punk reacted to that dude chanting Colt Cabana at him on the Dynamite before the PPV. We all kind of joked about what an overreaction was to call that dude a fat virgin over that at the time, but I think it showed that Punk was getting legitimately pissed that he wasn't being as warmly received in Chicago as he thought he would be. I finally managed to watch the All Out main event and at the end, after Punk wins, after the MJF reveal & huge pop, Punk (freshly injured again, mind you) raises that AEW title proudly high and then the Chicago crowd erupts in a massive “MJF” chant. Sheer humiliating for Punk, if I had to guess. People have brought up a bunch of great points/theories in this thread and I really think it was a combination of a lot of things that led to this Un-perfect storm. |
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Post by bearned on Sept 9, 2022 17:50:33 GMT -5
Injury and backstage politics. I would guess the whole Colt thing was something they all hoped could just be ignored (keep them apart, Colt keeps a sweetish gig as a ROH guy and AEW indie rep) but then everyone seems to have worked themselves into a shoot (brother!) and it’s all gone downhill from there….
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Post by The Captain on Sept 9, 2022 18:00:30 GMT -5
Even with Punk outwardly being all happy and thankful to be there, you could tell whatever issues he and Colt had were not resolved at all. Like when he edited out Colt from some screenshot in such a petty way.
Maybe it was always a time bomb waiting to explode so long as both were in the same company, but I think his time off with the injury must've played a lot with his mental health. Though I really don't want to act like an armchair therapist. But having to deal with similar injuries lately, I will tell you the relative isolation and cabin fever (outside of physical therapy) can really f*** with you.
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Post by Natural Born Farmer on Sept 9, 2022 18:07:02 GMT -5
I think after seven years away, coming back and having his ass kissed around the clock was great.
I'd imagine he had a big say in how the MJF feud went, and the acclaim it got made him feel justified in shooting his mouth off whenever he felt like it.
So was he happy? Yeah, I bet he was ecstatic. But the ego that came with that was also his downfall.
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Post by Herman The Tosser on Sept 9, 2022 18:20:30 GMT -5
I think he was happy.
But a perfect storm of shit happened.
I think he's run afoul of backstage politics again, but in a different way.
I think if he ever comes back from this, he needs to be a part-timer. Maybe he can never truly be one of "the boys" anymore.
Just an attraction that comes in for 1 or 2 programs a year and that's it.
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Post by Andy Martin on Sept 9, 2022 18:35:44 GMT -5
No. But it’s because I don’t think he’s ever been truly happy in wrestling.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2022 0:40:06 GMT -5
True plus weren’t a few people chanting colt cabana at him at the start of that promo? Yeah, in retrospect, I think it was very telling how viscerally Punk reacted to that dude chanting Colt Cabana at him on the Dynamite before the PPV. We all kind of joked about what an overreaction was to call that dude a fat virgin over that at the time, but I think it showed that Punk was getting legitimately pissed that he wasn't being as warmly received in Chicago as he thought he would be. They run Chicago A LOT. Sometimes multiple shows in the same week. So yeah Rampage last year was magical, but it’s diminishing returns. WWE kept the some of the magic alive they only ran there three or four times a year. How many times can you put him out there thinking he would still have the crowd eating out of the palm of his hand, especially when all his feuds besides MJF were against faces? and the fat virgins credit… Colt is from Chicago as well. |
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Post by lildude8218 on Sept 10, 2022 0:56:57 GMT -5
Well you see, when he told them his foot was hurting they offered him a Z-Pack.
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Sephiroth
Wade Wilson
Surviving
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Post by Sephiroth on Sept 10, 2022 6:54:39 GMT -5
For all of five seconds
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Post by stoptheclocks on Sept 17, 2022 13:48:20 GMT -5
I think he's approximately the same guy he's always been - nice to people he likes, horrible to anyone he feels has slighted him.
He's basically been the same in every company he's ever been in. I guess in WWE he kept a lid on it for longer as he was making millions, and in UFC he was so insignificant he'd have been laughed out of town had he tried pulling any of this.
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Bo Rida
Fry's dog Seymour
Pulled one over on everyone.
Got away with it, this time.
