AEW Stars ‘Very Upset’ Over CM Punk Footage, WWE Releases | WrestleTalk - video Dailymotion

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WATCH: Name Every Roman Reigns WWE Title Defence Survival Series  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EmKfkbvxm0 More wrestling news on https://wrestletalk.com/ 0:00 - Coming up... 0:19 - AEW CM Punk Footage Fallout: Part II 10:06 - WWE Releases AEW Stars ‘Very Upset’ Over CM Punk Footage, WWE Releases | WrestleTalk #AEW #CMPunk #WWE #WrestlingNews #WrestleTalk #WWERAW  Subscribe to WrestleTalk Podcasts   https://bit.ly/3pEAEIu Subscribe to partsFUNknown for lists, fantasy booking & more  https://bit.ly/32JJsCv Subscribe to NoRollsBarred  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5UQPZe-8v4_UP1uxi4Mv6A Subscribe to WrestleTalk  https://bit.ly/3gKdNK3 SUBSCRIBE TO THEM ALL! Make sure to enable ALL push notifications!  Watch the latest wrestling news: https://shorturl.at/pAIV3 Buy WrestleTalk Merch here! https://wrestleshop.com/   Follow WrestleTalk: Twitter: https://twitter.com/_WrestleTalk Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WrestleTalk.Official Patreon: https://goo.gl/2yuJpo WrestleTalk Podcast on iTunes: https://goo.gl/7advjX WrestleTalk Podcast on Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3uKx6HD  About WrestleTalk: Welcome to the official WrestleTalk YouTube channel! WrestleTalk covers the sport of professional wrestling - including WWE TV shows (both WWE Raw & WWE SmackDown LIVE), PPVs (such as Royal Rumble, WrestleMania & SummerSlam), AEW All Elite Wrestling, Impact Wrestling, ROH, New Japan, and more. Subscribe and enable ALL notifications for the latest wrestling WWE reviews and wrestling news.  Sources used for research:  Youtube Channel Comments Policy We appreciate the comments and opinions our viewers provide. Do note that all comments are subject to YouTube auto-moderation and manual moderation review. We encourage opinions and discussion, but harassment, hate speech, bullying and other abusive posts will not be tolerated. Decisions on comment removal are made by the Community Manager. Please email us at support@wrestletalk.com with any questions or concerns.

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00:00 AEW stars very upset and frustrated?

00:03 What happened backstage with the CM Punk footage being aired, WWE releases and more?

00:09 I'm Oli Davis, and this is the WrestleTalk News.

00:15 We've now had an extra 24 hours to process AEW airing the Shoot CCTV footage of CM Punk

00:26 and Jack Perry's backstage altercation at All In - the incident that led to AEW firing

00:33 Punk with cause.

00:35 And with that extra night's sleep and some distance, and just a bit of time to emotionally

00:39 work through what happened, I think today we can all say, with heads that are a little

00:45 clearer - yep, that was still a terrible idea.

00:48 That was a really, really dumb thing to do.

00:51 Ironically, there's an argument that AEW, by doing this, has largely managed to eradicate

00:57 wrestling fan tribalism.

00:59 Because everyone from AEW hardcores to WWE stans united in thinking this made them look

01:05 second rate.

01:07 So how was this decision made behind the scenes?

01:10 PWTorch's Wade Keller first reported on his podcast that "I've been checking with

01:14 people in AEW and I have been told that this was not something the Bucks were in favor

01:20 of doing.

01:21 It wasn't their idea.

01:22 It was Tony Khan's idea that he wanted this out there."

01:26 He then expanded on this in a written report, giving more context to what he meant by the

01:30 Bucks not being on board.

01:32 One prominent AEW source, when asked if the Bucks were initially on board with the idea

01:36 of airing the Punk footage, said "they were not."

01:39 The source said they didn't know one person other than Tony Khan that was on board with

01:45 this.

01:46 "The source tells me the Bucks were ready to move on and not get into this again."

01:50 Keller continues, though, claiming that once it was clear Khan had made his decision, Matthew

01:55 and Nicholas Jackson pitched ideas onto how to make it part of a storyline.

02:00 Some of those ideas, we've been told by multiple sources, were shot down by Khan,

02:04 perhaps due to legal reasons or wanting to keep their comments in the realm of Khan's

02:08 vision of promoting the Bucks vs FTR match.

02:12 Keller then describes the Bucks as "willing participants" and said any framing of this

02:16 situation as this being something they were forced or pressured into doing against their

02:21 will is not fair or accurate.

