CM Punk chat

[AshC]

56 minutes ago, tiger_rick said:

It's balls though, isn't it? It's a guy who hadn't wrestled in 7.5 years coming back to a major promotion in front of a home town crowd who'd filled out the United Center in the hope/belief that he'd be there. If that's not a genuine audience, nothing ever will be again. That lad and Rick Moranis from WrestleMania 7 are the peak of crowd members.

Looks performative to me, sorry. Sure the reactions of thousands of people there were genuine. Maybe that guy was genuinely into it, in fact I'd wager he was. But it was definitely playing for the cameras and it takes me out of it every time I've ever seen that clip. 

Edited August 21 by AshC

[LaGoosh]

His crash out to this day still boggles me. Looked like he was living his best life, got injured the week after winning the title then came back from injury absolutely miserable on a complete war path self destruction mission.

The guy worked for years with Vince McMahon, Triple H, Michael Hayes, Bruce Pritchard, The Undertaker and a million other absolute knobheads in a toxic environment on a brutal full-time schedule but couldn't handle the Young Bucks (apparently and unproven) bitching about him to Dave Meltzer without crashing out? So fucking weird.

[Chico Torres]

1 hour ago, tiger_rick said:

It's balls though, isn't it? It's a guy who hadn't wrestled in 7.5 years coming back to a major promotion in front of a home town crowd who'd filled out the United Center in the hope/belief that he'd be there. If that's not a genuine audience, nothing ever will be again. That lad and Rick Moranis from WrestleMania 7 are the peak of crowd members.

How could you forget the kid jumping up and down and crying when Ron Simmons beat Vader for the WCW title?!

[DCW]

7 minutes ago, LaGoosh said:

His crash out to this day still boggles me. Looked like he was living his best life, got injured the week after winning the title then came back from injury absolutely miserable on a complete war path self destruction mission.

The guy worked for years with Vince McMahon, Triple H, Michael Hayes, Bruce Pritchard, The Undertaker and a million other absolute knobheads in a toxic environment on a brutal full-time schedule but couldn't handle the Young Bucks (apparently and unproven) bitching about him to Dave Meltzer without crashing out? So fucking weird.

That is what I can't reconcile either. He was finally free of those WWE twats, could basically do whatever he wanted on a much lighter schedule and he still went scorched earth. Now he's back working for a man who he must still hate deep down, the guy who sent him his walking papers the day before his wedding, and is pretending everything is rosy in the garden. Maybe the WWE brainwashing works.

[SuperBacon]

Nah, the smallest thing at work can make you snap. I once saw a very highly positioned finance officer absolutely lose his shit over someone eating his yoghurt out of the office fridge. He was put on leave straight away 😆

[Lorne Malvo]

Wasn't he trying to get back to WWE a few years before his AEW debut, but Vince wasn't interested? With my conspiracy hat on, I reckon about halfway though his AEW run he'd heard rumblings that WWE were open to the idea of bringing him back, and then his mindset was 'fuck it, maybe the grass is greener on the other side'. I'm not saying he was looking for reasons to leave the company and so maybe acted up a little more than he usually would, but I'm not not saying that either.

Obviously all of the above is wild speculation but it's crazy how he went from 'shucks, it's great to work here' to 'fuck this company' overnight. 

[tiger_rick]

14 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said:

Wasn't he trying to get back to WWE a few years before his AEW debut, but Vince wasn't interested? With my conspiracy hat on, I reckon about halfway though his AEW run he'd heard rumblings that WWE were open to the idea of bringing him back, and then his mindset was 'fuck it, maybe the grass is greener on the other side'. I'm not saying he was looking for reasons to leave the company and so maybe acted up a little more than he usually would, but I'm not not saying that either.

Obviously all of the above is wild speculation but it's crazy how he went from 'shucks, it's great to work here' to 'fuck this company' overnight. 

He was working WWE adjacent for a bit pre-Covid on the Fox show WWE Backstage, which apparently meant he was contracted to Fox and not them.

It's possible he decided he wanted to go back but I think it was just a case of him falling out with some people, going to Tony to sort it out and Tony refusing to take sides. That clearly offended Punk.

I know all them bad-faith accounts at the time liked to cry that Tony should "BE THE BOSS" and that Vince McMahon would never (despite every time he did) but Tony clearly liked them all and thought they were grown-ups who could behave like so. They weren't but that's not his fault. They all love the freedom and input he allows them when it suits them but not when it doesn't. 

Water under the bridge and I've long stopped caring about it. It was great, then it wasn't and now everyone has moved on.

[Chili]

52 minutes ago, SuperBacon said:

Nah, the smallest thing at work can make you snap. I once saw a very highly positioned finance officer absolutely lose his shit over someone eating his yoghurt out of the office fridge. He was put on leave straight away 😆

I love in between all those posts, Bacon drops this absolute pearl. Howling at this.

[Hannibal Scorch]

1 hour ago, Chili said:

I love in between all those posts, Bacon drops this absolute pearl. Howling at this.

Naa Financy Boy was right to be pissed, Yogurts aren’t cheap. What if it was an Onken Frufoo and someone stole the toy out of their yogurt?

Anyway the rumours were Punk didn’t sign until that afternoon as he was still trying to see if WWE would sign him. Doing that WWE Backstage show was a testing the water moment but they didn’t bite. It was also said that he had his own ideas of how the company should be run he felt disrespected as a veteran because no one took them seriously. I honestly think when he realised he was going to just be a guy on the roster and not have any seniority there, he checked out. And once he knew WWE was interested, he was just clocking in and doing the job. There was definitely a shift after his first return from injury. 
 

It also makes me laugh at how angry he got about the Bucks talking to Meltzer, as if he wasn’t also talking to the dirtsheets. Who knows what AEW would be like now if Cody stayed and Punk left [LeTissier_thinking.jpg]

Edited August 21 by Hannibal Scorch

[WrestlingForFun]

1 hour ago, SuperBacon said:

Nah, the smallest thing at work can make you snap. I once saw a very highly positioned finance officer absolutely lose his shit over someone eating his yoghurt out of the office fridge. He was put on leave straight away 😆

Crunch corner?

[Hannibal Scorch]

49 minutes ago, WrestlingForFun said:

Crunch corner?

No, sent home.

[AshC]

I went on a coach trip to the first All In, watched the whole show with no clue what had happened in the back. Then half the bus for the way back was like the Stonecutters decreeing they had to kill Homer. 😂

I thought it was quality, personally.

Real glass?

In your universe, it's all meant to be real, mate.

[LaGoosh]

From a pure story standpoint it's almost a shame that he didn't retire after that MJF feud. It would have been the perfect ending for the CM Punk character. He earns his redemption, destroys the ghosts of his past, reclaims his own history and defeats the new generation evil that he unwillingly created. Best feud he ever did by far. I don't think I've enjoyed anything he's done since. The character is completely stagnant and repetitive to me.

Edited August 21 by LaGoosh