Pro Wrestling Thread

[Boffo97]

 

[Rams and Gators]

Any kind of summary on that?

From what I've heard previous to this, the reasons are basically:

1. Injuries
2. Burnout
3. Frustration with part timers getting huge pushes instead of being used to put over full timers (The Brock thing frustrates me beyond belief too.)
4. Punk is the world's biggest Punk mark and he was frustrated not being in the main event plans (even though he just had the longest title reign in modern WWE history not too long ago.)

Pretty much that, two most interesting things in it were towards the end Punk kept on going to the WWE doctor asking what this massive lump on his back was, he was told repeatedly it's nothing don't worry about it here's some antibiotics. After walking out he eventually went to his wife's doctor who informed him that it was a staff infection, he could have died from wrestling on it, and it didn't clear up because he was being given the wrong antibiotics. And secondly that WWE chose his wedding day to send him a package informing him he was fired and wouldn't be getting royalties for the last two years, he sewed them and got "what he wanted and more"

It's worth a listen, he's an entertaining guy even if you know the story.

 

[Rams and Gators]

Pretty much that, two most interesting things in it were towards the end Punk kept on going to the WWE doctor asking what this massive lump on his back was, he was told repeatedly it's nothing don't worry about it here's some antibiotics. After walking out he eventually went to his wife's doctor who informed him that it was a staff infection, he could have died from wrestling on it, and it didn't clear up because he was being given the wrong antibiotics. And secondly that WWE chose his wedding day to send him a package informing him he was fired and wouldn't be getting royalties for the last two years, he sewed them and got "what he wanted and more"

It's worth a listen, he's an entertaining guy even if you know the story.

*Staph, my spelling of medical conditions is severely lacking .

 

[Boffo97]

Pretty much that, two most interesting things in it were towards the end Punk kept on going to the WWE doctor asking what this massive lump on his back was, he was told repeatedly it's nothing don't worry about it here's some antibiotics. After walking out he eventually went to his wife's doctor who informed him that it was a staff infection, he could have died from wrestling on it, and it didn't clear up because he was being given the wrong antibiotics. And secondly that WWE chose his wedding day to send him a package informing him he was fired and wouldn't be getting royalties for the last two years, he sewed them and got "what he wanted and more"

It's worth a listen, he's an entertaining guy even if you know the story.

The staph thing is pretty big. Hadn't heard that before.

I would have to think though that Punk getting the package on his wedding day wasn't intentional on WWE's part.

I have to think Punk will be back in WWE eventually. Bridges burned a lot worse than Punk's have been fixed, and he's way too big for TNA, GWF, RoH or anywhere else at this point.

 

[Rams and Gators]

The staph thing is pretty big. Hadn't heard that before.

I would have to think though that Punk getting the package on his wedding day wasn't intentional on WWE's part.

I have to think Punk will be back in WWE eventually. Bridges burned a lot worse than Punk's have been fixed, and he's way too big for TNA, GWF, RoH or anywhere else at this point.

Depends how it was delivered, they obviously knew it was that day, I assume WWE use a decent quality delivery service.

He said he intended to go back eventually, but after being fired on his wedding day he was done for good, and was enjoying not being in pain everyday, he may get that itch at some point, but I wouldn't be surprised if we never saw him in any ring anywhere ever again.

 

[Boffo97]

Here's a more in-depth report on the video, courtesy of 411mania. If half of what he's saying is true, WWE has acted horribly in all this:

http://411mania.com/wrestling/cm-pu...iple-h-vince-mcmahon-ryback-wwe-doctors-more/

CM Punk was a guest on Colt Cabana’s “Art of Wrestling” podcast and went into detail about why he left WWE. The podcast is available at ColtCabana.com. Highlights of the appearance are below, but note that Punk went into extreme detail in describing his departure from WWE and everything that happened, so it’s well worth listening to.

– Punk said that he never quit WWE, but that he was fired. Punk left WWE in January. A few weeks after that, Vince McMahon informed him via text that he was suspended for two months. After the suspension ended, nobody from WWE ever contacted him. Punk eventually reached out to WWE about royalties he felt were owed to him, and said WWE gave him the run-around before eventually sending him termination papers. The papers said he was fired due to breaching his contract on his wedding day, so he was officially fired in June 2014. WWE decided to use his wedding in June 2014 as the reason for the breach, not his hiatus in January. Punk said WWE had taken things “too fucking far.”

