Matt D Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 BTW, Dave, who admits he hadn't spoken to him, led with "burnt out" and tempered it with "saved his money," with a "didn't need them (in his mind)" and a "outspoken because he had no fear of being fired, since he'd just have more time to himself and to rest his injuries," and ended with the company being baffled that this former indy jerk who was headlining rec centers and high school wasn't happy with his amazing spot. He ultimately said it was a lot of things and he's not sure what was the final straw but stressed mainly that "he didn't need it." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Redman Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 Why was Punk unhappy? Has anything more been reported on this? This thread is the first I'm learning of it. Gist I've been getting, hence my last post, is reliance on part-timers like Brock and Batista, as well as what happened with Bryan Sunday night. Also the confusion about what the Network means for PPV payoffs and general wrestler compensation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 Looking at the Mania card, it really feels unimportant to lose Punk, doesn't it? It's not like they're losing Punk/Taker 2 or Punk/Austin. Bryan honestly works better vs HHH than Punk did and losing Bryan vs Sheamus isn't a big deal at all. If they keep Sheamus face, I could see them doing Sheamus vs Kane or something, which could have a fairly good TV build, even if it wouldn't be nearly as good of a match. I think it's almost as MARKETABLE a piece of the puzzle as Sheamus vs Bryan was in some ways, which was really a testament of how bad a use of Bryan that pairing was. I can't imagine they do Sheamus/ADR again but if they were going to move ADR more into the Authority, that might work. If they turn Sheamus heel anyway, I'm not sure what to do with him now. Christian? Show? Rey? Cody? Henry? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rovert Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 Why was Punk unhappy? Has anything more been reported on this? This thread is the first I'm learning of it. Likely that he isn't in a Top 5 match after working so hard this year. Everyone should watch this interview from last week. He seemed very burnt out and non-motivated by Wrestling or his future in it: http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/1/24/53405...-network-ufc-on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrisZ Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 You also gotta think that the way Punk's friends have been treated over the past few months had an effect on this as well. Regarding Punk on the roster yeah it's never good to lose someone like him but really what else was there to do with him really. Bryan is the new hotness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 You also gotta think that the way Punk's friends have been treated over the past few months had an effect on this as well. Regarding Punk on the roster yeah it's never good to lose someone like him but really what else was there to do with him really. Bryan is the new hotness. We never really got Bryan vs Punk with heel Punk but it was probably too soon to turn him again unless they did it through resentment of Bryan. Had they done heel Orton vs face Punk much in the last few years? Heel Sheamus vs Punk. There were things but yeah, unless they had Punk vs Austin in the roster, it was nothing that would move the needle. EDIT: I like Punk, and I even like his current face run because there was something corny about it that made me think he was having SOME level of fun, especially on the apron waiting for hot tags, but I am increasingly happy if we don't get HHH vs Punk now. Both the promos leading up to it and the match itself... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FedEx227 Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 You also have to think that Punk wanted to leave before he felt his self-worth would be lowered. I'd argue it's about as low now as it was before the Summer of Punk 2011. Sure, he's in more high-profile things but I think we can all agree they've been largely uninspiring and the future doesn't look a whole lot brighter. He sees the writing on the wall, sees a multitude of guys ahead of him that he will likely never jump meaning he'll never be the top guy anymore. Also, I think we have a pretty good idea of Punk's mentality. This is about the exact scenario I thought would happen with him (just not the timing). He walks out at THEIR moment of need and always holds a bit of leverage over them. Leave on your terms, not theirs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chief Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 I had something long that I was gonna post, and I'm getting IPS Driver errors. I think I read somewhere before about problems with cutting and pasting from word docs but I don't remember which thread. Um, help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Migs Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 So, over/under one week until we get an epic episode of the Art of Wrestling with Punk as the guest? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FedEx227 Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 I had something long that I was gonna post, and I'm getting IPS Driver errors. I think I read somewhere before about problems with cutting and pasting from word docs but I don't remember which thread. Um, help? Certain characters give IPS Driver errors. Mainly apostrophes that are default on Word or Word Processing programs that are different on this particular board. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Migs Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 Why was Punk unhappy? Has anything more been reported on this? This thread is the first I'm learning of it. Likely that he isn't in a Top 5 match after working so hard this year. Everyone should watch this interview from last week. He seemed very burnt out and non-motivated by Wrestling or his future in it: http://www.mmafighting.com/2014/1/24/53405...