For almost the entire time AEW has been a working company, it has been believed by far too many people that many of wrestling’s top journalists, reporters, dirt sheet writers, and influencers are, for all intents and purposes, on the company’s payroll.
You’ll see it on Twitter all the time. Dave Meltzer, Sean Ross Sapp, Bryan Alvarez, Mike Johnson, and so on… all are constantly accused of playing favorites in the “war” between WWE and AEW. It is said that those guys are all huge fans of AEW so you never see them say or report anything negative about the company, but they’re super quick to bash any and everything WWE-related. They never spoil anything happening in AEW, but every debut, return, heel turn, face turn, and title change in WWE is posted online ahead of time.
The list goes on and on.
Hell, some of you reading these very words probably feel that way about the aforementioned names.
Well, I have a question to ask…
If those people never, ever report on anything resembling negativity when it comes to AEW, what the fuck has happened over the last few weeks? This has been one of the weirdest and most active stretches in AEW history when it comes to negative stories, backstage drama, and crazy rumors. Let me see if I can remember everything off the top of my head…
CM Punk cut a weird “shoot” promo on “Hangman” Adam Page that ended up being reported as a “receipt” for a promo Page cut on Punk months ago. The follow up to that story is that Punk was so upset with how things were going backstage that there were fears he could possibly walk out on the company.
Then we saw stories that Punk has gotten a ton of heat from wrestlers backstage because of how AEW has treated Colt Cabana since Punk’s signing. Colt was basically taken from being a television regular to a complete afterthought. The line of thinking is that Punk either asked for or demanded that he and Colt not have to share a locker room, or that Tony Khan made the decision to keep them away from each other on his own in an attempt to please his big-money roster addition.
Then we heard about several unnamed wrestlers who were growing more and more unhappy with the company, their “spot” in said company, and how they’re being used.
Next, we heard that Eddie Kingston served a suspension for taking a swing at Sammy Guevara during a backstage altercation, and that a match between the two at All Out may have been canceled because of it. The follow up there saw Kingston basically come out and say “I was wrong, but Sammy knows he’s a dick for what he did” and Sammy come out and basically say “I was in character, and it’s not my fault Eddie isn’t professional enough to tell me what topics are off-limits.”
Then, it was time to hear about just how much Thunder Rosa and Britt Baker hate each other in REAL LIFE. That would spill over to Jamie Hayter growing to hate Thunder Rosa’s guts, too, leading to a story that mentioned Rosa locking herself in a backstage restroom to “hide” from Hayter after a match between the two of them saw Hayter end up with a legitimate broken nose. The next chapter to the story would see Rosa go on television to say that she isn’t “medically cleared” to wrestle at All Out, which means we’ll get an interim Women’s Champion, and the speculation was that Tony Khan was sending Rosa home for a bit in hopes that Hayter and Baker could cool down a bit.
Next, in the middle of all these wild stories, Jon Moxley pinned CM Punk in three minutes to become the undisputed AEW World Champion. Maybe Punk reinjured himself, or maybe it was some sort of punishment from Tony Khan for the promo Punk cut on Adam Page or for threatening to walk out on the company or for anything else that may or may not have happened.
I went through all of that drama and didn’t even mention MJF, his contract status, his desire to leave the company, his unhappiness with Tony Khan, and any other story we’ve seen pop up about him recently.
Seriously… what the fuck is happening in AEW right now?!?
Did Tony Khan decide he was spending too much money to buy positive reviews online, which made AEW fair game to balanced reporting for the first time in history? Is that what we’re going with? Something clearly happened since Dave Meltzer, Sean Ross Sapp, and the like have all been talking about this negativity.
All of it has been making me think. If you go back to every story I posted earlier, you’ll see people taking sides. CM Punk was wrong! No, Adam Page was wrong! Eddie Kingston shouldn’t have done what he did! No, Sammy Guevara was in the wrong! I thought and thought about all of these situations, and I kept asking one simple question…
Am I the asshole?