– Regarding why he left WWE in January, he said it was due to his health. Punk said that during his final months in WWE, he worked with broken ribs, a concussion, and injured knees. Punk said he felt so sick during WWE’s November 2013 European tour that he was throwing up and dry heaving after every match he worked. Punk said WWE doctors kept giving him antibiotics and said they caused him to literally poop himself in the ring during a match he worked on Smackdown. Punk said it was the most sick he had ever felt in his life.

– Punk said he suffered a concussion during his match at the Royal Rumble but continued to work it anyway. He passed WWE’s concussion test the next day, saying that was “bullshit.” Punk told WWE to just admit he had a concussion, but they wanted him to do more tests. Punk said he told WWE to help him and finally went to Vince McMahon and Triple H directly, telling them he’s going home.

– Punk went off on Triple H, saying he ruined his momentum in 2011 and that he told Vince McMahon that Triple H was stifling his creativity. He also said he told Vince that they were screwing up by not putting Daniel Bryan in the WrestleMania main event and that they were going to pass him by.

– Punk went off on a WWE doctor named Chris Amann (we posted more info on Dr. Amann here). Punk says he found a lump on his back, which Amann said was just a fat deposit. Punk asked Amann to cut it out several times but Amann refused. The lump got bigger and turned purple and painful. Punk told Amann again before the Royal Rumble to cut it out, but Amann refused, saying Punk had to wrestle. After the match, Punk again told him to cut it out but Amann said if he did, he’d have to put Punk on antibiotics. After Punk left, he went to another doctor that AJ Lee found for him, and that doctor diagnosed the lump as a MERSA staph infection and immediately drained puss out of it. Punk said the doctor was stunned that he had been wrestling with the infection for months, and said Punk “should be dead.” Punk blasted WWE for misdiagnosing and ignoring his infection which he worked with for months.

– Punk blasted WWE for bringing him back so soon after injuries, saying WWE told him after multiple surgeries that he was being brought back right away. He said he sometimes wished for injuries and surgery just because he hoped it would give him some time off, but that WWE would just bring him right back despite injuries/surgeries.

– Punk said his WWE career was a failure since he never headlined WrestleMania. Punk said Vince McMahon was an “out of touch old man” and that he’d constantly hear how he wasn’t a draw, but that he’d always shove that down everyone’s throats. Punk said he worked the best match at WrestleMania 29 but knew he didn’t get as much money as John Cena, The Rock, Triple H, Undertaker, and Brock Lesnar got.

– Punk told a story about how Vince McMahon would often take his ideas and give them to other wrestlers. One example he gave was that he told Vince that he wanted to walk Chael Sonnen to the Octagon for his UFC fight in Chicago, but that Vince said no because he considered MMA “barbaric.” Weeks later, Triple H walked Floyd Mayweather to the ring before one of his boxing fights.

– He also said that at one point, he was being approached by major companies regarding sponsorships. He said he had a “big money” deal on the table and met with Vince about it and told Vince that it’d be good for business and draw new people to the product, but that Vince vetoed it right away, saying it would upset WWE’s TV sponsors as well as the other wrestlers. A year later, Punk said, Brock Lesnar had sponsors.

– Punk said he never held WWE up for money and did not walk out in the middle of a storyline, saying he left after being chokeslammed by Kane. He said he was frustrated by getting less and less money but that he went home due to his health and sanity. He also said he asked how WWE’s pay scale would change with the WWE Network but nobody ever would give him any answers.

– Punk said he hired a “vicious” lawyer to go after WWE, and got everything he wanted “and more.” He said he can’t talk about the specifics of the settlement, but that he got everything he wanted. He said WWE was scared that Punk would go to court over the independent contractor issue and ruin their way of business.

– Punk said he will never, ever have a working relationship with WWE again.

– Punk attacked WWE’s independent contractor setup and said if they really cared about the well-being of the wrestlers, they’d let the wrestlers form a union like the player unions in the NFL, NBA, etc. He said WWE’s concussion tests, for example, are self-serving and not in the interest of the wrestlers.

– Punk said he was supposed to star in 12 Rounds 2 but that when he told Triple H that the movie’s shooting dates overlapped with WWE’s European tour, Triple H announced the next day that Randy Orton would star in the movie.

– Punk said Triple H thinks he is a “piece of shit.”

– Punk called Ryback a “steroid guy” and said that wrestling him took 20 years off his life, resulted in broken ribs, and other injuries.

– Punk said WWE was worried he’d go to TNA, but that his lawyer told WWE that Punk despised wrestling now and would never wrestle again.

 

[Angry Ram]

Wow.

