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THE EXCELLENT CM PUNK STARRCAST INTERVIEW, WHO WILL HURT WHO MORE ON WEDNESDAY NIGHTS, NIKKII CROSS AND MORE

By Dave Scherer on 2019-09-08 10:01:00

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I saw that Mark Madden and Scott Hudson say that Mike Johnson did a great job interviewing CM Punk at Starrcast. What did you think of the interview?

Some will, undoubtedly, say I am biased due to the fact that Mike is my boy but those people would be wrong.  Mike did an amazing job, Hudson and Madden were 100% correct about that.  Mike conducted the whole interview in real time, without a cheat sheet to work off of, and it flew by.  He did an outstanding job of pacing the interview and making Punk feel comfortable.  It was some of the best work he has ever done, and that is saying something.  

What was your take on Punk and how he appeared on Starrcast?

I loved seeing Punk as at ease and happy in life as he is now.  He made it clear that his family and just being happy was his priority in life, and that is as it should be.  As he said in the interview, he pretty much did it all so there is nothing to have regrets about.  I hope that WWE watches and reaches out with an olive branch.  He would be a great surprise to, say, debut when the company starts on FOX next month.

Everyone (except you guys) says that AEW will hurt NXT on Wednesdays. I actually think that NXT is going to significantly hurt AEW.  NXT is an established brand AND it’s starting on Wednesdays earlier than AEW.  I know that AEW has their first few Wednesday venues booked. Should they be talking with TNT about moving to a different night - Tuesday or Thursday - and start booking venues on the new day?  I feel if they wait too long to do this, they’ll be too deep in the hole where TNT could lose faith in them completely.  I know they don’t want to look like they backed down to WWE, but they are new and relatively unknown. It would be understandable and maybe smart. Personally, I like both brands a lot.

Ever since AEW has been announced I have noticed that a lot of outlets have really jumped into the deep end of the pool and guaranteed success for the company.  Me?  Well I am not that naive.  Wrestling is an extremely hard business to become successful in.  AEW is off to a great start.  They are backed by a billionaire and have a slot on TNT.  I have said this before and will say it again.  If they were in a poker game they got dealt three aces.  That gives them a great chance, but they could still lose on the flop and the river.  I think the most likely scenario is that AEW will cut into NXT’s viewership and vice versa.  The difference is that NXT doesn’t need strong audience numbers to get a great TV deal the way that AEW does.  I think in a perfect world, AEW would move but the TNT schedule doesn’t allow that and even if they did move, nothing would stop WWE and USA from matching that move.  So, they are now locked in a battle.  They wanted a fight with WWE, well they got it.

Just watching the RVD/Shelton Benjamin match from 2006 on the “20 matches that define the IC title” special. Why do you think Benjamin didn’t rise higher in prominence within the WWE? He is/was an amazing wrestler....

Well, the answer is that no one pushed him the way that you and I agree he should have been pushed.  Why those in charge didn’t see how good he was?  I have nothing on that.  The guy has always been a consummate pro.

Why do the WWE announcers pronouns Nikki Cross' name wrong? If you listen to say her name, she is clearly saying "Nacky Krauss."

She has a Scottish accent so she pronounce it differently.  At the end of the day in WWE your name is what they say it is.

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