Yeah, I’d be intrigued to see what they try to do with Goldberg. It’s a fine move in theory. They need starpower. But like Sting Fan said, I don’t know where he fits. Just seems like he would cloud the identity of the product even more.

If they keep building Hobbs as a force and then suddenly that music hits one night while he’s in the ring though, the place will go banana.

How dare they make wrestling fans actually watch wrestling. :roll:

Dave, I'm sorry. I know you are a big fan of the lucha guys, but it is ridiculous to expect people to go watch content from another company to help build a match, instead of doing it yourself.

All they had to was show a vingette of the guy on dynamite for a few weeks and talk about how epic the match would be.

But to do nothing, gives you no reason to care about the match. Sure, it's a spectacle. But without any real build up or emotion involved, its the wrestling equivalent of a tech demo.

Fignuts running over Dave like Rikishi ran over Steve Austin.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">From CM Punk’s Instagram story. <br><br>Holy shit. <a href="https://t.co/CE3ZyVZrON">pic.twitter.com/CE3ZyVZrON</a></p>&mdash; Louis Dangoor (@TheLouisDangoor) <a href="https://twitter.com/TheLouisDangoor/status/1639011295193190400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 23, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

lol Jesus Christ just pay the guy to go away already. Pay him out, have him sign an NDA and call it a fucking day. Even as a punk fan I’m tired of his ass.

lol Punk is such a bitch.

Also that last line about never putting the company above his health again....didn't he go out and do the match? That's confusing and seems contradictory unless he was cleared, in which case that whole spiel seems rather meaningless.

CM Punk is spot on

Who hacked Gertners account?

I figured he was saying “I put WWE ahead of my health in the past. I put AEW ahead of my health on this occasion. I won’t put any company ahead of my health again.”

Sorry, I don't get this at all. I don't think it's their responsibility anymore to control what I know as a fan. We have the internet now. If you wanna know what Vikingo can do, get on Google and find out!

I felt like they did plenty to put the match over. Excalibur explained everything there was to know, there's just not that much to it.

I’m so confused. If Moxley said he wouldn’t lose to Punk, then why did he lose to Punk?

I thought the same thing too but then I realized this must be about the match like 3 weeks earlier when Mox squashed him.

I absolutely fucking loved Punk’s first 9 or so months in AEW. Had a bunch of great performances against guys like Darby, Hobbs, and of course the MJF feud was brilliance. There were still a bunch of programs I wanted to eventually see Punk in.

But with that said, pains me to say it but they definitely just need to buy him out and send him on his way. Not even remotely worth the hassle.

But even in that interpretation Mox wins the first one and Punk wins the last one as a conquering hero. In Punk’s own words that’s explained to him as the plan. Mox is Clubber Lang and Punk is Rocky. Punk wins the feud.

It seems like Punk thought they either shouldn't do the match or that he should be the one going over the first time as well. I dunno. It seems weird that he wouldn't get why Mox was not gonna job to him in the first match knowing the outcome of the feud.

Knowing Punk he probably felt like jobbing to Mox in that first match was just punishment for him shooting on Page the previous Dynamite.

To this day I've never understood that squash in the middle of a Dynamite only for him to win it back after overcoming......something in his head...?....a couple of weeks later.

I swear this is all a simulation, AEW is just some ADD riddled kid playing Universe Mode and throwing shit against the wall.

Yeah......we did get the First Dance and MJF.......sigh......

In general you're right but I still want him back. I would start watching again. I can't help it. AEW has been the drizzling shits during his absences on just about everything since All Out. Now included.

Felt like things were headed in the right direction and everything was where it should be when he was there and without its an aimless holding pattern on everything.

I feel like a bit of the aimless feel is lack of recognised top of card talent at the top of the card. The shows feel skewed at times because as good as MJF is he doesnt feel familiar as a top guy.

Jericho, Mox, Punk, Omega and to a significantly lesser extent Page all felt like the focus of the show. I think this whole MJF only does special appearances thing is misfiring especially if you want him to reign a long time. Probably Page as champ started this feel then the Mox vs. Punk stuff refocussed it.

