Opinion
Greg DeMarco: This Is Really Getting Stupid
We’re days away from possibly the biggest WrestleMania in history, and Greg DeMarco is not happy with the energy being dedicated to stupid things…
We’re days away from possibly the biggest WrestleMania in history, and Greg DeMarco is not happy with the energy being dedicated to stupid things…
It’s WrestleMania Week, baby! The wrestling’s Christmas (for those who celebrate), and for most fans–ranging from the most hardcore to the most casual–this truly is “the most wonderful time of the year.”
Yet I sit here on a Wednesday night typing away about the point/counter-point taking place regarding CM Punk’s interview with Ariel Helwani on the latter’s MMA Hour. If you haven’t heard the interview, Mr. Tito has a great breakdown at NoDQ that will get you caught up, or you can watch it here:
Punk discusses all sorts of topics, including his time in AEW, the transition to WWE, and so much more. It’s highly worth the listen, not just for the AEW talk.
And in it, he does have some not so nice things to say about Tony Khan and the management of AEW…
“He’s not a boss. He’s a nice guy. And I think ultimately that is a detriment to the company. But it’s not my company. I’m an outsider.”
“I can’t tell you what Tony is thinking but I can tell you I never did anything to make him ‘fear for his life.”
“There is a continued effort to slander my character.”
“This isn’t a real business. This isn’t a business that’s predicated on making money, drawing money, selling tickets, doing business. It’s not what it was sold to me as.”
“A lot of people are stuck in the Indy Mind set. I get it, it’s where I came from. But if your more happy that you had a 5-star match that some goof loved but the building is only a quarter full; then we are not in the same business.”
Another interesting development is that the NDA (non-disclosure agreement) Punk signed was more about not talking about the EVP’s involvement than anything else. That, to me, is very telling about Tony Khan’s management of everyone in the situation.
He discusses so much more, I am barely scratching the surface. But these are most important (at least to this article) because they focus on AEW. And that meant (you guessed it!) AEW had to react.
Because of course they did.
And the man leading that charge, surprisingly (to me) was none than the former Edge, “The (Still) Rated R Superstar” Adam Copeland:
“There’s been a lot of negative BS that has been spewed this week, there has. Screw that. I wanna talk about the positives… AEW makes pro-wrestling better, AEW makes pro-wrestling more fun, and AEW is where the best wrestle.”
You can see more here:
Adam Copeland wants everyone to celebrate professional wrestling!
Watch #AEWDynamite LIVE on TBS!@RatedRCopeland pic.twitter.com/SdhQqAvUS8
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) April 4, 2024
Look, the man tried–he even dropped a WWF reference. But he just had to lean into AEW vs WWE in the end, despite his claims to the contrary. And in the end, it was Adam Copeland, WWE Hall Of Famer, 11-time world champion, shilling for Tony Khan, and ending (at least in the clip above) with the fancy “AEW Is Where The Best Wrestle” slogan.
AEW: Where The Best Wrestle#AEWDynamite
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) April 4, 2024
For those of us watching in the days of WCW, that might immediately conjure up memories of their “WCW: Where The Big Boys Play” slogan, the latest in a long line of similarities between AEW and the company that beat WWE for 83 straight weeks.
And we all know how that ended.
“But Greg, CM Punk said what he said, why can’t Adam Copeland/AEW have a rebuttal?”
That’s a fair question, but allow me to point one thing that is truly being overlooked, here:
CM Punk was being interviewed. He was being asked questions by a journalist. He wasn’t cutting a promo. He didn’t have an agenda (and, if you look closely, hasn’t shown any signs of having an agenda since the end of his return promo in November). If Ariel Helwani spent two hours asking CM Punk about his time in Ring Of Honor and his old Pepsi tattoo, Punk would have spent two hours talking about his time in Ring Of Honor and his old Pepsi tattoo.
He was answering questions.
Adam Copeland? He cut a promo. He went to the ring with an agenda. He tried to be the happy medium, but it didn’t end up that way when the agenda pushed through.
Do I blame him? Maybe.
If I blame him, it’s only 50% blame. He’s only desirable to AEW because of his legendary WWE career, which included the accolades mentioned above and many many others–the man is one of the most decorated performers in WWE history. But he’s also a company guy, supporting the guy who signs the checks. I’m someone who is gainfully employed, and I have a boss who always has my back. Thus, I always have her back, too.
