00:00 It's been less than a week since CM Punk returned to WWE in one of the most shocking
00:12 returns in wrestling history, so yeah, we're still talking about him because boy howdy
00:17 have there been some updates about everything going on.
00:20 Punk made an appearance on Raw this week, ending the show with his first promo in a
00:24 WWE ring in nearly 10 years, so naturally we want to know everything about what happened
00:28 that day.
00:29 Did people kiss him on the mouth?
00:31 Did he have a muffin backstage?
00:33 Fightful Select has some deets for us where they report that Punk was in good spirits
00:36 backstage at Raw, and was seemingly on his best behaviour.
00:39 There may have been a reason for that though, as while it couldn't be confirmed by Fightful,
00:43 there were reportedly those in WWE who were told by higher ups that Punk has a "behaviour
00:48 clause" associated with his contract.
00:51 PWTorch also reported on the good vibes backstage with Punk, with one wrestler reportedly noting
00:55 then that Punk knew he kinda had to be on his best behaviour at Raw, but one source
00:59 also reportedly told them that about half of the wrestlers are iffy on if Punk has actually
01:04 changed or not.
01:05 Perhaps this "behaviour clause" is why Triple H felt comfortable missing Raw this
01:09 week, because according to PWInsider, he was absent from the show entirely, with Bruce
01:13 Prichard running the show instead.
01:15 The reported reason for this was because he and Nick Khan were in Los Angeles working
01:19 on securing the media rights deal for Monday Night Raw.
01:22 And what an advertisement.
01:23 Look, we have CM Punk on our show now, but that might not be the end of seeing CM Punk
01:27 on WWE programming this week, as according to Fightful Select, Punk is listed as a free
01:32 agent right now internally in WWE, so there's every chance that he could be showing up on
01:37 Smackdown this week too.
01:38 But there's not just details on Punk in WWE, as there's also more details on his
01:42 firing from AEW.
01:43 It had been reported recently that Bryan Danielson was part of the disciplinary committee who
01:48 ultimately advised Tony Khan to fire CM Punk, but there's a little more on it.
01:52 According to Fightful Select, it was a three-person committee made up of Bryan Danielson, AEW
01:56 General Counsel Chris Peck, and an outside attorney, with the committee actually being
02:00 headed up by Danielson.
02:02 When asking AEW sources about Danielson's inclusion in the committee, Fightful note
02:06 that one said to them that Danielson was an appropriate moral compass who exemplifies
02:10 objectivity.
02:11 So that's Keith Lee, right?
02:14 But there's more, because that's not the only wrestler leaving AEW that Punk's been
02:18 involved in.
02:19 QT Marshall recently resigned from AEW, with reports noting that he wasn't a fan of the
02:23 direction AEW was heading in.
02:25 But now, there's more.
02:27 WrestlePurist reported that CM Punk didn't want QT Marshall on Collision, with him reportedly
02:32 feeling that QTV was doing no favours for the presentation of Powerhouse Hobbs.
02:36 Fightful Select corroborated this, and also added that QT was scheduled to be a big part
02:40 of Collision on and off screen, but Punk reportedly nixed it.
02:44 Tony Khan reportedly directed the blame for this with QT, which damaged their relationship.
02:49 Also of note was the fact that the "direction of the company" news that had emerged regarding
02:53 QT's resignation is reportedly not the reason he left the company, but it was something
02:58 he disagreed with.
02:59 But that might not be the only wrestler leaving AEW before long, because there's some signs
03:03 that Britt Baker might be growing frustrated with AEW's booking.
03:07 On X, the former Women's Champ posted, "Tonight's @AEWDynamite - MJF Live Promo Time - 7 minutes.
03:13 Christian Cage Live Promo Time - 10 minutes.
03:16 All of 2023 @AEWDynamite - Britt Baker Live Promo Time - 0 minutes."
03:21 Far from the first time AEW's booking of its women's division has been criticised,
03:25 nor will it be the last.
03:26 Now over to Oli.
03:28 It's Thursday, you know what that means.
03:31 My review of the Go Home episode for the Winter is Coming Go Home episode of AEW Dynamite.
03:42 Solid Snake, Bryan Danielson joined commentary for the opening Continental Classic match
03:51 in the Gold League - Jon Moxley vs Jay Lethal.
03:55 Danielson was excellent on commentary for all the tournament matches of the night.
03:59 You could say he's the best in that ring, on that microphone, even on commentary.
04:04 His announcing on Mox, his Blackpool Combat Club stablemate, added an extra layer to the
04:09 possibility of them meeting in the Blue vs Gold final.
04:15 Mox beat Jay Lethal relatively easily with a choke.
04:18 I love and respect Lethal's career, but he is Team TNA right now, and I think his
04:22 inclusion in this tournament at the expense of far bigger, more credible names is a detriment.
04:28 We got a clip of despondent Eddie Kingston post-Brodie King loss, where he was trying
04:32 to self-talk himself out of a negative spiral.
04:35 Which cut back to his Collision opponent Danielson, who did a great interview, saying he's not
04:39 having self-doubt, and he's got two breaks in his orbital bone.
04:43 He's coming to win.
04:45 But actually, Bryan, maybe you should have more doubt, so I don't want you to hurt
04:49 yourself again.
04:50 Tony Schiavone announced backstage that Revolution, the pay-per-view that will see Sting's last
04:55 ever match, for now, will be held in the same venue that saw his first ever world title
05:01 match - all the way back in 1988, the Greensboro Coliseum.
05:06 Sting and his opponent from that night, Ric Flair, talked up their shared history.
05:10 If this already feels like a big historic deal three months away, strap yourself in
05:15 for lots of tears on the actual night.
