|
Post by Citizen Snips Has Left on Sept 9, 2023 7:09:21 GMT -5
It probably eventually comes to a head, anyway, it just doesn't derail a bunch of shit. It's not as big a what-if as "what if COVID never happens", but it's still one of the big branching points in the company's history. this and "what if Cody stayed in AEW" are probably two of the biggest branching points. Cody leaving AEW also had a massive effect on WWE, so I’d say it’s the biggest “What If?” in recent years for all of wrestling. It’s also the polar opposite of Punk in that it worked out tremendously well for all parties involved, whereas everyone came out of the Punk to-do much worse.
|
|
Bo Rida
Fry's dog Seymour
Pulled one over on everyone. Got away with it, this time.
Posts: 23,581
|
Post by Bo Rida on Sept 9, 2023 7:39:24 GMT -5
It's interesting because on one hand the MJF fued was fantastic but everything after was self indulgent crap. It seems they'd keep going back the mjf fued but The Firm would have played a part in things and they were a low point in aew history.
He was already annoyed some were cheering MJF over him in Chicago and I think more fans would have turned against him. Yet it seems he was never going to turn heel.
All conditions that suggest it would have been terrible on screen and probably would have kneecapped MJF's rise. Better Than You Baby would never have happened.
|
|
|
Post by rajaah on Sept 9, 2023 8:41:53 GMT -5
Instead of getting into a fight with the Elite, imagine if: When they showed up to talk to him, he just kicked back and went "Guys, guys, I'm ginning up some controversy. This is going to get EVERYONE talking. Just wait. ...now let's pretend we got into a big fight over this."
AEW's ratings and buyrates would have probably been considerably better over time. AFAIK they spiked the wedneday after Brawl Out from people tuning in to see what the follow-up would be. Plenty of people, myself included, thought the whole thing was probably part of the show and had done a great job getting people talking.
Then the next Dynamite had no follow-up and a Garcia/Yuta main event.
I think this whole thing was a primo opportunity for a Montreal-WWF level turnaround of business. So many things they could have done to capitalize on this controversy and get people tuning in. Just the massive amount of discussion online is evidence of that. Could have translated into recurring viewership instead of just "tune in for one show to see if they acknowledge this, then tune out when they don't".
I'm still not 100% sure this wasn't some sort of meta-work considering Punk's constant references to Bret (wearing his shirts, colors, etc) from early 2022 onward.
This whole thing is probably the biggest blown opportunity for a business turnaround that AEW has ever had and could have possibly propelled them to WWE's level if done right.
Of course, ALLLLLL of this is going off of the assumption that Punk isn't a bipolar man-child looking for things to be angry about because it's the only time he's comfortable with himself.
The one major downside to this whole thing being turned into a work post-scrum is that MJF would probably be lost in the shuffle a bit, as the guy who was actually supposed to be feuding with Punk next...
MJF never got that win back either.
It's gonna be a real middle finger to everyone in AEW if Punk goes to WWE and loses to Roman, Brock, and Finn Balor (probably the only guys willing to work with him) after he got unavenged wins over literally everybody in AEW.
|
|