So I get it. But you can’t equate the two. An unscripted media appearance is not the same as a planned (scripted) in-ring promo that’s part of a pro wrestling broadcast.
And that’s where this is getting stupid. The need to retaliate is what makes it stupid. WWE hasn’t ignored AEW like many claim. Hell, in the past 12 months we’ve heard WWE commentary refer to Chris Jericho, Daniel Bryan Danielson, Sting, Claudio Castagnoli, Jon Moxley, and more. Pat McAfee damn near referenced Darby Allin and The Young Bucks when praising Sting’s final match. And remember, this is the same company who put over Impact Knockouts World Champion Jordynne Grace like a monster in the Royal Rumble.
These actions are not the same. WWE didn’t put AEW on the defensive, AEW put itself on the defensive.
As for the necessity of Adam Copeland’s promo? Ask yourself these questions:
- Will it sell tickets?
- Will it increase viewers?
- Will it prevent ticket sales from dropping?
- Will it prevent viewership from dropping?
The answer to all four of these questions is the same–NO. It simply wasn’t needed.
You know what’s better than saying “AEW: Where The Best Wrestle?” Just going out there and being an alternative, instead of a lesser-than version of the WWE Raw and SmackDown presentation.
But that’s another column for another time! In the meantime, I implore you to overlook the BS and enjoy wrestling’s Most Wonderful Time Of The Year.
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Opinion
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS: WWE Bash In Berlin Immediate Reactions
Join DJ and Tunney for their immediate reactions to WWE Bash in Berlin. For the latest, greatest and up to datest, ALWAYS #UseYourHead and visit THECHAIRSHOT.COM
Join DJ and Tunney for their immediate reactions to WWE Bash in Berlin. For the latest, greatest and up to datest, ALWAYS #UseYourHead and visit THECHAIRSHOT.COM
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prowrestlingtees.com/TheChairshot – TONS of Great designs…MAKES A GREAT GIFT!
About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY – Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY – Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY – The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY – Keeping the news ridiculous… The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
FRIDAY – DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY – The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY – The Front and Center Sports Podcast
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE’s PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS…IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O’Dowd’s 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
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About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports Podcast
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
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Opinion
AJ’s Top 3 Favorite SummerSlams
AJ is back with his annual opinion article, and this time the SummerSlam buzz got him wondering about his personal Top 3.
It’s been a while since I have done any form of writing and SummerSlam is this Saturday. Of all the SummerSlams I’ve seen over the years; which ones are my favorites? While it’s not a revolutionary idea, I figured everyone loves to debate favorites of well, anything. Don’t worry though because this isn’t just going to be pure recency bias. I’ve watched the majority of them so with the ones I put on the list, it hit me more in some way shape or form whether it was story, a really good match or it just felt like a solid event.
At least this proves WWE is trending in a good direction for me, when it gets the ol’ brain juices flowing just because a show is around the corner!
#3: 2022 (Ol’ Brock Lesnar Has A Farm)
Starting off the show, we get Bianca looking for a rematch against Becky from last years SummerSlam and it was better than the 21 second affair that everyone claims was a squash. This time Bianca holds her own and beats the Man in a fairly decent match, good way to get the event started. Next up is the heat seeking missile, Logan Paul against the former heat seeking missile because, well he wasn’t cut out for it and wasn’t a guy in everyone’s eyes, The Miz. After they had their blow off at Mania with Logan coming out on top which… isn’t awful, I just don’t like Logan Paul because he has that dude bro aura and swagger to make him more hateable than any other person on the card. Which I suppose is his gimmick…so…kudos?
First Championship match is for the US Championship and it’s as expected that in Theory, he should never beat someone to the caliber of Bobby Lashley which is no surprise. Dominik and Rey still back when Dom wanted the good fight against the Judgement Day before joining them later. The former Colts players, which they hammered it dahn in this match up showed that the canal swimming, trash talkin’, podcastin’, current RAW Color Commentatin’ goofball we all love, Pat McAfee came out on top again Bum Ass Corbin.
