Jim Cornette Experience Special - CM Punk / MJF Feud Omnibus
00:05The midnight and the rock and rollHe's in a fight for wrestling soulUsing a racket and some mind controlHe's Jim ConnettThe keys to the futureHelped by the past and with tag deep artOn itAnd it is omnibus season
01:05We are back on the bus, the great Brian last hereYou there and of course we have a big topicA collection of great segmentsFrom the Experience in the Drive-ThruWith this man, Mr. JimCornette. I'm up here now, Brian. Can you see me up here? What are you doing up there? It's adouble-decker bus. Double-deck? So I'm on the top so I can get a good view of everything becausewe're talking about a double deal here today because this is for people who say that we have never
01:35complimented AEW or given it a chance or tried to be fair about the thing. We don't like nothing.well there was a time when we liked somethingbecause we liked bothdecks of the people that were involved in itbefore the bus ran over itthe CM Punk and MJF feudthey had a starCM Punk and they had a guy
01:59with the talent to get over and become a starMJF if I won't even saywith any help from the booking if the bookingjust hadn't beaten him over the head like a cudgelbut during this period of timethey were doing a little cooking.A little cook. Do you smell what they were cooking?I do, and I think a lot of AEW fans did.
02:20I think when it comes down to the best feuds in the history of AEW,the best promos, the best heated angles, and the best matches,CM Punk and MJF may be the top of the food chain there,and very little can really compete with it in terms of the business it did,in terms of the acclaim, both from criticsand the average run-of-the-mill fan,it may be, and I think it is,the best feud in AEW history.
02:46And so this is an omnibusof all of the coverage that we gave,if I am understanding this concept correctly,all the coverage that we gave this concurrentlyas it was happening,compiled, compiled, compiled with all the bile.That's right.It's a very combustible compilation of bile,
03:07compiled all here in one place, so you glist to it in chronological order all the way throughfrom the, from, from go to woe.Well, let's go to it now.Some would say the highlight of CM Punk's run in AEW.Some would say the highlight of MJF's running AEW.The CM Punk MJF feud omnibus starts right now.Speaking of shutting up, they were chanting at people to shut up here in a minute.MJF, we get him twice.
03:35We get him on tape and we get him live.Here comes MJF with Spears and Wardlow.I don't mind Sean Spears now.Now that he is a flunky to MJF, he's got a flunky, he's got a bodyguard,you've got people into periphery to do MJF's bidding.That's not bad.And MJF cuts another promo.And again, great.
04:02Did he mention, by the way, did you hear him say,I'm the man that's going to start a bidding war in 2024.Great line.He said, I could take a big old cowboy shit on Adam Page's title reign.And he deserves to be the next champion because nobody in the locker room is on his level.Now, of course, as we know from previously, whenever you say a provocative statement like that,some music is going to play.But as soon as MJF said it,
04:32with extra cheesepickles onions if you pleaseput on the bunthe mayo thereI'll eat it and I'llAll right anywayI don't knowI'm like Mussolini
04:52But there he canThe people lost their shit and so did IMJF and CM PunkAnd here comes punkAnd here comes punk to the ringAnd MJF's got theface like oh shit what the fuckI don't know whether this was an error
05:08the music dropped abruptlywhen punk was stepping in the ringand it seemed like it shocked usthrew the mood off a little bit but they got right backinto it they're face to facebut punk's stand there with his arms crossedhe doesn't have a microphonehe's just looking at MJF
05:25at MJFnobody says a word they're already getting a holy shit chantand then nobody says the wordthey get the shut the fuck up chantand then finallyI thought MJF was great herethis is all he needed to say because he just didthe cheesy thing where he kind of got the fake
05:45smile and sticks his hand out andintroduce himself says Maxwelland Pump just has his arms crossedlooks at the hand looks at MJFlooks at the sceneand just scoff laughs and turnsand walks out on himand left MJF with shit on his face.
06:04That's the way that you start a programby insulting or offending or embarrassing a heel.You don't grab him and shove his head in the fucking toiletand flush it and give him a swirly.You don't beat him bloody.You don't beat him out of something,some gold championship or some amount of money.you don't you insult him
06:33in a personal way like that and nowof course the ball is in MJF's courtto be a snot about the whole thing but that's the way you starta program by embarrassing a heel so now he wants to do something about itbut punk has not by any meansyou know gotten his revenge for something that hadn't even been done yet but he's notbeaten MJF up he's not fucking taking heat off of himby just treating him like a fucking, you know, flunky.
07:04So the personal insult, that was, and punk didn't have to say a goddamn word.That was great.What a segment.You know, again, they vacillate, how's that for a word, from positive to negative at polar opposites?Your thoughts?I thought this was excellent.MJF was delivering her great promo, and then the most of the most of the most of the most of themoment. It's really all about that moment when the music hits and the people pop. And it was the pop for punk.
07:34And I felt it was also the pop for, okay, this is interesting. Yeah. Here's two guys.It was, it's the pop for they, they like who is going to interact in the ring with each other.Yeah. And I thought punk played it perfectly. Punk has a look, punk has a 1,000 batting average so far in AEW.He has been spectacular and everything he's done. Spectacular by being simple. Yeah.I mean, this whole thing was so simple and so compelling.and very little was saidand I have a hard time thinking anyone saw thisand can't wait to see what's going to happen next
08:07because they didn't give anything away.We don't know what the hell is going to happen.And it was so simple,I hope they don't rush thisbecause this has the potential to be something specialbecause these are two top-tier personalities in AEW.Punk's the biggest star they haveand MJF's the biggest star they have for the future.
08:27I'm really looking forward.to this. Andnot only can they not rush it,I hope, but also this iswhat thebenefit was toMJF getting involved with Brian Pilman Jr.It did
08:43elevate temporarily Brian PilmanJr. to be involved in somethinglike that, to have spotlight on him as asingle, to be involved with a guylike MJF that people do takeas an upper card guy.If they'd have followed up on thatmomentum within giving
08:59Brian a few wins after the program was over with and involving himsomething he could come out on top of. That would have been great, but that'sunfortunately two advanced booking for our amateurbooker of the year. So he dropped the ball on Pilman, butat the same time, you needed MJ, because MJF had beenswirlied and flushed down the toilet, literally, and he needed to beatBrian Pilman Jr. then go to Darby Allen and he obviously needed to come out on top ofDarby. But Darby looks better. And there's still an issue between them that you can revisit.
09:40But now that MJF has come out on top of two guys clearly, I mean, obviously he cheated, but he's clearlybeat him by cheating because he's a heel. And now he's ready for a top guy. If they'd have startedwith this and punk before Pilman and Darby,then yes, the promos would have been great,but not a lot of anticipation maybe for the matchbecause MJF would have still been seen as the fucking dip shitthat was treated like a goof by Chris Jericho.Now he's got some momentum going.
10:16I hope they don't rush it.And also, for fuck's sake,if anything,if any match they've ever had,calls for a rematch to be envisioned before the first match even happens,it's this.Because, I mean, we could sit here and think about it and go up and down the pros and thecons, but I don't see MJF bumping his head on the ceiling that is CM Punk and then
10:46getting, you know, knocked back down.But at the same time, I don't see MJF getting the last.last word on CM Punk and CM Punk not getting acomeback so I think there ought to be some way herewhere they can split wins on a series of two matchesI don't know who comes first and who comes at whatever I meanhe still isn't of a pinfall loss right MJF well I don't know what they've countedin those lights out matches or if they pinfall though pinfall
11:20yeah that's what that's what I'm saying I don't think he's been pinned that I don'tknow what his exact record is or whatwhatever, but defeat-wise, especially cleanly and clearly, no, he's still pretty untainted.So that's what I'm saying is that there ought to be some way that they can orchestrate thiswhere you could get each guy to win one and lose one and then leave it open, see what happens.Because that way you've established that neither guy is dominant, but neither guy is,also worse, islesser. So
11:59that automatically bringsMJFup a notch. I mean, I don't know that punk'sgoing to be able to get any more over in his fucking lifetimeunless he cures cancer.But anyway, that's something to think about.Wednesday night, the night before Thanksgiving, they're in Chicago,Illinois. Where do you
12:17got to start? Where do you got to start,Brian?I'm not going to sing it.like Mussoliniand extra cheesepickles onions if you pleaseput it on the bunthe mayo there
12:36I'll eat it in my underwearOh come on enoughI'm the cult of meat with extra cheeseThe cult of meat with extra cheeseThe cult of meat with extra cheeseNow with tomatoOh I didn't expect thatthere comes punk and i'm thinking okay they're leading with punk and q t marshall
13:05punk's a safe shot in chicago every time but suddenly the music of mj f not q t marshall and i'm sayingwell it's christmas come early and by the time he gets to the ring he doesn't even the people are ready to hearthis. They've wanted to hear this, just like everybody else has, becausepunk's noted for his promos, MJF's noted for his promos, and alsothey're two of the most interesting personalities in the company.And MJF, he did, before he barely even had to speak, they had the asshole chance,the CM Punk chance, the shut the fuck up chance.And then they started. And the way they did this, if you notice when they started out,
13:53they were all the way across the ring from each otherand opposite corners and punk is just humor in this little prick,like what the fuck is this guy come out here to say?And let him say it.And over the, I don't want to jump ahead,but over the course of the thing,as the comments got more heated and there got to be more back and forth,that's when they got up closer together to each other.
14:19So they didn't start up,they knew they were going a while.So they just start face to facebecause then where are you going to go?Remember, I mentioned that before,especially with MJF and the wayhe's so sharp with some of this stuff.Before he gets to his go-home line,
14:36he's already emasculated the baby faceif he's right there up in front of him,where he could reach him.This time they started and they gradually came together.But punk let MJF build it.And he just sat back and had the facialsand the reactions to it,but you know, MJF brought the, you know,
14:54the only straight-edge guy I've ever seenlooks like a meth addict.And I'm going to verbally finish you quickerthan your UFC career.That was the one.That was the one where as soon as you heard that,it took it to another level,because you didn't know if they were ever going to bring that up in AEW.
15:08You figured it would be a sore spot.And who's going to bring it up?The one guy who wants to really annoy CM Punk.It was great.And then just for punk going to get a microphoneand somebody handed him a microphone,the people popped on that because they were okay here we go you know MJF my jealous fanthe poster of me on your wall but then they he hit him with a less famous miss oh my what a
15:33burn as the kids say and great reactions yes from both guys throughout the whole thing very differentreactions but the camera was on their faces and you got to see the reactions and it was perfectand this it was like obviously both these guys you couldn'tit wasn't obvious that you couldn't see a mile away that somebody had written this down or eventhat they had written it down and practiced it.It seemed off the cuff, spontaneous, two guys trying to blister each other as best they couldand keep up their respective reputations with that.You know, M.J. Your breast smells like shit because you've been kissing so much ass.
16:18It's PG punk.and then he starts comparing him to John Sina.But I did think that it was, I don't, ironic, funny, preposterous whatever,that in front of this crowd, being compared to the biggest starthat the wrestling business has made in the last 15 years is bad.It's the representation.But it's the, yeah.It's what he represents.
16:42It's just where everybody was in the scheme of things.But anyway, as the, as the,they wound up and got worked up and got closer to each other.And MJF says you're nothing more than second best.That's all you've ever been.And I'm better than you and you know it.And then punk comes back instead of being mad and yelling at him and pissed off,he's, you know, you're right.
17:08You're right.At first, I didn't know if they'd still give a shit.I didn't know if I still had it.I might have been, but I'm not scared anymore and I'm not unsure anymore, whatever.And I'm not scared of you.and I'll let you make the New York Times again, this time in the obituaries.And then he told him off and escalated it again, replaced as one of the four pillars by Britt Baker.And then the only way that you'll ever be number one is if Tony has a daughter and you marry her.
17:41And I even saw somebody complaining that they spent too much time talking about the other company.I saw a lot of that and I think in a lot of cases in wrestling it's a real thing like an impact don't talk by WWE it makes you look small but that wasn't what this was no these guys didn't ignore the obvious the things that everyone in that audience knew about and by bringing all that stuff up it made it all seem more real yeah you believed what they were saying these are things you may not necessarily think you would ever hear on a wrestling show which is why you got some of those reactions I think anyone who had a problem with them talking about I mean they didn't just go out there and yell WWFFWWF, WWE, excuse me.But they referencedthings that everyone knows about.It made perfect sense.Yes.And they referenced a place that he's been
18:28and they referenced a fucking,all those fans know what's going onand they know the relationshipsand they know the track records and it was good stuff.And like you said, it made it seem real.And then after the, if you marry Tony's daughter,that's well, here now.you know, the laundry starts coming off,
18:51and punk offered to punch MJF and his needle dick.And so they start doing the,here comes the scarf, and here comes the jacket,and here comes the blah, blah, blah, and MJF rolls outand takes off like a heel.Fuck, we ain't going to get to see it now, but we want to see it.That was, I mean, it was, that was,it's pro wrestling without any physicality whatsoever.
19:16the first step of pro wrestlingis get people interested in the personalities.The second step in pro wrestlingis get the personalitiesin conflict with each otherwhere the people want to see them fightbefore they actually fight.And in the third step in pro wrestling
19:39is let them have the fightand sell tickets to it.or pay-per-views or draw ratings or whatever the scale is these days.And that's what they're fucking doing.And I was gobsmacked that, again, you don't see anything that real or legitimate or just well done on anything the WWE does.because even if they had anybody that could talk like this,they don't let them.And those fucking pea-brained
20:19little fucking minutia dick fucking comedy writershand them shit and say, no, you'll say this word for word.And it sounds like it.So this is where AEW can easilyblow the WW television programsout of the water is withreal interesting promosbecause it's the only place
20:49that guys are allowed to do themand honestly how many places have guysthat can talk like MJF and punkso there you have thatI can't rave enough about this segmentI watched it more than onceI tweeted it out I never tweet outAEDAW I tweeted this out because you know what
21:11because you're on the payroll.Because I'm on the payroll.Tony, I need a raise.But, you know, I tweeted it out because it represents what I want out of wrestling in 2021.We can't go backwards.I don't ever want to go backwards.Everyone's like, you know, go back to 1985.I don't want to go to 1985.
21:31I want to live now.But there are things you could apply that worked in 1985 that you shouldn't just rejectbecause they're from 1985.What I like about this,is it's diametrically opposed to a Young Buck segmentwhere I think even if you like them you have to admitthere's goofiness, there's silliness,beyond a natural goofiness and silliness.
21:55You know, they're a wrestler, Jim Duggan was naturally goofy on promosin Mid-South.I'm not talking by WWF Jim Duggan.But the Youngbuck stuff, and I'm using themto encapsulate a lot of the bad shit,the Orange Cassidy stuff, the Matt Hardy stuff,a lot of this crap that I think doesn't belongon a national broadcast in 2021,
22:14it makes me embarrassed to be a wrestling fanand it makes me not like what I'm watching.But when I see stuff like this,when I see stuff like Danielson right now,stuff that treats it like it's real,stuff that doesn't insult your intelligence,stuff that's logical, that makes sense,that doesn't seem ridiculous,
22:32this is my argument for what wrestling should be right now.This stuff right here, that's captivating,that goes 20 minutes,minutes and you can't fucking turn away from it. I couldn't leave the room. I was getting calleddownstairs. I'll be down in a few minutes. I usually paused to shit and go downstairs.Well, and part of that was because Suzanne forgot to leave you the keys to the handcuffs.Well, maybe so. But this was a phenomenal segment. I didn't want it to end. It went a coupledifferent directions that I didn't expect. And this is two weeks in a row now where I can't wait
23:07to see what's going to happen next with these two.Nothing physical.Right now it's just mocking each other and getting under each other's skin.Draw this out.We said last time, don't rush it.You got something special here.You got the biggest star in that company.I would argue the biggest star in the entire wrestling business right now.
23:27Versus the next biggest star in AEW, quite frankly.This special moment and a special feud and so far two weeks in,it's been great and to me it perfectly shows what I think wrestling in 2021 in terms of theangles and interviews and segments outside of the matches this is what I think it should beeverything can't be this but everything can have the tone of this well yeah and you mentionedit's real so it would work in any time period in the 80s they would have been yelling ateach other about well I beat so and so and I beat so and I beat well you cheated to beat meand they would have been talking about the finish of something
24:10or their record like that was completely legitimate.The people would have been with itbecause they thought it was.Now they were still making commentsthat the people could believe were legitimate.They're just personal,they're not coming out and saying the wrestling business is 100% real,and they're not coming out and saying that the wrestling business
24:33is 100% work or anything in between.They are making it personal, and each one of them is, well, not each one of punk and jealous of MJF,but MJF, the heel, is jealous of punk and trying to get over him.So it's still, instead of, in the storyline context, instead of fighting over a championship or being screwed in a finish or whateverand treating the business that way, they treat the business still seriously as a competition amongst who's going to be the biggest star,and who can get over, and they don't mention anythingthat would buzz kill you and take you out of the momentand remind you that wrestling is a work.
25:16So it's just a little different way of approaching.Two guys having a problem with each other.And they're doing it in a worked environmentwhere you can still believe there's some animosity.And because one thing that fans know is that there actually is legitimateanimosity in a lot of cases amongst guys who want,to occupy the same spot, whether the endeavor that they're participating in is a work or not.So, yeah, this is, this could be modern wrestling.
25:48We've heard from so many people from interviews, from different things, from wrestlerswho work there, that Tony loves Mid-South Wrestling.Early on, remember we heard that this is going to make a modern version of Mid-South Wrestling.Yes, which was why I was so particularly offended after hearing that when I saw the legless boyand whatever.This and Danielson the last few weeks,this is Mid-South wrestling in 2021.Yes.
26:13Yep.And I think it's important to note that because there's still a lot of other really bad shit.There's a lot of other shit that's improving.There's a lot of other people who may right now be doing somethingto hold them over until the next thing.But they're still bad shit.But the good shit in AEW right now is the best shit in years.and this punk MJF feud
26:34this is very promisingI mean two weeks ineveryone's been buzzing about this segmenta 20 minute talking segmentpeople are sick of talking segmentsit didn't feel like the normal talking segmentno as a matter of factand we're not over with punk's business yet
26:49but when Ispeed searched through the commercialwhich that's really the only timeI used the speed search this weekwhen I went through the commercialand came backthat's when I realizedmy God, we're almost half an hour into this show, and it's flown by.