For those of you that aren’t hip to the game, “Am I The Asshole?” (AITA) is an incredibly popular subreddit on Reddit where people post about their real life conflicts with others and look to their fellow Redditors for judgment and to ask if they are, in fact, the asshole for doing or saying something particular in the conflict they mentioned. For example, a man asked Reddit if he was an asshole because he pointed out historical inaccuracies about trains in an erotic story that his girlfriend wrote when she was a teenager. That type of thing.
The more I thought about these AEW stories, the more I kept wondering just who the asshole happened to be. That’s when I decided to have some fun with it and twist it around a bit.
I want you all to pretend that every last one of those stories I mentioned earlier are true. Every single bit. Just for poops and guffaws, let’s go through the stories one at a time and try to determine who the asshole is in each of them. A pretty simple concept, no? Again, we’re running with the idea that every story is true, so I’m going to be discussing them as fact. I have to say things like that because there are always going to be people who either skim columns, or who have the reading comprehension of a toddler, and miss the entire point. Let’s get things rolling…
CM Punk vs “Hangman” Adam Page: It starts with Page cutting a promo on Punk during their initial feud that hinted at the Colt Cabana drama. This pisses Punk off, because he wants absolutely nothing to do with Cabana, to the point where he doesn’t even want Cabana’s name hinted at during any of his feuds. Punk was so upset that he would go to Tony Khan and say that he refused to lose to Page under any circumstance. At Double Or Nothing, Punk beat Page to win the AEW World Title, and because he would deal with an injury immediately and require a couple months off, the heat between Punk and Page wouldn’t get a chance to move forward on-screen until Punk’s return. Punk, still holding the grudge and probably even more upset that he wasn’t able to respond to Page right away, decides to go off-script when he returns and shoot on “Hangman” for a moment. Even though it confused every single person who heard the promo, it was something Punk needed to get off of his chest.
So… who is the asshole here?
I think this one is pretty easy to figure out. CM Punk is the asshole. Punk himself would be the first person to admit that he has a prickly personality and that he can be a difficult person to get to know and get along with. This shit with Colt Cabana reached ridiculous levels a few years ago. The fact that it is still going on is pathetic. It has been five years since Colt filed the lawsuit against Punk in the aftermath of them being sued by WWE doctor Christopher Amann, which itself came after Punk’s WWE departure. Punk is nearly 44 years old. Colt is 42 years old. This isn’t some bullshit “beef” between teenagers. These are two grown men. They need to learn to either A) make up and go back to being friends again, B) be professionals and agree that you can work in the same fucking building without anyone acting like a little bitch, or C) have a shoot fight and get it out of your systems so that you can move on already.
In the interest of fairness, Tony Khan might deserve some of the asshole credit here. While it is much more likely that Punk pulled the “if I show up, Colt needs to be gone” power play, it’s also a very distinct possibility that TK was the one who initiated it, perhaps after first meeting with Punk and discussing a return. Punk is the biggest signing in AEW history, with people looking for him to change the tide and boost ratings for the company, so it makes a lot of sense that Tony Khan would give Punk everything he possibly could to make him happy and get him to sign on the dotted line.
Eddie Kingston vs Sammy Guevara: Eddie Kingston’s physique will never be confused with the bodies of prime Lex Luger or John Cena. The thing is… most people in wrestling don’t have the bodies of prime Lex Luger or John Cena, and endless wrestlers have been successful nonetheless. It has become apparent that he is somewhat sensitive about his appearance, as it seems he has something of a “rule” that he doesn’t want his opponents talking about his looks or his weight in promos against him.
That didn’t stop Sammy Guevara from calling Eddie a “fat piece of shit” in a promo recently. This infuriated Kingston so much that he went after Sammy physically backstage, taking a swing at him and attempting to “pie face” him before people pulled them apart.
So… who is the asshole here?