-network-ufc-on Wow, he's always kinda not given a fuck, but this interview suggests he was at a new level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Chief Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 Thanks FedEx! Trying this again, sorry for my lack of proper punctuation but I'm not re-typing this: I can see Punks point of view on a lot of things and I can appreciate that the guy is secure enough in himself to make his own decisions. I wish more wrestlers had that kind of leverage the business would be in much better shape if that were the case. The Undertaker stuff really rubbed me the wrong way. Dont get me wrong it was a good match. I just had a lot of other problems with it and not just the lazy booking heading in. Heres my thoughts and this will probably be long: Flashback to 2012 Punk is the second most over babyface besides Cena maybe even just as over. But definitely not "the guy." Fair enough thats still a great spot. Now we have a problem Rock is coming back to face Cena next Mania and they will both be faces so we need to get Punk out of the picture. So they hastily turn Punk heel on the first three hour Raw. It really came out of nowhere and the fans werent really sure what to make of it since they really loved Punk. Punks motivation for turning heel was that he felt overlooked since he was busting his ass as champion yet all the attention was going towards Rock vs. Cena II. That did make sense and I think there were some good ideas in there that they could have played off of. Unfortunately subtly is not something WWE has done well in over a decade. Punks problem was with Rock not Cena or the fans. This goes all the way back to his initial "pipe bomb" where he specifically stated he didnt have a problem with Cena the person he just felt disrespected. Instead of playing off that they just turned him into a full-blown fan hating generic heel because we need to keep Rock and Cena as top babyfaces to get that "WrestleMania Moment." Punk still acting like the same babyface but hating Rock would have been much more interesting than what we got. I think that would have benefited Cenas character as well theres a lot of interesting directions you could have went with that angle. Unfortunately I think the main reason they didnt do it is because WWE is so afraid to try something new and they could have risked fan backlash against Rocky. Punks character would absolutely have a problem with some Hollywood guy coming in once a year and basically getting a Hogan parade. They had such a good opportunity to play up shades of grey with Punk/Cena/Rock and they didnt do it. That actually could have been a damn good Mania three way main event because all three guys represent very different fanbases. Punk the hardcores Cena the merchandise buying current target demographic and Rock the lapsed Attitude era fans. I dont think theyve ever come close to hitting that dynamic before. So we fast forward to taking the title off Punk and putting it on Rock. The promos going into their match were much better than anything Cena did with Rock. You really felt like Punk hated Rock and real visceral hate is my favorite type of wrestling angle. Rock beats Punk for the title in a sub par match which was no fault of Punks. It really didnt feel like a proper way to end the longest title reign of the modern era. So Punk is now out of the picture but a couple weeks later he has that BITCHIN TV match with Cena which I saw as a big "Fuck You" to the companies WrestleMania plans. I think Punk may be Cenas best opponent and I would have loved to see that match on the grandest stage of all. So now we need to fit Punk into Mania somehow and we get a lazy multi man match to challenge Undertakers streak straight out of a video game storyline. To me this didnt feel like a reward to one of the hardest workers of 2012. My problem with Taker streak matches is that theyre often great but you cant really run an angle all you have is the match itself. It exists in a vacuum. Its very much a "here in the moment" type of thing there is nowhere to go after that. One of Punks strengths is putting over feuds with great mic work and he cant do that with Taker. Taker matches remind me of the Wade Keller episode of Steve Austins podcast where they were talking about "putting smiles on faces" instead of running actual wrestling angles about titles wins and losses. I kind of feel like the matches exist just to be good matches and theres nothing else surrounding them. Theyre there to give fans that WrestleMania moment and that alone. We know Punk wont end the streak and after the match is over theres nothing else you can do. And if I remember correctly Punk kind of fell off a cliff after that Mania match. He meandered around in a meaningless Jericho program took some time off and was turned face again. I can totally see why he would be frustrated. In WWEs eyes losing to Taker at Mania is a reward. Yes it does create memories in the fans eyes but it did nothing to improve Punks spot on the card. Its just WWE constantly reminding us that their history is more important than their current product and current stars. I didnt really care if it was a great match or not (and it was great). I personally did not see it as a reward for having an excellent title reign and busting his ass for a year. It will be interesting to see what happens with him from here and if WWE will make any attempts to keep him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmare007 Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 So... Jeff Jarret found the star he needs for his new promotion? -- I'm kinda shocked that Punk was so burned out than he couldn't wait 5 months to leave in good terms and come back whenever he wanted and get the big returning superstar push that Batista is getting. It has to take a very high level of frustration to leave a lot on the table and just say "fuck it", and I didn't think Punk was THAT pissed with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FedEx227 Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 It's all about his terms, with this he's leaving "on top" (you could argue semantics here but for the sake of the arguments, let's say that). He's apart of a major storyline, he's a focal point of the company, he's on their advertising or whatever. At this point, they need him more than he needed them and that's exactly what he wanted to achieve. