SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
Last night on AEW Dynamite, The Young Bucks introduced and reacted afterward to a clip of C.M. Punk confronting and physically attacking Jack Perry backstage at All In in London, England at Wembley Stadium last August, plus Will Ospreay took a shot at Paul “Triple H” Levesque saying that Levesque got his prominent position in WWE from “grinding” on the daughter of the boss.
Levesque did not mention Ospreay by name, but people inferred from his comments that he was referring to Ospreay when he said on The Pat McAfee Show that he didn’t want to sign young wrestlers who want to work a lighter schedule. Ospreay and Tony Khan apparently interpreted it that way.
We’ll find out later if there was a boost to viewership from advertising that they’d air backstage footage from All In. The controversial Ospreay comments were not advertised or hinted at online beforehand. It has, though, created a buzz online, as expected.
In our online poll on Twitter/X last night, 84 percent said AEW shouldn’t have aired the footage of Punk and Perry.
Should AEW have aired the clip of the C.M. Punk-Jack Perry backstage incident on AEW Dynamite? (Add an explanation in comments) #AEWDynamite
— Pro Wrestling Torch (@PWTorch) April 11, 2024
In another online poll, 74 percent said Will Ospreay shouldn’t have said what he said about Levesque.
Should Will Ospreay have responded to Paul Levesque on AEW Dynamite and said Levesque got his position only because he was "grinding on the boss's daughter"? (Add an explanation in comments) #AEWDynamite
— Pro Wrestling Torch (@PWTorch) April 11, 2024
I mentioned last night on the Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show that the Young Bucks were not in favor of the decision to air the Punk-Perry fight on Dynamite and present the way it was being pitched, dating back several days to when the idea was first discussed. One prominent AEW source, when asked if the Bucks were initially on board with the idea of airing the Punk footage, said: “They were not.” The source said they didn’t know “one person [other than Tony Khan] that was on board with this.” Another source tells me the Bucks were ready to move on and not get into this again.
Multiple sources, on background, indicate that once it was clear Tony Khan had decided to air the footage, the Bucks had ideas for how to present themselves in character in reaction to the segment. Some of those ideas, we’ve been told by multiple sources, were shot down by Khan, perhaps due to legal reasons or wanting to keep their comments in the realm of Khan’s vision of promoting the Bucks vs. FTR match. The footage, it’s worth noting, matched what C.M. Punk described happening in his interview last week on “The MMA Hour,” so speculation that Khan or the Bucks wanted to air the footage to undercut Punk’s version of the story turned out not to be the case.
A top AEW source with first-hand knowledge of the Bucks participation in production meetings tells me today that the Bucks were “willing participants” and said any framing of this situtation as this being something they were forced or pressured into doing against their will is not fair or accurate. Other sources say they had ideas that didn’t make air and wanted to do it differently.
The Bucks are in favor of Jack Perry returning to AEW, and the airing of the video last night not only generated online buzz in the days leading up to Dynamite, but also laid the groundwork for Perry to return playing up the “scapegoat” persona that he’s been portraying in New Japan. Perry’s comments on the All In pre-show are what sparked Punk confronting him, and the fallout led to Punk being fired and Perry being removed from AEW TV ever since (although he’s still listed on the AAEW website roster page, but wrestlers who have been cut from the roster are also listed on that page, so it’s not up to date).
As for Ospreay, the decision for him to talk about Levesque was made hours before Dynamite aired. On last night’s Wade Keller Pro Wrestling Post-show, I said I had no idea if he was for or against doing the promo, only that what ended up making air was not something he said without prior approval. One source indicated Ospreay was presented with aspects of what he said and how to say it. Today, a source with additional knowledge of the situation described Ospreay as an enthusiastic participant in the crafting of what he would say on the promo during the production session yesterday before Dynamite.
(Note: There are inaccurate portrayals in stories written elsewhere of what I said on last night’s podcasts attributed to me, in particular reporting whether Ospreay was for or against the promo. I explicitly said on the podcast last night I didn’t know whether he was for against it. This article is the first written report by me on the topic and is the first time I’m reporting his position on the promo. Last night on my podcast I said that knew for a fact that he didn’t “wing” it because it was planned and people were buzzing about it behind the scenes and that the belief was that the idea was pitched to him do it. As for the portrayal of the Bucks, multiple sources very close to the situation with first-hand knowledge today concur with the above framing of the Bucks view on the Punk-Perry video airing on Dynamite. One person with intimate knowledge of the situation was read the above story and said it was a fair and accurate portrayal of the situation without any need to add to or augment or any details.)
OR CHECK THIS OUT AT PROWRESTLING.NET: Powell’s AEW Dynamite Hit List: CM Punk and Jack Perry All In altercation footage, Will Ospreay promo on Paul Levesque, AEW World Champion Samoa Joe vs. Dustin Rhodes in an eliminator match
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