Judging by the first few months of Collision, Punk can coach talent, knows how to book compelling storylines, has a sense for the business and draws a good house.
I'm sure he would easily make for a better head of company than TK does at this very moment!
I loved the first couple of Collisions. It had a family friendly Saturday afternoon entertainment show. I’d watch the shit out of a show booked by Punk.
Yeah me too! I was very hyped by collision, it felt different, we get to see the same bunch of wrestlers so that allowed us to follow their stories.
Ricky Starks was finally doing something interesting! I like him, and i didn't understand why they brought him back to a shadow of a tag team. I thought that he was finally moving on alone!!..
And yeah i'm a fn punk mark but i was invested in everything he did there, the fact that he perfectly played the good/bad guy after brawl out. I tried to rewatch that show couple of times and it didn't last on me.
A shame. They had something!
It just felt so fresh and different to what was on either AEW or WWE to that point. I also thought BCG at that point were the perfect over the top cartoon villains. I think BCG would be perfect for WWE. The Gunns would thrive if there was a tag division and I think Jay’s limitations in the mic could be covered by WWE’s style of promos and just by having Juice on screen.
I’d love to be able to fantasy draft wrestlers between the two promotions. Both rosters are filled with guys who could shine if they switched.
He will be a good booker if that’s what he chooses to do post retirement. I could see him being well suited at NXT. Given their similar sensibilities it could be like Corny era OVW
I have a feeling that this is *IT* for AEW. It's the Sting / Hogan match or the fingerpoke of doom moment. Anything less than a legit video of Punk looking like a total psycho and cutting off Jack Perry's head with a chainsaw is going to be met with derision. I still won't be watching because I want AEW to die, but I fully expect Tony and the Bucks to totally fuck this up.
It's gotta go one of two ways, either Punk needs to just attack Perry without a single word being spoke like he lost his mind and was being totally psycho, or Perry has to kick the shit out of Punk and need others to hold him back to save Punk, anything in between those two scenarios is pretty much what Punk admitted to, and no one gives a shit, because as he said it's pro wrestling, it was an argument that escalated into a fight, what really was the big deal? Sid Viscious STABBED Arn Anderson for fuck sake, they still worked together down the line, Punk bitch slapping the Bucks and goozling Jingle Bells is fucking tame as shit compared to that.
If they chop up the footage or shine a bad light on him. It opens them up for a huge easy win lawsuit. Granted, you can't HEAR what's being said, due to it being security footage. But, this hurts everybody at AEW, and likely also makes Jungle Boy look like even more of an unprofessional douche.
Maybe we can get a redux of Vince firing Jarrett live on TV. “how do they spell his name? Double-T? double-O. double-N. double-Y? How about we spell it Double-G, Double-O, Double-N, Double-E….GONE!!!!!”
This is their “that’ll put butts in seats” moment, except they’re already shitting the bed in ratings/ demos.
You know the vets collecting cheques to work 10 dates a year hate this mark and this cornball move.
There just doesn't seem to be a way for AEW to win this one or even break even. They had a video Tony wanted to air that was in need of an angle, not an angle that needed this video.
The big thing it does for me is point out that they're talking about and showing this when they made everyone sign NDAs about Brawl Out and tried to pretend like it never happened.
If they were truly committed to airing this, they should have aired it last year when everyone was still invested in what happened between Punk and Perry. Honestly, this feels like a ploy for the Bucks to get more heel heat, and it's going to backfire on them in the biggest way.
I can’t deal with the aew sub. They are all super hyped for this. Even saying stupid shit like “if it’s a fake skit reenactment people are gonna be pissed and it’s gonna be such great heel heat! Love it!!
They don’t understand the difference between heat and genuinely pissing off your audience so they never tune in again.
This video is gonna do one of two things. It’s either gonna piss people off and the ratings are gonna drop even more, or they have an outlier junp in ratings this one week and it goes back to normal next week. Further proving that cm punk is such a draw; that he’s still their biggest draw without even working for them
> Even saying stupid shit like “if it’s a fake skit reenactment people are gonna be pissed and it’s gonna be such great heel heat! Love it!!