02:25 Other sources say they had ideas that didn't make air and wanted to do it differently.

02:30 So it seems by Keller's report the Jacksons were not initially on board, but once Khan

02:34 had made his decision, they went along with the plan without being forced.

02:38 Keller has posted a written summary of his report to clarify this, as he feels parts

02:43 of his initial podcast report were inaccurately portrayed elsewhere.

02:47 Fightful Select then reported that Matthew and Nicholas were both "fine with doing

02:51 the angle".

02:52 I don't know if that necessarily refutes what PWTorch is now claiming in their write-up,

02:56 as they do say that too, just that the Bucks weren't initially on board.

03:00 Fightful do corroborate, however, that this was Tony Khan's idea in response to Punk's

03:05 comments on Ariel Hawane's podcast and the interview shots from WWE at AEW over WrestleMania

03:12 40 weekend.

03:13 Sean Ross Sapp adds that FTR were also on board with the idea, as they thought it would

03:17 add some social buzz to them vs the Bucks at Dynasty.

03:21 Because FTR are really good judges of social media fallout.

03:25 No one's heard of any issues between CM Punk and FTR as a result of this.

03:30 There just might be issues with everyone else.

03:33 Fightful writes that most people in AEW had "tepid reactions" to the footage - Tepid

03:38 Reactions, title of your indie wrestling show - as many saw it as a one-night ratings ploy.

03:43 There was talk, however, of the mood decreasing backstage once the footage had aired, and

03:48 it created dread over the inevitable social media bulls*** it would bring.

03:53 If you're wondering what decreasing backstage mood and dread over the social media fallout

03:57 looks like in human form… it's this.

04:01 It's Tony Schiavone immediately after they played the clip.

04:04 The Wrestling Observer team described stronger feelings backstage, with Bryan Alvarez claiming

04:09 the vast majority of reactions in AEW can be summed up as "Why are we doing this?

04:15 I can't believe we're going to show this.

04:17 Why?

04:18 Very upset.

04:20 Disappointed.

04:21 Is this ship sinking?

04:22 This has got to be rock bottom."

04:24 And Dave Meltzer noted people in AEW were really frustrated that the All In incident

04:29 wound had been reopened.

04:31 Fightful added, though, despite the doom heralding of some commentators, no one in AEW believes

04:37 this is a company killer.

04:39 Meanwhile, over in WWE… the reaction was probably this.

04:44 Fightful reports that many backstage in WWE were talking about the footage being aired,

04:49 but the actual content didn't really shock anyone.

04:51 There's no heat on CM Punk in WWE for it, and a few WWE wrestlers described the video

04:57 as a "self own" from AEW.

05:00 One described it as no worse than anything that happened in the Monday Night Wars between

05:05 WWE and WCW.

05:07 Which I must remind you, though, was a quarter of a century ago.

05:11 Thankfully, Alvarez reports people in AEW believe Tony Khan has "gotten this out of

05:17 his system", where the President allegedly said "it's done, we're moving on."

05:22 I presume he was just talking about the CM Punk stuff specifically, and not the overall

05:26 shots at WWE.

05:27 Because that wasn't the only segment that had WWE living ramp-free in on the episode.

05:32 Immediately following the Punk All In footage, Dynamite had Will Ospreay cut a promo on Triple

05:38 H. Leveque had recently said that free agents who choose AEW over WWE were afraid of the

05:44 grind and just wanted a lighter schedule.

05:47 This was presumably about AEW's genuine coups this year of signing Okada, Mercedes

05:52 Monet and Will Ospreay.

05:54 So Ospreay shot back, accusing Leveque of only getting to his position because he was

05:58 "grinding" the Boss' daughter - a reference to Triple H's real-life wife Stephanie McMahon.

06:04 PWTorch reported Ospreay was an "enthusiastic participant" in the crafting of what he would

06:09 say on the promo during the production session.

06:12 Apparently the decision to make the comments was made hours before Dynamite aired.

06:16 PWInsider write that Ospreay was the one who came up with the Boss' daughter line, and

06:21 it was not given to him by someone else.

06:23 Fightful Select adds that the promo was Ospreay's idea, and he'd got approval from several

06:28 people backstage.

06:29 Another shot at Punk in his speech was talked about, but that was considered overkill following

06:34 the footage being aired on the same show.

06:36 I personally believe the best response is to let Ospreay wrestle the best matches you've

06:41 ever seen.

