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What’s your take on the AEW audience changing reactions to CM Punk. Full Gear 2022 the Elite get thousands of AEW Fans to chant “F CM Punk.” During Punk’s final 2023 months, he got a lot of boos from different towns he was in. Now in 2024, after Tony showed the All In footage, the fans are chanting “CM Punk” again, even though he ain’t gonna be making kind of run in.
This is what I think happened. Back in 2022, one prominent….I can’t call him a reporter, let’s go with gossip monger who printed skewed stories to support his slanted agenda, blatantly lied about what was going in with Punk backstage in AEW. I don’t know if he lied on purpose or if it’s that’s he’s just really bad at his job and was fed bad information and ran with it, but at the time a lot of people looked at him as a respected source of news so what he said carried weight. Since then, he has been blatantly exposed for what he actually is and I think that now a lot of those who were against Punk in 2022 because they were fed lies that would make them see him as the villain know they were lied and now know the truth, so they support Punk. I also think that’s part of the reason AEW keeps losing audience and house show business year over year.
I am reading about how the matches each have a producer but I am not sure what that means? What exactly does a producer do for a match? Do they set up the match move by move?
The producer basically get the directive on what creative wants to accomplish in the match and goes over the plan with those involved. A producer is basically the manager of the segment that they are in charge of.
AEW aired the All In footage. It tracks with CM Punk's interview with Ariel Helwani. Helwani puts up the footage along with Punk's narration, and AEW claims copyright? Seriously, how bad does this look for AEW? Everything Punk said was shown to be true on video, which gives credence to everything else he said about Khan, the Bucks, Page, etc. Punk said he has an NDA on Brawl Out, except it's for nothing he did wrong, it's gotta make you think that's true too. How in the world did those idiots think that was going to embarrass or hurt Punk?
It all comes down to one idiot, the man Mike Epsenhart has given the name of The Final Bozo, Tony Khan. If it wasn’t just him being a petulant child, the only reason I could see him doing it is to pop a rating. If so, great, you did a little better last week Tony. Let’s see what happens this week.
As a Canadian I hope Wrestlemania goes to Minneapolis as it is only 8 hours from me. I would love to bring my son their for his 18th birthday and grade 12 graduation. We have both been fans our whole lives and went to lot of events. Wrestlemania would be the goal and surprise for his amazing school academics. My fear is that it wasn't announced in Philly where Wrestlemania will be next year. I feel that with Minneapolis having major changes to Uber and Lyft that the WWE wants multiple ways to move 10's of thousands of people after the event. There is a whole thing about paying drivers and Uber/Lyft are looking at leaving May 01st. Your thoughts on how having limited to no rides might cause the WWE to move the 2nd biggest event next to Super Bowl elsewhere.
Your fear is well placed. The transportation issue is indeed something WWE is considering from what I have been told. There is talk that it’s going to come down to Minneapolis or Las Vegas. If it were me making the decision, I would pick Vegas. Obviously I am biased but the numbers don’t lie. The NFL loved how my city handled the Super Bowl. They will be back. We have a very new $2B state of the art venue in Allegiant Stadium. Getting rides for out of towners won’t be an issue. You can walk to the Stadium easily from the South Strip and tram down there very easily as well. Plus, it’s Vegas and remember, UFC is based out of here so TKO has familiarity. To me, as much as it would great in Minnesota, it would be better in Vegas. Take a road trip with your son if that happens!
Eric Bischoff said something I always thought about most AEW wrestlers - most of their presentation is very unimpressive and repetitive. Hook looks like any 20 something one would see riding the subway en route to his graveyard shift at the docks. Kyle O’Reilly looked like he just rolled out of bed during his backstage interview return. Cash Wheeler was clad in an unflattering Homer Simpson shirt that was cool in 1990. Lastly, Will Ospreay - the franchise star - looks like he can’t be bothered to wear anything with a hemline - like a HS jock. Everyone else wears black. Do you think one of the reasons AEW has trouble resonating with casual fans is lackluster presentation of their stars?
You make a good point. Presentation, both in appearance and booking, is important to the masses. It might not be to AEW’s current audience but for people who watch WWE and then find AEW, it doesn’t compare well aesthetically.
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