The Wrestling Thread

[Raging Justice]

pwinsider has a bizarre love affair with CM Punk. They were constantly taking his side back when he was in AEW and now they have this crazy article they've just put up where they are fearing for Punk's life amidst all of the backlash he's getting right now

Jesus. Get over CM Punk you guys. Is he paying these people? Is he dating someone's sister? It's sad and pathetic. I think it also hurts their credibility as an unbiased news site.

https://www.pwinsider.com/article/19778 ... g.html?p=1

"This week, you'd think CM Punk had been the new Chris Benoit because he decided to apologize to Saudi Arabian fans.

Is CM Punk truly a terrible person or have fans bitten too hard into the persona he portrays on television, much as they did when Roddy Piper and Terry Funk were terrorizing their television screens?

No matter what the opinion is, Roddy Piper was stabbed several times over the course of his career and I don't think CM Punk, or anyone, deserves that treatment, but if you look through some of the discourse online, you would think CM Punk deserves to be marched to the electric chair, which is insane.

Someone is going to die.


It's just a matter of time.


That is my fear.


I pray it never comes to pass."

[RCBH928]

In regards to characters, it's because a hell of a lot of wrestlers now just play themselves. The ruthless aggression era in WWE pushed this pretty hard.

Characters in the 80s and 90s were so bombastic and over the top.

I remember Paul Heyman explaining that the best characters are based on wrestlers' own personalities, but turned up to 11. He would use people like Stone Cold Steve Austin as an example of that.

The problem is I think perhaps too many people do that and lack the charisma or a unique factor to pull it off.

We once had Sting, the Undertaker, the APA, D-Generation X, Mankind, Booker T, The Godfather, The Rock, Stone Cold.

And they were swapped for guys whose whole gimmick is either "my name is [insert name here] and I want to be the best"

whatever method they use, as long as the character is interesting. I do not think 80s - 90s are all over the top.

Here are some wrestlers that seemed more realist than fantasy gimmicks :
-Ric Flair
-Bret Hart
-Diesel
-Bam Bam Bigelow
-Harlem Heat

On the other side, here we have fantasy gimmicks in modern wrestling:

-Dexter Lumis
-Bray Wyatt
- The War Raiders
-Danhausen

but something is off. I think it has to do with filtering system. back then there was many promotions they experimented in for year and only the best would reach wwf. Now your first day performance will be on WWE show.

[RCBH928]

pwinsider has a bizarre love affair with CM Punk. They were constantly taking his side back when he was in AEW and now they have this crazy article they've just put up where they are fearing for Punk's life amidst all of the backlash he's getting right now

Jesus. Get over CM Punk you guys. Is he paying these people? Is he dating someone's sister? It's sad and pathetic. I think it also hurts their credibility as an unbiased news site.

https://www.pwinsider.com/article/19778 ... g.html?p=1

"This week, you'd think CM Punk had been the new Chris Benoit because he decided to apologize to Saudi Arabian fans.

Is CM Punk truly a terrible person or have fans bitten too hard into the persona he portrays on television, much as they did when Roddy Piper and Terry Funk were terrorizing their television screens?

No matter what the opinion is, Roddy Piper was stabbed several times over the course of his career and I don't think CM Punk, or anyone, deserves that treatment, but if you look through some of the discourse online, you would think CM Punk deserves to be marched to the electric chair, which is insane.

Someone is going to die.


It's just a matter of time.


That is my fear.


I pray it never comes to pass."

why is cm punk not popular now? wasn't he like the biggest bang AEW had when he joined them?

[Reprise]

CM Punk is popular. He has been in some of the top angles and feuds since returning to WWE

He is getting flack online for criticising WWE for doing Saudi shows a few years ago, but then over the weekend he worked in Saudi. That would be one thing if it was left at that, but then he went and gave a big apology to Saudi on top of that, so some people just think he's a massive hypocrite and a sell out . In addition, footage also appeared over the weekend of some little kid approaching him (I think he might have wanted something signed too) and Punk just brushed the kid aside and walked off, ignoring him.

