AEW Drama & Nonsense

It has been a while since I’ve talked about anything AEW and that’s for a couple of reasons. The product has not been the best but hopefully will pick up this summer and the absolutely ridiculous backstage mellow drama that seems to be more covered than wrestling. Especially now with the news of Warner Brothers Discovery wanting a new show that will be on Saturday night called Collison, where the driving force for this show idea was the polarizing return of CM Punk which has set the IWC ablaze and divided but there is some drama with this possibility and I just want to vent some frustrations about the entire thing that from the fight from last year’s All Out.

Let’s start with the residual effects from that now infamous incident that happen at the All Out press conference where CM Punk and good friend Ace Steele got into a fight with The Elite consisting of Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks where chaos erupted that resulted in a suspension of the Elite and Punk who was going away regardless due to an injury but only added to the anti- CM punk narrative that seems to be prominent in the AEW locker room.

Obviously no one involved was innocent in that altercation because one thing fueled the other along with the absolute horrible management of Tony Khan which led to that bottleneck explosion that happened. Yes as much as I am a pro CM Punk guy but he didn’t handled this the best and made his boss look pathetic, while the Elite/Jericho side did not make this better by running to wrestling insiders (Not going to call them journalist because the obvious bias from each source) only made matters worse, so here are some of the things that possibly bury this whole thing and set things straight as well as what is best for business.

Keep Meltzer Away: Right away I will go to heart of all this in my opinion and that is the well-established insider of insiders Dave Meltzer who has an absolute bias towards The Elite from day 1 and disgustingly crowning them the best thing ever years ago that in some ways is the foundation of AEW but can very well be the thing that kills it quickly. Meltzer is also close to one Chris Jericho who in this incarnation of his career has come off as the old wrestler trying to be relevant but also is favorited very much by good old Uncle Dave.

Dirt sheets in professional wrestling has done more harm than good as years go by and if Tony Khan ever decides to have some backbone and stop this kind of gossip drama by limiting, distancing Meltzer from talent and if talent go against that order have severe consequences to send the message that the drama has to stop.

Elite Accountability: We continue with the Elite who have ran roughshod over Khan and let this kind of behavior not only be allowed but go unpunished. There is a history of the Elite going to their number one supporter in Meltzer to put out certain narratives they want and stir pots. Also, they are the EVPs of the company and handled “Brawl Out” poorly with their approach but if it’s not the core 3 wrestlers then it’s the others around them that shouldn’t be able to do the things they do like Brandon Cutler and the rising Adam Page who started all this if you want to blame a side.

But holding the Elite accountable, be professional, and do business to make the promotion better looking pass themselves. Unfortunately, that is a wait and see which probably will not happen because it has been tolerated since its inception but if they want to truly fix the problem then this is one thing that must happen.

Draw the Line with Punk:  I am as big of a CM Punk fan that can exist, but Punk can be a bit challenging to work because of his blunt honesty in a sport/business that doesn’t totally enjoy that. Punk at All Out was frustrated and fed up with the excessive whisper campaign that was going on including him and his ex-best friend now enemy Colt Cabana which Punk took the moment at the press conference to finally address the issue and the rest is history.

Punk made his boss and owner of AEW Tony Khan look foolish by belittling him and in an odd way chumping him out which is not professional. Yes Punk is reacting to the actions happening, but this could have been handled better and professionally considering the perception and narrative of him throughout the industry. Punk does have leverage in this entire situation but if Tony wants to be respected and taken seriously then as much as he views Punk as his “Plus Delta” he has to tell Punk that certain lines can not be crossed again going forward if this pans out.

Tony Khan Grows Up:  My last thing is a very simple one that would solve all of this but in all honesty won’t happen because some factors involved, and this putting all parties together in a room to hash out everything and DO BUSINESS! This ongoing high school cafeteria drama has only taken over AEW but has hurt it in ways that have not been seen yet. Once again calling everyone’s favorite owner Tony Khan to the carpet by not asking but demanding he takes control of his locker room bring the Elite, Jericho and Punk together have them hash it all out like professionals and go do what is best for the business of AEW. Tony also desperately must delegate his duties to the proper people to lighten the load before this gets away from him entirely.

Simply put it Tony needs to show backbone, command respect, and make people do their job correctly since he is writing these nice checks. And, if for some reason someone doesn’t do that then set a tone and let them go including Punk at this point. Yes Khan is a nice guy who is a big fan of wrestling and can now have his own promotion, but his handling or lack thereof when it comes to AEW has been bad and this situation still hovering over everything is bad all because someone along the way did not say “Hey this isn’t helping our business, let’s get it together”  that is of course if they wish to expand business and the audience past the devoted anti-WWE crowd behind them.

So, we shall see what happens the next couple of weeks leading to the first episode of Collison that’s in Chicago, so do CM Punk return or not? What effects will all this going have to on a very eventful summer for AEW, but I think we as wrestling fans can all agree regardless of which side of the aisle, we stand that this unnecessary, childish, One Tree Hill drama that’s happening is not going to do any good for anyone who cares about wrestling and not themselves. Put it simply DO BETTER PLEASE!