Without the Wrestling Thread, There Is...No...You! - - - Part 188

[ImWithTeamConan]

Wow...Punk went in on Vince & Trips! So much for a Hall of Fame induction!

As much as I enjoy Punk and enjoy wrestling, it's hard to listen to this and still enjoy professional wrestling. Remove the booking decisions out of the equation, where I disagree with Punk is Vince didn't "owe" him a Wrestlemania main event. It's Vince's company, you gotta know that going in (although I would've loved him in a WM main event).

But the concussion stuff, the withholding royalties, the staph infection, that's pretty damning.

Two things:

1. I find it curious that The Authority was written off last Monday. I wonder if somebody stooged it to them that this was coming so they wouldn't have to endure CM Punk chants directed at them.

2. I think Punk is going to get blackballed. It's not like with Bret. Bret had a huge disagreement with Vince, you kinda always knew it would get ironed out when Bret's hate calmed. This is different. Punk is exposing a lot of the backstage ugliness. This isn't a "normal" shoot interview. TMZ just picked it up, there are going to be ramifications. That doctor can't keep his job.

 

[TheNextNolan22]

Punk has no passion for it so I don't think he'll care if he's blackballed in the pro wrestling business.

 

[TheNextNolan22]

 

[Hunter Rider]

He said a lot of the stuff we've said for years, such as getting his legs cut from underneath him in 2011. I'm gonna go ahead and give the full podcast a listen. I read several interviews but I want to hear it from the man himself.

Me too, I've only heard the 37 minute cut so far. I think you can actually track the things Punk is saying quite accurately which gives credence to it more so than the standard shoot.

Wow...Punk went in on Vince & Trips! So much for a Hall of Fame induction!

Honestly, I'm not sure he'd accept anyway.

Ditto, although I suspect he is embellishing and not being a 100% truthful. That's not to say I think he is lying. I imagine he is being honest about most of it simply by how WWE operates

The thing for me was that there wasn't anything all that shocking in what he said, the constant theme of false promises and working with someone who was unsafe are pretty much there to see, and it was more like it broke his will over the course of time. The most shocking stuff was the medical things he brought up and I am sure he has the documentation and doctors to back him up otherwise he wouldn't have said them as that's a lawsuit waiting to happen if he's telling any lies in regards to that.

He is absolutely right when it comes to WWE overworking the workhorses.

No doubt, I mean you have to wonder if WWE knew how much Bryan was hurting before they put the belt on him but ran him into the ground anyway.

 

[the dmg]

I listened to Punk's interview, and just...damn. It was really informative and filled in the blanks of what we already knew or had an idea about. It does seem like he would have considered coming back.

I have to take it all, but yeah, his passion has completely been killed for something he loved very much.

Also, I less than three Colt.

 

[Hunter Rider]

As much as I enjoy Punk and enjoy wrestling, it's hard to listen to this and still enjoy professional wrestling. Remove the booking decisions out of the equation, where I disagree with Punk is Vince didn't "owe" him a Wrestlemania main event. It's Vince's company, you gotta know that going in (although I would've loved him in a WM main event).

When Punk said they owed him the main event, that was based off Vince telling him after each time he was jobbed out that he'd owe him one and next time it would be his turn.

But the concussion stuff, the withholding royalties, the staph infection, that's pretty damning.

Two things:

1. I find it curious that The Authority was written off last Monday. I wonder if somebody stooged it to them that this was coming so they wouldn't have to endure CM Punk chants directed at them.

2. I think Punk is going to get blackballed. It's not like with Bret. Bret had a huge disagreement with Vince, you kinda always knew it would get ironed out when Bret's hate calmed. This is different. Punk is exposing a lot of the backstage ugliness. This isn't a "normal" shoot interview. TMZ just picked it up, there are going to be ramifications. That doctor can't keep his job.

The medical stuff is certainly the most unsettling aspect because you have to wonder what condition some of these guys are in, especially guys like Ziggler and Rollins. Earlier this year there was a match with Rusev and Big E that featured a couple of really ugly bumps,. it seems impossible that those guys didn't suffer more than just a few bumps and bruises, but given the way WWE's concussion testing appears to be they may not know how badly they are hurt.

The fact WWE still have no concrete plan of how they are going to pay their talent due to the Network is ridiculous, no other corporate business would be ran in such a haphazard way, but then no other business has sole domination of their field and no health care or union representation.

It's not a great shock that Batista signed a 2 year contract and yet has worked only a third of the first year and didn't even appear during the time period in which he was starring in the #1 movie in the world. I'm sure when he got back and saw the lay of the land he wanted out, and the fact WWE had no concrete pay structure to compensate him gave him leverage to simply go home.

 

[The Sage]

Ditto, although I suspect he is embellishing and not being a 100% truthful. That's not to say I think he is lying. I imagine he is being honest about most of it simply by how WWE operates

I'm inclined to think 85% to 95% is true with some slight embellishing because he's talking from his POV. Stuff like Triple H needed to wrestle him, not the other way around at Mania is an example of embellishing since the program with Bryan turned out really well. But CM Punk/Triple H would have been the better feud just for the verbal back and forth alone, something Bryan couldn't provide.

But stuff like getting his heat snatched in 2011 and working with Ryback? I'm sure that was the absolute truth.