27:06And then they had the punk. Go ahead.I was going to say, and this goes into the next thing, but what I was going to say is,it's really an interesting dynamic right now, because AEW, Tony Kahn's from Illinois,and they go to Chicago a lot, and it creates a really cool dynamic.You don't get any more in wrestling because everything's a national touring company.you get a home field advantage for punk you got a local audience cheering a local guy multiple times a year on national tvwe haven't had that in a while you know i mean it knows sounds like a silly thing but we never get thatwe never get a hometown flavor on a national wrestling show and we're getting it all the time now
27:48with punk in chicago it's kind of cool and if the w w guys do happen to visit their hometown if anybodyknows that they're from that town they generally they generally generallyget bent over and pissed on and had mud slung in their face.I'll kiss my egg.Egg.Brian, next on the program in the parade of champions was the other match that I referredto momentarily, Lee Moriarty, the arch nemesis of Sherlock Holmes and his faithfulcompanion, Dr. Watson, grappled.
28:28with CM PunkBrian, do you want to do it with me?Nope.I don't want you to do it actually.Look on my plate.What do you see?The cult of meat with extra cheese.I want a burger,
28:48American cheese.Pickles, onions, if you please.Cause I'm the cult of meatwith extra cheese.Like it good and green.Fresh out the pan.I'm the cult of meat with extra cheese, the cult of meat with extra cheese, the cult of meat with extra cheese, the cult of meat with extra cheese.Fried or broiled, the cow must die.
29:13The meat is done.The toppings fly.You won't have to ask me if I want some extra cheese.Now with tomato and bacon too.Not a drop of mustard there, you fool,cause I'm the cult of meat with extra cheese.On the bun, the mayo there, I'll eat it in my underwear.Oh, come on.
29:48Add a fried egg that'll make it fine.You can tell that burger's mine.I need that burger.handed to mebecause that's the one with meat andextra cheeseit's the one with meat andextra cheese
30:07I always wonderwhat you do with your spare timeand now I have a better ideaI think the best line is the cow must diethe cow must dieRoyalder friedall rightanyway so
30:25what we had herewhat we had here was a baby face matchand they even did a littlefucking clipa package etc to showthat Lee Moriarty is just a baby facejust a nice guy you don't want to see anything badhappened to him so
30:46this isn't going to be as funI wrote at the top as most punk matchesbecause he's so brilliantwhen he has a heelif he's working with an underneath guyand it's a heelthen he's got stooges at ringside or they can cheat or whatever.Before the match starts, MJF's music plays, he does come out and goes to the desk for color,
31:10and that was, again, he's effortless on color.He has a vocabulary, imagine that, and great delivery.But the longer I watched the match, the string is broken.I have to be honest.they started with Matt wrestling,the counters, the reversals, the arm drags.It was even if not advantage Moriartyso that MJF can knock
31:41a punk. Well, look at him. He can't evenyou know, fucking handle Moriarty,how's he going to handle me, etc.And that was fine, especially early in the match.And then punk got a little more aggressiveand took over clearly going into the break.But when they came back from the break,Moriarty's the one that had just hit a false finish.
32:01and then punk missed a knee to the buckle,and he's getting the shit kicked out of him.And I had, at that point, I'm saying,I'm not enjoying Moriarty getting this much offense.There's a difference in telling the storyso that, you know, MJF can mock him a little bit,and then Punk comes back and cleans things upwhen he gets the opening.
32:26This was, I mean, Moriarty gets a cross face on himand punk has to get a rope break.And punk gives Moriarty a Frankensteinor off the top rope.Moriarty rolls through for a sunset flip.And finally,punk hit a roundhouse kick and drop Moriarty,and I thought, okay, boom, there it is,
32:48and now he's taken over.And MJF, even at that point,why has this lasted this long?And that was my comment as well.And then as soon as he knocked him outwith a roundhouse kick,Moriarty had taken back over and got a two count.And then they went for something,
33:07and Punk reversed it, picked him up, hit the GTS boom one, two, three.But it was, as Aunt Lola used to say, by the skin of his teeth,this is the first one I haven't liked.I think it's because it was a baby face match,and I think it's because it went on too long.you can tell the storythat punk is eithera slow starter
33:35or he's still getting back in shapeor whateveror you canbecause there's no animosity herehe's not really turning it onand trying to hurt this guyand MJF can make fun of thatbut when
33:50and I'm not even indictingLee Moriarty as a talentbut he has not been portrayedat anywhere near the level of his opponent hereand this was it was too close for too longand I wonder in trying totell this story that MJF is tellingto whether punk is in shape or whether he still got it
34:14or whatever the casethat they aren't giving peopleevidence whether true or not that punk doesn't still have it anymorewhat do you thinkmaybe that's part of the story is what I thinkbecause there's no other excuse for it.It's been too often.It's been every match.
34:31He's not finishing anyone off.At the same time, Danielson's kicking people's heads inin the earlier segment or sometimes a segment after this,it has to be part of a story.And if that's the case, I guess we have to see where it goesbecause right now that part of it doesn't make too much sensewhile he's feuding with a MJFor while he's having a series with,
34:50or a little program, wasn't in a series,it was one match with Darby Allen,that he can't finish anyone quickly.He's not finishing anyone quickly.I got no problem with him having these competitive matches.I liked the Daniel Garcia won a few of the other ones.But I feel like with Lee Moriarty, here's a guy who we just never saw.He showed up on TV, at least I hadn't on TV,
35:12showed up with Leo or showed up with Matt Seidel a few weeks ago.We haven't seen Matt Seidel since,and then all of a sudden he's here in this match.It was good.I thought MJF was really good on.commentary, and I'm intrigued by the MJF punk stuff, but on one hand, should have been quicker,probably, on the other hand, considering what else was on this show, I could see why they weredrawing some of these things out.
35:37But then don't make him wrestle a baby face where they just, where he just has to get out-wrestled,let him show vulnerability to a heel who cheats somewhat.It's a different context, and they're, I understand it's a story.and I'm not even saying I'm hating the story.I'm saying they're doing a good enough job telling the storythat people may end up buying that punk doesn't have it anymore.If they don't be careful.Because again, when he has an excuse,
36:11the other guy cheated to get an advantage or whatever,he's got stooges at ringside or, et cetera,rather than just being out-wrestled by an underneath guy,at least if he's going to be out-wrestled by somebody,let him be out-wrestled by Bobby Fishwhose gimmick is that he's a fucking fighteranywayafter that match
36:36MJF startedcoming down the entrance aisleand cutting a promo on punkand talking about him strugglingto beat beat QT Marshalland Lee Moriartyand what is thewhat are the jokes about him going after
36:53Britt Baker? Is this something from YouTubeor something on their auxiliary programming that I'm not...I don't think so only because I don't think punk's really doing a lot of the bullshit stuff.I could be wrong.But I thought it was just alluding to punk making comments and various promos on TV.You make a guy feel like Britt Baker.I think it was another Britt Baker line.So it was public and was on TV.
37:18At least that's the way I took it.Yeah.And there was another Britt Baker line because she was one of the four pillars instead of...That's right.Yeah, that's right.Yeah.But anyway, a punk responded.I let Larry David's pajamas, MJF was wearing.
37:34And then basically, we'll bring your needle dick in the ring.And they very closely had two segments in a row where the heels saying the same thing,or basically the same thing, in that, well, no, we're not going to do it this week.We'll do it next week in my hometown.and MJF was building up the, you know, the big homecomingand that he'll probably be showered with accoladesin a real place like Long Island.But then he went too far, Brian.
38:08He insulted Larry the dog.He threatened to put Larry the dog to sleep.And that was too much.And here comes punk up the aisle.That was the first time I ever heard of Larry the dog.So I didn't know what it was referring to it first.Punk's Larry the dog.Larry the dog's been on Twitter and things over the
38:25years.And I loved because I know how I would feel.I don't care about most people, but mess with my dog and you're fucked.So here comes punk up the owl, but Wardlow comes out to get in front of MJF.They don't argue anymore.Maybe somebody had told them, well, you're doing this too haphazardly to start and stop.And also it's not the right time because there's something else going on.Maybe somebody said that, I don't know.
38:52But anyway, the referees were there to get in between.didn't have any physicality.It was a good promo segment.I'm even more want to see the match between MJF and CM Punk,except like I said,I wasn't a fan of the match.And maybe if their object is to get the fans worried about Punk's welfareat the hands of MJF,
39:17maybe this match helped that,but just a little much for me, Doc.Can't add too much to that.We said that we hope they didn't rush everything, and so far they aren't.This was, I think, week three or week four of their program.We'll see where it goes next week.But they're keeping them physically apart from each other for a while, and I think that's not.Oh, boy.
39:42So this past week, AEW was in Long Island, New York.And this was December the 8th, folks, the Wednesday night that we get to stay up late.and again this started off like a classic wrestling program from the days when people used to watch this stuffand after the first 30 minutes I'm thinking they're going to do it again long island new york citythey're bringing out the big guns oh god that rest of that show fell in a toilet faster than aturd out of a guy's ass when he's just drunk a gallon of castor oil.Straight down,but we started off hot.
40:29We started off, we're in Long Island,we got sock face on play by play.We got twin color guys, Tony Chivani and Taz.I don't mean they're twins.I mean, there's two color guys.Taz is a Long Island guy.Taz is a Long Island guy.Got a lot of hometown flavor here tonight.
40:47Here comes MJF's music.And the people are up because it's the hometown boy.And in out walks, C.M. Punk.Like punk is healing on Long Island Sound.No.Long Island Sound is nowhere near on that one island sound.He threw them in the water and they drowned.So punk is a, it's, it's breadhardt and in the United States or Canada all over again.
41:18It's, it's the dueling hometowns.Is it Tennessee versus Texas?know it's Chicago versus Long Island,the rivalry that we didn't know we needed until right now.And punk comes out in this environment, in this atmosphere,to a cacophony of booze.Because he's been fucking with the hometown boy.There were some punk chance, yes, obviously.
41:45But he gets in the ring and you can tell he's having a ball.because this is perfect for what he does.All of punk's promos are so based in reality,so peppered with genuine comments,so conversational and then declarative,it's natural, and he didn't have to changehis attitude or his personality or even his material.or even his material.
42:20Because when somebody is a smart ass to him,he has no problem being a smart ass back.Maybe it was one of the things I like about him.So you expect him when he's getting booed,the whole bit of the promo, oh, so this is your boy.This is the guy you're going to support.The guy that did this to me and that to me.Okay, if that's the guy, okay.
42:44That's on you, not me.It was brilliant.And I mean, the little things.Oh, Chicago was so much louder.And he just ripped the islanders to shreds.You're closer than I am, and I don't follow the hockey, Brian,but they pretty much, I guess, have to suck from what he was alluding to, don't they?They were once the very best.
43:06They were once the pride of Long Island.There was once a drive for five, and they have been pretty much garbage ever since.And now just four on the floor.But hey, now we got a building that won't be going away,so I think the islanders, I say we, like I'm part of the team.I think the islanders have a bright future for the first time in a very long time.Well, but not after this promo, they didn't, because now everybody thinks they fucking suck.He took off his jacket and he's got the four pillars of AEW shirt, but MJF is replaced with Britt Baker.
43:39And again, you know, MJF, he drew the comparison to Dennis Rodman when he finally started playing for Chicago.is MJF is your worm.This worked.This worked and nobody had to do anything out of character or say anythingthat it didn't sound like they would say in real life.And that's why it was brilliant.And when he said he's got his eyes on next week'spage and Brian Danielson title match, of course,
44:10because he's CM Punk. He's a big star.He should be looking to see who's going to win the world title match.but then he segues right there to,but MJF and I've got something going on,and we need to get that settled first.It's prioritize your involvement.And then, you know,I mean,
44:27his dog Larry,he said Larry has more balls than MJF,and he's neutered.Don't run like folks in Long Island,MJF, stand and fight like they do in Chicago.And finally he finishes up with now that he's worked himself up,and I can identify with this too,after he's talked about all of things,
44:45things MJF has done to him and done in general, the spineless, weak-willed chicken shit thathe is, then finally punk works himself up and says, okay, this is your guy.Well, if that's who you back, then you're all chicken shit.It leaves the ring.Brilliant.There has not been a segment of wrestling television on anything the W.has producedthat has been as good as the punk segments
45:25and a few of these others that we have praised to the heavensbecause it looks like it belongs on a wrestling showand somebody didn't script it and lay it outand fuckingand somebody means something.That's what they need.That's why the WWE's boring and losing all their viewersbecause they're so contrived and choreographed
45:49and manipulated and orchestrated and overproduced and overwritten and lacking any kind of passionand legitimacy.And then guy comes out with a microphone like this and blows them all away.They ought to be ashamed of themselves, I say.That's what they ought to be.What'd you think of this segment?Really good.I think maybe a tad too long if I had to make any criticism at all.
46:16Well, if it had been maybe the last.couple of weeks shows, I might agree with you, but on this show, I could have taken anotherhour and 40 minutes. Go ahead. I didn't know what was coming next. That's a good point.It was an interesting dynamic and it was what I expected. Of course, CN Punk's the biggest starin AEW by far, but I would argue maybe even the whole business, the whole building's notgoing to boo him. He's a baby face just by being himself. Right. But he took it and he ran withit and, you know, someone like Cody showed against someone like CM Punk and how he handled this.and realize there's a way to get these things done
46:53and you'll get the look at his facehe had everything under controlthis is really goodand I think the thing I like the mostis they're keeping these two away from each otherthey're promoing even at each otherbut each week does anotherescalation of this feud
47:09and nothing has gotten it's not likeweek one promo week two promoweek three car accidentweek four he's backlike there's not thatit's been laid outfairly coherently.And like you said, the punk segments have been the best.
47:24Punk and Kingston was fantastic.The punk and MJF stuff has been really good.Punk and Derby was good.This is not one of the parts of the show that's a problem at all.Well, and we're getting to those, but we still had some good stuff.Kind of.Here we come.The main event segment of the evening.
47:45The finals of the diamond,dynamite diamond ring battle royal from last weekMJF and Dante Martin were the last twoand now they're going to meet in a singles matchto determine who gets the diamond ringbut MJF comes out and cuts the promo firsthe's in Texasand so the first line
48:06this place is a goddamn dumpand then Texas your daughter swallowsbut this is why the announcer shouldn't cussand this is why every Tom, Dick and Harry on the cardshouldn't cuss because that way the top heelcan come out and do it and it's notfucking repetitivegratuitousness but rather
48:26you get mad at that guyand he does a promo on punkand talked about his streak of wins over job guyswhich makes you the newrye back. That was fucking classic.That was good.And said that Dante, then hesegued into Dante Martin
48:44and said Dante has the charismaand verbal ability of Helen Kelleron Quailudes, which was a wonderful picture.And here we go.Here comes Dante moping his way out.If Dante was on Beale Street in Memphis in the 50s with Sputnik Monroe,he would have been arrested and sentenced to jail for mopery.Because he just mopes.
49:09He's a great athlete, amazing athlete.Did you see the forward into the reverse leapfrog?like everybody does a forward leapfrogand Snooka and some of those guysused to do the backward leap frog.Yeah.But Dante did a forward into a backwardly.He started forward and spun in midair
49:29and landed looking back behind him.Amazing athlete.Greener than a pepper treeand this match showed itand they shouldn't have given him this long.I know they're trying to push the fucking kidand he should be pushed.Maybe not right now.
49:45but he's definitely a keeper for the future and a project,but when they give him this long on national television,especially with a match we've just seen previously,it doesn't get him over, it exposes his weaknesses.Get him in and get him out in seven or eight minuteswhere you can just do the things he can do.And MJF was trying to let him, because MJF was going over,so he wanted to be not a prick.
50:12He was trying to give him every opportunity,but my God, did you say, not far into the match.Dante comes out of the corner with a forward roll as MJF is laying there,and instead of that whole forward roll into a thing,is just extra bullshit,but he jumped up in the air and did a forward somersaultand was trying to land with a splashand landed with a knee drop on MJF's jaw and throat.
50:41And I got hot as soon as I saw it.And MJF, I don't, I'm sure he felt it.It didn't, it apparently didn't hurt him as bad as I was afraid it did when I saw it.But he rolled out and rolled out again, roll back in and rolled out again, like he was saying, fuck it.Let me get my shit together and let me let this fucking goof calm down a little bit.And then they, go ahead.He's so good.I thought, I didn't watch it back, but I.
51:14I thought when I was watching it, oh, I think he got him in the face.MJF is so good at selling, I wasn't certain what happened.That's how good he was.Yeah, well, if he had been six inches to the left, Dante, he would have brought his knee downright on MJF's face and nose from several feet in the air.But as it was, his knee landed on MJF's neck, which could have been bad, but maybeenough of his collarbone got it, and MJF selling his jaw.But that wasn't what he was supposed to do.
51:44and so they went to the heat spot,which was MJF shoving Danteoff the top rope onto the floor to start the heat.And they go to the break and they come backand it just,Dante, he has no physique.He has no fire to his facialsor to his body language.
52:05He, a monotone face.I mean, Gargano looks like a goddamnsilent movie actorcompared to fucking Dante.he hit multiple divesMJF would keep rolling outand Dante'd do another diveand finally he did a springboard backflip
52:26off the top rope to MJF on the floorand went completely over his headand MJF caughtlike Dante's right foot on the way byand grabbed it and went down with itbut Dante did a backflip off the toprope and landed face first on the floor and hopped right up.And MJF is the one that was selling it. And the announcer said,
52:50oh wait, Dante caught him with his right knee. No, he didn't.That's why they didn't replay it. And I'm not trying to knock fucking Dante.This is not fair to a guy like Dante Martin, who I say is a tremendous prospect andwhat an athlete. But there is no way that he's ready for national TV doing anything excepthis gymnastics. And he was off on some of those.this is where there needs to be a middle groundbetween the Indies and national television,between science and superstition,
53:25because he's not ready.The 10 punches in the corner, he gets MJF in the back,and he was throwing punches to MJF's left shoulder vicinity,supposedly hitting him in the head or face or whatever,and it was so bad that the director,for one split second, took a shot.shot from the side of his fistand went to the other side.
