Sports Entertainment

Looks like the "Elite ran Punk off just like they ran Cody off!" canard has made a return.

This means the Elite are Mind Flayers who had the power to manipulate Punk into getting into another fight and then go scream at TK in his locker room.

Not sure how many times Cody has to debunk that he was "run off" and state that the Elite are his buds. Punk actually had more to do with Cody leaving than the Elite did, because Punk was signed at a much larger contract than Cody had at the time. The salary structure was really upset by the signing of Punk, and since then a bunch of people had to get raises (including all of the Elite) to balance it out. Cody wanted a raise to something closer to what Punk had, and didn't get it. Combine that with how he always saw WWE as his unfinished business, and he had to bounce for now.

Cody was also pretty irritated that Punk got so much credit for calling for breaking up the wrestling monopoly. Cody and friends actually DID that while Punk sat at home griping about politics on social media for years. So yeah, nobody at all "ran Cody off" but I'd say Punk had an actual role in his irritation.

Araxen said:

Jade going to WWE.

Click to expand...

WWE's gonna be better for Jade. She needs a lot of work on the training side and they can up her presentation. Tons of star power there. I'd say it's a big loss for AEW but I'm pretty sure TK had no plans / idea what to do with her post-streak. She wasn't going to be interacting with the women's championship tier (Hayter, Toni, Saraya, Britt, Shida, Rosa) on any real level that I know of. But maybe that's cause she was leaving, I dunno. Chicken and egg sort of situation here.

Brian Pillman Jr also went to WWE and that's a good call too. AEW never knew what to do with the guy. He's also got star potential but needs to be refined.

Say what you will about WWE and their myriad issues but they DO know how to refine "potentials" into stars and they do that better than anyone.

Thunder Rosa should jump to WWE next. Not because she needs refinement, but because most of the other women in AEW inexplicably hate her and I really don't know why.

Asmadai said:

Hahaha i'm sorry, but I fucked geeked out like a little child at the start of this week's Smackdown.

That was fantastic.

Click to expand...

Its looking like a tiny ppv, pretty cool.
WWE really going for it before they go into new negotiations for TV deals.

Yeah Smackdown seems to be killing it from the clips I'm seeing.

Also, mark it on your calendars, calling it here first, Punk is gonna be at Survivor Series. It's the main reason he didn't file a wrongful termination lawsuit against AEW or unleash a blistering rant about them online (which he considered, and wanted to do, respectively). Those things would significantly hamper his ability to get back on with WWE so I take it he worked something out and has switched to "best behavior mode" instead.

Vince is all about the dollaroos. Seth, Kevin and Sami (among others) are going to be pissed, considering all 3 of them factored Punk into their 2022 decisions to not go to AEW.

Chris said:

I don't belive this at all. They all have solid spots in WWE and Vince seems to like/trust them.

Seth in particular is never going to go to AEW. Ever.

His wife has equal star power to him and she isn't going to go to a 1 womans match promotion. He'd have to divorce her or she retires to raise their kids.

That's not even taking his own career into account where he is main event level.

Click to expand...

You're right about Seth, he's way too tied to WWE. He did at the very least float the idea of leaving, which led to his current title run, but it's more likely it was a Randy Orton esque idle threat so WWE would meet him halfway. He also despises Punk though.

Kevin and Sami on the other hand really did strongly consider going to AEW, not just using it as leverage, and factored Punk's presence there into staying where they were. Both were spinning their wheels in WWE at the time. This was before the Bloodline stuff or Kevin vs Austin, both of which were part of their staying. They got pay raises and assurances that they'd be used better, like "here are some ideas we've got for you guys". Basically letting them know they weren't gonna float aimlessly anymore.

All 3 guys are also close with The Elite, especially Kevin. They didn't want to have to share a locker room with Punk, even if it meant being around their friends. They ain't gonna be happy to have Punk come into their current workplace.

We're basically going to get the 2002 Vince McMahon "lethal dose of poison" storyline in real life here. Except it's all gonna be kept really quiet most likely until he shows up at Survivor Series in whatever role they decide to go with. I hope for their sake they go with a one-year contract and see how that goes. I'm sure he'll be "best behavior Punk" in the WWE environment since he'll no longer have the "I'm here to save everyone" chip on his shoulder that he had backstage in AEW.

In other words, I suspect things are going to go fine. Punk's a completely different person when he's humbled / around other alphas versus when he thinks he's the top shit. Kind of an insult to everyone who put his ass over in AEW though