Tony Khan terminates CM Punk's AEW contract

[Tom Guycott]

Originally Posted by Sting Fan (1)I don't get this whole idea that anyone in this situation had to make nice and attend any sort of meeting. A way forward was seemingly found that kept all parties somewhat happy and from that point surely it was moot. (3)Since the incident at the press conference the Elite have kept quiet from what I have seen. Not a word out of Hangman or Omega (until Omegas Pepsi bit the other day) and the Bucks have been pretty low key as well. Punk meanwhile went into business for himself (off air) post show on Hangman, the very thing that apparently started this whole beef when Hangman did it. If you trace this right back to the start it feels like a probably poor judgement call by Hangman in his promo led to a pretty unfortunate set of circumstances at the PPV post match probably exacerbated by Punk being pissed off about his injury and since then it kind of feels like Punk shadow boxing the world. (2)To this day I don't even think Hangmans promo was that out of line. If the answer to all of this now is "Shut up, get over it and make money" why wasn't that the answer back then when it was on Punk to be the bigger man? I remember hearing Hangmans promo and thinking it was solid work building things between the two of them. I was watching Young Rock the other night and couldn't help but Imagine the internet explosion if Rocks refusal to work HBK came out in the full on internet era, that would have been immense.

(1) The idea is that whatever the issues were between the factions could be aired out rather than letting fester or allowing the rumor mill to run at high gear. Apparently, the only person at any point who supposedly at least tried to bridge the gap on a personal level and should be credited was Kenny.

(2) Between Hangman's promo, the idea running rampant about Punk "keeping Colt Cabana off TV" or "trying to get him fired" or both when the company was already basically barely using him as it was (hell, I personally thought they were ghosting him like Chavo Guerrero said Tony ghosted him), and anything else about snide asides and cast aspersions have been there since he showed up.

(3) You can be "low key" and still be the asshole. The BTE recorded the night CM Punk came in was full of eye rolling and jerking themselves off. At the time, you wanted to give the benefit of the doubt that it was them "working". But bookended with the "victory lap" and sprinkled with the passive-aggressive shit in between. The guy already doesn't like the idea of being disrespected, so you turn around and poke fun of him multiple times in a match - when he isn't there, mind you. Or cover him up on the truck - again, when he isn't there.

I believe there was a comment made by Hangman at one point where he basically said CM Punk "isn't the angel here"... but the problem is that does a lot of implication that the other side - his side - were the angles. And as much as I'm on Punk's side on this whole mess, there were no angles. You can't say everything is all this one guy's fault when there's way too much stacked against him to begin with. There is no reason why a bunch of guys should act pissy and jealous that one guy is a bigger star even to the niche they created for themselves. And as much as there always seems to be the burden placed on "Phil should be the bigger/better/calmer man", no such caveats or burderns seem to be placed at the feet of the self-proclaimed "new four horsemen" or anyone who is their close personal friend or even in their immediate professional orbit.