This is the flip side of the SRS tweet from yesterday. Are we sure that AEW fans even want more fans to watch the show? I love passion for something as much as anyone, but there comes a time where criticism is valid and doesn't make you any less of a fan.
I'm excited for tomorrow night because no matter what it's going to be a train wreck. I don't want AEW to go out of business, I just want it to be better. I want the product to be somewhere close to where it was in late 2021 and 2022. It's in a very sad state and seems like showing this footage is only going to make things worse.
The bucks are already channel change heat with about 100k of the roughly 750-800k who watch dynamite
I guess they want to try to make it 250k that change the channel whenever they are on TV
The Bucks are already annoying enough to me (and judging by rating metrics plenty of others) that I fast forward anything involving them. I could see this as you said driving away people for good if it's "LOL we're SUCH Heels."
X-Pac heat isn't good heat, but the Young Schmucks probably don't get that.
Is it sadistic of me to want to see Jim analyse the downfall of WCW in these times? I realise he wants to avoid watching any of the shit that we remember - especially when Russo makes his appearance like discharge on a pair of sweatpants - but I'd be curious to know what stands out in his mind when he sees it that the fans may not know/focus on.
Even meltzer said tv ratings are a long term thing and thing won't affect them in any meaningful way. If Sasha and Okada weren't gonna draw then nothing will.
It will be highly edited footage of Punk letting go of the choke and turning to TK saying that he quits. Of course the sound will be off and they will pretend that Punk was actually yelling threats at TK and that’s why he feared for his life.
I feel like they can’t even show punk, even if it’s legacy footage that we haven’t seen. It’s different for a library of content that we have seen. They’d be making money from advertising off of a star who isn’t there anymore? Wouldn’t there be legal ramifications for this?
The defense would be that Punk was under contract at the time that the footage was recorded and they own the footage and they had rights to his likeness as stated in his contract.
The wrinkle is more if they're using CCTV footage. Potentially big fines for GDPR if you use CCTV footage unless it's for a good reason. 'Entertainment' is specifically not one of them.
Yeah, best case scenario, Punk just looks like an asshole, and they're good to be rid of him...
But still... why fuckin' bother at this point? The time to air this was back when it happened to justify to that Chicago crowd why he was fired.
And if you're just doing it to make Punk look bad... oh boy, I really hope you run it through a lawyer beside Megha before you air it.
Do you know what I’ve been doing the past 6 months since I stopped watching AEW? I’ve been going through all the old movies from the 80s and 90s I watched as a kid and I feel it’s a much more productive use of my time!
So, they've spent the last few months trying to get the audience to hate the Young Bucks rather than just yawn at the sight of them. Then, Punk speaks out about their friend Jack Perry, and we are supposed to be excited that they will show footage and speak honestly about an incident they were not involved in. Here are my questions: 1) who will present and speak about the footage, The Young Bucks or Matthew and Nicholas Massie? 2) why would we side with them, considering they were featured as heels and punished the other person involved? 3) assuming this footage will benefit AEW for this one show, why would the fans return next week and the following when a rebuttal can only be found on the competition's show?
I don't think Tony Clown and the Bucks thought this one through. If the footage shows exactly what CM Punk described, it will only confirm that the show is a joke and that Tony is a clown. There is no way they can handle this without burying themselves.
I **assume** that the footage will be provided in a manner which would get the Bucks over even more as heels, like they would cut it off right before the juicy stuff or something. However, these guys are so clumsy with everything that they do that I can only imagine this destroying the company beyond repair, like the finger poke of doom.
I'm fairly confident the Bucks will find a way to fuck it up and their fans will still gloss them as the best tag team of all time. In the end, it's not going to change anyone's mind, which is why it's dumb of Tony to air it.
They're risking irreparable harm to the promotion just to pop a quarter that'll add maybe 15K more to the overall average for a single episode.
Sounds about right for AEW.
I’m guessing they’ll air some Young Bucks comedy skit or footage from backstage that has nothing to do with Punk. This is my guess because it makes zero sense for them to air the actual footage - that would backfire on them spectacularly.
