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Where the hell did Seth Rollins vs. Omos at Backlash come from?
The minds of the WWE booking team I guess. That one surprised me too. It came out of nowhere. Why they just didn’t wait until tomorrow and make an attempt to explain it, I have no idea.
What’s in it for Dave Meltzer to put himself in the middle of the AEW drama?
Ordinarily, I would stay away from questions like this because I don’t really want to get into why competitors of the site do what they do but as you stated, Dave Meltzer has made himself a focal point of the AEW-CM Punk-Elite drama for months now and by doing that, he has opened himself up to major criticism. I also want to make this clear. There is reporting and there is commentating. In this column, I comment on issues. I give my opinion. It’s clear that’s what I am doing. The problem arises when people start their opinion as if it’s a fact. So with that said, on to your questions.
I have no idea what he thinks is in it for him. Either he is really bad at his job, and doesn’t understand that both sides have done things that have made this situation worse, or he just wants to ignore the fact that The Elite side fired the first public shot when Hangman Page went off script and shot on Punk on National TV. Any fair person would realize that BOTH sides played a part in the situation. Meltzer refuses to do that. In fact, in an audio clip that an Elite member of the site sent us, which Mike Eps and I talked about in great depth on last week’s FMB, Meltzer made ridiculous statements like of course Punk will work with The Elite but will they want to work with him. Uh Einstein, it’s the other way around. The ratings show that Punk increased them while The Elite loses viewers. If one side should be begging to work with the other, it’s The Elite who should be begging to work with Punk. He is the guy that moves the needle. They move people to change the channel, and the ratings back that up. He also said Punk should apologize to them for his actions. I don’t know how he grew up but where I come from when two sides do things wrong, BOTH sides should apologize. For him to not understand that, well I can’t give any good reason for his line of thinking. I know that in his year end reader polls AEW won almost everything in a landslide, so I guess that could factor into it but I honestly don’t know.
Why does Meltzer feel the need to sabotage CM Punk while being apologetic and protective of The Elite?
Again, that’s another question only he can answer.
Is he that resentful that Punk moved the needle for AEW while his style of wrestling sponsored by The Elite didn’t move it at all? Isn’t the real reason Dave Meltzer is trying to sabotage CM Punk returning to AEW is that he’s resentful and jealous of the fact that Punk has been more over sold more merchandise and moved tv numbers than all of The Elite combined? I’m a fan of Meltzer’s historic knowledge of wrestling but his credibility is shrinking by being the pr for The Elite?
There are definitely people in AEW who don’t want Punk there. I have heard from people in the company that I hadn’t spoken to in years contact me out of the blue to feed negative information on Punk, some of which I saw “reported” elsewhere. The irony is that Punk was doing the AEW style of wrestling over a decade ago in Ring Of Honor. He’s more what AEW should be than The Elite are. Again, I don’t know his motivations but it certainly seems like he takes what he sees as the AEW style very personally. For him to choose the AEW product over a decades long friendship with Jim Cornette was really telling to me, and also something I could never understand. I am thankful that I don’t understand that way of thinking to be honest with you.
Also why has Meltzer badmouthed FTR in all of this? Is it more jealousy that they are a better team and talented than the suckers of puckers or whatever you call The Young Bucks?
This is the main reason I answered you questions. Dax Harwood made a comment on his podcast to the effect of - Hey, wouldn’t it be cool if FTR teams up with Punk to take on The Elite at Wembley! Yeah, that does actually sound pretty cool to me. But, Meltzer felt the need to get involved and took Dax to task for the statement. I didn't understand why he did it then and I still don't now. Again Einstein, what is so egregious about that? First off, AEW is trying to sell tens of thousands of tickets for the England debut. Uh, with all that has gone on between the sides, that match would be a pretty good start, especially to the smart fans who know the behind the scenes drama. There was no reason to go after the guy for saying that but we know what happened. So I said to myself - Well. who would have an issue with that match? Dax put it out there. Meltzer already said “of course Punk would work with them” or some variant thereof. Hmmm, who then would have an issue? At least one member of The Elite maybe? At the time, I just laughed at how obvious it all was but then this week Dax Harwood announced he was ending his podcast due to the fact that he has been dealing with anxiety issues. So Meltzer accused someone dealing with a mental health issue of, well whatever the hell he accused him of, it still makes no sense to me. That was bad enough but Dax also mentioned that fans have harassed his young daughter with vile comments in the fallout of the statements. I hope Dave Meltzer is proud of himself. I am embarrassed for him. As you said above, a lot of what he has done over his career has been outstanding. He is a great historian and writer of obituaries. I wish he would go back to being that version of himself. When journalists become part of the story, they have usually lost their way. He owes FTR and Punk an apology, at the very least. I hope he can be self aware enough to realize that. I won't hold my breath though.
Isn’t the saddest part of all of this drama that if Tony Khan would have just taken charge of his locker room when Page shot on Punk to begin this thing publicly, it could have all been avoided.
I would agree with that statement. I just hope Tony finally says ENOUGH and gets the locker room under control. If he doesn’t, if/when Punk comes back, this drama will all start up immediately. It’s time to tread “the boys” like children when they act that way.
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