This is an interesting one. Kingston is an internet “darling” wrestler, while Sammy has grown to become one of the most disliked people in the business over the last year or so. If you can put all of that aside and approach this one with an open mind, what do you see? Sammy has now gone on record to say that Eddie never said that his appearance was off-limits. If you believe Sammy, that would make Eddie Kingston the asshole, wouldn’t it? However, if you don’t believe Sammy, that pretty clearly makes Sammy the asshole here.
To his credit, Kingston came out and admitted he was wrong and unprofessional for how he handled the situation. Sammy’s statement about the situation definitely rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. If all he said was that he wasn’t ever told about things that are off-limits, that would be fine, but he kept poking the bear, so to speak. He talks about how Eddie wasn’t professional in this situation, mentions that this isn’t the first time being “aggressive” and “out of control” backstage, talks about how Eddie had to take anger management classes, and basically just blows the whole thing off. All of that was unnecessary, and it just made Sammy look like a smarmy prick. Because of that, I’m going to say both Eddie Kingston and Sammy Guevara are assholes here, but Sammy might be the bigger one.
Thunder Rosa vs Britt Baker & Jamie Hayter: Rosa has heat with a number of people backstage in AEW. Some say that she works a reckless, stiff style. Others say her ego is too big and that she can often be “difficult” to work with. You can definitely see the stiff style she works with, as she lays her strikes in a lot deeper than the average woman, especially those on the AEW roster.
We haven’t heard any specifics about the precise moment that heat between Rosa and Britt began. Actually, let me rewind a bit… if you see tweets or hear non-AEW interviews, it seems pretty clear that the heat seems to be much more directed at Thunder Rosa from Britt’s side than the other way around. Look no further than Rosa appearing on a podcast earlier this year and comparing her feud with Britt to The Rock vs Steve Austin or Trish Stratus vs Lita. Britt’s response to that? Saying that Rosa should speak as little as possible because she sounds stupid every time she opens her mouth. Ouch. With the nastiness being so one-sided publicly, it lends credence to the rumors about Thunder Rosa having an ego and being difficult. As for the other rumors…
Jamie Hayter had a tough week wrestling against Thunder Rosa earlier this month. During a tag match on the August 3rd episode of Dynamite, Rosa NAILED her in the back of the head with a stupidly stiff dropkick to break up a pin attempt. This was supposedly where the heat began. Two days later, during their match at Battle Of The Belts, Rosa would lay in numerous stiff strikes, another ridiculously stiff dropkick, this time to Jamie’s face. Also in their Battle Of The Belts match was a spot where Hayter hit Rosa with a Sheer Drop Brainbuster, but on the way down, Rosa’s leg connected with Jamie’s face, breaking her nose in the process. When you watch the spot, it was clearly a freak accident, but with everything else that happened in the match and the one before it, who can blame Jamie for being pissed off? Especially since she has been side-by-side with Britt Baker for much of the heat that has sparked there.
The whole “hiding in the restroom” thing is probably skewed a bit from what actually happened. Do I think Rosa sprinted to the restroom, locked the door behind her, and cowered in fear of a raging Jamie Hayter because she was afraid of getting her ass kicked? No. Do I think Rosa probably needed some “alone time” after the match because she was frustrated, knowing the heat that she already has on her? Yes. You have to assume that there aren’t exactly a ton of quiet, private places backstage at a televised wrestling show, so maybe the restroom was the first place she could find or think of.
At the same time, do I think Rosa not being cleared to wrestle at All Out is 100% legit? No, I do not. She is injured. I’m not denying that. I do think that her heat was becoming so nuclear and so toxic that precautions needed to be made so that things didn’t blow up backstage. Letting her take some time off to fully heal up is a good way to do that. She gets back to 100%, and fights don’t break out in the meantime. That’s a win for everyone, and as a bonus, AEW gets to run yet another “interim champion” storyline that they love so much.
So… who is the asshole here?
When you’ve built up a reputation as being “stiff” or “difficult” in wrestling, it doesn’t come out of nowhere. Sure, some of it can be overblown, but the basis of it comes from somewhere. Smoke, fire, and so on, and so forth. Like I said, all you have to do is watch a Thunder Rosa match to see where she might have built up a reputation due to what she does, and perhaps doesn’t do, in the ring. If it keeps happening, it’s not only expected that you’re going to get heat, but it’s deserved. I think it’s pretty clear that Thunder Rosa is the asshole here.