Usos putting the Street Profits on lockdown in the penitentiary since I believe this was peak Bloodline with the belt collecting and running all of WWE. Liv beat Ronda Rousey which isn’t astonishing but it’s not something people had on their bingo cards for anything with WWE so it was a nice little shock factor. The most memorable part of the night is obviously the Main Event, Lesnar brings the tractor, Roman catching the Microphone and Brock stands on top of the vehicle. Damn good match that showed off what they do in the ring since Roman caught his stride as the main bad guy and Brock… liked people after all of this? That is still a weird statement in my head. Brock being a good guy people person. If Liv wasn’t on bingo cards for wrestling, that is not on bingo cards in any aspect of life really.
That is more of the event that had solid matches and story going for it. No weird double count out, multiple people involved, 5 tag matches on the card. Things made sense and weren’t convoluted, had shocking moments that were great to see like Liv actually getting a title defense and there were the results we all expected at the time like Theory losing in 4 minutes to Bobby Lashley.
#2: 2009 (Are You Ready for The Return?)
This event wasn’t that strong. It was strong with the star power involved in 2009 with guys like Rey Mysterio as Intercontinental Champion, Orton and Cena for the WWE Championship as it was becoming as stale as month old chips and CM Punk was facing Jeff Hardy before he ultimately returned to TNA at the beginning of 2010 after this PPV. For me, it’s not so much of the show itself, it was more of the memories because the Balai as our friends Chris Platt and Rey Cash like to call my brother and I, we were just coming back into wrestling and we were TNA Fans. We didn’t watch WWE that much really, it was just what came on after another channel had old ROH shows before they moved to three hours and swallowed the 8pm Eastern Slot. No, the reason why this has so many memories for me is three main reasons. First, Orton and Cena. They have had their rivalry since the beginning it seems, being each others foils like Hogan and Piper before them and there had to be a stipulation where if Randy was Counted Out or DQ’d, he’d lose the championship regardless. This was prime Viper Randy and the obvious joke we had of Super Cena where he very rarely lost, unless it was SummerSlam surprisingly enough.
Number two reason was CM Punk and Jeff Hardy. Hardys known for the Ladder and TLC matches in the past and this being the penultimate match for this feud and it was a banger of a match. If you didn’t know Punk before, it was a great introduction to his wrestling. I used to like Punk a lot because of this match because he could talk, wrestle… and not insanely personal with things in wrestling. In all seriousness, this was a great match. Ultimate risks, high reward for Punk grabbing the World Heavyweight Championship and he was given his next feud because of the final boss of SmackDown at that time. Thanks, Teddy Long.
The main and final reason though why this match gave me the memories flowing back is more of the fact that one of my closest and longest termed friends of 23 years, also loves wrestling. Back when we were younger, he’d do MoCap videos on YouTube with his figures. We’d have friends come over for parties at his house and we’d do the one thing WWE always told us not to do and that was try it at home. He was always stronger than me, I was always more charismatic. He had the power aspect and did things with brute force, I could talk my way out of trouble with parents if we did something wrong. There was always one thing that our respective mother’s always called us though… it’s on the tip of my tongue… oh right, ‘Degenerates’.
As soon as we were called that, we kind of parodied the DX line. I was limber enough to do the HBK pose and do a Superkick before it became the new DDT and he would just Spinebuster people and knew how to do the water spit. So what do you think was the main reason we even ordered this PPV for his 13th Birthday? I think the two guys we were pretending to be were set to return on a tank and toss out some glow sticks. The return of DX, Shawn Michaels coming back after Mania with Triple H to deal with the Legacy problem was an amazing return for them and made everything so much fun.
So we have the solid card and this one has a personal story… what’s my number one SummerSlam? Is it personal? Well yes but not going into that. Is it a good card? To me, it was a phenomenal card! Is it memorable? Seeing how wrestling fans still mention at least three matches to this day.
#1: 2005 (Octopus in the Washer, Lover’s Quarrel and Where the F%#$ is Vickie?)