53:48He couldn't take a shot of it.This kid has to work onpersonality, facials,basics,getting a gym,age a couple of years.They're going to shove himbefore he's ready to do
54:07anything but this flipping stuffand he's going to bepigeonholed as a sloppy,flippy guy.And then finallyDante hits the springboarddouble jump moonsault that he doesbarely
54:23MJF was standing therebut Dante almost went right past himand MJF had to get under itand thensuddenlyRicky Starks appears at ringsideand puts MJF's leg on the ropesout of nowhere
54:40and breaks up thethe count and then Dantegets up and acknowledges thepresence of Starks and turns aroundto go pick up MJF and MGF justgets the fucking Fujewa Armbararm bar on him and Dante taps out.So not a good match,
54:58rotten finishandMJF should not need interferencefrom somebody that's not even related to himto beat Dante Martin. Why didn't he usethe dynamite diamond ringthat he already has, much less as new when he's aboutto win. Knock him goofy and beat him with a headlock takeover. That would have made sense with his
55:20interview. That would have made sense with what he did with Darby. And that would have put some heat onMJF. As it was out of nowhere, Stark shows up, involves himself, leaves, and then MJF just takesa guy down and taps him out. Fuck. Before we talk about the afterbirth, what'd you think?I thought it was all right. You know, this is where I'm glad that they start. I'm glad that they start.started the show with the 60 minute draw match, because I feel like seeing the rest of the show,you kind of had to.And this match had to be far away from that so that hopefully that you got a little bit ofthe crowd back, it looked like you had a really excited, overzealous kid doing a lot of
56:00stuff that sometimes works, sometimes doesn't.I think MJF did all he could.I think MJF's a young ring general in there, but you had a guy, if you don't know wherehe's going to land, there's only so much you to do.The spot where he hit MJF in the face,I thought he got him hard, I wasn't certain.There were several dives where I thought,because they were, because it wasn't at MJF,
56:25MJF had the moving an unnatural way from where he was.I was afraid he was going to tear his knee or something.Yeah.On one of those.Dante has a lot of potential,but this is one of the problems.He has a lot of potential,but AEW doesn't have too many places to send him
56:40other than onto TV.but there are people there who show enough thatlike you said facial expressions he's not he hasn't learned that on theindies he's young he hasn't been on the indies forever he didn't learn that on theindies how's he going to learn it now so you know there probably needs to be a systemwhere you do take some of these guys off TV for at least six months and justlearn the basics reinforce the basics the rip rogers course whatever you want to callit if he got in the gym dante and got a little bit more weight on his body
57:11he'd be great in a maskbecause you cover that face upwith something more attractiveI guess is the only way to say itremember Jerry Stubbswas great as Mr. Olympiatremendous as Mr. Olympiaas Jerry Stubbs he was he was peahed
57:31and baldbut you knowI'm not saying Dante Martin needs to wear a maskI am cover that fucking face upbecause that face justit's droopy he's not excited not happy not mad not anything he's confused it's a confusedlooking face it has to be the whole package if you've got remember that what was her namesusan boyle that won that singing competition she looked like a mud fence and sang like a goddamn
58:04opera star and it didn't fit right and part of the reason why that she won was because it didn'tfit. You wouldn't think that that voice was coming out of that. Well, if you've got a guy withthat athletic ability, but absolutely no personality in his face until he gets older and gets some,put a cool looking mask on him and make him the kid's hero that does all the flying andacrobatics and everything and he's got a cool outfit for the kids because, you know, and keep itshort and let him learn.I don't know, but anyway, the afterbirth,so FTR come out to the ring to celebrate with MJF
58:51because they are part of the pinnacle whenever it suits the storyline.Even though Wardlow and Spears didn't come out, and there's no tully,but FTR came out to pick MJF up and celebrate in the ring so that we could have a blackout and you know after what happened last week,everybody was thinking, well, this is the briscoes.But no.The lights come back on and it's stinging Darby.And they have a big fight and finally the heels,
59:25the numbers advantage takes over and the heels are kicking a shit out of them.And then suddenly,like Mussolini with a baseball bat.here comes punk with a baseball bat and the heels powderand punk grabs the microphoneand challenges for a six-man tagwhich I am looking forward toFTR and MJF against
59:54Darby Sting and Punk next weekbecause I remember I was afraid they were teasingthat Sting and Tully were actually going to be getting at itbut that could that'll be a good six man and a nice ratingthing of course here'sI sense FTRgetting a shit kicked out of them againbut did and did you see
01:00:17Punk's t-shirtyou're talking about the t-shirt forwomen's rights yes women's healthwhat am I supposed to saywellreproductive rights common senseand and medicine over superstitionwe could just say it like that he's in Texas
01:00:33one of theI used to live thereI have friends in Texas I lovemany of the places and things in Texas,but there's a lot of fucking redneck,Republican assholes.And that's wherethey're starting the groundswell of trying
01:00:49to deny women across the countrytheir reproductive rightson behalf of an invisible, fictitioussupreme being.So,punk hits the ring in Texasto make the baby face saveand challenge for next week,
01:01:02wearing a t-shirtwith a diagram of the fallopian tubesor whatever.And the thing,says you get your own and then tell it what to do.And I have to think, and let's face it, the AEW crowd,one thing you can say it's a younger crowd, so they're probably all predominantly,I won't say pro-choice and pro-life, I will say pro-medicine and anti-medicine.
01:01:31They're probably all pro-medicine, but I have to just the, I just love the, the, the, the, the fingerto the general Texas societythat feels like we should all be livingback in the fucking dark ages.So that was a nice little thingto see on the way out.The main event of the evening,a six-man tag with half an hour left in the show.
01:01:56It's a Christmas present.The big entrances, everybody got their big entrances,FTR, and MJF,against Sting, Darby Allen,and like Mussolie!on LSDCM PunkA couple of observations
01:02:18Great signMJF stole ChristmasBut again as we've establishedThey bring signsBecause they remember the attitude errorAnd everybody wanted to be part of the showFTR's AAA beltsLook like license plates for a 36 Packard
01:02:34And I enjoyedEven though obviously we just did a secondhere on how I thought face paint was overdone in wrestling 30 years ago.Punk comes out last with the sting tights and his face painted in solidarity with Stingand Darby Allen and does the sting howl instead of its clobber in time.Straight out of the Dusty Road's playbook.If he was in a six man with the road warriors, he'd wear the spike shoulder pads andface paint.
01:03:04If he was in a six man with the rock and roll express, he'd wear the bandanas and blah, blah, blah.So that's, you know, and in Greensboro, because obviously the people there are going to be even more, what's the word I'm searching for, more sympathetic and warm towards staying because he's been, that was his coming out party and he's been there so many times over so many years, blah, blah, blah.And it had to be a thrill for FTR to work with Sting in Greensboro because they're North Carolina boys.but besides thatIis was this the best six man tagthat AEW has yet ever presentedI can't think of another one better
01:03:50I hear you going through your mentalrolydex now off the top of my headI'm not sure this was really good thoughI can't every other six man tag that I could think ofhad the cosplayers and the gymnasts in itthis is the first time they've actually hadmain event guys in areal wrestling six-man tag team match.
01:04:11And there was stories through the whole thing.MJF started out the first thing by Duck and Punk.And that's what was going to be the recurring theme as it should have been.It's free television.You're teasing the pay-per-view or you're teasing the big event.You're teasing the match down the road.Punk and Dax started out the match by working, which was incredible.And then Cash and Darby got in.
01:04:38did more, there was more wrestling in this match than in any normal AEW match.I was amazed at the start that everybody was pitching in.And there wasn't a turd in the punch bowl.They finally, they, they did a setup to tag Sting in.He got a big pop.And then Punk chases MJF out of the arena.They come back in from the other end.The people wanted to see Punk get his hands on MJF.
01:05:08But at that point, that spot was to end up with all the heels on the floor there to set up Darby coming.You can't even call it a dive.He did a flying body block through the ropes on all three heels and bounced off of them.You heard the smack of the meat and the flesh.And it looked like a pinball going into fucking, you know, the heels, boom, it was great.And that was a break spot.And I'll buy that.That was fucking great.
01:05:38and by the time they'd come back from the break they'd stop derby allen for a set of heat on himand they were kicking his shit out of him and mjf would only get in wheneveryou know everybody was in control and he would want to fuck a little bit with punkbut the heels were working like heels here and they even built body slams they slamdarby allen numerous times just regular slams and then cash goes to do it andDarby small packages him and makes a bit of a false comeback because he got a big pop with justone body slam and then he tags Sting for the real comeback.So they actually not only got a nice little false comeback and he gets a pop with a body slam
01:06:28from an AEW crowd, but then hot tag Sting and Sting makes a real comeback.And then the heels fed for it perfectly and it was an extended comeback.then he gets the scorpion and MJF comes and stops him from behind and they go to the break again.It's a fucking brilliant.They come back.Now they've got Sting down there, get some heat on him.But then they do the deal, which it's a little comedic for me, but it works because it's staying in Greensboro,even though he had to position himself because he didn't really get it the first time,
01:07:02but he did the thing where they have the double knockout and he's woozy and he falls over in headbutts,MJF and the nutsand then kind of gave a tag to punkit could have been hotter butpoor punk leaped upI think he was going to springboard off the toprope but his foot slippedso he recovered and just landed on his feet
01:07:23in the ring and made a double come back on FTRso great savecouple of false finishesand then FTR stops himon the turnbuckleand they hit their superplexand big splash off the topfor a two count,
01:07:40which was close.MJF had disappeared by this point.He's hiding.Cash and Darby took a greatbump over the top ropeand thenthey did somethingoff camera that popped
01:07:56the people like crazy and putboth of them under the timekeeper's tablebut there was absolutely nocamera shot of it.Brian, rememberwhen I've said that one of the producers' jobsis you have to go overthe match that the
01:08:11besides the fact of giving in the finishand making sure they're notdoing anything stupid once they've got their matchthen you have to hear it because you've got to bein the truck to tell the directorwhat's coming up if it's somethingcrazyand the reason why that
01:08:27camera shots are missedon these things is becauseone of two things. Eitherthe guys don't bother to tell the produceror the producer forgets and doesn't tell the director.And that's why you get no shot of this off-brand shitbecause nobody expects it to be coming up.So they need to tighten that shit up.
01:08:48But Dax and Punk are in the ring trading.And then FTR hit their finish on punk, but Sting made the save.And then MJF is back.And he DDT Sting, but Sting no sells it and nuts MJF on the ropes.and thenI know they're trying to give Sting all these big spotsbut Sting ran MJF cross the ringand hip tossed him over the top rope
01:09:14where FTR was waiting to catch himbut you can'tif you're going to hip toss somebody over the top ropeyou have to hip toss them over the top ropebecause that turns themif they dive on their own and they're still trying to be hip tossed,if you don't put any oomph behind the hip toss,they're just going over head first,
01:09:44which is what happened.He went head first over MJF or over FTRand almost landed head first on the floor.They broke his fall enough that it didn't break his neck.But do you see what I'm saying with the turn?Sting should have been underneath MJF's left,arm with his right hand and he should have been aroundMJF's neck with his left hand and he should have got under him
01:10:11good so that when MJF jumped he could have both pushed andturned MJF's head but as it was MJF just dove straight over the toprope and that was a dangerous thing but having said that as soon as theydetermined that MJF was not paralyzed and might walk againsomeday sting comes off the top with a crossbody onto the floor onall three heels. And that got a big pop, because fuck, he's 62 and it's Greensboro.And then that was all we got, because Punk was lining up MJF for the GTS, but Dax came in and shovedMJF to the floor. And then all three baby faces gave Dax their finishes and beat him one, two,
01:10:54three. A great match, and again, FTR lose again. This time it was the right finish.and the perfect result,it's just all those times that they beat FTRwith lesser talent in places they shouldn't have been beatthat has now made it, instead of this being a big impactful thing,is like, okay, well, we know FTR loses again,which is why you should give guys credibilitybefore you start having them do jobs to everybody in sight
01:11:28so that when they do start doing some, it means something.Nobody believes FTR is going to win anything these days,because they never do simply because the Hardley boys are jealous of themand have to prove by a self-fulfilling prophecythat they're not the best tag team in wrestling even though they are.Your thoughts?I like MJF and FTR together, although I hate them being called MJFTR.I think that's stupid.
01:11:54I hope that doesn't stick.I wasn't crazy about punk coming out with the face paint,and I get the reference to Dusty doing it when he teamed with the Road Warriorsor team with Sting, but I don't know, it didn't feel right to me, but, you know, it's a minor thingto kind of pick on here.With the MJF moment where I was scared, I thought he broke his neck there for a second, I lookedat it like he was overcompensating for an older wrestler who may or may not be able to dowhat he was trying to get him to do.
01:12:26Maybe I'm wrong.Well, and don't do the spot, because then it's a rib on yourself.Oh, I'll do this big spot with Sting.and he'll still be walking tomorrow, but I'll be paralyzed.It was good to see punk, not punk, MJF do a promo afterwards because it showed that he was alive.So that was good to see.But MJF has heat and he's great.If he does more with FTR away from the spears and away from the tullies, wordlove, you need to,
01:12:53just because you're building to something eventually, they all were matching colors.Like, it looked good.It looked right.They aren't that far apart in height.It just looked really good.Everybody looked professional, everybody looked in shape, everybody could work, everybody seemed serious.It was a level above the, you know, the rest of the flock there in that company.You had three of the best in ring workers in the whole business on that heel side.
01:13:19And that'll get some people mad because some people say, oh, MJF's not that good or FTR aren't that good.Talk to anyone in the business.In the ring, those guys know what they're doing.And punk is having just a great 2021.I'm sure he'll have a great 2022.Darby's, I love Darby's dives.I wait for him now because he lays a minuteand now where I'm seeing him bounce off people,
01:13:39it's even cooler.And I'll give AEW credit,although it hasn't always been perfectand he's gotten some wins over guys like FTRthat's showing Queens and different things.It hasn't been perfect.But when you see the way Tony Connas you sting for now the last year
01:13:56and you compare it to all the waysWWE you sting.Oh, good Lord.any other way you could have used Sting right nowand I actually think they've done all rightI will agree with thatI think they could have put a couple of things that he did onpay-per-view instead of free television because in hindsight
01:14:13it didn't matter for the ratings that muchbut what he has donefor the most part has been nothing wrong withand it was a good main event and you knowthey did a good rating and I believe the main eventended up pulling similar ratings to the opening of the showwhich is a good sign.Usually the viewers
01:14:32is just tuning awayand not coming back.But it was a good main eventand it went a while.It went like a half hour.And I've said it beforethe serious stuff on these shows workand if you have more stuff
01:14:44of punk and MJFand their aligned wrestlersand Brian Danielsonand Adam Pageand what they got going onand different things,this is the shit that worksand that's really good
01:14:55and that feels like a modern takeon the things that workedin classic wrestling.The bucks and the stuffthe best friends and Adam Cole and all that other shit.It just feels like,I can understand why some people thought that was cute a few years ago,but it feels like everything else is kind of passing that stuff by right now.
01:15:12Hey, the rest of the kids are growing up and the problem class is being left behind.And I,and I think we're going to see more behind the scenes drama probably as they figure outthat, oh shit, this company now has real talent.coming in and it's showing us up.How can we stop that?How can we bury these people?We'll find out who
01:15:38comes in and has the cachet and the pulland the industry not to get buried on purposelike a lot of the other people have beenthat didn't have that same pull.But then after that, guess who came out?I don't know. Oh, CM Punk.Like Mussolini with ProVell cheese.Disgusting.
01:16:01they had CM Punk a live in-ring promo on this episodeand they let Jane Cargill and Thunder Rosa go across the top of the 9 o'clock hourand then had Punk come out later onso he gave another class in public speaking he acknowledged Jim Rosshe remembered Brody Lee he segwayed seamlessly and perfectly to MJFwhen he's in the ring he's talking to all four sidesof the ring to bring all the live audience in, which theWWE guys just stand there and try to not look at the camera,
01:16:40but they're not supposed to really engage all the live fans and wander aroundlike you do if you're really public speaking.So this was real, and he ended up kicking MJF and the balls with.He's a bigger waste of con money than Tim Tebowand said it'd be a real shame if somebody interfered with MJF's quest for the gold.so you know there's more to the story here.So I felt like I was watching SmackDown.I got to see the equivalent of Paul Heyman
01:17:15on AEWC and Punk's verbal ability.They followed this up, what was this, the first 30, 35 minutes of the show.They followed it up with MJF versus, by the way,Captain Sean Dean is the illegitimate brother-in-law of Captain Ed George, apparently.What? Just because he's a captain?Well, you know, these captains, they like to stick together.There's Captain Bly, Captain Quig, they're all in a club.Captain Ivan, Captain Lenny.
01:17:46There's been a lot of captains.But anyway, MJF is going to wrestle, you know, Tits McGee,and you know what's going to happen.But suddenly before the match even starts, punk runs down.no musicwhich was definitely the right thing to dobecause that againif he's coming up with this
01:18:08punk in his mind as he sees itI doubt he'd have time to go overand tell the music guyI'll play my music anywayMJF bails to the floorpunk stands there for a minute and then turns around and hits thego-to-sleep on old captain Sean Deanand MJF is disqualified
01:18:26perfectThat's an old as the hill's fucking wrestling anglethat the goddamn baby face causes the heel to get beator to lose in some fashionIf they had moreactual disqualifications and actual rulesSo the people would recognize them instantlyLike the fans did in the old days
01:18:48Then it would have registered quickerBut once the announcement people got itAnd that's basically punksThen they had a long promo battleMJF in the entrance way and punk in the ringand punk's thing is this is what's going to happen every timeuntil you get in the ring with me you little bitchand then they knock each other back and forth drumming up
01:19:09interest in them having a matchand you know MJF says unlike you Roddy Piperwas talented enough to main event WrestleManiaand if I don't get proper respect here I may bemain event in two or whatever the fuckand then punk's say yeah you can main event night four of a buy oneget one free extravaganza.And again, they're not referencing
01:19:33putting over another companyas much as they are taking inside digs at each otherlike guys in the business wouldsaying shit like that to each other.And then so then finally, MJF says,well, you want the goddamn match?Well, next week it's CM Punk versus Wardlow.Oh boy, here we go.
01:19:56And Punk accepts, of course,because eventually MJF is going to run out of people to hide behind and he's going to put him to sleep.But next week, I can't wait to see what Punk does with Wardlow.This will be another different style match.Punk's matches have been different styles, even if they did dilute the level of his opposition here several weeks ago.And they're milking punk getting to MJF.And why do it next week?why give them what they want
01:20:28when this is interestingand again 45 minutesinto this show you've hadone of the best matches they've ever hadand two guys that can promolike that and it makesthe program seem major leagueand much more exciting
01:20:44and much more interestingthan anything the WWE doesand I wrote right hereI guarantee you that they're going to ruin thisby the end of the showand that prophecy came trueWhat'd you think about punk andMaxwell?
