I recently had the distinct pleasure of speaking with former AEW and NXT superstar Bobby Fish, who was kind enough to give me some insight on a number of hot-button industry topics, most notably the weird ending to his Dynamite matchup with CM Punk from last year, which saw the Undisputed Era (Elite) member kick out of Punk’s GTS finisher at 3.1 seconds. Fish explains his side of the story below.
How the GTS is KENTA’s move:
The match that I had with punk where things got wonky at the end of that match with the kickout on the GTS, which isn’t even his move.You know, and I, that’s me being given into my desire to be a little bit petty in that regard. It’s KENTA’s move and you didn’t even have the decency to change the name.
Explains why he kicked out, thinking that Punk was signaling him for a change:
But regarding the confusion, at the end of our match, was the fact that he did what’s called the office or an iggy. This is some inside baseball stuff here. But he did that before the three count was over. And so now having been in the business for a long time, I recognize what that is, and having done it myself to somebody to say, in our own way. Whatever, you know, “Good match.” He did it before the three count was over. So that’s also a way to alert your opponent that “Hey let’s change something.” In that moment, I can liken it to what Tony Khan might have been feeling when he’s going off on the EVPs, cetera, et cetera. You don’t know what to do. And in that moment, I know for myself, like I had to make a split second decision.I couldn’t weigh out, you know, this or that I had to either kick out or not kick out or lose the moment forever. So I kicked out and it was whatever it was.
Compares the moment to Tony Khan not reacting at CM Punk’s infamous rant at the ALL OUT media scrum:
The only reason I bring it up is just because we’re talking about it. And I do want to be, I do want to extend some grace to Tony, in that regard. Just because I’ve been there. To be caught in that position, like he, he definitely should have reacted differently. And Hunter or Vince McMahon would have potentially folded Phil like a wet nap in that moment, which is probably the right reaction, but in Tony’s defense, like, you know, that might just not be his like personality, really. So here he is in this moment, and he’s just hitched the car of his company to the back of this guy, given him not only a lot of money, but a lot of trust, etc, etc. And you’re like, you’re kind of shitting all over that right next to me. Just a sucky position for everyone.