In this WrestleTalk News, a CM Punk sighting in the wild!
AEW’s new release policy, all the latest White Rabbit teases and more.
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then, yeah, you’ll have learnt a whole language at conversational level in the same time you’ve
been trying to figure out who the White Rabbit is.
Speaking of stories that have totally consumed my life recently!
A wild CM Punk has appeared!
Unless you’ve just taken the month of September off from wrestling news, AEW’s big All Out
pay-per-view at the start of the month was far more noteworthy for what happened in the
post-show media scrum.
CM Punk shockingly decided to publicly air all his grievances against The Elite, due
to them not getting on backstage, and said if they’ve got a problem with him, come
say it to his face in the locker room.
They did, and a backstage fight ensued, leading to the suspensions of everyone involved - most
notably then-AEW World Champion Punk, and AEW co-executive vice presidents the Young
Bucks and Kenny Omega.
As of right now, they are presumed to still be suspended while the investigation is underway.
While the big question remains: who incited the physical altercation, one important detail
could actually hamper AEW taking proper action until next year - rumours that CM Punk had
injured himself yet again in the All Out title match against Jon Moxley, fresh after coming
back from the broken foot he suffered shortly after May’s Double or Nothing.
There’s a very serious possibility that AEW will come to terms with Punk on his release
following the backstage brawl, but as per the company’s previous actions, they do
not release people who are injured or undergoing rehab.
Which is a good employer policy to have.
Now Twitter user @CMSappic has posted the first public image of Punk since the All Out
media scrum with the emotionally restrained caption NEW RECENT PIC OF CM PUNK IN TEARS
I MISSED HIM.
And in that picture you can clearly see a brace around his left arm.
According to a previous report from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, this is for a torn triceps,
where Punk’s doctor recommended quick surgery “to prevent any muscle atrophy”.
[QUOTE] Even then, the recovery timeline is around
eight months, meaning that even if AEW make a decision on ending Punk’s contract today,
they likely wouldn’t enact it until May next year.
It might be the best thing that could’ve happened.
Eight months is a long time, which could help soothe the intense emotions around Punk in
AEW.
Because he famously gets over grudges with time.
That would put a Punk return around May, i.e.
Double or Nothing time.
CM Punk return confirmed!
Oh god dammit, we’re back here again!
Do you think there’s ever a chance Punk could properly come back to AEW?
Let me know in the comments.
But Punk isn’t the only person AEW isn’t letting go anytime soon…
The Punk situation is unfortunately not an isolated incident in the AEW locker room.
It has bubbled over at the same time of several AEW stars’ creative frustrations.
Which also unluckily coincided with Triple H taking over the booking of WWE.
Suddenly AEW wasn’t the only big game in town where you could be creatively fulfilled.
These has already led to Bobby Fish not renewing his AEW contract, and then suddenly turning
up in IMPACT Wrestling.
Which isn’t quite WWE.
And also the confusing story of the House of Black.
The faction’s leader Malakai Black appeared to bid farewell to the live crowd after taking
the loss at All Out.
This came following reports that he had requested his release from AEW.
Then just over a week ago, he issued a statement saying that he’ll be stepping away from
wrestling for a period to focus on his mental health, while also seemingly expressing dissatisfaction
of his booking in AEW.
Then, over the weekend, his House of Black buddy, Buddy Mathews, made a very similar
speech at an indie show - signaling he also wanted to step away.
Both Buddy and Malakai were big favourites of Triple H, heading up The Game’s brands
205 Live and NXT respectively.
They also both have their partners in WWE, with Buddy in a relationship with Rhea Ripley,
and Black married to Zelina Vega.
But it poses a tricky ethical dilemma for AEW and Tony Khan.
The idea of denying someone their release in wrestling has become a very negatively
charged notion over the last five years.
This has been a feeling entirely fuelled by WWE, because the contractual balance of power
was very unfair.
Despite signing multi-year deals, Vince McMahon reportedly believed he could cut you at any
time.
But if you wanted to leave at any time, WWE could cruelly make you wait almost in eternity,
artificially extended your contract for any time you might’ve missed due to injury.
It’s doubtful that would ever hold up court, if anyone ever found the resources to tackle
WWE, and ironically enough, even led Vega, Black’s wife, to publicly try to start a
wrestlers union.
The sympathy has always been with the wrestler.