01:21:00I really liked it and to your overall pointand has just happened a few times latelythe first 45 minutes of this showwere a great wrestling show.Nothing insulted me. Good action.Good promos.I mean, it was a great show up to this point.And nothing else in the remainder of the show
01:21:18really referenced anything from this portion of the showor went back to it. We never heard more fromDanielson or Punk or MJF.Take a peek in thein the back for 30 seconds of both the guys in the world title match getting sewn up or patched up.It's just the show moves on and the universe of AEW moves on.This was good.Everything they've done with MJF and Punk has been good.
01:21:39Some of it's been exceptionally good.They're getting from the beginning to whenever we get to this match and it hasn't been boring.They keep mixing things up.Even when they use classic wrestling stuff,they put a little bit of a modern edge on it to keep it fresh.This has been great stuff.whoever's booking fucking punk and MJ I should book the rest of the fucking show.I mean, what?
01:21:59It's like two different universes.Why is this good?And then everything else happens.Like one thing is serious and well thought out.And Danielson too.I mean, I'm not going to take anything away from everything with Danielson lately.But what happens?The show just goes right off a cliff.
01:22:15And it happened again.And big time this week.The one sure thing, Brian.The one sure thing.The one person.we know ain't going to disappoint us.The one person that we knowis always going to deliver.
01:22:32The one person that we knoweverything is going to make sense.Wardlow with MJF versuslike Mussolini.I got to sneeze.C.M. Punk and Wardlow.Wardlow looks fantastic.He looks even better physically and he's got new gear.
01:22:58He looks like a star.He had clean new gear.He's got a great physique.He has facial expressions.He's a good-looking guy.He's got the size.I think he's trained down a little bit.I think he's a little lighter and leaner than he was when he first showed up.
01:23:16And, you know, I got to be honest, I didn't know exactly what was going to happen in this match,but I figured that obviously punk needs to be.to win somehow, and it would probably furthernot only the issue between punk and MJF,but also between MJF and Wardlow,who he's been treating like a flunky.And I thought maybe somebody's going to miss something,whatever the fuck.
01:23:43I never envisioned what they did,which we'll talk about it in a second,and this is another thing you said to me.You said to me, when you see this,you're probably not going to like itand there's reasons why you wouldn'tbut at the same timewhen the entire program is over with
01:24:03you're going to have to look back and admitthat this is the only thing on the showthat made any kind of pointand you are righton both accountsum the first one that I didn't likeof punk'slittle efforts here
01:24:18and it wasn't a bad matchnobody did anything wrongin terms of the execution of thing.It wasn't very long.Punk was putting Wardlow's size over.He's bigger and stronger.Punk would sell for him.And when Wardlow would go to the power,
01:24:36for the power bomb,punk would roll out or get away.And they went through a break.And he got some heat on punk,and punk was trying to fight back,but the guy's too strong.Finally, punk makes a comeback with the clotheslines.And,
01:24:53Again, I see the point.I see the goal here.What they were trying to do,I think there was too many clotheslines that Wardlow wouldn't go down for.He'd rock, he'd rock, and finally,Punk came off the top with the clothesline and he took the bump.Wardlow took the bump.There was a lot of them to get to that point,
01:25:12but still nothing to be upset over.And then Punk gives Wardlow the running knee in the corner, boom,and he stops there and he flips MJF.off because MJF has been a pain in his ass at ringside,and Wardlow catches him and comes out of the corner and power bombs him.And then picks him up and gives him another one.And now we're into the deal where Wardlow's been doing that every week.He'll give somebody four or five power bombs and beat him with the foot on the chest.
01:25:44Well, in this case, they start picking up on it and they start getting into it,but he gives CM Punk five power bombs.and then MJF jumps up on the apron and says don't pin him, give him some more.So then he gives him another one and another one.Now we're up to seven.And MJF is going wild on the floor and punk is sellingand then MJF clears off the dreaded ringside tablewith the black tablecloth on it
01:26:14and tells Wardlow to power bomb punk through the table.And he does.So there's eight power.power bombs the last one through the table.Referee Aubrey does the slowest count ever.Remember the first two months of AEW, Brian?We said, well, that Aubrey, all the other referees are dishrags.But Aubrey looks like she's trying.
01:26:37She's trying to have authority.She's got a good game face.She looks active.That went away quickly when all the matches degenerated into fucking indie spotfests and all the referees were buried.but she gave a slow count.Punk is crawling towards the ring.And he makes it in and beats the count at nine.
01:26:59And let's stop here.Eight power bombs with the last one through a tableand you get back in the ring, I'm sorry.I don't care who it is.I would have even been on the train with him.I'd have been riding in his back seatif he did three in the ring and one through the table.But we just, we went so far.
01:27:27And Punk beats the count and MJF is telling Wardlow power bomb him again.And now Wardlow is fucking looking at MJF like, oh, Jesus Christ, all right, he goes to pickpump pump up.He goes to pick punk up and punk small packages him, one, two, three.And punk sells and Wardlow's pissed and MJF is frustrated and yells at Wardlow.And Wardlow bows up at MJF and Spears comes in and calls him down.And Spears and Wardlow leave.Besides the fact that this was too much, now the issue seems to be Wardlow versus MJF,
01:28:15not MJF versus Punk.And I just, it didn't.Didn't hit right with me.What'd you think?And I kind of knew that was going to be a reaction.That's why I said what I said to you before you watched it.Let me do positives first.Regardless of layout or the fact that Aubrey Edwards takes five minutes to count to nine,
01:28:39I think Wardlow did really well in this.Yeah.And I'm not just talking about what he did.Look at his face.Look at the way he's moving.The frustration he shows.I think MJF at ringside, how did you watch?that not want to smack him.
01:28:54And punk, as far as selling that he's a veteran wrestler getting his ass kicked, I believedthat I thought he was about to get pinned.I didn't realize where they were going to go.I said, oh my God, he's really getting the shit kicked out of him.It was almost like the Vader destruction of Inoki in Japan when they debuted Vader towhere people are just like, shit.That was quicker.That was quicker and it started a riot.
01:29:17So, I mean, not exactly the same, but I think it went on to.too long. I also think I wouldn't, I had the same reaction or similar reaction to you.I wouldn't have done the table spot only because you're doing way too many table spotson every show. If you hadn't seen one in a month. And why risk your top guy when everybodyelse is getting hurt doing them? Yeah. I'm against doing things when they've been done nonstop.I mean, we'll talk about how they did the same match in two segments in some ways,back to back.But it took a long time
01:29:50and it seems like they're certainly setting up.I'm going to guess Wardlow Spearsand then Wardlow MJF once they finish MJFpunk because we don't get rematches in AEW.It looks like they're going there.I don't know how imminent it'll bebecause they've done the thing with Wardlow and himand then they've stopped it and they've started it.
01:30:10It's been a long-term tease.Wardlow has a slow fuse.It's sped up.since they put him with Spears.It seems like he's getting more and more frustrated by the week.If you had to hang around with Spears,wouldn't you be getting frustrated real quick?But look, to the overall point,
01:30:27not perfect,the layman and me would have done it a little differently,but I liked it.I enjoyed it because at least it told the storyand it was coherent.And the rest of the show is the problem.And we've said it before jokingly.Why can't the booking of this segment
01:30:42be the booking of the whole show?What's going wrong?What's the hitch in the system?You know, and that's a, you can, with this segment, you can argue or discuss the psychology of it,and well, what I've done, how many power bombs would I've done, or would I've done the table or whatever,but you still, you see, you see it makes a point, even if it might have been the wrong point,even if it might have got people too into MJF versus Wardlow before we've had MJF versus Punk,but at least you can discuss it rationally.
01:31:14most of the rest of the segments on these programsthere's no positive spin you can put on themthey just suck so like you said at the end of the programI realized even if I didn't like itit made a point and you said something earlierby the way no one insulted you everyone treated this the wayit should be treated despite Spears's outfitbut Wardlow Wardlow looked like a star
01:31:41I mean this yeah this was like somethingthat would have worked, these people would have worked on Raw when Raw worked.MJF, Wardlow, CM Punk.These seemed like main event wrestling personalities.Wardlow really impressed me here.Like we said, it's the rest of the show typically.And we didn't even have Brian Danielson this week.So that really sucked.
01:32:02And it really took anywhere from 20 minutes to 45 minutes, some good wrestling out of the show.But I can't complain too much.And from week to week, this is the one thing that's coherent on that show.MJF and Punk.And we'll see if that goes into MJF and Wardlow.Do you think that they were watching the Terry Gordy, Ted DiBiase, Georgia tapewhen they came up with the concept of this, the pile drivers?I don't know.
01:32:28I mean, I would think, based on stuff I've read,it seems like MJF may like wrestling history.I think I've read stuff with Punk where he says in the past that I'm sure he likeswrestling history more than a lot of the current stuff I haven't guessed, actually.But who knows?I mean, there's a lot of different things.I saw someone point out, you know, Brett Hart, the way he was selling the power bombs on Wardlow was very reminiscent of Brett Hart, the way he would sell being defeated and beaten down.Well, here's what I was going to say, the reason for it is because I remember, and what was it, 1981 or was it 1980?
01:32:59I believe it was 81, I want to say.81.Yeah.Freebirds in Georgia, they were the, the reason why people would drive 30 or 40 miles, me being one of them, each way to see cable before everybody had cable,because the Freebirds were on TBS Georgia Championship Wrestling.And that show, you had Ted DiBiase, you had all the fucking major NWA stars,you had Rick Flair, whatever.Got to see this show.
01:33:25So who was DeBiasey's partner in that match?In that match?Was it?It wasn't when he was teamed with Frazier, was it?I was going to say, I don't think it was Frasier.I got to double check because, you know what?They did bring the Y.D. in.Let me double check who was partners.
01:33:40It might have been, dog.but the point is what everybody was up in arms at the time was they did an anglewhere Gordy in this match, Freebirds versus DeBiasey and,well, it was Freebirds Gordy and Roberts and Michael Hayes was on the floor against DeBiand I think it might have been dog.But while the referee is distracted, Gordy gives Ted DiBiiii a pile driver in the ring.And he's selling like crazy.And then they're getting heat on DBIase and they distract the referee again and
01:34:11two pile drivers.Holy shit.And then theyboom, boom, boom,and then they distract themthree pile drivers.And now thegirls in the
01:34:21TBS studio are screamingat the top of their lungsto break glassbecause they thinkthe DiBiase is about to die.And then that's what it happened.They chuck him outon the concrete floor in the studio
01:34:34and they draw the referee's attentionand Gordygives DiBiasey the fourthpile driver on the concrete floor.And that's when he goesinto twitching convulsions and he'slaying there and he can't get up.And then some of the other baby faces.
01:34:52I can't remember because they keptsaying, Gordon Soli kept saying,the referee is not aware of what'shappened to DiBiase. The referee wouldstop this match if he hadseen what they had done toDiBiase. And finally, a bunchof the baby faces just ran out
01:35:07and fucking stopped the matchafter that pile driver on the floor.and they called, they went to break, they came back,they'd called an ambulance, they had a real ambulance,and they called a real EMT crew into the studio,and you saw them putting DiBiase on the goddamn wheelie stretcherand taking him out,and that was not only one of the most memorable TV wrestling angles
01:35:33on any show of the era,and had everybody talking about it,but there was also consternationamong the very small amount of smart fans in the country at that timeand guys in the business going what the fuck were they doingfour pile drivers it's bullshit it's unbelievableand they were well done pile drivers gordy had a great pile driverdb ic knew how to sell them they looked good
01:36:00they looked like something you didn't want to takebut at that point in time in the wrestling business people wereconditioned that if you were piled driversand once, maybe twice, you're going to the hospital.This was four, and one of them on a concrete.And, of course, he did go to the hospital,but there were people in the business saying,that's bullshit, they're going too far,
01:36:24they're going to set up unrealistic expectations amongst the fansand or, you know, cause us to have to fucking kill ourselvesby going too far.It was a debate.It was a well-done angle that put heat up,on the issue and got to free birds over even more,but it was also controversial in the business.Here is double that amount of a move,
01:36:52including one not just on a concrete floor,but through a table first.But the guy, instead of riding an ambulance to the hospital,he crawls back in the ring and does a small package.I'm just, I don't.other than the small packagehe was selling nonstop there was no point thatCM Punk jumped up and I hate that you have to give a disclaimer
01:37:15but so many guys don't sell anythinghe at least sold it like he was deadexcept for the roll up and that's why I'm sayingDBIC did the same thing and it was it was great to watch on TVand people traded that tape like crazy and oh my godI've seen 15th generation copies of that fucking tapepeople were so anxious to get itbut it did provoke the same amount of conversation that this is.
01:37:42Was it too much and was it unnecessary?And you can see it either one of both ways.So it was well done.A little too far.The sure fire segment came up, Brian, that I thought we can always rely on.In this case, Sean Spears, the chairman, versusI can't breatheI saw what they were going to do
01:38:17I saw what they were trying to doit was actually standing alonea nice teasebut almost an hourinto a rotten television programthis was a letdownmj spears and punk are in the ringfor their challenge match mjf goes to color
01:38:36says this is going to be awesomethe bell ringthey go to lock upthey duck and dodge and punk lifts spears upand gives him the GTS boom one two threein what ten secondsand what theand then MJFs go shit and he goes to the ring
01:38:53but punk sees him and grabs him by the scarfand as he draws back to punch himMJF ducks out of the scarf and bales outagain standing alonein a good programa good TV showthis wouldn't have beenbad because it was a nice little tease and he still didn't get his hands on MJF again and we're still
01:39:16want to see the match but as rotten as the rest of this show had been and was about to get worsedidn't you feel just kind of a little let down i don't know because spears is someone who i'venever really liked and i don't even like him really in this role and i'm happy this kind of ended quickand i think it kind of told an interesting story the biggest complaint from you seems not to be anythingabout this match or angle.Not what they did, but they did, where they did it.They did it in the middle of this show where they're,I just want to see punk out there for 10 minutes just so I could fucking relax
01:39:48instead of, oh my God, what car wreck is going to happen next?I didn't have a major problem with this, though, and of course it wasn't the only timewe saw MJF, and I did get a kick out of the idea MJF was brought out to do commentaryand the match lasted two seconds.And speaking of meaning, the things you say,like Mussolinino Coke Pepsihere comes
01:40:18CM Punkbout timetakes over the roomtakes his time on the entrancebut it's not interminable like theWWE entranceshe's keeping busyhe's moving around he's looking at people
01:40:33and he starts talking to himand he's talkingconversationally and naturallyand he stirs the people up to want to see him fight MJF.He's got MJF scarf on that he stole last week.It's under his jacket.When he takes the jacket off.He does promo or promo on the cheap scarf and on Long Island.
01:40:55A lot of disreputable people come from that part of the country.And he wants MJF tonight.MJF comes out with the music, comes out in his suit and the same scarf.Apparently now we've seen there's a lot of these scarves.around. And of course he turns down the challenge and won't waste it on Cleveland and the fans arechanning asshole. And MJF finally agrees, okay, next week in Chicago, and we've heard this before,it's going to be CM Punk against MJF. He announced it next week in Chicago. Punk's hometown.Hmm, imagine that. And then I know it's my boy, MJF. It's my hero Mussolini.
01:41:44Brian, if I said they went too long here, would you agree with me?I would this week, yes.Yeah.Because I didn't want to paint you in a corner there, but I got to be truthful.I wrote at the point that he had announced the match, I wrote MJF is teetering on going long here.And he meandered.and the point that he was trying to make after he wins next week,you're going to see the real CM Punk.
01:42:18If he doesn't get his way, he'll sue,or he'll complain or he'll quit like he did in 2014,when he quit here in Cleveland and blah, blah, blah.MJF spoke too long continuously here.I'm not saying that it was bad delivery,not saying it was bad material.I think it probably could have been said in a more,economic number of words
01:42:43to quote somethingthat Jim Ross said to me one timecould have been more economical with the number of wordsCornyI also think he spoke too longcontinuously without punk and there was noback and forth joustingthis was MJF doing a soliloquy
01:43:01and it started dragonnot because he didn't havehe didn't drop his energy levelit was a little muchtoo many words to say thingsit could have been said more like I'm doing now.Too many words.Could have been shorter.
01:43:21Punk started to respond and told, you know,and he had a good line.The best thing I ever did was leave and the best thing I ever did was come back.Okay, we get it.He told MJ off off and he fired the people up,but now punk was going a little bit long.Because this whole thing had gotten a little long.And then all of a sudden here comes FT.
01:43:43and Wardlow.It's nice to see FTR can come out and do flunky business.We ought to call him the piss boys.Let's not do that to FTR.Well, that's all they get to do is come out and carry the fucking bucket,collect the piss and walk off.But anyway, Spears tackles punk in the ring from behindwhile FTR and Wardlow are coming out and the heels all glom him.
01:44:08And they gut shot at him with a chair and they choked him with a scarf.Wardlow was standing therenot really excited about thisor wanted to be involvedbecause of that subplotthat we've had going on for two years nowand MJF taunted Punkand then MJF ordered Wardlow to powerbomb him
01:44:26and Wardlow power bombed him on a chairthat was laying in the roomthe power bomb's not bad enoughit has to be on a chairbut we went into sports entertainment landwhich is what we have stayed away fromwith punkthey're doing this
01:44:42there was no bell ringingthere were no referees coming downthere was no securitythere was no helpthere was no urgencyit's the biggest star in the companyCM Punkand I'm saying
01:44:54I knowyou knowsome people bouncing on their trampolinewas oh no it's Kenny it's KennyKenny Kennyno the biggest star in this fucking companyif it's not named Brian Danielsonis CM Punk
01:45:07one of those two has the fuckingspotlockdown. And you can't tell me if a gang of people is beating up the biggest star in the companyand it's not supposed to happen that somebody wouldn't be trying to do something.It's distracting from the angle when they're not trying to do something. That's why you,when you set these things up, you explain to the people that are supposed to be trying to dosomething what they're supposed to be doing or trying to do and to not succeed. But nobell no referees no help they beat him up and then mjaf sits cross-legged indian style as they called it when i was a kid on him
01:45:47on his chest and says see you in chicago this had to last 20 minutes and i mean hey babe ruth struck outevery now and then but i could have done with half this long and i could have done with a little moreurgent chaoticphysicality and believableviolence at the endinstead of a sports entertainment anglewhere nobody was trying tostop the crime from taking place.
01:46:17Your thoughts?I did think it went too long.I thought that what they were setting upwas good, but it could have been done a little quicker.I agree with it just about everything you said.I didn't mind the beatdownand specifically the power bomb under the chair spotas much.