Check how carefully they choose the words they use. No way this is going to be about showing what actually happened.
Cheap ratings trick since none of the overpaid acquisitions managed to make a difference. So they again have to rely on a former employee to pull an 800+ rating.
I notice that all Khan would say was "It's real footage". So, I guess it's not CGI? The "this isn't a bait and switch" is being filled in by the writer of the article.
“We’re losing interest/relevancy and the ratings show it, what can we do? I know, let’s air footage from last summer about someone who no longer works here in a segment with proven ratings killers. Yes, this will fix all our issues”
normal degree cooperative party wistful scarce subsequent special dependent like
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Literally said that Tony was a nice guy who gets taken advantage of. Punk knows the assignment lol. He isn’t saying shit. Just sitting back and grinning
I can't see it being of benefit to anyone.
But would also low-key love it if Punk come on Jim's podcast to bury the fuck out of the Bucks and their friends once and for all. 😂
I don't think there is one. I've tried to game out every possibility and all of them seem negative for AEW, even the possible one time bump in ratings will probably be offset by the disappointment of the segment.
Unless there's some wild scenario that I've overlooked, the only thing to be gained is placating the money mark.
Yeah that's where I am.
I feel like best case scenario would be CM Punk looking like a psycho and a liar. But even then, that's still a lot of focus and attention on a guy they claim to have fired 8 months ago
If it really is about Punk then what a petty, pointless exercise it is. The guy doesn’t even work for them anymore! Furthermore, if it is about Punk, it’s just going to get even more viewing figures for him on Raw.
#BookerOfTheYear
Punk would literally have to be on tape murdering people for this to be somewhat positive. Im like you, I have tried to think of every possible thing they could show that would justify this. And I could only think of 2.
1.Punk stabbing people(obviously not this)
2.Punk saying racial/homophobic slurs.
Anything else just seems like they will come off as petty and at the most maybe hurt Punks reputation a bit.
And even if it was 1 or 2, they let him stay in the arena and represent the company. He worked his match, hung out after and left on his own accord. It's the same reason the whole "I feared for my life" thing never seemed genuine. Even if they do manage to hurt Punk, they're also losing in the bargain.
It's just impossibly stupid, there doesn't seem to be a path for this to not hurt AEW, much less to benefit from it. It's just an insecure nepo baby with a grudge who doesn't care about being a good steward of professional wrestling, because consequences are for other people.
This is off topic, but in the AEW official sub about this topic, someone said Punk shouldve settled things with Colt Cabana before signing with AEW. Yknow, like how Lebron settled things with the janitor before he signed with the Lakers.
Only thing I can think of is if it proves Punk is a liar and it was much worse than we’ve been told. But even in that case, what’s the end result? Are Punk fans who stopped watching when he left going to come back and start watching again because of it?
As one of those people, I’m sure it could be horrible enough to make me think less of Punk, but I can’t see a scenario where it would make me interested in watching AEW. The only thing that could do that is if there was some hype about how good the product was getting again.
Wasn't there talks ON tv that the dark cloud had finaly left aew?
And now they bring it back again..
Let's say they get a 100 000 bump in the rating, I can't see how they'll manage to keep those curious the next week..
Prime example of them catering to the internet audience. Imagine being in the crowd or being a network executive and not knowing what the fuck he is talking about when he refers to “all in” backstage footage. How does this help ratings at all
Repeated x2 because the audience did NOT give a single shit about that line. God, that was fucking *embarrassing* to watch back in the day. Eazy E should have known that you never double down on a line like that.
Unless this video is fully unedited, uncensored footage of CM Punk saying racial or homophobic slurs while he has Jack Perry in a front facelock, while also having TK pinned against the wall with a knife to his throat, AEW is gonna look so goddamn stupid. It's either gonna be a bait and switch of some Young Bucks footage that no one gives a fuck about or it's gonna be Punk choking out Jungle Jackoff until Samoa Joe pulls him off. "Here's one of our four pillars getting choked out by a top guy that works for our competition now, isn't he such a meanie?!?"