In the grand scheme of things, I do think a lot of the stories about AEW drama are, at the very least, blown out of proportion. There’s something to all of them, but you know how the old school game of Telephone goes… it starts as one thing, but by the time everyone else hears about it, it can be something different entirely. This was all for fun. Keep that in mind before you fix your paws to type out angry responses about how this is fake, that was fake, this guy doesn’t hate that guy, blah blah blah.
What say you, ReaderLand? Take a look at all of the drama in AEW right now, treat it as though all of the stories are true, and tell me who you think the assholes in these situations are. As always, drop me a line in the comments section below, or on Twitter (@HustleTheSavage), and let me know what’s on your mind.
Weekly Power Rankings
- Roman Reigns: Look, I don’t care whether or not you’re a fan of Roman Reigns. The fact of the matter is that he just hit the 730-day mark as Universal Champion. Two full calendar years as the champ. In that two-year span, Roman has defeated 13 different challengers in title matches on television or pay-per-view, and all 13 of those challengers are going to be in the WWE Hall Of Fame one day. He is 23-0 in title matches on television and pay-per-view since winning the title at Payback 2020. It’s just a level of dominance that hasn’t been seen at this level of pro wrestling in multiple generations, as this is the longest World Title reign in WWE since Pedro Morales was the WWWF Champion for 1027 days from February 1971 to December 1973. Yes, there’s a very good possibility Roman drops one, or both, of his titles to Drew McIntyre at Clash At The Castle this weekend, but even if he does lose, his place in history has already been guaranteed.
- Jon Moxley: The man hated the title of “Interim AEW World Champion” so much that he went out and did something about it, beating CM Punk in three minutes to become the undisputed champion. It doesn’t matter why the match result happened the way it did. All that matters is that it did. Mox continues, arguably, the biggest roll of his entire career.
- Kevin Owens vs Jey Uso: The match itself was really, really good. That isn’t a surprise to anybody. It was made even better by the added intrigue of Sami Zayn’s loyalty to The Bloodline and his decades-long friendship with Kevin Owens. That’s the kind of simple touch of drama that makes good things great, and great things legendary. Will Sami turn face by siding with his best friend? Should he become an even bigger heel by legitimately ingratiating himself to Roman Reigns and The Usos? How much of this will even matter if Drew McIntyre defeats Roman this weekend? We don’t know the answers to these questions, but I know that I want to see what happens next.
- Death Triangle vs Will Ospreay & Aussie Open: This was one helluva match, lightning-fast from the opening bell with non-stop action everywhere you look. My only complaint is the end of the match. Personally, I do not give a Kentucky Fried Fuck about Kip Sabian and any sort of feud he could have with Pac. Having that type of match end because of any sort of outside interference would be a disappointment, but having it end because of Kip Sabian… yuck. That was really lame.
- Matt (!!!) Riddle & Seth Rollins’ Promo Battle: Riddle gets his first name back, but then he gets a reminder that he won’t be getting his wife and kids back. Makes things kind of balance out, no? As I’ve said before, it has been really good to see a more serious side of Riddle, giving him more character depth than just SUPER STONER BRO 2022. This helped take things to a different level, allowing him to show some great rage at Rollins firing a personal shot at him. When was the last time you heard someone say “I’M GONNA FUCK YOU UP!” on WWE programming, even if it was censored? It added a lot of realism to this feud. ‘Twas a very nice touch.
- Street Profits vs Alpha Academy: A really entertaining tag team match between these two teams? Not a surprise. I remain invested in both teams, especially with the Profits and the “will they or won’t they” story about them possibly splitting up.
