CM Punk on Dynamite

CM Punk was right (again)

After CM Punk's appearance on the MMA Hour a week and a half ago, I penned an article that discussed why the real-life Phil Brooks was right, as he more or less confirmed, at least from his perspective, many of the common criticisms of All Elite Wrestling. Brooks took a measured approach to the interview and is smart enough to know the impression it would make. He didn't rant and rave or name call, he calmly explained his side of the story. Sure, it was his personal viewpoint, but nothing that he said would dissuade anyone from the typical notion that CM Punk is a star that draws money, but he's also a smug jerk. Those that have that opinion of Punk weren't given a reason to stray from it, but rather only a reason as to why Tony Khan seemed so inept at his job. That's the other key piece of the interview, Brooks didn't lambast the AEW promoter as a terrible person. In fact, he said the opposite, he confirmed that Tony Khan is a nice guy, and to be fair to him, that's as common of a statement as the usual criticism of the product.

Punk was asked about what happened with the backstage fight with Jack Perry at Wembley Stadium and he answered. In my view, while Punk is smart enough to know what to say and how to say it, as well as the reaction it would generate, it didn't seem like some attempt to sink the entire company, but rather discuss those that Punk thought mismanaged the situation in London. It's well-known that Brooks has many friends on the All Elite roster, and he's aware that those performers make good money because AEW exist.

Just days after CM Punk played a key role in an angle at Wrestlemania 40, despite the fact that he's on the injured list from triceps surgery, Tony Khan made the decision to air the backstage security camera footage of the Punk/Perry fight at All Out. To say that this was a completely disparate attempt by the organization to get a one-week ratings boost is a total understatement. What exactly is the point of this? What's the payoff? How is it going to be used to draw money when the guy at the center of the controversy isn't even under an AEW contract? Furthermore, he's under contract to the WWE so Dynamite spotlighted a guy that works for the other company. Tony can't book CM Punk vs. Jack Perry on pay-per-view so what does this accomplish, other than providing an opportunity for Phil Brooks to be proven right?

Granted, this isn't the first time that desperation led a pro wrestling company to try to do anything to get noticed by a shrinking audience. When World Class was fading, there was suddenly another Von Erich until the fans found out that Lance was a fraud. When the NWO generated a bigger viewing audience than Raw, fake Diesel and fake Razor Ramon showed up. When WCW was near the cliff, everything was booked as a "worked shoot" with the concept that fans "should watch this because this is actually real, not the phony stuff that WCW tried to sell last week." The year that counterfeit Razon and Diesel were on WWF programming was one of the worst financial years in the history of the company. WCW was sold for pennies on the dollar, and World Class went out less than two years after it was revealed that Lance wasn't actually a member of the Von Erich family.

Obviously, the difference is that money is no object for All Elite Wrestling. Shad Khan is a billionaire, and reportedly, his net worth increased to $12.2 billion over the past year. So, while AEW lost an estimated $34 million in 2023, Tony's dad added a few more billion dollars to the family bank account. All Elite will continue to exist for as long as Tony Khan wants to play promoter, but this specific incident, where they relied on a guy they fired eight months ago to prop up the ratings after the numbers have declined several weeks in a row, might be the point in retrospect where it was determined that All Elite Wrestling won't be taken seriously as a competitor in the pro wrestling business.

The most damaging aspect of the backstage footage that was aired, was the fact that it proved that Punk's account of the story on the MMA Hour was accurate. Punk said that had had a verbal confrontation with Perry, he swatted at him and then put him in a front face lock. The video that was aired on Dynamite confirmed the story of the competitor that pointed out how much of an amateur hour organization it is.

The look of embarrassment on the face of  Tony Schiavone at the desk after the segment aired speaks volumes.

This video was presented under the guise that it was used to promote the upcoming FTR/Young Bucks match at the Dynasty pay-per-view next week, but the footage had absolutely nothing to do with the hype for the tag match. Regardless of what the intention was or the excuse that might be said publicly for why the footage was aired, make no mistake about it, this was a lose-lose situation for AEW. Obviously, this was put on television to try to draw better ratings, because in theory, everything that is booked to air on TV should be designed to get viewers. However, if this week's episode of Dynamite draws a drastically bigger number than any of the recent episodes, it proves that CM Punk is still the biggest draw in the company even though he doesn't work there. If the backstage footage doesn't draw a better number, it suggests that Dynamite still can't increase numbers with its most desperate promotional tactic.

As far as Jack Perry goes, he had minimal value to the company before, especially after he provoked a confrontation with his comments during the All Out broadcast, but is worth absolutely nothing to AEW now. Perry got smacked around and choked by the guy that got dominated by rookie competition in the UFC so what does that say about the former Jungle Boy?

The most ironic aspect of all of this is that Tony Khan has Will Ospreay, Kazuchika Okada, Mercedes Mone, Jon Moxley, Bryan Danielson, Adam Copeland, Eddie Kingston, Samoa Joe, and many other talented performers on his roster, but chose to feature the talent that he fired eight months ago on television, not to mention make the controversy a topic of conversation again in the industry.