01:46:35Was it superfluous? Maybe.but it didn't you knowout of all the things we see on this show that was the leastof the things that bothers mewell yeah I mean we're we're I'm picking at Nits here on this was by farthe best thing on the show and the best talent on the show but still they canthey can achieve better than this this was a rare swingand a maybe a single or whatever and it may not be the best
01:47:00usage of them but we got FTR out there interacting with CM Punk it's a littlebetter than them not on TV for weeksat a time or doing feuds with Arna Anderson'slittle friends or whatever they're doing.I'm happy to see them doing something with a maineventer, and hopefullyFTR will be used a little better in the future.But we're getting ready for the match.
01:47:19It's been, what,three months or so they've been building upMJF and Punk. I am reallycurious to see them in the ring finally.I definitely want to see the match next week, and inChicago, you know the fuckingresponse will be off the charts.I just, again, when it's top talent and they're capable of doing such good work,
01:47:42and it's a main event match, and it's something to people want to see,if you're going to shoot an angle, I want an angle with heat.I want an angle with chaos.I want an angle where the guy getting a shit kicked out of him's in jeopardy,and the heels are riding high.I want to see if we can induce in somebody's fucking mind out in that crowd,the thought that we that's what we used to go for that's what every time i set up a fucking heatangle that's what i was going for i had in my mind there's somebody in this crowd that we can
01:48:15fucking take on this ride that will lose control of themselves and think if if i don't do somethingto stop this nobody's going to and at least try to start over that rail that's the idea of afucking heat angle.Of course, when 20 or 30 or 40 of them get the same idea at the same time, then you'vegone too far.But I've never done one without wanting to create that environment.And, you know, it goes down to you have to get everybody involved.You have to tell each referee or each underneath guy running in or each security guy.
01:48:55Sometimes I would tell guys specifically how many bumps,to take off the apron when they were playingKing of the Hill in the Ring before they finallyfucking laid there and sold onejust to make surethat we had enough people trying to come inI would make sure I told the guy ringing the bellthat if I'm not on the fucking headset
01:49:14cue and you'd justcount to fucking 15 and start ringing it againI would give everybodycues, places to be, times to runin, stagger it so it looks like morehelp is neededgo back and find theWCW Saturday Night Show
01:49:31where the Midnight Express did the anglewith Pilman and Zinkand we did the fuckingVegematic on Pilman's throatwith the racket over the top of ityou see referees being tossed outthen you see other people coming intry to save it's a staggered run in
01:49:46we're playing King of the Hillwe're keeping people out it's urgentthat's happened in a ver I sawthese angles when I was a fucking kidand I saw people coming over the railto respond to themand sometimes you have to go a whilebefore it fucking clicks in
01:50:02and it's not going a while ofshitty looking phony stuffit's going a while ofchaos and jeopardyand you build that fucking environmentand that's what peoplemakes people want to seethe guy that just got to shit kicked out of him
01:50:21or whatever happened to himcome back later and get evenelsewise it's justmeaningless motion. If they don't believe it, they can't get into it, they can't losethemselves in it, or they can't even say, well, now say what you want, this shit's allset up, but goddamn leave him alone. Whatever. This is it just, just, I'm getting grumpy.Then, Brian, the moment we were all waiting for finally came after we sat through the restof this suffering to get to the meat of the matter.
01:50:57MJF comes out, makes his entrance, they go to the break,on the other side of the break, you hear it.Like Musilini!And Al's number one Chicago Italian beef!See, I had to throw that in, it was hometown favorite.Nice little loose mention there, yeah.Remember, Al's number one Chicago Italian beef,the favorite of Moose Cholak.
01:51:20MJF versus Punk, and I looked, and I said,they've got 45 minutes on the air,but they're calling it the main event.This could be good.And with all that time, they took their timeand they built the anticipation.And MJF opened up with a cheap shotbecause he's the heel and Punk turned it around
01:51:42and started taking it to him.MJF got tied up in the ropes,did the Terry Funk up and down.And if you notice, they had to be watching tapesfor this match, because they brought out allkinds of tricks andlittle ebbs and flowsand little ways to
01:52:01pay homageto the starsof yesteryearthey had a fucking matchnot only they hadthey had a grudge matchMJF tried to powderpunk chased him out of the ring up the bleachers
01:52:17and beat him up the referee went with themthe announcers are covering it the referee not wanting to count him out thisearlythis is when you play with the rulesa match that people want to seebetween two main event guys that's been builtand now in the baby faces hometownyou're giving them the payoff to what they've been wanted to see
01:52:42this is when you let some things goyou have guys running around fighting in the arenaor you have the referee being lax on the countoutor whatever because that makes it stand out even more.If it's every match, it means nothing.So anyway, punk even did the series of body slams.They were chanting one more time for a body slam.They were having a pro wrestling match,
01:53:16and it was so refreshing, because we don't see them very often.And then just a simple thing,to go to the break, punk chargesMJF moves, punk hits the post, goes to the floor,and MJF starts heat on the arm, the left armthat he fucking ran into the post with.And they went to the break,nice and easy to understand, they come back,
01:53:40imagine that. MJF's getting heat on the arm.But punk fights back, gets a little bit of a comeback,went for the elbow off the top,MJF crotched him on the top rope before he could come off, starts heat on the arm again.Every time that punk would come back or get an opening, the people would get with it,but MJF would shut him down because it wasn't time for the big blowup yet, the big comeback.And again, they got creative with different ways to do it.then the one spot that I didn't like
01:54:21and it wasn't either one of their faultactually made partially a little bit punkbut Bryce Rimsberg the refereethis is where you need a Tommy Youngbecause all of his mannerisms were so naturalto what he would doa lot of the other refereesthey're not asked to get into the middle of a bunch of spots
01:54:43therefore they don't have a lot of practice whateverbut you saw where MJF goes in the corner,pulls the referee in front of him,hiding behind the referee.Punk pulls the referee out,puts his arm around him to walk him out in the middle,like, let me take care of this,and turns around.
01:55:02And MJF actually didn't turn around.As he's walking the referee out,MJF took tape from around his wristand slipped it over Punk's neck.That's fine.but the referee kept walking after punk got grabbedall the way to the opposite corner without turning aroundmessing with his shirt collar.
01:55:25It was so unnatural.It killed the spot.All punk had to do was grab the refereeand pull him outwith the referee facing away from MJFand step by the referee, go like, get out of hereand MJF could have got the thing aroundbut the referee could have turned around within two seconds
01:55:47and wouldn't have seen it.That was awkward.Should have been quicker.However,once that he wraps the tape around punk's neck,MJF covers it with a sleeper.And he's got the sleeper on with the tape around his neckthat he's already choked him.
01:56:03The referee can't see him.He puts him to sleep.The referee checks the hand and rings the bell.And the people are bullshit.And they start playing the music.because if that's the finish, that's what they do.And then I swear to God, the referee walks over as soon as I saw how MJF was standing.MJF had shoved the tape that he'd used to cheat with underneath his armpit,
01:56:34and so nobody would see it and had his other arm up, and the referee comes over and raises the armyad down, the tape falls out to referee season.again that was jerry lawler and jack briscoe in the midsouth coliseum in 1974 only was a chain not tapeagain the poor referee had wooden face he he pulled mjaf's arm up and didn't look down at the tapefalling because he knew it was falling so he knew he saw it instead he just looked straight at mjf likeoh so it wasn't a real reaction but it was a good spot and he restarts it and the place blows andpunk starts making a comeback and mjf is bumping and punk takes him in 20 punches in the corner not1020 straight to the head looking good with mjf not covering up he's open for him and not fucking
01:57:37punk windmilling the area of his head but throwing him to his fucking face and the people countingwe went back in time to when this shit was actually watchable so again punk goes for the scorpionMJF kicks him off and he takes a bump to the floor and re-injures his arm and they go to thebreak and they come back and MJF's getting heat on him again but punk foiled the heat seeker piledriver gimmick hits a springboard clothesline but he's still selling his left arm and then punk hits thedive to the floor on mjf but comes down on his knee and hurts his knee and they're both sellingpunk tosses mjf in but he's limping so mjf takes back over punk comes out and gets an f t s tf but he can'thold it with his bad arm and then they got the double bridge this deep in the map
01:58:38match.And punk went for the go to sleep, but when he picked him up, the bad leg gave out.So MJF got an ankle lock.And the people are chanting, this is awesome.Because as we've mentioned, when you give them a wrestling match, they like it.They just don't see a lot of them.And then punk rolls through and throws MJF to the buckle.They stood and traded.
01:59:06Punk hit that reverse Hurricane Rana.I hate those things.I don't know how people don't break their necks.But they were selling both were exhausted.Punk can't stand up.M.JF is selling his neck now.They almost wiped the referee out.But he ducked out of the way on a roll-up.
01:59:27He ducked out of the way.And MJF mule kicks, punk in the nuts, and gets a two-count.And they go to the break again.Holy shit.and they're coming back.Punk is selling but fighting from underneath.MJF foils a bulldog attempt by biting Punk's finger.And then punk turns around and bites MJF's head
01:59:50and hit the pedigree, which he calls the Pepsi plunge off the turnbuckles,but he can't cover because he's selling his bad knee.And then they both reverse tombstones, one backwards and the other backwards,and then punk drops MJF with a kick, hits the elbow off.the top, two count, huge pop. This thing is cooking. And then, finally, punk calls for the go tosleep, but he's still limping. MJF rolls to the floor. Here comes Wardlow. Steps over MJF andgets face to face with Punk and then steps back, like do whatever the fuck you want.Punk tosses MJF back in
02:00:35Gets in turns to look at WardlowTurns backMJF nails punk with the dynamite diamond ringBoomAnd falls on him1, 2, 3Punk's first defeatAnd
02:00:50because MJF had won the match that was restartedNobody expected him to winnowIt went againso everybody was callingmentally in their mindsthat punk was going to win the thingand they swerved them there
02:01:08the only bad thingthey showed a replaywhich I get was set up obviouslythis is what they wanted to dowhich showedWardlow passing the ringwhile he was face to face with punkhe passed the ring to MJF on the floor
02:01:28behind his backthe original camera shot didn't see itprobably by design it looked likeand so that they could catch it in the replaybut while that was goodthe people in the arenadidn't catch itand when MJF rolled in he already had the ring on
02:01:50when he throws the punchhe falls on his stomach and he put the ring backin his tights under his bellyso the people in the arena,I don't think they ever saw the ring.I think it would have been betterif when he was thrown in,he already had the ring.
02:02:09When Punk gets in and looks back at Wardlow,either MJF could have come up with the motionlike he's setting the ring good,or after he threw the punch,he could have taken the ring offwhere they could have seen itand put it in his trunksbefore he went face down to hide it from the referee.
02:02:31Then the people in the arena would have got it instantly.Otherwise than that,they went 45 minutes with this thingand I could have watched plenty morebecause it was fresh, it made sense,they kept things moving,nothing was out of place,they gave us a little bit of everything,
02:02:54and, you know, what a fucking little roller coaster ride there.So again, you know, they have a handful of people that can do marvelous work with any amount of time that they're given.And then the rest of the show, you got to sit through to watch what you want to see.What do you think?I thought it was really good.Took a while to get there, though.I hated the stuff on the floor at the beginning.I'm not a big fan of that in general, but especially when you start the match with it, not
02:03:27a big fan of that. And I can seethat, and that's why I said, you know,if they didn't do it all the time, this iswhere you're supposed to do it. But the reason whythat it looks sonormal is becauseeverybody does it. But goodmatch. And
02:03:42like you said, I was surprised thatMJF got the victory because youwere certainly taught through watching wrestlingfor years that he was about to get screwed overor he's about to lose the Samp Punk,and I shouldn't say screwed over, afterthat, but it didn't happen. You would have thought,conventional wisdom was his out
02:03:59was winning theillegal one that was restarted.That was his excuse, his out,his bitch, his gripe.Which is why this was better the waythey did it like that. Yeah, I thought it was good.The only, again, the biggest problem for memay have been, I didn't like the beginning of the match
02:04:15and everythingbefore the match on the show was really bador almost everythingto the point where it made me not really in the mood for the match.And that's a shame because this is one of the biggestmatches they've had on free TV.in a while.You know, that's why, to be honest with you, I can't, I don't know why punk, Danielson,
02:04:35and a couple of other guys don't get together and go to Tony and just say, Tony, Jesus,H. Christ, we are literally hurting ourselves on purpose to get your company over, and we can't doit on a show where you've got all this fucking foolishness with all the various executive vice presidentsliving out their own mental masturbatory fantasies and or have, you know, a bunch of indie talent doing not very good shit on the program to either make people tune out before they see us or like you were, just not in a mood to see it because you've had to sit through so much other horse shit.Somebody at some point is going to have to explain to him, look, these people have been wanting to be wanting to,love your show since day one.They hate the evil empire.They hate Vince McMahon.
02:05:31They hate the WW.And the WW is the most boring wrestling show we've ever seen on television.Now is the time.But you can't do it with these goofy fucking little pet projects of yours.And you need to get somebody to write a television program that knows how to write a television program.these are your false Tonythank you for starting this companyand giving us all a place to work
02:05:59and given the fans hopethat there'll be some other kind of wrestlingbesides the WWEbut you're shooting yourself in the footby not having peopleand know what the fuck they're doing in positionsto be able to do itand that's why again we've said it
02:06:17every weekthe WWE gives them every advantagehands them loaded weapons,hands of all the stars they want,and they say,God damn it, we don't care how bad you want us to kick your ass,we're still going to do television showsthat are rotten to the average wrestling fan.
02:06:36If you are not convinced and committedto watching and liking AEW televisionto the extent of all,you've just decided to forego all reasons,and all logic and your eyesight and everythingand this fake stupid stuff isn't happeningthat's the only way that you can possibly excuse thisso I mean it's we're two years in now
02:07:06and even if if somebody can make the case thatoh there wasn't enough available talent even the guy's a fucking billionairehe could have found the available talenttwo years ago that it's different nowand still the one joke guy with his hands in his pocketsand stillI won't say thankfully the one is injuredbut still we have an ongoing
02:07:37invasion of Japanese schoolgirlsbecause of one of the EVPsthe other one can't keep his wife out of the goddamn ringeven though people would rather give a kidney upthan see Brandy againit's just it's chaos because nobody's in chargeand there's no oneview here
02:07:59there's no one visionthere's no one persondictating the logic of this universeit's likeif the biggest movie studio in historydecided we're going to sign 40 movie starsand we're going to let them decidewhat kind of movie they want to make and we're going to give them
02:08:1610 or 15 directorsjust see if we can keepthem from walking off the set accidentally, what would it turn out like?Be a fucking mess.That's what this show is.It's a mess.There's elements of greatness with the people that are capable of doing it.And then it's insulting, embarrassing, or just plain rotten for the people who aren't.
02:08:40And we all know who all those people are.It's disheartening, Brian, to see somebody this close to, if not putting,the WWE out of business, obviously,certainly that's not going to happen,at least just having a better consistent product.But whereas the WWE is just kind of flatlinedand it is what it is for the most part,AEW can soar with the eagles
02:09:12and the next segment they can scratch with the chickens.And it's even more frustratingwhen parts of the show are goodand the rest sucks than when it all sucks.There's hope.They just, they can't see how to do it.I don't know.Anything else you want to say about this program?
02:09:34Not really.I guess I'm glad also that didn't go with an easy or lazy way of paying off the MJF Wardlow thing.They're still prolonging that and everyone probably expected him to turn on MJF there.It's also not the end of punk and MJF, I wouldn't think.So we'll still get to see more chapters in this story.And that's at least good because the one segment on the show, it's either one and two,with Danielson and Punk and MJF or just punk and MJF.It's the one segment that's always good.
02:10:00I hope it continues for a while.The opening segment, they try to do the big thing for MJF,Wardlow to the ring, setting up the cardboard cutouts of MJF beaten punk last week,and they had old George Hamilton Roberts intro FTR and Tully and Spears.Spears comes out looking silly, and it makes it funny.He's got a jacket on with no shirt and the skull cap on, carrying the chair, and it's just, I don't know.But anyway, finally, they wind up the big intro for MJF, and they have Justin Roberts read that whole thing, and it was some good stuff in there.And he comes out being carried on a throne like Lawler in Memphis coming into the Coliseum.
02:10:46And did you see the guys carrying him were trying real hard not to fucking trip and fall?and they did that with Lawler and the WWF as a spot one time.It wasn't real, but these guys had to go down a ramp.So it looked like they were suffering.And do we have any, was that just a random throne girl that he was making out with like twoant eaters or is that somebody that he's involved with?I have to figure.I just decided to go for it.
02:11:14Yeah, I haven't heard anyone talk about that or any confirmation, but I have to figureit may be someone he knows at a minute.minimum. Um, but anyway, it was seven minutes into the show before MJF finally spoke, but that's,it's better than some of the matches. So he, they're still teasing the thing with Wardlow.He went to thank the person who made his victory over punk possible and it was Spears,not Wardlow. And then they showed a video of MJF's new shirt on the screen and, and I get,they're missing Keith Mitchell already because once they got the video up on the screen, then theycouldn't fucking get the camera shot back.
02:11:53But finally, MJF's cutting the promo.He's bragging and out comes punk.No music.He's serious.He's on the stage.Tony Chivani goes over to him.And I gotta be honest,and you know how much I like MJF.
02:12:07But punk picked this upwhen he started talking because it wasn't reallyheaded anywhere.There was a lot of...They put the productionover the...the content. We were 10 minutes into the show were better and all we'd seen is the gloriousentrances and the heels being cocky and it just, did you, did you feel like that that it
02:12:31wasn't really kicking in until punk came in and started picking up the pace a bit?You needed punk to come in and I thought it certainly picked up the pace and he has a realintensity that's great and it took a while and I agree with you 100% about Spears.We'll get Natalian a little bit. And the other thing is just like that.Roberts. I've heard himannounce wrestler's deaths, I think.And it wasn't as painful as it was for him to do this. It wasa little over the top, I think, in some of those elements.
02:13:02So punk brings out Darby and Sting.And they've all three got the black baseball bats. AndPunk wants a rematch with MJF because he wonillegally, of course. Butthen basically they come outwith the, this is againback and forth, and it took a while.punk is daring Wardlow
02:13:23to drop the group.You need to subsist on your own.They're just taking advantage of you.And, you know, punk wants MGA,but punk also wants Wardlow, a rematch with him,and then Dax steps in, and he wants a rematchbecause they're still pissed that they got beaten by Darby and Sting.I think he just wants a rematch because he wants to wrestle on TV once in a blue moon.