Quite possibly some of the best matches I’ve seen and one that was just the most hilarious moments of overselling in wrestling history, I know why I love this SummerSlam but it’s also a really good card at the same time. Redacted beats Orlando Jordan in 25 seconds for the US Title and they made jokes about it like, he can make a coffee faster than he beat Orlando and stuff like that, it’s pretty funny. Angle getting sick of Eugene’s antics for his Gold Medal was also a great bit they had play up, the Year long feud of Randy Orton and Undertaker was still going on where Orton comes out on top this time around to get the win back from Mania, Jericho returning for the match with Cena in a whole promotional thing for each other’s groups, Fozzy for Jericho and the Chain Gang doing Bad, Bad Man for Cena leading up to a match for the WWE Championship. JBL won a 20 man battle royal on SmackDown to win the Championship…… Opportunity to face the newest member of SmackDown, Batista but the three main matches that a lot of people talk about to this day; Edge vs Matt Hardy, Rey vs Eddie for Dominik and Hogan vs HBK in the Main Event.
I have reasons to enjoy the Hardy/Edge match but it looked like a real fight, it really made us believe that Matt Hardy was going to kill Edge because real names were dropped during this tirade from Hardy. It wasn’t Edge and Lita, it was Adam and Amy. Matt was so dead set on beating the hell out of Edge that they made a situation into gold and it was a great moment for this match to happen, I believe it was also an Unsanctioned Match too which added the intensity until matt got concussed and knocked senseless that it looked like he couldn’t fight for anything but the build up was what made it seem like a marque match. It made it feel real, it made it feel awesome and it made it feel personal.
Eddie kept tormenting Rey Mysterio about Dominik not being Rey’s but Eddie’s for the summer. That’s all you heard from Eddie being the weasel he was is hanging out with Dominik, making the world believe it’s his son and what not (Let’s not do a fast forward to today where he has the mullet, mustache and everything like Eddie) but they settle this in a Ladder Match where the top of it is a document for the custody of Dominik and my god, this match is better than it should have been. I expect nothing else from Eddie because the man hated having a bad match, Dom got involved and stopped Eddie, Vickie was late and stopped Eddie. The whole match was good it was just very weird with the premise but was a great match. I wonder if Rey regrets his decision to win the match now…
Octopus in a Washing Machine… those five words have resonated with Shawn Michaels’ performance in this match, forever. It was supposed to be an amazing match up between Hogan and Michaels, Icon vs Icon it said and suddenly Hogan’s back gives out, can’t do a trilogy of matches so we can only do the one and then pull out of everything after. This match was set up to be a classic and instead turned into the most unbelievable sell fest ever. A Hogan big boot caused Shawn to tumble 3 or 4 times, getting crotched on the ropes had HBK bouncing higher than he should have, being tossed out of the ring made it look like Shawn never broke his back in 1998 from how much he flopped and flipped around like crazy. It’s bad… or maybe even good that a lot of current wrestlers watched this match that went, “I can sell like that, I want to be a wrestler” and did. So good or bad, I don’t know but for some reason this PPV has always had a place in my heart for how memorable it was.
Those are my top three SummerSlams so far but who knows, 2024 has potential to maybe bump something or at least get me to consider a shift. Should be fun to see how the show plays out! What are some of your favorite SummerSlams?
About Chairshot Radio Network
Launched in 2017, the Chairshot Radio Network presents you with the best in sports, entertainment, and sports entertainment. Wrestling and wrestling crossover podcasts + the most interesting content + the most engaging hosts = the most entertaining podcasts you’ll find!
MONDAY - Bandwagon Nerds (entertainment & popular culture)
TUESDAY - Musical Chairs (music) / Hockey Talk (NHL)
WEDNESDAY - The Greg DeMarco Show (wrestling)
THURSDAY - Keeping the news ridiculous... The Oddity / Chairshot NFL (NFL)
FRIDAY - DWI Podcast (Drunk Wrestling Intellect)
SATURDAY - The Mindless Wrestling Podcast
SUNDAY - The Front and Center Sports Podcast
CHAIRSHOT RADIO NETWORK PODCAST SPECIALS
Attitude Of Aggression Podcast & The Big Five Project (chronologically exploring WWE's PPV/PLE history)
TheChairshot.com PRESENTS...IMMEDIATE POST WWE PLE REACTIONS w/ DJ(Mindless), Tunney(DWI) & Friends
Patrick O'Dowd's 5X5
Classic POD is WAR
Chairshot Radio Network Your home for the hardest hitting podcasts... Sports, Entertainment and Sports Entertainment!
Powered by RedCircle
Let us know what you think on social media @ChairshotMedia and always remember to use the hashtag #UseYourHead!