- Diamond Mine vs Gallus: All six men in this match may not fit the usual “hoss” tag, as we were raised on that name being attached to guys who are pushing seven feet in height and/or going well over 300 pounds in weight. However, they all fit the tag because they’re out there being big meaty men slapping meat. Lots of physicality here, with lots of impressive strength. I will say, yet again, that the Creed Brothers have the potential to be DOMINANT in the future. They could be something special on Raw or Smackdown sooner than later.
- Apollo Crews vs Grayson Waller: Really good stuff, albeit with a bit of a surprise ending. When Apollo Crews was brought back to NXT, it was teased from the start that he might be one of the next contenders for Bron Breakker’s NXT Title. He has now lost two singles matches on NXT television in the last six weeks. Grayson Waller, on the other hand, looked like someone who might be getting the keys to the brand when he sent Johnny Gargano packing from NXT several months back. He would then go on to lose just about every “big” match he’s had in 2022, including going 0-3 in title matches over a three-month span. This still seemed like a vehicle for Apollo to get the boost and move up the rankings, but perhaps things have changed. As some have speculated, Triple H is a big fan of Apollo, so maybe any plans for a longer run in NXT have been altered with Trips gaining power in the company, and maybe Crews is going back to the main roster sooner than originally thought.
- Sami Zayn: One of my favorite “wrestlers making other people break character” moments in recent years was back in 2018 after Sami Zayn and Becky Lynch lost to Braun Strowman and Alexa Bliss in the Mixed Match Challenge. Cutting a post-match promo backstage, Sami talks about Becky losing on her birthday, then makes a comment about getting her cake from a local bakery. For whatever reason, the bakery comment causes Becky to look down at the floor and laugh her ass off. She is just unable to contain any laughter before eventually playing it off as if she was crying about the loss. Now Sami can add another one of those moments to my list. In another backstage promo, Roman Reigns tells Sami that he needs him to “distract” Drew McIntyre ahead of Clash At The Castle. Sami then replies by saying that getting into people’s heads is what he does. He then talks about how comfortable he’s going to get in Drew’s head, and that includes putting a blanket down and doing a little dance. Him actually doing a dance in his chair causes Roman to chuckle a bit, and when cameras pan to The Usos, Jey Uso is covering his mouth and clearly laughing behind his hand. Sami is something else, man.
- NXT Cameos: In one episode, we got cameos from Finn Balor (who was acting like a face again, for some reason), the team of Doudrop and Nikki ASH, Fit Finlay, Butch (who was much more Pete Dunne than Butch here), Shayna Baszler, Gunther, Rhea Ripley, Ciampa, and Ricochet. In most cases, the cameos were to provide pep talks of varying degrees to competitors at this weekend’s Worlds Collide event. Doudrop and Nikki ASH showed up to be the next challengers for Kayden Carter and Katana Chance’s NXT Women’s Tag Team Titles. Ricochet then closed the show out by putting himself on the map as Carmelo Hayes’ next challenger for the NXT North American Title. The cameos were all well done, and were a nice journey down memory lane for long-time viewers of NXT. Making two matches for Worlds Collide is an added bonus, and holy shit, the potential for Carmelo vs Ricochet is off the charts.
- Drew McIntyre vs Sami Zayn: Sami didn’t quite put the blanket down and do a dance in the form of winning this match, but it was a good match nonetheless. The post-match attack on Drew at the hands of Roman, Jey, Jimmy, and Sami was very well done, though. They beat the piss out of Drew for several minutes, and the show-closing shot of Roman sitting in a chair over a fallen Drew, with his titles draped over his shoulders, talking to the camera and asking someone to come and take the belts from him was tremendous.
- Dax Harwood vs Jay Lethal: For one reason or another, Lethal’s AEW run has been a bit of a disappointment. This might have been his best match since signing with the company, though. No surprise that one of the members of FTR was involved, as they seem like they could wrestle me and make it something entertaining.
- Ricky Starks: He cut a really good, fiery, passionate face promo. The best part was him getting emotional over the fact that, when Powerhouse Hobbs turned on him, he went after Ricky’s neck, which was broken in 2021, nearly leaving him paralyzed. The promo wasn’t all that long, but it got the point across very well, and the live crowd ate it all up. He sure does seem like there are big things in his future as a face.
