Want more wrestling news, rumors, and results? Be sure to visit PWInsider.com and PWInsiderXtra.com.
I have gotten a LOT of feedback asking me what my take was to what was said on last night’s AEW All Out Post game scrum, for things said by both CM Punk and Tony Khan and you know me, I definitely have an opinion! This was one of those nights that despite 15 matches and 5 hours plus of wrestling, the real news came from what happened after the show was over. For those of you who only want to read “the news”, it’s time to leave now. This will be a full on opinion piece because it’s starting to feel like there’s a very real chance that AEW’s latest million dollar gate may be its last if Tony Khan doesn’t become the leader of his company that, for whatever reason, he has resisted becoming thus far.
Obviously, the talk of the evening were CM Punk’s comments during the scrum. I will save those for later because at the end of the day, that is the situation that clearly details the problems surrounding AEW, all of which are due to the culture that Khan himself has cultivated. But first, let’s get into comments that Khan made about the level of success of last night’s show and the hurdles it faced. His comments will be italicized, followed by my commentary on what he said.
Tony Khan’s Take on WWE
There's a big difference between this year and last year. We were the first professional wrestling show and the only professional wrestling show on Labor Day weekend last year, and we were the third professional wrestling show of the weekend this year. I don't think that's a coincidence. When I talk about things I wasn't thrilled about, I was a little surprised we were the third professional wrestling show this weekend, and it's probably a little bit more challenging in the marketplace when it becomes a little more crowded.
He was surprised, why exactly? It was made clear a while ago that there would be competition from the Clash At The Castle this weekend. Worlds Collide? Well that was announced a few weeks ago as well. In any case, he knew the Clash would happen so I don’t see where the surprise came from. At the end of the day Tony, it’s business. You have gloated many times when you have bested WWE. You don’t expect them to respond in kind? What world do you live in, my man?
Our performance -- in prior years, we never had this kind of competition. This was kind of a first for us in AEW to see this kind of a crowded marketplace. I'm not sure if this is what we'll see from now on. I am very happy with the numbers we did, given the competition we had. The number is the number and I have to face the competition that is out there.
You may not be sure what to expect from them but I have a pretty good idea. You have crowed so many times when you got the upper hand on them that you deserve whatever they fire back at you. Had you and your people not mocked them when they were bested by you and your company, you would seem sympathetic here. But that isn’t the case. You punched them, they punched back. They cost you buys for your show, which you can blame on them for sure. Or, you can blame yourself for not doing a good job putting together a show that people wanted to spend $50 to watch, especially on a weekend where people could watch two WWE shows for relative pennies on your dollar. In truth, I am sure there is a mix of both but the bottom line is if you had told better stories going into the PPV, more people would have paid to watch it. Instead, you continually pushed Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks and The Trios tournament as your main event on Dynamite and more than 200,000 people turned your show off three weeks in a row. That isn’t on WWE, that’s on you, the booker. Your writing made people who wanted to invest in your TV show change the channel. You also made them decide NOT to buy the PPV. WWE had nothing to do with people turning off the show, that falls on you. You can blame WWE all you want, but in doing so you are exonerating yourself of any blame and that is a huge mistake. Yes, the threat from WWE is real and their vastly improved product will make it an even bigger challenge for you. Yes, you shouldn’t have poked Paul Levesque the many times that you did when you didn’t think there was any way that he would ever take over the company and poke back. But that is your reality. In Chris Jericho’s ridiculous interview a few days ago he said, while showing how much he actually WAS concerned with what WWE is doing, that he wasn’t and AEW was what you guys were concerning yourself with and focusing on. Guess what? Even though he was duplicitous as all hell when he said it, he’s actually right. WWE is on the rise again with at least some of the fans you counted on to support you when they abandoned them so the best way to compete is to fix the terrible job booking that you have been doing for months now. You also should clean up the mess that your EVPs have allowed your locker room to become, but I will get to that later.
When I compared myself to Jim Crockett Promotions this weekend, I think I got a taste of the same medicine Jim Crockett Promotions took, but I have a lot more f****** money than Jim Crockett did. I'm serious. I'm not gonna sit back and take this f****** s***.
So much to digest here, seriously. First, do you really have the money, or does your dad? I honestly don’t know. If it’s yours, great. If it’s your dad’s, well he didn’t get rich by pissing money down the drain. There is some point where the tap will be cut off if he doesn’t think AEW can be profitable. Beyond that, guess what? It doesn’t matter that you have more money than Crockett, or even the McMahon family. The McMahons have HUGE REVENUE STREAMS. You don’t. That is what matters. They turn a big profit every year. If you don’t, you are forced to spend your family’s money. That is the textbook definition of a money mark. In Crockett’s case, he made bad decisions when taking on WWE, you know, like the decisions you have been making lately with your booking and allowing your locker room to become a war zone.
I've had a number of interactions with [WWE]. I've said a lot of nice stuff, and I don't regret saying nice stuff because I'm super honest about pro wrestling. And when I saw good stuff there, I'll be the first to say it. I am just not feeling the same love. I don't want to get into it. I just haven't felt the same reciprocation from them. If it is, when the fight is brought, I will continue bringing fights of my own, and I have unique ways to do that. I have a lot of money to fight with. And this is not a game to me. This is my life, and I don't think it's a joke, and I take it really seriously.