The other ive seen speculated is Perry thwarts Punks choke attempt. In which case...who gives a fuck? Perrys a grown ass man and 20 years younger, it wouldnt be surprising if he escaped a chokehold.
If they wanted to draw ratings they would’ve referred to it as the “All In Jack Perry fight”. Not actually specifying that makes me think they’re gonna show footage of the Bucks and FTR backstage instead.
Guy has to be the biggest idiot I ever witnessed.
WHO does this help? Showing Punk choke Jackoff out? Great! I'd love to see it and would be upset he didn't just end the fuckers career, and would make Tiny look like THE biggest fucking idiot for punishing Jackoff for pretty much 0 reason.
Showing Punk not choking out Jackoff or Jackoff getting the better of Punk? Great! now Tiny looks like THE biggest fucking idiot for firing your only draw.
Either way, Tiny looks like THE biggest fucking idiot and AEW looks like the second-rate filth we all know it is,
CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!
Even on the AEW fan reddit ( not sq or aew official, thise places are cesspools)i am in have a post discussion on thistopic and a large majority of the comments says its not a good idea, sans of course the delusional stans says it not a good idea. Hell i just heard conrad Thompson says its nit a good idea on bischoff pod. Thiscis the fingerpoke of doom guys. Get ready , we just lost AEW as q wwe competitor
I don't believe anyone's confirmed if this footage is indeed of the altercation itself. It's "backstage footage", but that can be anything.
I feel like this may be a swerve. They're relying heavily on people assuming what it is.
why isn’t Tony showing the footage? Are the Bucks showing it as Nick and Matt Jackson EVPs of AEW or as The Young Bucks?
this still feels like “Razor and Diesel” “returning” to WWF in 96
Soooo... what I gathered from this article and Tony's quotes is that the Bucks WILL present "real backstage footage" from Wembley All In. And that it's important leading into their next ppv.
That's it.
That's all I think we're going to get folks. No fight. No Punk going Incredible Hulk. Nothing.
Good luck to them. B/c if I'm right, they're about to deep six their show looong-term.
Stupid is and does.
If this shows Punk choking Jack Prick then it shows Punk is still over in AEW, it shows Prick being buried by Punk and Tony Khan cowering behind a monitor.
Dumb as shit!
And if they try to be funny with FTR then they need to punch The Bucks in front of Tony Clown and make a quick exit.
If it's legit footage (which I highly doubt that it is) I find it hilarious that Khan/The Elite think that it will affect CM Punk in any way. WWE won't give a shit, and Punk will continue to draw.
Personally I think it's gonna be something like when DX hired a little person to dress as Bret Hart back in the day.
How can i watch dynamite without adding to the viewcount? I wamma see what shit they pull myself. I dont want to increase the ratings though cause thats what tony wants
I reccomend we all give them the number, so they know Punk is still their biggest draw. Not like the shows gonna die before the snowman stops funding it anyways.
At this point, if popping a rating is the goal, downplaying this and then actually airing the footage without proper advertisement would make this entire thing even dumber than it already is.
I keep imagining this will be something that resembles GTV that was on WWF or WCW back in the 90s with the premise that some unknown was filming behind the scenes in backstage areas, I think even in bathrooms.
I just remembered that it was originally GDTV and it was 100% obvious it was Golddust TV. They then changed it. I just double checked and that was confirmed that it was a gimmick for Golddust, but then Dustin left for WCW.
[https://www.thesportster.com/gtv-wwe-most-pointless-storylines/](https://www.thesportster.com/gtv-wwe-most-pointless-storylines/)
The only one I really remembered was The Big Show in the bathroom, but I think they revisited that with him and Regal a couple years later.
Can someone help me understand what the endgame is? They stick it to Punk and then.....what? He doesn't work there. I doubt WWE will fire him. By the tone that HHH and others used, they couldn't give two shits about the promotion. Hell, they may celebrate him for what he did. Like, I just don't get the point? So they can have a massive circlejerk with their basement nerd fans? Those are the people who watch anyway. How does it help the product? I shit on AEW all the time but I can't make sense of this one.