WWE is an odd company. On one hand they're globally successful and show (often shoving it down our throats) how they are some esteemed business that loves to help less fortunate kids, charities, and supporting troops, etc.

But to be successful in WWE, it's only if you are "corporate guy" and corporate likes you.

It'll be interesting to watch AJ Lee on tv now. She's going to lose almost every match she's in, probably in humiliating ways until she leaves. And if that happens, WWE is fuckin disgusting. What company treats its workers that way? Especially a company where any moment can end a career (see Edge).

 

[IowaRam]

 

[Boffo97]

Wow.

WWE is an odd company. On one hand they're globally successful and show (often shoving it down our throats) how they are some esteemed business that loves to help less fortunate kids, charities, and supporting troops, etc.

But to be successful in WWE, it's only if you are "corporate guy" and corporate likes you.

It'll be interesting to watch AJ Lee on tv now. She's going to lose almost every match she's in, probably in humiliating ways until she leaves. And if that happens, WWE is freakin disgusting. What company treats its workers that way? Especially a company where any moment can end a career (see Edge).

AJ was rumored to be on her way out before this. But even after CM Punk quit, AJ had quite a solid run where she was pushed as basically leagues above everyone in the Divas division. I did have to laugh when Nikki Bella (and I do like the Bellas for what they are) claimed to work harder than AJ. Weak comeback to AJ's burn on Raw that "talent wasn't sexually transmitted."

And yeah, Vince is... complicated. You would think any other company would begin an immediate investigation to see if there's any truth to CM Punk's claims about the doctor who misdiagnosed the staph infection. Because if CM Punk had died from that while being pushed as high as he was, I think it'd be even worse for the company than Chris Benoit's murder/suicide. Instead, WWE puts out a press release defending their doctors while naming a completely other doctor than Punk did.

You can make an argument that outside of that, it's just standard disgruntled employee/employee who has gotten really beat up and needs time off stuff. But the staph infection thing is damning.

 

[Boffo97]

The Steve Austin podcast with Vince McMahon was pretty interesting. Austin asked about pretty much everything, including mentioning TNA a couple of times... which for a show on WWE Network, wow...

And he addressed CM Punk. He didn't talk about the allegations regarding undiagnosed staph infections and concussions, but I thought it was interesting he said as much as he did. I'll quote a recap of the show:

http://411mania.com/wrestling/vince...f-sting-nxt-and-more-on-steve-austin-podcast/

-Yes or no question time and here we go as Austin asks Vince if he wants to talk about CM Punk. Vince says that he wants to apologize for Punk getting his termination papers on his wedding day and says it was just coincidence. Other than that the only thing he wants to say is that many people in the past have been disgruntled, but he feels that Punk may regret a few things one day. He does say he hopes that one day they will be able to work together again much like he and Austin worked things out and even he and Hogan worked things out. Vince talks about putting his ego to the side and will always try to do what is best for business.

-Austin asks if that means he would be willing to do business with Punk again and he says sure before Austin cuts him off and asks if he listened to the interview. He mentions that he didn’t listen to the podcast and he just heard through what others told him. He says that there are two sides to every story.

-Austin brings up how he was in a similar situation when he was asked to put over Brock Lesnar on an episode of RAW with no build. They talk about how Austin was hard to work with and Vince says that at times Austin would just flat out to refuse to do things and then didn’t have an alternative. Vince says that Austin did have other ideas, but needed some prodding. Vince mentions that Austin worked hard even if he was an ass and Punk is the same way.

-Back to the Brock ordeal and Austin no shows because of the creative. He admits it was the worst professional decision he ever made. He was so pissed that he wouldn’t return Vince’s calls for months and then eventually JR mediated things. They met on the 30th floor of a hotel in Houston and Austin thought it was a hit as he was the first man in the room, but they settled things and he came back to work.

-Austin says that JR was the key into getting them back on the same page and asks if there is someone like Jim Ross around that can get things between Punk and Vince back on the same page. Vince thinks that Punk has some lack of communication skills and that he is a loner, and he thinks if they had someone like JR then it could have been handled, but it didn’t and once lawyers got involved things got out of hand.

-Back to Austin walking out and they tell story of how Vince felt he needed to fine Austin for walking out on the company. Vince tossed out a fine of $650,000 and Austin about lost his mind. He felt it was more than a slap on the wrist like Vince mentioned and tossed out $250,000 and Vince went with that instead. He wants to know if he had said $125,000 if Vince would have accepted and Vince says he doesn’t know now. He talks about how walking out only hurts the fans and they have to make examples of guys who do that so that others don’t do the same.