 

[the dmg]

When Punk said they owed him the main event, that was based off Vince telling him after each time he was jobbed out that he'd owe him one and next time it would be his turn.

It kind of bugs me that after putting these guys over, they have nothing for him, but that's a common thing with WWE.

The medical stuff is certainly the most unsettling aspect because you have to wonder what condition some of these guys are in, especially guys like Ziggler and Rollins. Earlier this year there was a match with Rusev and Big E that featured a couple of really ugly bumps,. it seems impossible that those guys didn't suffer more than just a few bumps and bruises, but given the way WWE's concussion testing appears to be they may not know how badly they are hurt.

I think that they realize certain guys have more value, and probably downplay a lot of it on purpose.

The fact WWE still have no concrete plan of how they are going to pay their talent due to the Network is ridiculous, no other corporate business would be ran in such a haphazard way, but then no other business has sole domination of their field and no health care or union representation.

You would think it's an important aspect to sell to your talent pool.

It's not a great shock that Batista signed a 2 year contract and yet has worked only a third of the first year and didn't even appear during the time period in which he was starring in the #1 movie in the world. I'm sure when he got back and saw the lay of the land he wanted out, and the fact WWE had no concrete pay structure to compensate him gave him leverage to simply go home.

Is he officially done? I think with what happened with Punk, Del Rio, and even Mysterio, more people are going to start questioning why they are still with the company. The fact is, most guys want a spot and will ignore it for false promises even if they kind of know they're being milked.

 

[chamber-music]

We have heard plenty of stuff from other former WWE employees and wrestlers to know that there is a lot of truth in what Punk said about how the WWE is run and the personalities of the people running it.

Vince being out of touch for example is something many people have said for a long time and the double standard with guys like Cena or short term view booking we have heard many times before as well. Anyone who watches WWE regularly can see it in the product as well.

I can see why people said CM Punk could run his own wrestling show one day again if he wanted as he does have very good ideas on how to make wrestling entertaining and profitable in the 21st century.

 

[The Sage]

On another note, the podcasts from JR, Jericho, and Austin should be interesting. No way none of them mentions this podcast.

 

[StarLord]

Austin might, but I can't see any of the others touching on it.

 

[TheNextNolan22]

On another note, the podcasts from JR, Jericho, and Austin should be interesting. No way none of them mentions this podcast.

Cabana has had Ross and Austin on his podcast. I see them mentioning it.

 

[The Sage]

Austin might, but I can't see any of the others touching on it.

Cabana has had Ross and Austin on his podcast. I see them mentioning it.

I can see JR doing it since he does address comments made by stars every now and then.

 

[Incrediblejeff]

CM Punk's gone and he's still dropping pipebombs.Now there more real than ever before.

 

[TX85]

Watching the wwe theme songs documentary on the wwe network. It's pretty cool and great to see Jim Johnston being newly interviewed.

 

[Wheels]

WWE pulled their wrestlers from JR's podcast, right? What does Ross gain from not talking about it? Jerchio is probably going to take issue with Punk's comment about not talking to guys with an agenda, so I see him saying something on some platform.

 

[sweetre15]

A lot of the guys on Wrestlezone are still kissing WWE's ass and saying "'Punk's a selfish quitter" blah blah blah...I understand different perspectives but stuff like that make me question if some are on WWE's Payroll or something.

 

[sweetre15]

I think that what Punk means by HHH "needing" him is that Trips was trying to use his popularity for his own gain arguably..much like he did in 2011

 

[Wheels]

A lot of the guys on Wrestlezone are still kissing WWE's ass and saying "'Punk's a selfish quitter" blah blah blah...I understand different perspectives but stuff like that make me question if some are on WWE's Payroll or something.

There are some fans out there that will stick up for Vince no matter what. He bread this sentiment in the 90's by marketing the company as the little engine that could in the war against big bad WCW as well as the media's lame crying over WWE's content of that era, because parents want to blame entertainment for why their kids are doing stuff they don't like instead of actually raising their kids. Some fans probably just don't like Punk as well.

 

[chamber-music]

Those Paige and Summer Rae tweets

If Paige was around in a non-PG era she would be getting her freak on.

 

[sweetre15]

There are some fans out there that will stick up for Vince no matter what. He bread this sentiment in the 90's by marketing the company as the little engine that could in the war against big bad WCW as well as the media's lame crying over WWE's content of that era, because parents want to blame entertainment for why their kids are doing stuff they don't like instead of actually raising their kids. Some fans probably just don't like Punk as well.

Which is ridiculous because objectivity is required for stuff like this regardless of if you like someone or not.

 

[the dmg]

Ugh...some kind of screw up with my credit card and now I don't have my seats for ROH Final Battle.

 

[TheNextNolan22]

Speaking of Final Battle, Elgin vs. Ciampa has been added to the card.

 

[the dmg]

Speaking of Final Battle, Elgin vs. Ciampa has been added to the card.

I knooooow.

 

[sweetre15]

The lighthearted spot in that Punk podcast was when he got to talking about how Ryback injured him yet again and he talked to him backstage..

"Either tell me you're dumb as f-ck and you suck or you did it on purpose.

Ryback: I'm dumb as f-ck"

Still cracks me up