05:18 Especially when Sting's final promo is brought to you by Woo Energy.
05:24 Mark Briscoe and Roush had the second Continental Classic match of the night, where, unlike
05:28 Mox and Lethal's technical start, they just beat the crap out of each other.
05:32 Roush beat Mark in an absolute slugfest with the Bulls Horns, giving him his first three
05:36 points.
05:37 It's a shame Mark lost again, but perhaps he can now start a comeback story.
05:40 RJ City took off a hungover Tony Storm's shoes for her, and also hooked up a flirtatious
05:45 Mariah May with a Tony Khan matchbooking.
05:47 Wait a second, is RJ City my favourite thing about Storm's new gimmick?
05:51 MJF cut a great in-ring promo putting over Samoa Joe, how he paved the way for wrestlers
05:56 like him, that Joe never got a fair opportunity in WWE.
06:00 He said the thing, and while he doesn't like him, he respects him.
06:04 Because Joe came here not to line his pockets, but because he believes in those three letters
06:09 A, E, W. CM Punk shock.
06:14 At World's End, Max made a babyface promise, which wrestling rules dictate should not be
06:20 broken.
06:21 He'll show Joe it's about the size of the fight in the dog.
06:24 He'll have to put him down to beat him.
06:27 Even though MJF has already beaten Joe, the story, the mic work, the characters are doing
06:32 enough to make me invested in the title match.
06:35 But then step aside CM Punk WWE return, we got a far bigger angle!
06:40 Retribution to AEW confirmed.
06:42 I'm being glib, I enjoyed this a lot, but the strobe lighting, oh no the faction have
06:46 got control of the production desk, and the tack on Max, where four of the Devil faction
06:51 were easily chased off by Joe, did come off a bit weak.
06:55 The TV feed then got took over by Courier Font, which asked "Will you face the unknown
07:00 in a tag match?
07:01 Are you a hero, Max?"
07:03 MJF agreed to a tag match next week against the wishes of Joe.
07:07 With Winter is Coming the week after, we could be building to the Devil's reveal.
07:11 Wardlow came out next to destroy AR Fox for the last ride, with ruffled hair, almost like
07:16 he'd just been chased off from a Samoa Joe.
07:20 This is the best version of Wardlow since his Max Henchman role.
07:23 Why wasn't he booked like this as TNT Champion?
07:25 Dante Martin made his return from that potentially career-ending injury, tagging with Top Flight
07:29 to beat the Hardy Party.
07:31 Talking to Renee backstage afterwards, Penta set up a match between them and his Lucha
07:35 Boys.
07:36 Julia Hart defended her TBS title against Emi Sakura next in a House Rules match.
07:41 What are the rules?
07:42 What are the rules?
07:43 What are the rules?
07:44 That you can't win via submission.
07:47 It's very clear, actually.
07:49 It's almost like Julia Hart is doing House of Black better than the rest of the House
07:53 of Black.
07:54 Her improvement and performance over the last six months has been so impressive, from her
07:59 charisma, character work, wrestling and even selling - just having a slight, twitching
08:03 hand off a crossbody into the steel steps - she has gotten over so much, she's booked
08:08 as a badass babyface.
08:10 It's genuinely one of the more surprising things to happen this year, and Vince McMahon
08:15 sold WWE and CM Punk returned!
08:18 Hart had her submission locked in, but realised she couldn't win with it.
08:22 She hit a moonsault instead to retain.
08:24 This was really great, I just wish it was longer.
08:26 After Copeland took out both Luchasaurus and Nick Wayne, Christian made his way down to
08:30 the ring with five security guys, who might as well have been wearing t-shirts that said
08:34 'I'm going to get speared'.
08:36 Swerve, they didn't.
08:37 It was all part of Christian's manipulation.
08:40 He likely just brought them down to send them away, coaxing Copeland into a false sense
08:44 of security.
08:45 But Christian really had reflected on himself and meant it when he said 'I'm sorry'.
08:51 He brought up their shared career and personal history together, how Copeland grew up without
08:55 a father, which got a big reaction.
08:57 But that made them brothers.
08:59 Let's team together again for your mum, who passed away a few years ago.
09:04 It was all a ruse, with Christian trying to get out of their TNT title match in Montreal
09:08 next week, but Copeland was wise to it.
09:10 He stopped a belt shot with a low blow, and emphatically delivered Christian's line
09:14 from the start of this feud right back at him.
09:17 Go f yourself.
09:18 One other note, when Christian said Kill Switch's name, he accidentally said Luchasaurus first.
09:24 That is some impeccable story within a story building.
09:27 And the main event saw the best gold match so far for me, with Swerve Strickland vs Jay
09:33 White.
09:34 Swerve has so much momentum right now, AEW are leaning into a badass tweener turn.
09:39 Quite the change from invading a man's house and cutting a promo on his baby just last
09:43 month.
09:44 Just like the Lethal Match, Strickland was booked as the face against White, smartly
09:48 without losing his heelish edge.
09:49 A heelish edge that arguably won him the match.
09:53 Because in a great piece of tournament storytelling, White went for the same low blow trick he
09:58 pulled to beat Roush last week, but Swerve had it scouted.
10:01 It takes a heel to know a heel.
10:03 They traded a few more Great Near Falls, got a This Is Awesome chant, and Swerve got the
10:08 technical pin on White just after the 15 minute call.
10:11 Putting Strickland tied at the top with Moxley on points.
10:14 And just as exciting as Swerve is a potentially darker path for White, who looked psychotically
10:19 dejected after he lost.
10:22 This was a terrific, focused episode of wrestling television.
10:26 This week's Dynamite is 85%.
10:39 like.
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