-Austin talks about how he let the guys down and he tells all the top guys now that he did pay a price for his actions. They both admit that Austin deserved the fine and Vince says that Austin owned up to things and always had good communication skills. He goes back to Punk not having those skills and thinks Austin had advantage of having someone to communicate with even if it wasn’t Vince himself.

 

[Rams and Gators]

-Austin says that JR was the key into getting them back on the same page and asks if there is someone like Jim Ross around that can get things between Punk and Vince back on the same page. Vince thinks that Punk has some lack of communication skills and that he is a loner, and he thinks if they had someone like JR then it could have been handled, but it didn’t and once lawyers got involved things got out of hand.

Wasn't Vince the one who got his lawyers involved first?

 

[Boffo97]

Wasn't Vince the one who got his lawyers involved first?

Not sure... and Triple H probably had some role in that as well. But I think he was just saying if JR was there as a voice of reason, neither side would have called in the lawyers.

 

[Rams and Gators]

Just got done watching nXt R Evolution, not watched as much wrestling in the last 5 years outside of Punk and Danielson but that was a great supercard :bow:.

 

[Boffo97]

Just got done watching nXt R revolution, not watched as much wrestling in the last 5 years outside of Punk and Danielson but that was a great supercard :bow:.

A lot of people actually prefer NXT to the main product. They say the main difference is that Vince isn't involved with NXT and it's all Triple H's baby.

I dream of the day in the future where we can see Sami Zayn vs. Daniel Bryan. That would be all kinds of awesome.

 

[Rams and Gators]

A lot of people actually prefer NXT to the main product. They say the main difference is that Vince isn't involved with NXT and it's all Triple H's baby.

I dream of the day in the future where we can see Sami Zayn vs. Daniel Bryan. That would be all kinds of awesome.

I think the thing that blew me away was seeing a woman's match which was better than 99% of men's matches you see on Raw, best woman's match since Stratus vs James Wrestlemania 22.

 

[Boffo97]

I think the thing that blew me away was seeing a woman's match which was better than 99% of men's matches you see on Raw, best woman's match since Stratus vs James Wrestlemania 22.

Yeah, I'm glad they turned A.J. Lee face because the points she was making about the rest of the Divas division on the WWE level were making too much sense. And I think there's a reason why on the last RAW, she called out Paige, Charlotte, Sasha Banks and Bayley as the future.

Most of the Divas division in the WWE falls into "Pretty, but can't wrestle" (although the Bellas have noticeably improved recently, they do still have a ways to go) except Natalya, who 2 seasons of Total Divas pretty much made me mentally stick her in the "obnoxious and unlikeable" folder.

 

[Boffo97]

Although Trish has had her clunkers too... for amusement, I'll present a match that a few people have nominated for worst match ever Bradshaw (who would later become JBL) & Trish Stratus vs. Jackie Gayda and Christopher Nowinski (the concussion guy):

 

[Boffo97]

It was nice that they gave Bray Wyatt vs. Dean Ambrose the main event slot rather than just put the Cena match there, but WTF was up with that ending?

And we've now confirmed Cena vs. Brock for Royal Rumble... meaning either Seth Rollins cashes in MITB, or Cena is the one to finally get the win off Brock (which would piss the Internet off beyond belief) or WWE is committed to this course of not having Brock lose until Wrestlemania, which will be so anticlimatic as to benefit NO ONE.

 

[Rams Until I Die]

It was nice that they gave Bray Wyatt vs. Dean Ambrose the main event slot rather than just put the Cena match there, but WTF was up with that ending?

And we've now confirmed Cena vs. Brock for Royal Rumble... meaning either Seth Rollins cashes in MITB, or Cena is the one to finally get the win off Brock (which would pee pee the Internet off beyond belief) or WWE is committed to this course of not having Brock lose until Wrestlemania, which will be so anticlimatic as to benefit NO ONE.

Haha that was a messed up ending to a good match. Out of those options I hope Rollins cashes in I don't want to see Cena win. I know it probably won't happen but I'd like to see Ziggler get a shot.

 

[Boffo97]

Haha that was a messed up ending to a good match. Out of those options I hope Rollins cashes in I don't want to see Cena win. I know it probably won't happen but I'd like to see Ziggler get a shot.

It would certainly pop the crowd if Rollins wins... but one problem then with the rest of your plan is that we've seen Rollins vs. Ziggler a LOT on RAW...