- Ricochet vs Happy Corbin: It feels like we’ve seen these two face each other a million times over the last few years, but when they’re given time to work with, they deliver quality almost every time. With the win here, and with Triple H running things, perhaps now we can move on to other things for Ricochet. His NXT return will be a good gauge of that.
- Edge Tricking Kurt Angle Again: On one hand, it was a cute throwback to a funny segment from the past. However, on the other hand, that segment from the past was 20 whole years ago. I have to assume there’s a pretty sizable chunk of the WWE Universe that weren’t watching the product 20 years ago. I was, and I enjoyed the throwback, so I’m including it here. This was a perfectly harmless way to include Kurt Angle on television without taking up too much time or stealing a “spot” from a full-time performer.
- Daniel Garcia Seeing Mom & Dad Fight Over Him: Poor Daniel. He had to stand there and look sad while Bryan Danielson and Chris Jericho argued about him and his placement in the “Pro Wrestling vs Sports Entertainment” debate. It’s another week that pulls the fans in as we see which “parent” Garcia will choose to side with.
- Claudio Castagnoli vs Dustin Rhodes: I can’t quite put my finger on why, but this match didn’t quite live up to my lofty expectations. It was still good, and that’s why it is included here, but I was thinking it had the chance of being special. That’s not a knock on either Claudio or Dustin, mind you. Claudio remains one of the best wrestlers on the planet today, and I continue to say Dustin Rhodes needs to be used on television more often because of how much he clearly has left in his tank.
- Raquel Rodriguez & Aliyah: Congratulations to the brand new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions. From the start of the tournament, it sure as hell seemed like Dakota Kai and Iyo Sky were going to win it all, but that was clearly not to be. I don’t know if I really dig this. For one, I think Raquel should be a standout singles performer on a roster that could really use someone of her size and skillset. Two, Aliyah simply isn’t ready for this type of spotlight. I’m sorry. She’s just not. We’ll see what happens with this title reign, though. These belts have damn near been cursed over the last couple years. Because of that, I wouldn’t be surprised if we got new champions within a couple weeks, or if someone gets injured, or if someone gets released, and so on and so forth.
- Charlie Dempsey: William Regal’s son reminds people of William Regal in the ring. Go figure. He’s still in the really early stages of things, but reminding people of one of the best in-ring technicians to ever step foot in a wrestling ring is as good a start with WWE as you’re going to get.
This Week’s Playlist: “GOD DID” by DJ Khaled, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, Jay-Z & Fridayy… “Dance Now” by JID & Kenny Mason… “Will Of The People” by Muse… “Won’t Stand Down” by Muse… “You Make Me Feel Like It’s Halloween” by Muse… “Kill Or Be Killed” by Muse… “Grind Before You Shine” by Hott Rodd & Project Pat… “MISA MISA!” by CORPSE, Scarlxrd & Cordhell… “It Only Takes Two” by Surfaces… “Rooftops” by Surfaces… “Dawg House” by Ray Vaughn & Isaiah Rashad… “Lost Souls” by Meechy Darko, Denzel Curry & Busta Rhymes… “Roses (Imanbek Remix)” by SAINt JHN & Imanbek… “Medicine” by Lansdowne… “Drowning Hymns” by Wind Walkers… “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Theme” by Megaraptor… “Nebula” by Lacrimas Profundere… “Thunder Kiss ’65” by White Zombie… “Man in the Box” by Alice In Chains… “Walk” by Pantera… “Debonaire” by Dope… “Natural Born Killaz” by Dr. Dre & Ice Cube… “War Machine” by KISS… “Enter Sandman” by Metallica… “Breathe” by The Prodigy… “Come Out and Play” by The Offspring… “Mighty Clouds Of Smoke” by Total Devastation… “Love Me Sexy” by Jackie Moon… “Posse On Broadway” by Sir Mix-A-Lot… “Wild Wild West” by Kool Moe Dee