But AEW is a very different company with an admirably far fairer HR policy.
They pay well, you can often pursue outside projects and, crucially, they won’t randomly
release you because of ‘budget cuts’.
And that give from them, in turn, should warrant a similar give from the wrestlers.
I.e.
if you sign a five year contract, like Malakai Black, you can’t just walk out after a year
because your mate now books WWE.
If that’s what happened at all.
It’s a battle of perception that Tony Khan seems acutely aware of, which is likely why
he parted ways with Cody Rhodes at the start of this year.
You don’t want to be seen as the promotion that holds unhappy wrestlers hostage.
But now with allegations that WWE contacted AEW-contracted wrestlers about returning to
them with Triple H in charge, you can no longer be the happy-lets-help-everyone-achieve-their-dreams
company you might’ve projected before.
Which has led to an updated policy on releases, as per Wrestling Observer Radio, with Dave
Meltzer reporting: “Nobody’s getting released [from AEW].
That’s the doctrine.
Tony Khan made that very clear, I guess in the last couple of days.
They really came after [Tony], it’s pretty blatant.
[WWE] came after so many of the guys.
Basically everyone that had a previous relationship with Triple H was contacted.”
This could be why initial reports and Malakai’s first statement indicated he had finished
with AEW, but now he’s posted a video confirming he’ll be back in AEW when he’s ready.
We’ll have more on this discussion point with Andy and Tempest in our Reacts video
later today, so make sure to subscribe and enable notifications to know when that goes
live first.
But if Malakai is still with AEW… why did WWE tease his entrance song on Monday’s
Raw?
Despite limiting the White Rabbit teases to just social media or, now, subliminal messages
on Raw, WWE’s new subtle marketing strategy appears to be working very well.
SmackDown’s viewership last Friday, despite being a relatively normal episode, got the
best viewership figure in almost two years - largely thought to be because of the Bray
Wyatt-implied White Rabbit teases.
While Raw held a respectable 1.67 million despite very tough competition from the NFL.
The latest tease on Raw hinted towards a Wyatt return again - with potential references to
Bray’s last house show feud against Baron Corbin before becoming the Fiend, and his
real name Windham.
But this Rabbit Hole has several smaller holes that lead nowhere.
We’ve already debunked this all being Karrion Kross, which would be weird, as he’d already
debuted on WWE weeks ago.
And now we have a curious Malakai Black Easter Egg.
The lastest White Rabbit QR code takes you to a TikTok video.
WWE then put that TikTok video on their website.
And someone dug into the source code for that page, revealing two random lines:
“No man is ever truly good.
No man is ever truly evil.”
These are the opening lines to Aleister Black’s old WWE theme song.
And that’s not the only White Rabbit red herring, because a new challenger has entered
the arena - with the former Slapjack posting a photo of himself with bunny ears emoticonned
on.
Retribution return confirmed.
You, of course, can see Slapjack pushed as one of the main stars in our brand new series
of Monday Night War over on partsFUNknown.
Malakai Black’s contract status isn’t the only controversy in AEW right now, though.
As MJF is calling out news pundits on Twitter.
Since returning from his own shoot that became a work worky shoot face contract dispute,
MJF has styled himself as the Devil poisoning AEW from the inside.
To support that, he released a t-shirt that reads ‘I am a Devil Worshiper’ for his
fans.
This has angered the self-described Christian conservative pundit Carmine Sabia, who said
he felt the devil workship slogan was insulting to Christians.
Of all the things to take issue with MJF about, you choose that?
He made fun of Brian Pillman Jr’s mum’s meth addiction.
Also, Kane.
Kane has been a thing in wrestling for decades.
On Twitter, Sabia compared people wearing a devil worshiper shirt to if one of MJF’s
opponents wore a swastika - on account of Max’s Jewish heritage.
To which MJF called out directly, challenging Sabia to “Do it.
Wear it to the next show.”
Carmine then implied he was just playing a heel, so MJF called him out on that too, tweeting:
“Oh s*** I’m sorry mr insider terms.
I had no idea you were a wrestler!
That’s awesome dude.
Swing by create a pro anytime I’ll give you a one one one training session on the
house.”
Remember to subscribe for our other news episode up today, and
in
the meantime, head over
to partsfunKNOWN to watch the brand new episode of Monday Night War!