If you really believe this, you need a chair shot to the head. Seriously. If you are acting like you haven’t taken shots at them then son, you are living the spoiled rich kid life. Own up to your actions. You aren’t the victim here, not by a long shot. You gave shots so you have to take shots. You continuing to think this way could doom your company. Throwing money at the problem is not the answer. Fixing your problems is the only way you can turn this mess around.
CM Punk’s Truth
I am sure there are some people who watched what Punk said last night and made him the heel. Guess what? One of those people wasn’t Tony Khan. When Punk rightly called out Hangman Page for the ridiculous off-script promo he did on Punk, which made no sense at all, Khan nodded in agreement. When Punk said that Page is a goof for not accepting advice from people who have forgotten more about the business that he will ever know, Khan nodded. When Punk called out the EVPS for planting stories in friendly outlets about him “getting Colt Cabana fired”, among other things, Khan nodded. I could go on.
In a nutshell, while you can question whether Punk SHOULD have made the statements that he made, you can’t deny their validity and if you want to try to, the boss was sitting right there and agreed with him. Punk told the truth, no matter how uncomfortable it is from Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks and Adam Page's side. And it’s a truth that needs to be stated publicly because AEW is starting to rot from the inside and if it’s not addressed soon, this could be the beginning of the end.
Here is the fact. Omega and The Bucks are Executive Vice Presidents in the company, officers who should put AEW’s best interest above their own. In Khan’s talent meeting a few weeks back, while Kenny reportedly talked down to the crew, with one source saying that he actually said he wouldn’t have hired 80 percent of the people there, The Bucks supposedly said that the talent can talk to them any time with issues. Uh, really?
So in Kenny, you have a guy who acts like he is better than everyone else on the roster, with one report being that he told the talent words to the effect that they should work harder to be like him. Be like him? Why? For his much hyped return on Dynamite, he came onto our screens and over 200,000 people turned off the show. It started a three week pattern. Hell, I could go on Dynamite and do the same thing without any advice from Omega. If, “Listen to me and I will show you have to make 20 percent of the audience change the channel” is your selling point, you should just keep your mouth shut.
As for The Bucks, who would go to them for anything? Even if you leave the personal element out of it, just look at their recent actions. FTR, who have been mysteriously held down for a while now, managed to get hot anyway. It was time for them to beat The Bucks in the third match to win the war when the Jacksons decided turning babyface was the right way to go. Well for them maybe since it would mean they could avoid a loss. But if you are a wrestler on that roster and you saw an EVP put themselves ahead of what is right for business, why would ever go to them about anything? I sure as hell wouldn’t as all I would be doing was giving them more rope to tie me up with. And you know, the fans probably noticed this too because they weren’t just turning off Kenny when they changed the channel, they were turning them off too so maybe some fans have had enough of them as well.
I get that this isn’t a comfortable position for Matt, Nick, Kenny and Adam. They were pillars of the company when it started and let’s be honest, no one else would have paid them what they got paid or made them EVPs. They probably think that they built AEW (which I totally disagree with, the Khan money built it but they were important to the project no doubt) and they see it slipping away from them as better talents are coming in and more fans care about the new people than the old guard. The truth is, they took it as far as they could and then ratings started to drop. CM Punk and Bryan Danielson came in, and ratings perked up. As the audience has shown the last three weeks, it’s clear from the quarter hours that Omega and The Bucks are less popular than most other acts on the show. That’s a hard pill to swallow but guess what guys, as officers of the company you should be putting what is best for AEW ahead of what is best for yourselves. Yeah I know, fat chance. That is exactly why I would never make active wrestlers EVPs and their actions are a huge part of the divide that is in the AEW locker room right. And again, it’s a problem that Khan himself has created and allowed to fester.
That led to Punk’s venting last night and frankly, I don’t blame him a bit. Put yourself in his position. Officers in the company, guys who are causing viewers to tune out every week and seem to only be concerned for their own spots, are alleged to be doing things that are clearly meant as a way to hurt your standing….and, the boss does nothing about it. There are numerous reports that after Punk’s statements, The Bucks confronted him backstage and it led to a heated situation. There are conflicting stories I will just leave it at that but again, Tony Khan has set up a culture where EVPs get into physical altercations with employees. It’s a sad indictment of the terrible job he has done as the leader of the company.
You can think whatever you want about Punk’s actions but I support them 100 percent. There is nothing I loathe more in this world than sneaky, passive aggressive weasels that tell lies in the shadows. I like people who handle things straight on, like adults. If Khan hadn’t allowed this zit to continue growing, Punk wouldn’t have had to pop it. So much like the fight coming from WWE, Khan needs to man up and acknowledge his part in this mess and do something about it before it gets even worse.
So here we are. Tony Khan should be sitting on top of the world after drawing that gate, even if the war he chose to start with WWE with his incendiary comments and what he has allowed former WWE talents to say on his TV, as well as the toxic culture he has allowed to fester, is probably making it hard to enjoy today. I don’t feel sorry for him in the least. He has created this mess and he’s the only one who can fix it. How he acts now could very well determine the long-term future of AEW.
If you enjoy PWInsider.com you can check out the AD-FREE PWInsider Elite section, which features exclusive audio updates, news, our critically acclaimed podcasts, interviews and more by clicking here!
Bang On Casino
