AEW Media Scrum and Fallout

Well, the talk of the Professional Wrestling world after Labor Day weekend was not WWE’s sold-out stadium show, NXT’s farewell to NXT UK or AEW’S ALL OUT. The talk was about the post show “Media Scrum” (Never want to hear that word again) where newly crowned champion CM Punk took the opportunity to air out some grievances that haven’t been resolved which led to a locker melee between Punk, Ace Steele and The Elite (Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, etc.) that set wrestling twitter on fire.

Punk began the scrum by addressing a total rumor that has been circulating for months now that Punk got former friend Colt Cobana fired which led to one the EVPs (Nick Jackson) going to bat for Cobana and save his job along with pushing the narrative of the locker room does not like Punk and that he is a terror behind the scenes.

Again, all of this is speculation, backstage politics and a certain “Wrestling Journalist” lacking true journalist integrity plus being in a certain crew’s back pocket. To highlight the points that stood out from the tangent/tirade was Punk calling the EVPs (Omega and The Bucks) stupid and couldn’t run a target, Hangman Adam Page was a empty headed fuck for going into business for himself during a TV segment trying to defend Cobana followed by saying if anyone had a problem with him to come to him directly like adults which led to the event that flipped the weekend upside down.

Shortly after that Punk who we later found out torn his triceps returned to his locker room when Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks and others abruptly went to Punk’s locker room which led to a confrontation that escaladed quickly where accounts vary depending on who talks. Of course this left AEW looking completely out of control and embarrassing that this was happening in such a public way leading to owner Tony Khan having to grow up be a bad guy and suspend all parties involved plus strip the Trios (6 Man) and AEW World titles from said parties and go in a new direction especially with Punk being out 8-9 months from injury. So, the question is who is the blame for this?  So, let us begin at the top with everyone’s favorite “Booker” Tony Khan.

Tony Khan

Khan and his extreme fandom set this environment in motion by not nipping certain backstage issues in the bud since the Elite were always rumored in things going on with no repercussions whatsoever. Then at the scrum inside of jumping in and cutting Punk off from the explosive statement he sat there and did nothing.

Going forward hopefully Tony gets over himself and actually put a person with the proper experience and unbiased perspective to be the head of talent relations and let that person put out the fires or issues brewing backstage which that person would be Jim Ross and Khan move out the way and let Ross clean the mess up and make the back tolerable going forward.

Adam “Hangman” Page

Next in the blame chart is the hangman himself Adam Page who opened this whole thing up by going into business for himself in the segment with CM Punk the week before their big PPV gate at Double or Nothing this year all to stand up for… Colt Cobana!

Yes, that is not a typo for COLT COBANA who has not seen on TV for a year and when he was on TV, he was a background piece in a joking group like the Dark Order who are affiliated with the Elite who does not and has not helped the company’s bottom line or success at all.

That and Page’s very ignorant, nonchalant response to a question regarding taking advice from legends like Terry Funk basically saying he would not take the advice because he doesn’t need it which is disrespectful in many ways in the world of Pro Wrestling which led to a lot of tension and issue backstage plus set this whole incident in motion so give a heaping portion of this blame pie to the hangman whether he wants it or not.

CM Punk

Now is going to shock a lot of people but as a CM Punk “Stan” I also have neutral and equal perspective on things, so this situation is no different, as frustrated or pissed off Punk was the way he went about expressing things was not the best way to do so despite how honest and entertaining it was.

 Regardless of your take on Punk he is and was the big name attraction bringing in new fans and money to AEW, along with the speculation of different camps take of Punk backstage but Punk’s presence helped the company in every way but doesn’t give him the right to run down the company he represents as champion and their EVPs so publicly causing a fight or drama that was undeniable that reach the bottle neck point on that Sunday night.

Punk now whether he comes back or not now has to repair his image and perception of being impossible to work with and show people the Punk that many young talent (Like Wardlow, Powerhouse Hobbs and Max Caster) and established talent (Kofi Kingston, FTR, etc.) had access to with his advice and helping hand behind the scenes to help them and product be better overall.

The Elite

Last but not least the blame pie has plenty of helpings for the infamous clique The Elite consisting of Kenny Omega, Matt and Nick Jackson have had a bad reputation over the years for being political behind the scenes, wanting to work with their friends and associates instead of doing what would be best for business, and being known for leaking stories and narratives to wrestling journalists or media (Mainly Dave Meltzer) causing issues.

But how they managed Punk’s newest pipe bomb was not good especially since all three guys are executive vice presidents (EVPs) of AEW and lead to an altercation that got Matt Jackson punched, Nick Jackson banged up from a throw chair and Omega being bit plus his hair pulled. Like I said before in the words of the great uncle Ben “With great power, comes great responsibility” and this is a shining example of that statement and how they did not manage it correctly.

Going ahead the Elite are going to have stop doing certain things that lead to a divided locker room, show and product. Stop handling things like a high school cafeteria and speak up be professional while setting the example that should be followed, and lastly DO WHAT IS BEST FOR THE BUSINESS! Even you lose but if it makes big money and a better product or presentation that should be first more than anything else.

Now I did not go into depth with this because something comes out every day basically and pending legal investigation and actions going on tell us this isn’t far from over at the moment, but the fact that this what many view Pro Wrestling as is insulting to previous wrestling generations and their efforts because petty, childish, high school drama club garbage.

Hopefully this fiasco was a much needed wake up call to AEW from the top down and will attempt to be a good alternative product to WWE and compete in some fashion because they will not be able to be on equal footing with WWE at the moment. The inmates ran the asylum and now there’s sheer chaos and unfortunately shame that now need to be taken back by professionals in order to provide an excellent quality product.