Giant Bomb Presents: Power Bombcast 31: CM Punk, AEW All Out 2022, and Clash at the Castle

Hey folks, I'm having issues with the video and I'll get that up asap!

@janman: your work is appreciated!

Watched some videos about this weird ass weekend, but this discussion was what I was waiting for the most.

I took a wrestling break for like a dozen years and missed the CM Punk run. And ever since his return, month after month my response is "this... this is the dude you all were chanting for?" I'm in Chicago so I've heard those chants in person.

When I was a wrestling owner (in e-feds), I didn't account for someone going nuts next to me at a press conference. This feels like Tony Khan trying to maneuver Trico in the early hours of The Last Guardian. Except Trico was endearing and not an embarrassment.

gonna wait for the video

Finally we get to hear the most important opinions on this crazy-ass weekend of wrestling!

Somewhere, Big E's ears perked up when Dan said that the weekend was an "all-timer meat slapping" weekend.

CM Punk is a toxic garbage boy. Jon Moxley is prince of the garbage boys.

Punk is right for being pissed that his personal life continues to be paraded in front of the public. Like straight up him not being friends with colt anymore is and never was anybody elses fucking business.

@musubi: lots of personal issues are used in storylines, feel like Punk is being incredibly thin-skinned about him seemingly being the one person against whom personal issues can't be brought up

Word is that everyone involved has now been suspended. That's not enough for me. TK needs to fire whichever side threw the first punch.

Talent should not be EVPs. Never should have been so. Them wading in to Punks dressing room puts everyone in a terrible position. Suspensions all round and strip the Elite of their executive titles. Punk was over the line but there's some truth in his rage. Page's promos back during their feud might have been cryptic but they really did stand out as bizarre and angry at the time and turned me off him big time. Just because he's a "nice guy" doesnt mean he's in the right.

I'm howling at the guys essentially calling Tony Khan a money mark. He's not his father but he's not a trustfund baby playing promoter either and sitting here, acting like him not heroically interrupting Punk's rant is somehow a sign that he's "in over his head" is hilarious. He did the exact right thing in a no-win situation - he let Punk go off without explicitly agreeing or interupting him and causing a bigger, more unprofessional scene - which it would have been considering Punk's mental state at that time.

@dhiatensor: This has been my problem with AEW from the start. It just seems like a bunch of guys putting over their friends. If we're talking about guys with egos The Young Bucks are on the top of that damn list. They have always come off to me like assholes.

I normally love these shows but it is very funny to hear Dan act like Vince was some sort of level-headed mediator who knew how to act in front of the camera when stuff like the Bob Costas interview and post-Owen Hart's fall media scrum exists.

@musubi: All of The Elite lost pretty much every single big match in the first year of AEW's existence and fans kept saying that it made them look weak

@mc68: He absolutely is a trust fund baby playing promoter, just like he plays football exec while knowing nothing of the sport. He is absolutely in over his head and it's clear not just from Punks behavior at the press conference, but with the Bucks/Omega/everyone else's response. An owner, a manager, who has the respect of his employees, would never have had something like this happen. They're all idiots, they're all weaklings and thin-skinned, and Khan is at the top of that list for even allowing it to get to this position. He wants to play nice guy and allow the inmates to run the asylum, which never gets business to where it wants to be.

@purewarrior8: He ran the company pretty well for 3 years, didn't he? He's clearly more competent than you and other keyboard warriors want to give him credit for. He doesn't "play" football / soccer exec, he doesn't play promoter. Is he great at all of those jobs? Probably not - however he has spearheaded Fulham to two promotions and while they've struggled last time in the PL and fans of the club are mad he doesn't invest billions like the state-backed clubs, that is an achievement nonetheless. His passion is clearly running AEW and while he isn't incredibly experienced and might need some significant help in dealing with the interpersonal issues, the state of that company is impressive and much of it happened due to his work. Vince was a longtime, successful promoter who had similar (and possibly worse) scandals happen and he didn't let "the inmates run the asylum".

It's just the nature of this business - from Brody getting stabbed in the showers, japanese promotions getting regularly involved with the Yakuza before legitimate businesses invested in the companies to Vince allegedly covering up Snuka's murder of his girlfriend, the steroid scandal and plenty brawls and sexual harassment incidents. Acting like this is Tony's fault and unique to AEW is ignorant at best.

53:40 @danryckert refers to dinosaurs as "supernatural."

any chance this is on spotify?

Love you duders, love this show, but this myth that Vince McMahon is an "alpha-male who controlled the lockerroom" is...just hilarious. This the same lockerroom that had Vince getting punched in the jaw by talent? The same lockerroom that had talent ripping each other's hair out in bloody clumps? This the same lockerroom where people used to threaten to break limbs over payouts? This the same lockerroom that covered up literal murder?

Or was this the same lockerroom that had no social media/internet to broadcast backstage stories? And the same lockerroom that, after those things DID come about, could be fired for so much as sneezing?