02:13:48and then punk pitches the idea of the three of them against FTR and MJF and MJF won't do that and he offers FTR versus punk and any partner except for Sting and Darby and if the if the punk and his partner besides Stang and Darby win over FTR then he gets a rematch with it the best thing about this was that the opening segment sets up a match later on and we've been bitching about that right exactly so they did that butit was confusing to get there because everybody wants something else and is anybody going to be sittingthere taking notes like I am or were they just a little confused? And at the end we'll talk aboutthe ratings but I believe the ratings were up this week and again yes you show punk in the openingsegment what have we always said then he goes away then you never see punk again showed him in theopening segment it ran a little long but they had a lot of things that they clearly were tryingto get into this one segment, including the Wardlow tease,but it made you realize that Punk and FTR were going to be on later on the show
02:14:55and who's his partner going to be.So in that sense, they did something right.Well, and also, and we'll talk about the ratings afterwards.Remind me of that.Don't let me cut that off.But also they had the big reveal that they had teased.And there was curiosity about that because there's so many people it could bebecause the WWE keeps fucking up and giving their opposition every bit of talent that they
02:15:17need. So all these things, that's why I'm, this segment was not bad. And we could have been lookingat the Pudin gang. So that's definitely a plus. I would have loved to have this 15 minute segmentdone in eight or nine, I think is the only thing that I had a problem with. But anyway,so they've set up what I thought was the main event. Then I realized, oh, wait, they got the Texasdeath match. So at least that matches later on in the program.We get to see FTR, we get to see punk, whoever.So now Tony Chavani is in the back again.They've either got 16 interviewers or poor Tony is everywhere.
02:16:00And he never looks out of breath or disheveled.He's in the back with Andre, oh leo, leo, or a.k.a.Mushmouth.I've been binging that Cosby documentary too now that you put me onto that.and I loved Fat Albert when I was a kid,but Mushmouth was my favorite.Anyway, why are they portrayingAndre as a complete blithering simpleton?
02:16:31I understand he can't speak Englishor apparently Spanishbecause nobody can understandwhat the fuck he's saying,but we haven't establishedthat he has the IQ of a fucking baked potatoand he's still talking about the kid that works for stayingand they've told him
02:16:52and listening to Andre try to talk is like enduring a root canaland he's still wanting to buy Darby from Stingor something like that.And then we come to Wardlow's matchand this time the opposition has stepped up a little bithe gets the baker formerly the partner of the butcherthat we never see the butcher anymore so nowthe Baker had to go it alone.
02:17:18And this was a little bit longer match,went through a break,and the Baker got him a little offense in,and then he got power bomb four times.And then Spears comes in,and do you think they planned it like this,or do you think they stole our first review?Remember the first time Wardleau beat somebody
02:17:37with the power bombs,put his foot on him,and then I said,and then Spears came in and wore the guywith a chair and stole all the spotlight.They didn't say that then, but then ever since he's done it, the announcers say, he's stealing his spotlight.So is that the way they meant it to be, or are they stealing our review of what it actually looked like?Well, they're certainly listening. I'll put it that way.
02:18:04Well, they're listening. They're just not heeding.All righty then.next on the AEW paradewas the match that we had been waiting forFTR against punk and a mystery partnerand I wrote ah it's not the main eventand I forgot the Texas death match to the main eventbut at least we're going to see who the partner is
02:18:30and they're doing it at the top of the 9 o'clock hourso that was smart for the ratingsthat's probably why they kept peopleso anyway we find outwho punk's partner islike Mussoliniwith Moxileeit's Moxley
02:18:49so all rightI said okaythis is going to be the ultimate challengecan FTR andCM Punkmake this guy have a wrestling matchthat was the challengeand they gave this one time
02:19:06and I'm not going to go throughevery single high point and spot and twist and turn and change in momentum.But Daxon punk started and they wrestled.One tackle, drop down, reverse hip toss, kickoff, headlock, take over, head scissorskick out.Wrestling.And then cash comes in.One tackle, drop down, hip toss, arm drag, more wrestling.
02:19:32I'm loving it.And then Moxley comes in and he does that weird shoulder,whipping, swerving body lang.He looks like he's twisting in the wind.Bez from Happy Mondays, yes.I don't know that one.But he locked up with Dax,and they actually did some wrestling.
02:19:53It was headlock, takeover, one tackle,drop down, scoop slam,and then big kick,and then another big kick and another big kick.He's sitting Dax there,and he's just hitting the ropesand kicking him in the chest.I guess he's trying.
02:20:06And the punk and Moxley workedwell together. He said, punk did a backslap tag.Now I know what it's like when a child of minebrings home a bad report card. The disappointment.FTR did a little heat spot on Punk's leg and started heatand they work like heels and punk's selling his ass off, butit was just a false set of heat because they wanted to give Moxley a comebackand then get the heat on him so Punk could have the last comeback. But
02:20:36as a result, they only got like one minute of heat on Punk's leg.and then when he tagged MoxleyMoxley made a comebackbut there wasn't that much reactionbecause the heat was so shortand then they go into a four-wayand both the baby facesdid dives and they all fell down
02:20:57and went to the breaksomehowduring the break well I don't say somehowthey got out there but during the break they replayed it on the other sideFTR picks Moxley upand double belly to back suplexhim through a table at ringside onto the concrete flooras a heat spot
02:21:16as a heatthe referee is counting and he pops up at nine and rolls inhe beats the count back inbut they startthe heat on this fucking guy in a regular tag matchby double suplexing him through a table on the concreteso now he can sellMoxley is hopeless
02:21:38if it was FTR's ideasay, hey, we'll start the heat on you by giving you a double backsuplex through a table onto the fucking floor.If he had any idea of what the wrestling business was,he would have said, are you out of your mind?Cut me off with a knee to the back and let me fucking sell.But it's all got to be the garbage, indie, modern, outlaw, goofy wrestling.Anyway, at one point,
02:22:08I thought they were going to do, and they still may come backto it. I thought they were going to do some kind of turnwith Moxley and Punk, because Moxleyatomic droppedDax, but Dax reached back.I think that's where he blind tagged, right?And then, but he suplexed cash and went to the cornerfor a tag, but Punk wasn't there
02:22:30because he'd been distracted and then nailed off the apron by Dax.So I thought, oh, Moxley's going for the tag. Punks not there.It's going to be, but they never mentioned it again.Did you see FTR give Moxleythe Vegematic.Yes.Just barely.I love you, boys.
02:22:50Dax and Cash. I know you watchthe tapes.Butthere's a reason why that it looked so goodwhen the Midnight Express did it, and one ofthose reasons was Stan Lane'sincredibly deep squat.His legs were
02:23:06fucking powerful, and he couldand limber, and he coulddo a deep squat.Also, Moxley's legs were in the wrong place, guys.If you want to go back and look at the tape while I'm saying this,all the listeners out there, just talk amongst yourselves for a second.I'm talking to FTR.When you pick Moxley up for the bear hug to squat down and lean him out,
02:23:28his legs went around your back.I've mentioned this before.That's the wrong place.You need to have the guy up in a bear hug like you're going to hold him there for a while,the old spot where you hold the guy there,and he puts his shins,folds him up and puts him on your thighs.Once you got the guy in the bear hug
02:23:47and his shins are folded up on your thighs,then you squat down as low as you canand lean the guy straight out.And that's why Stan's deep squat came in handy.Because then when Dax would come off with the leg drop,all cash has to do is let go and Moxley lands flat,falls right out of his arms.because Moxley's legs were around Cash's back,
02:24:13and then Cash didn't just drop him flat,but stumbled forward onto his knees because he doesn't have that deep squat.It kind of perflucted up there.And Cash should have been a couple of feet farther outand toward his back about a foot.So when Dax comes straight off,he's going straight with the leg drop toward the opposite turnbuckle,because that straight line, that's when you know
02:24:39if you try to jump off with a leg dropa little bit toward the left sideyou're getting off and the momentum's changing.Does this make any sense verbally to you, Brian, last?Absolutely. This is great stuff. I love when you give advice.So, well, it's not advice. I invented the goddamn thing.It's not advice. It's just telling you. This is not a fuckingdebatable thing. This is how you do the fucking thing and that's how it works out.
02:25:01Instead, like I said, legs around the back. It brought both of them forward,cash stumbled, positioning, whatever, but they weretrying. Then Dax missed the elbow off the top rope and Moxley closed-lined cash and hit a shittyhot tag because the heels were tagging too almost simultaneously. He didn't lay there and selland let the fucking heels tag so the fresh heel comes in and tries to go after him and then he evadesthat guy and then both the heels are in when he tags, dives and tags punk so that punk can come inand both the heels are ready to feed.But it was a simultaneous tag,
02:25:42and I give up on hot tags.The people popped anyway because it was punkand this set of heat had lasted a while,but I'm tired of trying to advise peopleon how to do a hot tag when nobody is getting it anymore.And it's fucking ridiculous.Having said that, punk made a comebackwhile still selling his leg
02:26:04from the brief heat from earlier,and it was great.Because now you know, okay, we know why the guy's not just 100% now.And then they even did a doomsday device, Punk and Moxley,which it was a two count, but they got it in.Here's another that Cash gives Moxley a spinning DDT on the floor,and he's going to be back up in a second.You can't kill Moxley.
02:26:32They hit Punk with the bell and a brainbuster and got a two count.Then they got more heat on Punk and hit the big rig on him,but Moxley saved, then everybody's selling.And we got the double one, two in the ring with all four guys.This has been a good tag match except for the Piccadilloes that I've just picked out.This is far and away one of Moxley's best matches he's ever had because they weren't fightingon the floor, there wasn't all the goddamn plunder in the ring.He was actually wrestling.
02:27:03And they gave him time so that they could do what they need to do without rushing through it.and there was no trampoline business going on.I'm picking at Nits because if it was the grade schoolersand the Puddin gang out there,I wouldn't give a shit because they're hopeless.But since these guys, except for Moxley,are all top fucking guys and some of the best in the worldof what they do, I'm giving constructive criticism.
02:27:29So it was a great match up to that point,especially for AEW, because there was more professionalism than normal.And then everything started going,sideways when poor Tully got in the ring.Ooh.Because Punk gets a submission on cash,and the referee, Aubrey,is with the other two guys,
02:27:55and Tully rolls in, takes his suit jacket off,and starts swinging and swatting Punk with his suit jacket.He didn't just do it once to distract him.He does it several times.and I'mI'm at a loss.If punk has a submission hold on my guy,the referee's back is turned and the referee's busy with the other people in the match.
02:28:24And I'm the manager.Wouldn't I come in and haul off and football kick punk straight in the face to get him to let go of my fucking guy?Or would I take off my jacket and swat him in the head with it?I don't know what this was supposed to bebecause yes punklet go of the hold and stood upand there Aubrey turns aroundand there's Aubrey is standing there staring at Tully
02:28:52in the ring staring at Punkso why did they distract the refereefor her to just turn around and see the manager still in the ringand thenPunk goes to pick Tully up forwell Tully'sswings, punk blocks a punch, and goes to pick him up in the fireman's carry for the GTS.But did you see what went wrong?
02:29:18I'm sure you could pick it apart from what actually went wrong, but obviously I saw what happenedwhere he, he shouldn't have, I mean, they shouldn't have done this to begin with, but whatever.Well, what happened was when punk blocked the punch and went to fireman's carry Tullyand pick him up for the go-to-sleep.Tully has not been picked up in a while,and you guys, you can all go back and watch the video.This is exactly what it was.Tully hadn't been picked up in a while,
02:29:49I'm sure he was eager to show that he still got it.When Punk been over, Tully jumped before Punk was lifting.So what the effect that that has,and you can see this on the video,is that, and I don't care how strong you are,when you're off balance, this is going to happen.I've seen this happen to the road warriors before.When I bend over to pick the guy up over my shoulder
02:30:16at a fireman's carry, if I've just been overand he jumps up without me starting to lift first,then he's jumping in the air before I'm standing up.That means when I start standing up, he's coming down.Now, I'm bent over.That means 200 plus pounds, whatever the fuck Tully weighs,is coming downwards on the back of my headbefore I've had a chance to get my legs under me and stand up
02:30:43and it almost took punk face first to the matinstead of him being able to pick Tully up.Well, then he realizes what has happenedand he has to, he's staggering,but he's trying to get under Tullybecause he's got to get his legs under him to pick him upbecause they're still off balanceand now Tully is holding on like a monkey fucking a foot.
02:31:05football and finally he got up under him and gave Tully the go to sleep.But this, this is why I'm not managing either.Tully's almost 70.I'm 60.We don't need to be doing that shit.I mean, everybody wanted to see, you know, a legend when he's 40 or a legend when he's50.But it comes a point, we talked about the Sheik earlier.
02:31:33We talk about what Vince McMahon.looks like.It's not doing yourthe memories that peoplehave any favors when they seeguys going out and being involvedin these things.But anyway, so
02:31:49go to sleep on Tully, butright at that point, cash rolls punkup a two count.That might have been. It was a nicelittle false finish there, but then suddenlypunk and Moxley bothjust spun FTR up and hitboth their finishes on both Dax's
02:32:05and cash at the same time,it covers simultaneously one, two, three.They beat both of them, right in the middle of the ring.So again, if FTR had come in and got the Keith Lee treatmentand got win after win on television a year and a half agoand established themselves as what they are,the best tag team in the business,and then won the championship, which they did,
02:32:28and then defeated the young bucks the first time aroundand made the bucks chase for it.then they would have been established.But instead, they come in, they get a couple of wins,they get the belts, they're mostly on YouTube,they get beat by the young bucks,the EVPs,then they turn heel,
02:32:51the Hardley boys do,to take FTR's place,and FTR never gets in a ring with them again,because they were so jealous,I'm talking about the Hardley boys now,they were so jealousthat a lot of people were saying FTR were the best in the world,they brought them in specifically to beat and bury them
02:33:09and then switch heel and take their spotand then a year laterevery three months or so we get to see FTRhave a tag team match on televisionin this case the baby faces beat up their managerand pin both of them cleanly in the middle of the ring at the same timewhy didn't you piss in their mouths while they were down thereit's not punk and moxley's fault
02:33:34FTR should already be over because they should have been booked properlyand then if they're a joy to work withI'm sure everybody in the company wants to work with FTRbecause they know that they'll be taken care of and not get hurtand not have to go through foolish silly cartoon bullshitbut it was a great tag team matchand Moxley was even bearableand the finish would have been great if FTR had
02:34:01come in and gotten over or been pushed a year ago and now could do this and still keep their heat.But they didn't and they weren't so they can't.Closing thoughts on this match.I liked it.Good way to use Moxley.Keep them out of a singles match.Put them in there were punk.Also a minor thing, but I like the fact that they established that punk isn't Mr.
02:34:25popularity in the dressing room.Who's he going to get to be his partner?He's getting along with Sting and Darby.know that relationship it's played out on TV.He has put over Moxley.He did that promo when Moxley went to rehab, talking about Moxley.So it's established that he at least thinks about him and cares about him.So it makes sense that they would team up.
02:34:44I know it's a minor thing, but I like that when you stop and you think about it, Bill Wattsstyle.How did these two get here?Why are they teaming up?It makes some sense.Tully shouldn't be.We've been saying it for months now.Tully shouldn't be a manager.
02:34:58He can't do a good promo anymore.He can't do anything for you.physical anymore.It's almost like Jim Hurd knew.The abilities are gone.No, I was 33 years ago.I know, I'm joking.I don't.
02:35:12Other than that, and with FTR,I'm happy we get to see them have matches.It is no coincidence that the guys who work with themend up having really well-thought-out matchesthat are good.I could do without the table spot in the middle of the matchor even the ring bell, to be honest with you.But everyone knows what it is.
02:35:30They got Hogan.They got brought in by the guys looking to beat them just to shut internet fans up.Everyone knows what, everyone knows what's up.And look, the only person that could change things is Tony Kahn.And Tony Kahn has, for whatever reason, been happy with the way FTR is booked.Go figure.Who knows what's it.Well, no, but also he has, he can't tell anybody what to do.
02:35:51He has no authority because he has no balls because he's not in charge.He's the boss.He pays everybody, but he's not in charge.If he was in charge...Well, if he was in charge, it wouldn't probably be any better because he doesn't know what to do.But fortunately, he's not in charge.He can't tell anybody what to do because they won't listen to him.Because he's a fucking mark.
02:36:13That's why they need a fucking authority figure that knows what to do.And it gives a shit enough to tell him.The program started off differently.No Mussolini.Just punk sitting cross-list.leg it in the ring.What they used to call it Indian style when we were in grade school.Everybody sit around the desk Indian style.
02:36:39We're going to have cookies.They don't call it that anymore.What style is it now?Doggy style?Crisscross applesauce.Chris cross applesauce.Because of the way your legs crisscross.Yeah, but where does the applesauce come from?
02:36:54It just makes it all rhyme.I think in that case, the child may need to be sent home if he's,producing applesauce by crisscrossing his legs.Possibly a medical fucking issue there.I don't know, though.Who am I to decide?I'm not a pediatrician.Start one of these fine Sprite zeros.
02:37:16If it was Dr. Pepper, you'd be a pediatrician.So anyway, punk started this show out.He looks directly into the camera.He speaks to the people.He sounds like it's coming off the top of his head.It's conversational, gets to the point.He's talking about old shitty little Max from shitty little Long Island.Thought you might get offended there.
02:37:43He's just doing a promo.He doesn't mean it.Well, he does, but nevertheless.It's a rematch is what he's talking about.He wants that rematch with MJF.Wouldn't you know who won the pony and when this rematch is going to come up?March 6th at the Revolution Pay-Perview.Well, that is convenient.
02:38:03And he was sitting there with a little gift box in front of him,and again, a good promo.And then he unraps the gift box because he's been saying that MJF,and this is very, this tied together perfectly.He's been saying that, you know,or MJF has been saying that he's better than Bretton, Calgary,better than Punk in Chicago, better than Piper in Portland.So Punk unwraps the gift box that's sitting there in front of him.
02:38:30and pulls out a dog collar and chain.Okay, you want to be better than Piper in Portland?And I mean, he didn't even need to explain it for this crowdbecause they're the smartest of the smart.And I jotted down, hopefully history will be recounted.And then yes, Tony Chivani started to, oh, that reminds me of Piper and Valentineand then gave no details whatsoever.But later on in the program, they covered it a little bit with the
02:38:59the you know the announcers talking about it butGreg Valentine I would imagine is availableyeah remember he was there when they had the last dog collar match wasn't heoh that's right he was so instead of bringing him to sit at ringside and look like afucking bump on a log why don't they just take a camera and let him do a couple minutestalking about how that you know they were never the same after he and piper and you knowPiper's ear drum and it was so dangerous and blah, blah, blah.They can't show the footage.
