How Tony Khan's Biggest Mistake Will Change AEW Forever
Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men podcast has recently followed up his initial report of the proposed "soft" brand split to elaborate that the split will be "less soft" than he originally understood. The gist is as follows: plans are in place for CM Punk to return and he will star atop a new two-hour Saturday show named 'Collision'. This allows Khan to both firm up his relationship with Warner Bros. Discovery and snag a very tidy rights fee, and separate CM Punk from the Elite. This is where the old money used to be: a potentially amazing and lucrative programme between two incredible and very different acts between which there is real animosity.
The disturbing truth is that new money is more important and less appealing to the actual fan. New money is content and too much of it. AEW's politically delicate compromise will prove far more lucrative than a programme between CMFTR and the Elite.
AEW is seemingly drawing from that conflict and diluting it at the same time. Currently, the Blackpool Combat Club and specifically Bryan Danielson is playing Punk's surrogate in a feud with the Elite. Danielson, in an echo of the All Out presser, referred to Kenny Omega as an "amateur" when he returned and turned heel a few weeks ago. The idea is that the BCC are "real" throwback wrestlers who actually get on and can't sanction the Elite's flash and melodrama. While very good thus far, if it feels a bit loose and not quite believable, that's because it is. With Punk's role already filled, Punk himself, per Zarian's recent appearance on Wrestling Observer Live, is likely to work a programme opposite Jericho "in some capacity".
If true, this just isn't the same, is it?
The audience knows that tension exists between Punk and Jericho. Jericho was reported to have called Punk a "cancer" on the night of Brawl Out, and in the infamous deleted Instagram post, Punk referred to Jericho as a "liar" and a "stooge". Of course, every worked shoot feud is immediately comprised the very second that the two enemies agree to work with one another, but this feels more bittersweet than most. Nothing is decided as yet. Still, it's difficult to escape the idea that Jericho of all people doesn't need to be convinced to do this, or that Khan has skilfully navigated an impossible situation for the benefit of the fans. It's a subplot masquerading as the selling point.
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