Also some AEW fans dislike him because of all the issues he caused in the company, some of which you can argue have contributed to its decline. They don't like that he has alao shifted the narrative and successfully rehabilitated his image, since he has had no backstage issues in WWE and we keep getting fed reports every few months about what a positive influence he is over there (which just seems like WWE's PR firm pumping out these stories, tbh)?

[Raging Justice]

I would add that Punk has essentially become the antithesis of everything that made him popular in the first place. Something that Cena beautifully pointed out in his semi-shoot promo about two weeks ago where he completely summed up who Punk is as a person

"You change your values as often as I change my t-shirts. You're not the Voice of the Voiceless, you're a millionaire. You're not against the corporation, you're Mr Corporation. You're not punk, you're a capitalist. You're the best bullshitter in the world. You're a loud mouth opportunist who will step on the necks of people who work hard if it gets you ahead. Your tweets are strong, your actions are week"

He also completely deconstructed Punk's whole schtick, mocking his "pipe bomb" promo and Punk promos in general. Hey look, fourth wall break. Hey look, name drop some people from another company

It was a vicious promo and I don't think Cena even unloaded all of the ammo that he could have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47otpATArSM

Punk's follow up to this was dressing up as Cena and doing a corny rap which was so cookie cutter, typical, cringe worthy WWE fare that he really does look like what MJF once called him. PG Punk



Between this, the Saudi Arabia apology, and Punk's pathetic, Great Value brand Wrestlemania "Main Event", he looks like the biggest chump in pro wrestling right now

[Reprise]

As they say, Hangman was right.

[Markies]

As they say, Hangman was right.

CM Punk would rather apologize to the Saudi's then he would his coworkers.

[Raging Justice]

I feel like this Cena/Punk feud happened for one reason only

[RCBH928]

CM Punk is popular. He has been in some of the top angles and feuds since returning to WWE

He is getting flack online for criticising WWE for doing Saudi shows a few years ago, but then over the weekend he worked in Saudi. That would be one thing if it was left at that, but then he went and gave a big apology to Saudi on top of that, so some people just think he's a massive hypocrite and a sell out . In addition, footage also appeared over the weekend of some little kid approaching him (I think he might have wanted something signed too) and Punk just brushed the kid aside and walked off, ignoring him.

Also some AEW fans dislike him because of all the issues he caused in the company, some of which you can argue have contributed to its decline. They don't like that he has alao shifted the narrative and successfully rehabilitated his image, since he has had no backstage issues in WWE and we keep getting fed reports every few months about what a positive influence he is over there (which just seems like WWE's PR firm pumping out these stories, tbh)?

well people can change their opinion, but the burshing fans i get

[RCBH928]

I would add that Punk has essentially become the antithesis of everything that made him popular in the first place. Something that Cena beautifully pointed out in his semi-shoot promo about two weeks ago where he completely summed up who Punk is as a person

"You change your values as often as I change my t-shirts. You're not the Voice of the Voiceless, you're a millionaire. You're not against the corporation, you're Mr Corporation. You're not punk, you're a capitalist. You're the best bullshitter in the world. You're a loud mouth opportunist who will step on the necks of people who work hard if it gets you ahead. Your tweets are strong, your actions are week"

He also completely deconstructed Punk's whole schtick, mocking his "pipe bomb" promo and Punk promos in general. Hey look, fourth wall break. Hey look, name drop some people from another company

It was a vicious promo and I don't think Cena even unloaded all of the ammo that he could have.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47otpATArSM

Punk's follow up to this was dressing up as Cena and doing a corny rap which was so cookie cutter, typical, cringe worthy WWE fare that he really does look like what MJF once called him. PG Punk



Between this, the Saudi Arabia apology, and Punk's pathetic, Great Value brand Wrestlemania "Main Event", he looks like the biggest chump in pro wrestling right now

I see pro-wrestlers are going back to not breaking kayfabe outside the ring. love it!