02:39:33That's owned under the auspices of the WW now.But for the sake of people who either weren't born or haven't seen the match from 19, what was it,1983?I was going to say 82, 83, they haven't seen the match 40 years ago.Just tell people.Fill them in.But anyway, so he calls MJF out to the stage to answer.And when MJF comes out there, punk shows him the picture of a 14-year-old or 12-year-old
02:40:12of how whatever age he was then meeting, a 14-year-old MJF meeting CM Punk,which was a great touch.It's a legitimate picture.And people start chanting punk, and MJF goes to fire back at him.and is rattled and can't think of anything to say.For the first time in history,MJF can't speak and throws the microphone down and leaves.And now we get like Mussolini with extra chain.
02:40:43But that was a good segment.It didn't go too long.It was good at this point for MJF to be speechlessbecause he never has been.Punk set the fucking stipulation up and it makes sense.you understand where it came from,not like a Texas death matchthat's not really a Texas death match
02:41:07to start a rivalrythat's not really a rivalry for a world titlefrom a champion, it's not really a champion, blah, blah, blah.This worked, it made sense.Now we want to see punk and MJF dog collar matchand he, you know,where he's going to leave MJF's blood all over the ringon the pay-per-view.
02:41:28I, this, it's wrestling.Imagine that.What'd you think?I thought it was good.I thought it was really good.Maybe a little too long,especially considering how many other long promo segments would end up happening on this show,including right after this.
02:41:46I liked it.I'm intrigued by, you know, we've never seen MJ have just walk away.What's the reaction going to be next week?They're running out of time, not running out of time,but there's only a few more episodes before the pay-per-view.there's going to be some sort of reaction.He's got to get some heat.Yeah, I mean, they're not going to just leave it at that.
02:42:04So this has been the one feud that week to week has made sense since the beginning.So they're going to do something next week.I'm intrigued to see what it is.And I wasn't sure he had a gift box.You said he had a gift box.I was looking at it.Like, what is that?It looked like a fucking birthday present to me.
02:42:21I don't know.I guess I didn't see it that way.I thought he was maybe hiding something he was looking at.You know, they got these new things called.a high-deaf television.Oh, shush.I saw what it was.He was watching on rabbit ears.
02:42:32The picture was snowy because you had to turn the fucking antenna.If I could find someone to fix tube TVs, I'd be in heaven right now because I got some good stuff here.But anyway, my point was going to be, you know, there were a few points where, because it wenta while and he was talking more than yelling a promo, you did hear some fans acting upin a background, but then, like, he would pull them back in.And when he finally pulled out that dog holler and you heard the crowd reaction,And then just the little shit he was doing, like putting it in his own mouth to show what's going to happen.I thought it was really strong, and I am looking forward to this match.
02:43:06AEW has done a rematch that I want to see.And I'm really looking forward to seeing what this dog collar match, because I don't think these two guys are going to let us down.I think it means something to them, too.Yeah, and it's not going to be ridiculous, you know, diamond cutters off the top of the ladder with the dog collar.It's going to be shit that makes sense, one would imagine.I will say youdid mentionthat this was long
02:43:30for a talking segmentwith so much other talking on the show.That's why they should have cut downsome of the other talkingbecause none of it was as important as this.I agree.So Tony Shavani quickly in the backwith Christian Cage, Jungle Boy,
02:43:46and Dino Douche.Let me...The information they imparted to usin like a one-minutebackstage pre-tapewas that there'll be a triple threattag team title match at the pay-per-viewwhere two teams are challenging
02:44:03Jungle Boy and Dinobut next week there's going to be a tag teambattle royal on TV to see who I guessthose two teams are and in two weeksthere's going to be some other kind of battleroyal on TV to determine something elseis that what you remember? You got more out of that than Idid because
02:44:24at this point all three of those guysevery time they talk it's like Charlie Brown'steacher's talking I just don't hear anythingI have no idea what they're involved withor what they're doing and I don't really carethere's going to be battle royals next two weeks on TVand a multi-team tag team title match on the pay-per-viewso this is going to be a goddamn cluster
02:44:44I said that the match of the weekbetween Raw, NXT and Dynamitewas Champa and Ziegler rightthat was the best match of the three programsthe best interviewthe best segmentwas on AEW and came up nextimagine that and imagine this
02:45:06it involved MJFand CM Punkbut mostly MJFand I've seen a lot of people are talking about this on Twitterand they're raving about it etc etcbut thisit's an example ofMs wouldn't have done this
02:45:25because Ms. couldn't do this because it would have required him being somewhat real.And Ms. just as the celebrity type.But MJF now finally, he didn't even break character, he didn't get away from his gimmick.It actually more explained his gimmick of why he's an insufferable prick.Because he was mentally mistreated in his past or whatever.And he's got a specific grudge against punk.because of not anything punk really did to him,but because of what he believes punk did.
02:46:02And the whole thing, he ended up, and I think I know, obviously,I don't know for sure, but I think I know where this is going,and it's even better, that some people said, well, MJF, he switched baby face,and he showed us he wasn't really that mean of a guy.Right then and there he may have, but I don't know if it's going to happen over the long term,but he told the story about the picture of him meeting CM Punk when he was 11.He had ADD and school was hell, but he was good at football.He was one of the only two Jewish kids to, you know, go out for the football team.
02:46:40Are it Jews in the house?Were you in the house, Brian?I was not in the house, but I was watching live, obviously.Well, there you go.He started his middle linebacker and his teammates threw quarters at him as hard as he,could because he was Jewish. Is that a thing that people do?I can't speak specifically to that, but I will say, despite people recognizing that there are a lotof Jewish people on Long Island, we still do deal with anti-Semitism. And some of what he
02:47:10dealt with, according to this promo, this heel origin story, are very similar things to what a lotof us, despite growing up in either Jewish communities or communities that have a large Jewishpopulation or just outright large Jewish communities, you still deal with this even on Long Island.But I don't get the idea of throwing money at somebody that you don't like.It's like an arena Mexico thing, right?Well, you had a great match.We're going to throw the money.I would have been there with the catchers mitt catching the money going, fuck you guys, throw some more.
02:47:42Well, usually bigots aren't smart.Well, I know what he's doing.But nevertheless, the point is he was, he was, he was.had a tough time in school, he found something he was good at football,but his teammates didn't accept him.He cried all day, but he'd get to meet his hero that night,and that meant everything to him,and he promised himself he was going to be the best wrestler in the world,
02:48:07and he wanted to be like CM Punk,and he found out it was just another Friday for CM Punk,but it meant a lot to him,and then in January 2014,punk left him when he needed him most.It was your fault, you know,good bastard so anyway mjf went to college but he quit to become the best wrestler in the worldand he's not going to quit like punk at revolution because i'm better than you and you know it but
02:48:33he laid this whole thing out and you got to see it and the emotion and he was quivering andhe's kind of tearing up a little bit and it's obviously i don't i don't know if you know he madetons of money getting money thrown at him but there was a lot of real andand he was drawing on, you know, some of that and that emotion.And people started kind of getting with him a little bit as far, you know,just feeling sorry for him.And all of a sudden, when he's done, here comes punk, no music,just coming out with a concerned look on his face.
02:49:13And Tony Chivani, he's trying to help.But did you him say, I've got five kids.ADD is no joke.Fuck, he's got five kidsfucking sexual addictionmay be no joke either Tony for heaven's sakeas Arne Anderson saidyou got enough come in you
02:49:32Chavani to shampoo a buffaloBut anywayPunk comes in the ring with no microphoneAnd just looking at MJFand says is that true? Is that real?And MJF walked off on himAnd punk's sitting there goingmaybe, you know, is this guy for real?
02:49:51It creates questions.It was fucking good.And now it's more intriguing.Now does punk believe that maybe he had something to do with making this guy act this way toward him, whatever?Was it me?And of course, I can see, I don't think I'm ruining anybody.No spoiler here.The best way for MJ.
02:50:16And, of course, what I predict may not necessarily happen because I can.and just see it making the most sense.But MJF at some point when he beats punk,which he probably will,then he revealed, yeah, you fucking idiot,you fell for that whole fucking line of shit.I was the one running the goddamn football locker roomwhen I was in college.
02:50:38Fuck you, or whatever.But I like this.And it was different and it wasn't the same shit we see over and over again.And MJF did a great job.What did you think?I thought it was one of the greatest promoshave ever seen on wrestling.It was one of the most unique promos I've ever seen on wrestling.
02:50:53You have a guy that the fans love booing,not in the Cody way, but in the right way.And he was able to get them to shut up and listenand start believing him and going with him.He did have tears.This fucking guy was able to make up some cry in the middle of this.And like you said, a lot of this was probably based on reality.I believe that, just based on how I grew up on Long Island.
02:51:19but this was an incredibly strong promo.This did a great job of laying out, like I said before, the Heal Origin story,but where exactly this comes from with MJF and Punk.And I'm going to say it again, because I've been saying it for a while.But it's noticeable that for the last several months,the one segment that is almost always must see on AEW TVhas been anything with CM Punk or MJF in this feud in this program.Yeah. It's been months now. You know, it's not everything's what you would do and not everything's
02:51:55what I would do, but they're not messing up. They're telling the story. The worst thing that we saidone week we said it started going a little long. It was good, but it was a little long. That's theworst thing that we could say. They're telling a story. They haven't rushed anything. Theyhaven't done anything egregious or stupid. They haven't done anything to take away your abilityto suspend disbelief. This, I would actually argue that.this may be the single greatest feud in the history of AEW, just right now, just based on the logicand the fact that it's connecting with fans.The dog holler match is going to be a big test, but I'm sad this feud's going to have to end at some point,
02:52:33because the only thing that will make it better is if each guy now goes to have another feud,and those two segments become the good segments on the show.But this has been one of the greatest feuds in modern wrestling.This has easily, I think, been the best feud in AEW, not feud amongst the executives,but actual feud on camera.I think MJF has to win the dog collar,and I think they come up with a third matchthat, if not Punk's specialty,
02:53:03I don't know whether guys even have specialty matches anymore,but something that Punk deserves to getbased on what happens in the dog collar,and then punk can get his fucking win,but MJF has already beat him twice,first two times in a row and has been elevated and somewhat of a moral victory, you might say.So yes, punk would win in the end, but it wouldn't be like, it wouldn't be the Jericho one more match kid.It would be okay, I put you over and I put you over again and now I'll get it, but you're more established.
02:53:41I think that, you know, that hopefully they're looking towards something like that.And this whole feud has done nothing but establish MJF in ways that that Jericho feud completely missed the mark.You want to talk about punk here.Punk was great.Like you said, no microphone.Hit the ring.You look at his face.His face told the whole story.
02:53:57You could have watched that scene on mute.You would have known what was going on.You can't wait to see what's going to happen next.This has been the best, this has been the best thing they have there.And the only question I would have for you is, and someone's going to tell me I'm wrong, but I don't, I'm trying to think back in my head.I know he lost to Jericho, but that was.wasn't a pinfall.Do you give MJF his first ever pinfall loss at AEW to see him punk?
02:54:22I think he would, at the point that punk has earned it, which he, if he puts him over one moretime, he has.But see, the conventional wisdom or rule of thumb or maybe even, you know, just feeling likeit's fair would be, okay, if they're going to go three matches, well, MJF won the first onein Chicago, Punk wins the second.but MGF gets heat and then they have a third.I don't like that set upbecause if Punk wins the second,
02:54:56especially in his own stipulation,then it kind of puts a period on it.We're okay, MGF got the fluke,but now I've established I'm better.If MGF wins again in the stipulation that punk came up with,whether fair means or foul,then it's like,Wait a minute.
02:55:16Shit.We didn't think it was going to go this way.Why should there be a third match?MGF's already beat him twice.That's what he's saying.But there would be extenuating circumstancesto where punk would deserve and receive a rematchand then punk could get his win back.
02:55:34I can see that as having a little bit more impact than,okay, I'll take first when you take second oneand then we'll have the rubber match.The other intriguing thing is going under the assumptionand his feud eventually will have to come to an end, and it seems like they've been teasing the MJF Wardlow thing.They're either going to pull that now, or they may wait a little longer.We're not even sure.But that's a possibility for MJF.
02:55:56What do you think they do with Punk next?Hopefully anything Punk wants to do, because so far, I would have bet that he's been picking most of this and he's done a good job.I hope we don't see MJF versus Wardlow in any kind of series of things.I think MGAF needs to introduce anotherstooge beholden to him to fight Wardlowto get Wardlow over.Because if they went straight fromWardlow turning baby face
02:56:24to Wardlow versus MJF,you're either going to beat Wardlow,that's too soon, or you're going to beat MJF,and that shouldn't be done except rarely.So there's going to be a little issue therewith what the fuck goes on.With punk, I mean, I can't predictbecause they just, like with Adam Cole and Adam Page,
02:56:46just pick shit out of the blue except with punk having more control.That is interesting, because he's worked with a variety of guys.Oh, who would be good to be next?I don't know.Well, maybe we'll find out.Here it came.Thank God.Even if there is a God, thank God for this.
02:57:14I had seen so much rotten wrestling.from all these companies.I was about to give upand it was redeemed in one segment.Like Mussolini!Being serious!He came out with a game face,a no-nonsense entrance.
02:57:36After MJF's promo last week,the question on CM Punk's mindwas, am I the bad guy?now what i'm i'm going to pick it one thing here at the start and then i'm not going to pick aboutanything else about this because it was fabulous but we had to sit through 30 minutes of thatgod damn stinky battle royal they couldn't have taken two minutes off of thatand done a package to refresh the comments that maxwell jacob friedman made the previous weekfor anybody that missed it or anybody that just might need a little reinforcement not that
02:58:17the whole segment, just the pithy parts.They used to throw quarters at me.I believed in you.You left me, that type of thing.They could have done that and then brought Punk out, butagain, inexperienced television formatters.So, punk says until a week ago, I was sure that MJF was the bad guy.But what MJF did took courage.
02:58:44I didn't think he had it in him,but am I being gaslit?And he looked punk, he looks at the camera,there's close-ups,you see sincerity, the eyes.This is not pre-arranged materialgiven to him by someone you can believe he is saying this.It's a talent, the delivery of that.
02:59:10It's called being a good television personality.He believes what he's saying,he makes you believe it too.And he said, I believe those things happened to MJF,but I'm not sure about his sincerity.There's a picture of me with Steve Austin.But when Stone Cold Steve Austin went home,it didn't make me do bad things.
02:59:33But MJF attacked Dean Malenkoas Parkinson's disease, verbally buriedBrian Pilman, Sr. in his hometown in front of his sonand family, said awful things about Darby Allen's dead uncle.And Punk says,I've found out one thing is true.Hurt people, hurt people.That's fucking brilliant.
02:59:59All these idiotsthat in this fucking house of the knightsof the thrones of the black fucking whateveris trying to be all spooky and deep and mysteriousthey get overly dramatic and gagayou don't believe any shitand it's just written down stuff people are saying.but when you get a guy that can tell a story like this
03:00:22and then just break it down to hurt people, hurt people.That's the motivation.That's the supervillains backstory.That's what happened to Mr. Glass and unbreakable.Blah, blah, blah.This guy was hurt, so now he wants to hurt other people.Am I, Dr. Frankenstein, and he's the monster?So he calls MJF out.
03:00:48He said, I want to talk to you.But then he stopped talking to him.talking and then he started pacing.And he paced on live television for a kind of an uncomfortable length of time and there wasno music.Because if it wasn't set up and everybody wasn't waiting for their cue, it would take MJF a whileto get up from the monitor where he's listening to his, his fucking adversary, and comeout there to confront him.
03:01:18And they gave it enough time where it wasn't just next.scene.And here comes M.JF.No microphone, no music.And punk says, I used to be you.I used to be full of hate. I poured alcoholdown an alcoholic's throat.Et cetera, et cetera, all the things he'd done. But too much hate will burn you up.
03:01:40And now it's not about you or me.It's about an 11-year-old kid out there looking up to you like you looked up to me.And how or what are you affect are you going to have on him?and punk ends up finished up he says am i the good guy i sure am trying and sticks his hand out to mjfand there's the look and there's the paws and the milk and mjf comes in with the hugand punk's face and he won't hug him he's like he's got his arms spread out there and lookinglike this fucking guy what and then finally just long enough he's okay i'll go for it and he giveshim the hug and he pats him on the head
03:02:25and MJF backs up with that lip quiveringand kicks punk square in the fucking nutsand he drops like a rockthat was brillianton everybody's partthe timing and the delivery and the whole nine yardsthen punk gets on or MJF gets on punkand gives him that heat seeker pile driver
03:02:52and that got a pop.And he pulls off the jacketand there's the picture of him and punkon his t-shirt.Here comes Wardlow and Spears.And MJF gets the diamond ringand nails Punk.By the way, did you hear
03:03:07as soon as he nails him?What was happening, Brian?What did he mean?What was happening as soon as he nailed himwith that ring?The bell started ringing.Stop this.Ding, ding, ding.
03:03:20And then punk comes up bleating.FTR comes out.Here comes security.Security is running out and trying to stop it.They are attacking the biggest star in our company.We've got to do something.And the bell's ringing again.Ding, ding, ding.
03:03:36And FTR is knocking off security, blocking them off.Again, I will give a little bit of a tip.When you're sending the security or the minions,it's always better if they get to the ring but not necessarily in it.Instead of stopping them at the end,at the entranceway,it creates a better picture of chaosaround the ring.
03:03:58If FTR and the other heels getright in the ring and are at the ropesand as people try to come intoand down to the ring, they're playingking of the hill, knocking themoff the apron, won't let them get in.It's easier to see all the actionat one point at that time. I'm picking
03:04:14at Nits here, but this was so good,a little fine tuning.Then they get the dog collarand they're hanging punk withthe dog collar and he's drenched in blood and they're ringing the bell and security has beendispatched and the heels are in charge. Here was some fucking chaos. And then MJF gets the microphoneright in his face and punk can't see and he's bleeding and his eyes are bugged down and he's coughingor whatever the fuck. You stupid old man, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing
03:04:48people he didn't exist. I'm the devil. Which I think. I thinkwas that an old punk promo from somewhere?Oh, maybe, and I don't know.That would be an interesting callback.I think it was. Yeah.Anyway, so at that point,then now string him up and they start pulling the chainand they're hanging punk.