06:42 Which will likely get two of next week, as not only will he fight Bryan Danielson at

06:46 Sunday 21st's Dynasty, he'll also wrestle Danielson's Blackpool Combat Club faction

06:51 mate Claudio Castagnoli on the go-home Dynamite.

06:55 With all that intrigue over playing the CM Punk footage, with Tony Khan taking a huge

07:00 reputational risk for his promotion, how well did it do in the TV ratings?

07:06 Nothing to write home about.

07:07 The show did 819,000 viewers with a .3 rating in the 18-49 demographic.

07:13 While that is up from the previous week's 747,000 and a .23, that number was its lowest

07:20 in years.

07:21 The Punk footage episode was AEW's joint second highest demo rating of 2024, but as

07:27 that girl once asked Thanos… what did it cost, mate?

07:31 AEW's biggest success this year was the January 17th episode, which pulled in 891,000

07:38 and a .33 demo, because they expertly promoted a big championship match between Samoa Joe

07:44 and the young challenger Hook.

07:47 Rather than keep Hook a focal point of programming, though, he's just become Chris Jericho's

07:51 latest way to stay relevant.

07:53 So it's concerning SE Scoops is reporting Hook is interested in exploring his options

07:58 when his AEW contract expires later this year, and that WWE will likely have interest.

08:06 Perhaps if AEW focused more on the talent and matches they do have, they could steadily

08:11 rise to those numbers again.

08:13 Which is why it's a promising sign that Jack Perry might be getting over as a result

08:17 of all this.

08:18 With his scapegoat t-shirt selling out on his official website, while House of Torture's

08:23 Crimea River design is currently New Japan's top seller.

08:26 Speaking of top sellers, here's a top sellout - Turbo Jack to say thank you to our brilliant

08:32 Pledgehammers on Patreon.

09:00 But what's best for your business is signing up to WrestleTalk's Patreon at patreon.com/wrestletalk

09:20 where you get loads of exclusive videos like Luke and Oli's long-form 6 episode 150-whatever

09:26 hour deep dive into the Breakup of the Shield, bonus Survival Series episodes and early access

09:34 to Monday Night Raw.

09:35 And the best of you get a shoutout on this very show from Turbo Jack, like the Bald Imbrommy

09:40 Brett Lymphorth, The Magic Man Barra Blayne, $100 Man CD Over, Shield Maiden The Zornis,

09:50 Big Jiggy Josh Marden, Double L Liam Lannard, The Pin, Neckel of Success Luke Kelly, Abominable

09:58 Michael Abbott, Ryan Disco Stewart and where there's a will, there's a Will Campbell.

10:07 While onscreen wrestle releases have become far less common in WWE, corporate personnel

10:12 appear to be in constant flux.

10:14 This is likely still because of the WWE/UFC merger into TKO, where many back office roles

10:19 would have been duplicated and therefore phased out, and the beginning of the Paul Levesque

10:24 era.

10:25 He's in charge now, I don't know if you've heard, putting his own hires in place.

10:29 Thursday the 11th saw two high profile corporate departures amidst a shake-up of one of the

10:35 most important departments in WWE - talent relations.

10:40 SE Scoops first reported that WWE's EVP of Talent Dan Ventrell had been removed from

10:45 his position.

10:46 Ventrell got that job replacing Levesque when Levesque was promoted to Chief Content

10:50 Officer on Vince's first exit in 2022, in a game of corporate musical chairs.

10:56 Dave Meltzer then confirmed Ventrell is no longer with the company, and Fightful posted

11:00 the following memo that was sent within WWE.

11:03 "WWE has begun the process of reorganizing its talent relations group.

11:07 Moving forward, Chris Legental, in addition to his new role in comms, will help us in

11:12 leading this new group.

11:13 Matt Altman, in addition to his role in marketing, will be working closely with Chris to help

11:18 in this endeavor.

11:19 Talent development and recruiting will now report into Shawn Michaels.

11:23 All of talent, which includes talent relations, development and recruiting, will continue

11:27 to ultimately report into Paul Levesque.

11:30 As of today, Dan Ventrell will be moving on from WWE.

11:34 We thank Dan for his tremendous contributions.

11:36 Sincerely, Nick Khan."

11:39 In this, PWInsider added that the Senior Vice President of Athlete ID and Development, Tramp

11:44 Willfinger, had also departed the company.

11:47 Willfinger have been in WWE since 2021.

11:50 A brand new Survival Series is up for you to watch now… and it's way more difficult

11:55 than you think.

AEW Stars ‘Very Upset’ Over CM Punk Footage, WWE Releases | WrestleTalk

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