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FedEx227 Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 Watch that Helwani interview as well, he's REALLY unsure about the Network payoffs and maybe was getting out while he could. You could argue that's counter-intuitive to leaving before the Mania payday, but I think there's a lot of smoke to that fire. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 It's strange that Vince still hasn't explained how network payoffs will work to everyone. It's even weirder that everyone is afraid to even ask the question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lust Hogan Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 Punk seems lost in the shuffle like Bret was prior to Survivor Series. I think they could have gotten a good run with Punk being resentful of Bryan and built toward that for Mania but it seems like they had their plans set in stone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 Watch that Helwani interview as well, he's REALLY unsure about the Network payoffs and maybe was getting out while he could. You could argue that's counter-intuitive to leaving before the Mania payday, but I think there's a lot of smoke to that fire.Yea I just listened to that interview and that seems like where his major problem is coming from. People can talk about him having "fuck you money" and not care about the money, but the interview clearly shows he cares about how much The Network is going to change the PPV pay structure. And that no one knows yet. And they canceled the meeting about how it was going to work and still haven't told anyone. So I can see why that would piss him off, and knowing he is going to leave in a few months and thinking that the rest of his PPV checks are going to be shitty, might as well just go now. It's not like he can't come back whenever he wants.They always take people back, they took back Sable and she meant NOTHING when they brought her back after she was much more of a pain in the ass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jmare007 Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 So people are reporting that Punk had a meeting with Vince were he told him he was leaving. At this point, we could've gotten a story about Vince being pissed as fuck if that was the case, no? He made the writing staff rewrite the show 2 hours before they went live and there was no mention of Punk...maybe he left in good terms or they agreed to some kinda deal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 It's not even so much that he "left on good terms" as that it's not like when Steve Austin left and it was a big huge deal. It was like "oh CM Punk wants to go home? Ok, tell someone to rewrite Raw." It's not like they aren't rewriting it 2 hours before the show every other week anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FedEx227 Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 Yeah, massive rewrites are par for the course, it was probably planned anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cross Face Chicken Wing Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 I think doing the whole Punk is resentful of Bryan angle for Wrestlemania might seem rushed. In my fantasy booking universe, I'd have Bryan win the title at EC, beat HHH at Mania to further establish himself, then have a longer title reign until somewhere down the line, Punk returns and they go w/ the whole resentment angle with Punk as the a-hole heel. The old school fantasy booker in me says they should ignite the resent angle this way: Book champion Bryan in a program against Batista after Bryan's big win over HHH at Mania. Once that runs it course, bring Triple-H back into the picture for another attempt to push Bryan back down the card, which would lead to Punk returning to stand up for his friend. Book Bryan/Punk vs. HHH/Batista at Summer Slam (or whenever it's appropriate). After Bryan endures a long FIP segment, when he goes to hot-tag Punk, Punk turns on him and the resentment angle kicks off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loss Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 I feel like if Bryan wins at EC and HHH comes out and acts all supportive and tries to jump on the Yes movement insincerely, that will get way more heat and be better at setting up the match. Similar to how Vince suddenly loved Austin and supported him when he was champ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt D Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 I feel like if Bryan wins at EC and HHH comes out and acts all supportive and tries to jump on the Yes movement insincerely, that will get way more heat and be better at setting up the match. Similar to how Vince suddenly loved Austin and supported him when he was champ. They obviously need to have HHH, Steph, Kane, Maddox, and the Shield all in the ring doing the hand things and shouting Yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goc Posted January 29, 2014 Report Share Posted January 29, 2014 Yea but that only lasted like 1 week when Austin comes out in the suit before ripping it off at the end of the promo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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