Opinion: Showing All In Footage Did Not Help Grow AEW

All Elite Wrestling was a great place at one time. It gave the fans something to watch when there was only one company. That company was lost and out of touch with what professional wrestling wanted. However, recently, AEW decided they would not be the company they used to be.

Maybe that happened when Cody Rhodes left and returned to WWE at Wrestlemania 38. But something changed, and they decided to be petty and respond to everything WWE did.

Instead of piggybacking off of WWE mentioning the company during Wrestlemania to showcase their product and get fans interested, they decided to show the All-In Footage and the incident involving CM Punk and Jack Perry.

This footage set up an angle between FTR and the Young Bucks at AEW Dynasty. This benefitted nobody. Take a look at the YouTube numbers on the clip. There are more dislikes than likes. It is similar to The Rock returned, and Cody was supposed to give his spot up to The Rock, but fans did not like it. There was a lot of negative backlash on Twitter, too. There was a lot of negative backlash all across the wrestling community because it didn’t benefit. The company didn’t benefit from it.

AEW Dynamite did not benefit despite the slight increase in viewers.  Why show the CM Punk footage from AEW All In? Why? Tony Khan doesn’t like what CM Punk had to say about him because Ariel Helwani has a grudge. Helwani does not like AEW, but that does not mean Punk’s statement was wrong. The footage proved he was right. And AEW never cared what WWE did or said.

All Elite Wrestling just went about their business and need to get back to going about their business again. AEW Dynamite was terrible for the first time in a long time. And you don’t say it that much. There were some episodes during the pandemic era that were not good.

There have been some episodes now that have not been great, but this company’s momentum in 2021 is gone. Nobody cares. Nobody’s watching, and TV ratings are what TV ratings are. They got a little bump from it. But Tony Kahn might be the worst thing for AEW right now.

There needs to be somebody higher up saying this is not okay. This is okay. Because CM Punk was right. Similarly, we always say Bret Hart is right. Well, CM Punk was right. Tony Kahn needs to be a leader and not a friend, and that’s why everybody joked that All Elite Wrestling was known as All Friends Wrestling.

The Elite decided to go into business for themselves, and they never let stuff go, and this is what happened. Those guys never got over Brawl Put. They never got over what Hangman Adam Page did and what Punk did back to the Hangman after he won the title.

The company had moved on. This was eight months ago. And you heard from people backstage nobody wanted to relive it. You saw Tony Schiavone’s face, and nobody wanted to relive it. Everybody had moved on. Nobody was talking about CM Punk.

People were talking about AEW in WWE during WrestleMania week. That’s a big deal. Instead, all the positive momentum they could gain from putting on a good show is gone with the footage from All In that shows CM Punk was right. And Will Ospreay takes a shot at Triple H. Okay, whatever. But now is not the time or place to do that because it doesn’t benefit anybody.

And now the biggest star in WWE is still the biggest star in AEW history because of a stupid incident. Guys can’t let stuff go. The company was gaining momentum, and people talked about Swerve and Samoa Joe. They were building that match the right way.

After the footage comes out, FTR cuts a great promo. They weren’t “supposed” to be there. They did their best, but they said everybody felt it was time to move on. Why can’t we move on? Because you have the wrong people in charge. The Young Bucks should not be Executive Vice Presidents. They should be wrestlers. And if they don’t want to be wrestlers, that’s fine. But you can’t have guys in both.

You saw what happened in WCW. That was a big, big deal. Again, AEW was such a great place. They were innovative. They changed the game during the pandemic. They got that pandemic hit. But now, people just don’t care. People used to be excited. They don’t realize the damage that they’re doing. It wasn’t a good idea. It’s not a good idea.

Jack Perry is coming back, but this isn’t the way to do it. Again, if Tony Khan had handled stuff appropriately from the beginning, none of this would have happened. CM Punk is still in the company. He’s having matches with the Elite. CMFTR is happening.

But airing this footage after WrestleMania doesn’t benefit this company. You have a pay-per-view coming up. The build-up to the pay-per-view is not great. The matches are okay. And you know they’re just going to be another company—they’re not going to be what they were. So I think they need to start focusing on themselves because airing this footage didn’t benefit them.