The way to get a young main eventer feel like a main eventer is to keep them hot, have them appear and have them the focus of the show. MJF doesnt feel like that atm to me anyway and I think its throwing the show off balance same way Hangman did as champ and I say that loving me some Hangman.

This is 100% correct. Save your money match for your biggest show. Mox doesn’t need to trade wins. He’s carved himself out as AEW’s tough guy so losing to Punk wouldn’t hurt him.

But I still don’t understand why Punk is claiming Mox wouldn’t lose to him. Maybe he’s mistaken. Maybe that’s why he deleted it.

Considerate Malcontent Punk

Punk has a LOT to say considering he is the worst professional fighter of all time. Jericho beat up Goldberg, invented beating up Brock Lesnar, and would pound Punk's face into oblivion.

If the company wants me to care about a guy coming in for a "dream match," they need to be showing me why I should be invested. Not everyone can sit down and watch a bunch of matches from other places.

A few quick vignettes would have been a great way to sell everyone watching Dynamite (some or many of whom may not watch other promotions) on who this guy was and why this match was a big deal.

ALSO, what aspiring fighter isn’t familiar with the Rocky franchise?

Call me Captain Skeptical

I can believe that Punk maybe thought he was "too cool" to watch Rocky.

Wish Sylvester Stallone would post an IG story about Punk being a loser for not knowing Rocky.

Agree to disagree. I don't care what year it is, or how accessible other content is. A wrestling show should be able to stand on it's own, without needing supplemental content to fully appreciate it.

Like, fuck's sake I have to deal with that enough with comic crossovers, I don't need it in my wrestling too. I drive a dodge stratus and I am very important and I don't have time for that.

Forget about having to learn who Vikingo is, why can't Tiny book a dream match with one of the like 200 people he has under contract instead? All this accomplished was lettings fans know don't have to bother watching unless some special attraction is coming in for a match.

For me, the term "Dream Match" lost all meaning when Dante Martin vs Rey Fenix was hyped up as one, like it is Rock vs Hogan or Sting vs Undertaker.

Also, AEW assigns too much homework as is. To understand what's going on, I have to watch 3 hours of main programming, However fucking long the two Dark programs are, two skit shows, and a zombie promotion. And even then it's easy to get lost. It didn't work when the James Gang feuded with Team 3D about a pipe used in WWE, and people actually WATCH WWE.

The thing is, much of what fucked up ROH to the point that it is a zombie promotion are the shithead marks that gatekeeped it, among other things. But let's do the same thing with AEW...

Whether you’re #TeamPunk or #TeamMeltzer, I’m just glad both sides can agree on one thing.

Plans change.

I don't really know how the Vikingo match was promoted or presented... but I vaguely recall people from Japan/Mexico showing up for some random matches in WCW/WWF when I was a youngling and even though I didn't know who they were I thought it was "cool" to see that "expanded world"

I guess the difference would be that they were not brought in for "holy poop, look at this dream main event match!!!" but just "Here's a unique showcase" somewhere on the card

If Hijo del Vikingo was brought in for a "unique showcase" against a low card guy, it likely wouldn't have gotten the reaction it got when he was brought in for a "Dream Match" against Kenny Omega.

I'm not a big ROH guy, never have been but I feel you kinda just summed up wrestling fandon a bit unfortunately.

CM Punk firing off some rounds. Good for him. Moxley is a fucking mess — it’s why Brock big-dogged his bullshit at Mania 32. He thought the two title changes was a good idea? Sign that guy to a 5-yr contract and pick his brain.

Meltzer is indeed a liar.

Jericho is indeed a liar and a stooge.

Where are the lies?

It sounds like Punk either compromised his health in the first match back, and he won’t do it again, or they wanted to do it earlier and Punk told them to get fucked because he was hurt. Either scenario is a bit fucked, but the second one in particular is sketchy as hell.

Bobby Fish Gimmick Infringement.

Noid with the exact take everyone knew he would have. Shocking.

If they made him go out there to do a stupid match/angle while not medically cleared, the press conference blow-up makes even more sense.

There he is. Knew Dale would be here to stan for his lover Noids take.