Pro or Con CM Punk’s Firing? All Out and Payback Fallout (Monday Morning Q&A)

Welcome back to another Monday Morning Q&A where I toss out some questions to get a feel of how you guys and gals are feeling about certain topics.

So here are 5 questions I’d like to toss out for this week. I’ll give my answers, too, but the key here is that I want to know what YOU think! So make sure you chime in!

1) Let’s just ask the question. Do you think AEW made the right call firing CM Punk?

Yes. Obviously, we aren’t privy to a lot of information that could very well change our opinions one way or another, as we weren’t backstage for all the different incidents and meetings and discussions that have happened in the past couple years. But with the information that IS out there, I’ve always thought Punk wasn’t worth the headache that he was causing.

I do support his point of view for some of it. For instance, I don’t think Jack Perry using real glass is a good idea, and I think Perry’s “cry me a river” comment is just poking the bear for no reason or anyone’s real benefit. But that doesn’t mean the elder statesman who is not only supposed to be more mature based on his age, but also his status as a legend, should take things into a physical realm. Once you do that, you lose respect from me supporting you, as I can’t condone “I’m going to hit you to settle our ethical, moral or philosophical disagreement.”

I don’t know why Tony Khan didn’t step in and stop Punk at the press conference last year. That was grounds for disciplinary action as is. The fight after was grounds for dismissal, and arguably could be a reason to fire others like The Young Bucks, too, depending on what happened. But for this to be another incident and not only not the first, but not even the first with CM Punk, you have to get rid of people causing problems. It’s easier to get rid of 2 guys (Punk and Ace) than to get rid of about a dozen and wipe the slate clean.

All parties who have done anything wrong should be punished, but punishment should be based on the deeds. If Punk was getting physical and even potentially threatened Khan, then yes, fire him. And if AEW can’t succeed without having him there, then that’s another whole problem, as this company existed before he signed a contract to join the roster.

2) Who do you think will dethrone The Judgment Day to become the next WWE tag team champions?

Honestly, I don’t think Damian Priest and Finn Balor is the right combination to be champions at all. The in-fighting has gone on for months. I don’t want the angle to be “and they still can’t get along, just like they’ve done prior to Money in the Bank, but now, they have the tag titles to give even more weight to the same promos about how they need to get their acts together for the benefit of the group.” That’s just what we’ve been seeing and doesn’t change the narrative.

What I want to see happen is that JD McDonagh replaces Priest in this role, and we get him and Balor as champions for a little bit. Maybe that can even be done in a way where Balor manipulates the situation like “You [Priest] have MITB to worry about. Let’s Freebird this and give McDonagh some of the responsibility. Take the pressure off your shoulders.” to wedge Damian out of the group.

But if we’re keeping this straight-up and they’ll just be champions and drop it to another team in the coming weeks/months, then I think The Street Profits are being built up enough that I can picture them winning the titles next.

3) Jey Uso is now on the Raw roster. What do you want WWE to do with Jey there and Jimmy on SmackDown in the coming months?

Assuming WWE did this because they want to kill time before coming back around to Jimmy vs. Jey at WrestleMania, both are going to have to feud with at least 2-3 people before we get to Royal Rumble where that story can return.

Jimmy seems to be in a holding pattern. Why they had him in a tweener role, only to embrace Solo Sikoa at the end of SmackDown, is confusing to me. Poor execution that will be clarified later, I guess. But if they’re sticking with Jimmy being tangential to The Bloodline, then I think, not to reiterate on The Street Profits, but we should get Bobby Lashley, Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins against Roman Reigns, Jimmy Uso and Solo Sikoa, after we get The OC feuding with The Bloodline.

As far as Jey, once Gunther is done with Chad Gable, maybe Jey can go for the Intercontinental Championship. That would be a fresh opponent. I’d like to see Jey against Bronson Reed, The Miz, and maybe some work with The Judgment Day, too. Ideally, there should be a camaraderie building with Cody Rhodes now that they’ve started them off on new ground, and that can set up an alliance that helps Cody overcome Roman at WrestleMania 40 to win the title.

4) What were your overall biggest takeaways, positive or negative, from All Out?

• It sure seems like the “I’m going to quit watching now that they fired Punk” audience was a vocal minority. Even in the Young Bucks match, when the crowd was booing them, they still managed to shut their brains off and enjoy the fight and move on.
• Orange Cassidy is a bona fide main-eventer. How anyone can write him off anymore at this point is beyond me.
• These are still too long. Shane Taylor vs. Samoa Joe or Kris Statlander vs. Ruby Soho could have been moved to the Zero Hour and the women’s trios match could have been cut entirely and it would have helped the flow.
• You got lucky with this being an overall great show. Don’t phone it in like this anymore with the lackluster card.
• Babyface MJF makes me chuckle. I’m loving how much he’s hamming that up.

5) Do you think it’s odd WWE isn’t broadcasting Superstar Spectacle and that it will just be a house show?

This is very strange. Why make such a big deal out of it to call it its own special, only to not bother making it a pay-per-view? Doesn’t that just come off as though you don’t care about the Indian market as much as Saudi Arabia, that is always made to be a huge extravaganza?

After sitting on this for so long and the awful Superstar Spectacle the first time around, if I were on the opposite side of this deal, I would be looking at WWE as if they’re insulting my offer, rather than doing anything I want to be in business with going forward. Why is it Puerto Rico gets Backlash with Bad Bunny and India gets a house show? Yeah, they have John Cena on it, but it’s still basically a non-canon event.

Let us know your thoughts about these questions by answering them in the comments!

You can keep up with all your wrestling news right here on eWrestlingNews.com. Or, you can follow us over on our Twitter and Facebook pages.