Post by Optimus on Aug 22, 2021 21:15:18 GMT -5
His debut on Rampage was pretty much perfect. They let it breathe, let him take his time, and the crowd pop was freaking insane. First words out of his mouth were putting Britt Baker over. Also puts over Darby Allin (much to my partial chagrin, lol). He's signed to a long-term, full-time contract where most of his time will be in the ring, not on commentary or as a "trainer."
AEW and Khan get it. They understand the fans and they try to make them happy. Nobody bats 1000, but they've been on a massive hit streak lately.
WWE, of course, continues to not get it. They sent out the no personality, perpetually greasy-haired doofus Roman Raines to try to crap on Punk in an interview the day before his debut, basically saying Punk doesn't have much pull. I'm sure McMahon is the one who told Raines to do it but, oof, what a misfire on WWE's part.
And, what does WWE do to try to respond to Punk's debut? They bring back Becky Lynch at Summerslam in a surprise match. Crowd popped well for her (nothing close to Punk's reception) but then they fuck it up in the way that only WWE can fuck things up, by having her bury Women's Smackdown Champ, Bianca Belair in a squash match. Belair is a face and is pretty popular and they did her dirty with that booking. They could've brought Lynch back just to get in her face, talk some shit, get her "I'm back" pop, and then leave. That would've been fine. But they pissed off a lot of people with that match.
Then Brock Lesnar comes back at the end and...honestly...big deal. He's still popular, but his popularity has waned significantly over the past few years.
To put it into perspective, AEW still has Daniel Bryan's debut coming up, they're probably close to signing Ric Flair, and I wouldn't at all be surprised if they also pick up Bray Wyatt in October when his non-compete is over. I'm still flabbergasted at why WWE cut him given he was one of their most popular wrestlers.
WWE is doing almost everything wrong right now and AEW continues to do most things right. McMahon is so out of touch with this industry now he's basically gonna destroy his own company before he retires.
AEW and Khan get it. They understand the fans and they try to make them happy. Nobody bats 1000, but they've been on a massive hit streak lately.
WWE, of course, continues to not get it. They sent out the no personality, perpetually greasy-haired doofus Roman Raines to try to crap on Punk in an interview the day before his debut, basically saying Punk doesn't have much pull. I'm sure McMahon is the one who told Raines to do it but, oof, what a misfire on WWE's part.
And, what does WWE do to try to respond to Punk's debut? They bring back Becky Lynch at Summerslam in a surprise match. Crowd popped well for her (nothing close to Punk's reception) but then they fuck it up in the way that only WWE can fuck things up, by having her bury Women's Smackdown Champ, Bianca Belair in a squash match. Belair is a face and is pretty popular and they did her dirty with that booking. They could've brought Lynch back just to get in her face, talk some shit, get her "I'm back" pop, and then leave. That would've been fine. But they pissed off a lot of people with that match.
Then Brock Lesnar comes back at the end and...honestly...big deal. He's still popular, but his popularity has waned significantly over the past few years.
To put it into perspective, AEW still has Daniel Bryan's debut coming up, they're probably close to signing Ric Flair, and I wouldn't at all be surprised if they also pick up Bray Wyatt in October when his non-compete is over. I'm still flabbergasted at why WWE cut him given he was one of their most popular wrestlers.
WWE is doing almost everything wrong right now and AEW continues to do most things right. McMahon is so out of touch with this industry now he's basically gonna destroy his own company before he retires.