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Post by Bo Rida on Sept 17, 2022 17:00:10 GMT -5
I think he expected to be treated more like a Flair; as some huge star and icon and locker room leader and instead he was treated as just another guy in a locker room that already has lots of leaders and has some actual icons around. In essence, he bought his own hype and then expected everyone else to buy it with him. They didn't. Chuck in his body failing on him, and his pride already hurting and that just helped embitterment grow. It's fascinating, wrestling backstage culture is often ridiculous to an outsider but they always talk about respecting those that paved the way. Punk treats Hangman with disdain for not showing that respect to his liking but in the flipside he wouldn't be in aew if Page and the evps hadn't helped make it a success and got through the worst if the pandemic. Saying he's done nothing is way more disrespectful. I think it's something we'll see more of with 3 high tier companies and more accessible alternatives to those. If aew signed a new trio's team of 20 year olds who would they personally respect more? Punk from WWE when they were a kid, what Omega did in njpw in their teens or what Hangman has done in aew? I doubt there'd be a consistent answer. Similar with fans, that sort of widely accepted shared history is splintering. |
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DichEvans
Samurai Cop
Lenny Lazy Lane Stinks
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Post by DichEvans on Sept 17, 2022 17:08:40 GMT -5
I think a lot of attention has gone, rightly, to the muffins and the bitings and whatnot. But the really interesting thing to me is what happened to the guy that spent eight weeks talking about how stoked he was to be back? He talked about his depression, and his need to spend away from the ring after WWE? I cannot accept that it was fake or disingenuous or part of some master plan. I believe he meant what he said, as far as his goals of working in AEW. Some have said that he even hyped The Bucks and Hangman Page. Cabana, who hadn’t been used regularly in the weeks and months prior to Punk’s arrival, showed up here and there. Things seemed fine. So, yeah. If you accept, as I do, that happy Punk came from a real place… then where’s the breaking point? I like the guy. I have the shirt. I enjoy his work. But this question isn’t because I want to defend him. I just want to have some discussion about how Punk’s return has crashed and burned in more or less the way the most cynical (but accurate) viewers predicted. As for what I think? I don’t know. I think I’ve experienced and seen firsthand how the rush for intriguing headlines and clicks has led to some really poor decisions. I think, as cartoonishly villainy as Punk was at the scrum—if the tidbit that “some people think Punk was involved with Cabana’s exit” never circulated, we might not be here. And, if I’m trying to understand Punk, then I think I would be upset that people were whispering about me behind my back. He just went about it in such a way that you wonder whether he knew he was injured and decided to go through with his planned screed and exit with a bang. Yeah, the fight is funny (and bad.) Yeah, the scrum is funny (and also bad.) But it’ll pass. What sticks with me is how Punk again seems to have killed his love for wrestling, and why that happened. Brought it up in the mega thread, I am bipolar and see a lot of my old destructive tendencies in his personality. Not in a position to diagnose anyone, but I imagine having a mental health issue that is compounded with years of everyone on the internet praising you/treating you like some sort of cult leader only makes destructive personality traits worse. You can also kinda get a glimpse into his personality by how he at times puts women on a pedestal. I would guess he had issues with his father and may have grown a distrust for men in certain spaces, for which he over compensates by forming bonds with women at a higher rate. |
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Post by The Dark Order Inferno on Sept 17, 2022 17:13:48 GMT -5
He was, but he's the Morrissey of wrestling, he's happiest when he's feeling aggrieved. Part of him was waiting to find some slight to set him off.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2022 3:40:52 GMT -5
Things he’s said over the past year, and things that have come out from other wrestlers.
A lot of it comes down to The business has changed in the past seven years. It’s not the same locker room he left. While he’s not the undertaker longing for the testosterone drunken fueled locker rooms of the 90s. A lot of that old school McMahon mentality still is pretty deep in his veins. I’m the vet so I’m always right and this is way it’s always been done.
He jumped into the deep end where someone like Jericho never left, has evolved over the years (Jericho does have his own problems,) he’s used their star power to help get guys over and plays a good mentor (and while being a good politician for himself) backstage. While he might have thin skin at times and has put his foot in mouth a lot. Also knows when to shut the hell up.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2022 9:39:34 GMT -5
He worked himself into a shoot and got triggered when Hangman said he was saving AEW from him.
That's what happened.
Punk is one of those guys who can dish it out but can never take it back. He's a hypocrite who thinks he's bigger than he is, basically.
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Post by Ringmaster on Sept 18, 2022 9:44:55 GMT -5
Was?
Did he leave? If so, I told you so.
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