03:05:10And God damn it, they should have widened back up.He's twisting on the apron.But if they could have got a wide shot,there's a way you can do this without killing the man,where his feet could have been off the groundwhile he's hanging from the chain.That would have been great.But otherwise, here comes Darby Allen,
03:05:29Sammy Guevara, and Sting,the top baby faces.They hit the ringand make a save and the heels powderand the save got a big pop.When's the last time you heard a save, get a pop?If they do one, it always happensafter everything's over with
03:05:46and they haven't built up the chaos,the urgency, the jeopardy.As soon as people saw,Darby and the gang, yay!Now, as good as this was,just imagine for a second,if you didn't see blood on TV all the timewith AEW,
03:06:08if you didn't see angle after anglein every segment all the time,with every company,if this was not only perfectly donelike it was here, but unusual.And didn't happen multiple timesat a segment where there's justthese ridiculously long beat downs and heat segments and et cetera just over and over.
03:06:30Imagine what kind of impact this would have had and then realize that's the kind of impactthat angles had before we got to this point where everything has been so overdone.That's why people in the crowd would lose themselves and try to get over the rail to help.That's why tickets would be sold for the event or pay.Paper views would be bought for the event that this issue is going to culminate inbecause it would register with people because they didn't see it all the time.And it was not only well done, but unusual.We have to imagine that now because we don't live in that world anymore.
03:07:13That's why most of the time, even these things, even the ones that are well done,they don't work because it's not different.but this wasthis was the best segment againof the entire week of any wrestling promotionyour thoughtsthis has been the best feud in professional wrestling since it beganand whenever people hear us criticize
03:07:39some of the wrestling they may likesome of the younger stuffsome of the high-flying stuffand they'll say well it just seems like you guys don't likeanything wrestling's moved on from what you likeyou just have to accept itI point to something like this.This is exactly what I think wrestling should be now.
03:07:58And we're about to go to a pay-per-view, and I'm excited to see this match.They've built it up.There's meaning behind it.It's not a throwaway match.Every single thing they've done on TV has meant something and continued the build.This is the best feud in wrestling.This is the smartest feud in wrestling.This is an example, and I've said it a while back when it came to,
03:08:20to things when AEW does it rightand it's modern day mid-south wrestlinglike this. Yeah.It pisses me off more when I see some of the other stuffon the show. Because this is exactlythe tone of what the competitorto WWE should have.Yes.
03:08:38Not phony. Not showbiz.Right.Not predetermined, prearranged, not fixed,not a performance.Because theWWE has that all locked upand apparently a lot of people don't want to see thatnot like they ever did
03:08:56it's just more apparent than ever before nowand this could beas you said modern day mid-south wrestlinga violent alternativeit doesn't always have to be violence and I just said don'toverdo it somebody's going to say well you can't do that all the timeyou just said that no use this toneuse this execution
03:09:16everything is logical everything's believablethe people that say things what they say they appear to mean the matches appear to be important they don't appear to be cooperating with each other and and winking at their friends while they have fun doing cool moves hey do you remember how mjf turned on cody um god damn it's been a long time but basically he he had taken mjf as his protege even though he was a he old cody he old codyhe saw something in himand everybody else was trying to warn him,but too late,MJF's true colors came out along those lines,something of that nature.He threw in the towel,
03:09:59cost him the match with Jericho,which meant he could never get a AEW.That's right.But he got in the ring,they embraced him in the hurt Cody,and then he gave Cody a shot to the nuts.So I like that.It's a throwback to his last betrayal,
03:10:14and I think that's brilliant too.Ain't that a kickin a nuts.There you go.That's MJF's thing.This is the best feud in history of AEW.And when it comes to this pay-per-view, you have a world title match.You have the three-way tag team title match.Make no mistake, this is the main event of that pay-per-view.
03:10:30This is the one match I can't wait to see.Yeah, well, we're going to get to their world title match in a minute and the lack of promotion or interest or anything in it.But yeah, I can see people, especially the ex-WWE fans in the audience, want to see Moxley against Danielson.but I mean has there ever been a major world title matchand a major company on pay-per-viewthat has any less interest than this oneand the tag team title match is justthe interchangeable trampoline cowboy match
03:11:01that they always have.It's not going to be anything different,not appreciably better or worse,depending on whether you like that kind of thing,is all the other matches they do,because it'll be the same thing.So yeah, Punk and MJF,they ought to have points in this pay-per-view
03:11:16Because if it does well, it's almost all of them.Yeah, and, you know, there goes to my discussion before about the tone.Take personal feelings and everything aside.Just look at it objectively.The stuff with the bucks and Red Dragon and the bucks and coal, which ties into Colin Page,look at that tone versus the tone of everything with punk and MJF.Everything is serious.Everything at times is evil.
03:11:41I mean, you know what I mean?Like, it feels like one thing.And then on the other side, it's a bunch of guys just playing.just playing.I mean, that's really what it seems like.When hey, Brandon, turn on the camera.Okay, so we're going back into the comedy portion of the showwhere they're going to do a bunch of comedy routines that suck.
03:11:57That's the problem.You know, like I said, send half the people to Ring of Honor.Now that you have that option, that's like Australia.Send everyone to Ring of Honor right now.And just make one of the promotions the serious tone that wrestling needs.This angle, this feud, and I'm sure this match coming up,are exactly what wrestling can be right now.Instead, it's Friedman.
03:12:24That was great.I love that because you hear the opening strains, the guitar licks,you think it's cult of personality,and suddenly it's MJF yanking your chain.I like that.And off his music switches to his, and here he comes.So you, Mr. Music Business background,I know that the music that punk came out to
03:12:53was what he used years ago in Ring of Honor,but what is the song and who is the artist?I forget the song name.It's A-F-I.It was actually a great album.I have that album when it came out.I used to play it all the time.I used to know who liked that album,
03:13:07and she got me in that album.It's a great album, and he used to come out to that song,which is, I think, the first song on the album.I just don't know the name of it.Who is A-F-I?they be a band that played musicsimilar to the music you heardI don't know how to describe them.
03:13:22They were a bandI guess you could say maybe emo-ish,goth-ish.They were going through a lot of issuesand they made a lot of good songs.Well, anyway, he changed it up a little bitand they mentioned it for the folkswho didn't understand why it was different music.
03:13:42They mentioned what it was.So again, I didn't hearthe song title, but they said that it wasRing of Honor, or Punk's old Ring of HonorMusic. Anyway, from the timethat they came out, andthey're standing in the ring,both guys' facials are great,
03:13:59their attitude,their demeanor, as the Fink used tosay. During thein-ring introductions,to give it a big match feellike a sporting event,and not just this, here he comes downnow to the aisle to his
03:14:14custom-made music doing hispre- choreographed routine,but they're in the ring, it's a fucking match,it's a fight,and both these guys know how to,especially punk, obviously,just because of his experience,know how to command your attention
03:14:30while they're either not doing muchor not doing anything.Because the way they walk around with attitudeand expression on their face and the body languagefor the people, then the big arenathat can't see their expressions.And they took their time.That was the
03:14:46longest fucking chain I've ever seen in a chain match.And I thought that might give them troubles, but they seem to, I've got to be honest,even guys who have had some chain matches have issues more often with the chain than whatI saw them have in this match.A couple of times they were, if you step over the wrong rope, you've got to go back in andback out because you're wound around and all that stuff, and that just happens.But they didn't have a lot of trouble.as compared to some I've seen.
03:15:19But usually it's like an 8-foot chain or a 10-foot chain.This thing, when they each had their backs to the turnbuckle,it pretty much reached.So anyway, it just from the start of it,they took their time, everything meant something.They didn't, the first time that MJF whipped punkwith the chain, he just did it once.sold it and you can see it left marks it left link marks on his back
03:15:50MJF wrapped the chain around his hand and punched punk twice just twice and he wasbleeding and by the way my new favorite magician is not Chris Angel it's C.M. PunkChris Angel has nothing on punk he's got the magic touch did you see it I ain'tgoing to talk about it I didn't see it obviously I saw Mr. Friedmanas you called them before, but I did not see Mr. Punk.No, you didn't see Mr. Friedman because we didn't either.He disappeared for 45 seconds.But anyway, yes, punk's got the magic touch.
03:16:29Did you hear when MJF got the microphone and told Punk to quit?And punk said, eat shit, JR came in and like it.That's the Vince line, right?Did you catch that?I did catch that.And once again, I thought the commentators were a little over the top and took away from this match.at times. Well, but I likethat little callback too. Learn to
03:16:50eat shit and like the taste of it,pal. I like to theyou know, when punk jerkedMJF off the buckle,headbutting the nuts,punk does the bulldog withthe chain. AndPunk's color was really coming.
03:17:08He was fucking great and he'swhipping MJF with the thing.Punk goes for the GTS,the go to sleep.MJF gets the sleeper withthe chain around the neckand punk's fading and the people arechanting and then the kick off the buckle
03:17:24quick two cats this is wrestlingagain they tradedMJF got the arm bar punk rolled into theanacana vice anaconda anacondayour anaconda don't want noneuh MJF gets out by pullinghair imagine thatthe knee the knee lift to the chain
03:17:45or with the chain was where we were just talking about.MJF takes a bump to the floor.And I know he's young and inexperienced,and I felt the same way when I was doing it first time on TV.But I don't know what he was doing.The camera was on punk in the ring for 30 seconds.And then finally MJF got in.I love him, but he's still working on the,
03:18:09that home magic kit for kids thing.He used to order out of the back of the comic books.who is it Marshall Brodean's magic tricksbut anyway then they go out to the floor now they're out on the floorthey're giving us a little bit of everything it's not a hundred miles an hourit's not overkill of everything it's not back and forth with no sellingthey're having a fucking fight and punk bashes MJF fromnot from pillar to post but pillar to steps
03:18:40and then goes for the knee lift into the steps and hurts his leg that's going to play a partin thisthis may be the first gimmick match in AEW historythat has made sensePunk calls for the go to sleepbut his leg is bad and he collapsesand then they fought on the apronthat's where they got tied up in the chain
03:19:03where MJF had to bop in and out a time or twoto get out tied up out of the ropesthe reverse tombstone on the apronI hate apron spotsand I don't want to downplay the danger of this one,but if you're going to do, this was a controlled situation.The guys that are jumping off the top ropeor flinging each other on these aprons,
03:19:27that's not a controlled situation.This was controlled, and both of them sold it like death.So a lot of these things, in a blow-off match,that's where you want to do them.and if we didn't see them every week,they would have even more impact.Then we get to the part.It couldn't be perfect.
03:19:51And I got to, right now, I was vibrating.I was hopping up and down.I was even backing some stuff up to watch it again.And then MJF goes under the ring and pulls out a bag and it's thumbtacks.And seriously, even, come on, guys, and I'm just talking to the two of you now.you're two of the best talents in the business currently.You're having a classic match on a major pay-per-view.This bullshit was completely unnecessary.
03:20:20It's just a validates the goof and the garbage match participants, constituents,and it encourages every jack-off wannabe mud show fuck with a one-oneth of your talent,that this is somehow a thingthat actual real wrestlers and real stars do.And it's stupid.And it ain't going to win anybody anything.It's just, it's fucking stupid.Did I mention that word?
03:20:55And they teased fall in the taxand then MJF superplexed punk on the tax.And this ran a risk of ruining this fucking classic for mebecause why?It's like watching your childrenyou know, take up doingfucking hard drugs.Why it's so unnecessary.
03:21:16And now they've ruined a lot of the ring for bumps.I don't, I took the bump off the scaffold.I would do that again before I would just take a bump in thumb tax,not only for money, but just because it's stupid.Anyway, somehow MJF got unhooked there.I didn't see how it was,but he called for Wardlow several times.And finally, here comes Wardlow.
03:21:44And this is where the floor camera was behind Wardlow.And I could see, because later on went back and looked,he starts feeling, because MJF is screaming for the ring.Well, he starts feeling for the ring.The floor camera was behind him.You couldn't see it good.So the floor camera starts to truck around Wardlow's left side,and just as you can start seeing it,
03:22:11that's where, I think it was Tony,but it may have been excrement too.Oh, he can't find it.Great.If, you know, if we'd have seen that for ourselvesbefore you called it,you know, he hadn't gotten the idea over yetthat he couldn't really find it to anybody
03:22:27but the guys who had been in the finish meeting, apparently,and knew that it was going to take place.Anyway, he couldn't find the ring.So, punk took that opportunity to hit the deal,GTS on MJF.And thenMJF fell into the tax and did a funnyyou know, back arch type of thing.
03:22:50That wasn't the right reaction there.You don't want it funny.The tax are screwing everything up.But then punk looks at Wardlow and Wardlow looks atpunk and Wardlow finds the ringand leaves it on the apron to a huge pop.and walks off andPunk gets the ring and grabs MJF
03:23:13and gives him the finger, MGF spits in his facePunk nails him with the ring one timeone two threeif there had beena shortage of thumbtacksin the United States of America on the day of this matchthis would have been the closest thingto a perfect gimmick match
03:23:31that I've seen in years.Your thoughts, Brian?I agree with some of your criticisms,hated the thumbtackshated the commentaryin terms of the two participantsI thought took me out of itfor a second when Punk started using the chain
03:23:46and just the way he was working itit didn't look the greatestwell and I saw that alsoand if you notice here's the thingthey're using a real chainright andif you go back and watchpunk was
03:24:00punk had pulled it for wherehe thought he was goingand MJF anticipatedand bowed hisback down a little bitand the first one especially it was likeit didn't quite get there.But yeah, you know, there was a couple of
03:24:16MJFs looked better on punkand we saw the marks on punkso for good reason. But yeah, I got you there.But I thought it was great. I think thisentire feud has been the exampleof what a lot of people like mewant wrestling today to be like and we don'tunderstand why there isn't a
03:24:32full-time promotionthat just treats things seriously.This feud was great. Give itpunk, he got great color twice in one week.Who's the last guy in the business to do that?Used to be all the time and then all of a sudden it went away.Yeah.Wednesday, and again on Sunday, great color.
03:24:51I hate to say it, but I hope you bleed a lot more.So yeah, but really good.And, you know, they did the two matches.Punk wins the second one.It almost feels like it's not the time to do a third match.It feels like it is the time maybe to move on with MJF and Ward.Well, I don't know what you do with Punk.Oh, yeah.
03:25:07Well, no, now I, I don't know.I agree.I had said beforehand, if it was me,I would have had MJF win the first two and then Punk win the blow off.After this, they can't blow anything else off.This was so good.And it was an ultimate, you know, fucking finisher.And they've got the right turn for Punk to make,
03:25:29or for MJF to make, rather,so he doesn't just go out a loser.He'll say, I'll deal with Punk on my time,but Wardlow, and that,he gives him a gracious, graceful exit out of the thing.So in this, but I would have had another match of some descriptionthat didn't have the heavy, you know, dog collar, end all, be all, whatever.But, no, I agree with you now, they must move on.
03:25:59This feud has been so well done, it's been so intelligently done.And now we're going into whatever punk's going to do,and I have a lot of faith in CM Punk's quality control.I have a lot of faith, maybe more than almost anyone in wrestling right now.And I have to say, since the Jericho feud, everything MJF has been a part of has made sense and been great.And this feud is the greatest in AEW's history and maybe the best in wrestling in years.It gives me a lot of faith going into MJF Wardlow.And that makes me want to ask you the question, seeing the crowd reactions he's starting to get,
03:26:34seeing what he could do in the ringon a limited basis as a heeljust killing people with the power bombbut seeing how the MJF punk program was bookedand how things made sense and how people reactto MJF a certain wayyou gotta think Wardlow's about to come out of thisa major star
03:26:52oh yeah they're into him and they love himand they love the power bombsand they loved thecouldn't find the ringand they've been wanting this for a whilesince they've juiced it up againremember they were teasing ustwo years ago.
03:27:05And if they'd have did it then,Jesus, because they had only been together for six weeks.So thankfully, they put it on the back burner,and then they've, you know, established some history between these guys.And obviously, we're not going to see Wardlow at MJF right off.We'll get Wardlow and Spears.So here comes the power bombs.And maybe MJF can certainly not FTR.
03:27:32I hope that group is dissolved at this point,but maybe MJF can get a couple of other people to feed to Wardlow,and then again, the first match with MJF and Wardlow,that's got to be Wardlow's first loss.Then he beats MJF, well, then why go any further?But that means that they have to just give Wardlow,put something in his bank account first,not just beating job guys,
03:28:02beating people close to or doing the bidding of MJF and getting closer to him.And then boom, MJF fucks him and sets him back.And then he's got to get on the comeback trail, blah, blah, blah.And I guess what happened?Because he won the latter match, he gets the winner of Sammy versus Scorpio Sky for the TNT title.Yeah, what did I say the world title earlier?It's one of their many titles.and you know does
03:28:33does MJF somehowpissing his post toastys over that onedo you want to put the belt on him right nowhe still actually hasn'tcome out of underMJF's contractual obligationthat contract and here's somethingsomebody on Twitter said
03:28:52Tony con can spend $40 million for Ring of Honorbut he can't buy poor Wardlow out of his contract with MJIt's true.See, when you start doing this shitwhere all your loopholes aren't closedand your logic doesn't make sensefrom one segment or talent to another,this is where people start asking these questions.
03:29:14Having said that, whywas CM Punk and MJF not the main event?Because I looked and I said,fucking hell!We've got half this show to go.How are they going to, any of them going to follow this, right?and most of them didn't.Well, there it is.
03:29:32A look back at the best feud in AEW history.C.M. Punk and MJF.Jim, final comments?The question I will leave everybody with iswill C.M. Punk's wrestling careerlast long enough for MJF to get his careerout of the hands of Tony Kahnand to the WWE where they can do this again
03:29:53and make about 40 times more money with it?That's the question.Well, we'll see. It would have to be in a different company. And of course, although we have a compilation here of the feud, in a lot of ways, it was left with no real conclusive ending. There's still places it could go.Seampunk technically still has a bag with a title in it somewhere.Well, it needs to go to, it needs to go to New York is where it needs to go. But that's, I'm afraid that MJF's indentured servitude will outlast, you know, punk's ability to participate.at it before he retires again at this rate.Well, we shall see what happens.We shall see if these guys and the WWE give us a volume two at some point in the future,
03:30:39in the far future.But until then, for this omnibus and for Jim Cornett, I'm the great Brian last.Tallyho!
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