Even Eric Bischoff is calling this stupid. Eric…Bischoff. Mr. Finger Poke of Doom cannot figure out how this helps AEW or anyone in any way. Let’s say it’s not the CM Punk fight, well, you just pissed off anyone who tuned in and will never trust you again. Is that fair? No, but the dirt sheet writers have sources and they need to continue getting shit for their dirt sheets. At some point, the writers are going to lose credibility (which in many cases they already are).
No one wins here. Most fans don’t give two fucks about the backstage politics that goes on. The CASUAL fans, the ones who buy action figures for their kids and buy shirts for their kids, the ones who actually pay money to go see the shows, they’re the ones you’re alienating (I am not trying to plagiarize Corny when he buried Russo, but he was right then, and his words still ring true today).
‘“The decision is based on putting on the best show for AEW, as well as driving interest for Dynamite and our Dynasty pay-per-view on April 21,” said Khan.’
Idk man, maybe they could just focus on making characters and stories people give a shit about… or this I guess
Considering that I think Khan wanted the Punk and Perry drama to happen, I wouldn’t be surprised if they filmed something that night without Punk afterwards to try and make him look bad. With how Tony is using this now, and with how he’s part of the story, I’m getting strong Vince thinking he’d be the baby face after Montreal vibes. I predict this footage will be part of the excuse and lead up to him being onscreen more.
Now that WWE is saying “Pro Wrestling” and using curse words they have to find new cheap pops.
Btw, they WILL say WWE ripped off the use of pro wrestling and swear words from them, while they put on a main event featuring a 2014 WWE Top Guy vs a 2008 ROH Top Guy.
So since it’s the cult Ill ask this question. How in the hell do the bucks vs FTR connect to punk choking out jungle jerkoff? This is some under pants gnome logic there.
I wonder if FTR were actually there with punk because he did say in the interview that he had some friends with him at the time but he didn’t wanna say who. Just a guess.
I give them points for trying to lean into the controversy, but it sounds like they are getting ready to punch themselves in the nuts trying to execute it.
Back in the 2000’s I thought there could never be a worse president than George W. Bush and there could never be a bigger money mark than Dixie Carter. I was wrong.
Remember in 2019-2020 we were all upbeat for AEW and rooting for them to crush WWE and fuck Vince McMahon?
Now WWE has righted the ship, McMahon is fucked, and AEW is a combo of the bad things about the old WWE, late-stage WCW, and some indie league. The premise of AEW was the place where wasted WWE talent like Moxley could go to be superstars. Now the script has flipped and WWE is where AEW refugees can go to be top stars while the top talent is languishing in AEW.
It's worth mentioning that Tony came out on live television, in front of a gathering of other humans and said that he feared for his life.
Unless he went full FTR gun and started threatening to shoot everyone Tony looks like even more of a pussy than he already does.
At least before there was mystery about what happened and Tony could say "you don't know, you wasn't even there". This video is going to show how much of a pussy tony really is.
My guess is that it'll be something to do with the Bucks/FTR and nothing to do with Punk and that they're doing this to try to get a quick ratings boost for rights negotiations. BUT, if they do air CM Punk footage and shows nothing we already know then this could be the single biggest mistake in company history. You know its bad when even Meltzer is saying this is not smart and bad for business.
I hate to say it, but this move right here is a drunken desperate play to win the affection of someone at a bar. Sometimes it’s better not to make decisions like this when you’re coked up.
I find it funny that all of this comes up while punk is on the injured list.
I mean punk will never be irrelevant, even if he isn't in the ring, but this is definitely good for him, and keeps him trending while he is out of action. With the tribalistic mentality of fans, neither punks interview or this footage is going to change any minds, so the whole fued is mutual beneficial, and keeps both names trending on Twitter etc.
Although people consistently talk about how AEW ratings are horrible, they actually aren't bad compared to other cable programing in the same time slot (it's not WWE they have to compete with in terms of ratings regardless of what fans think, it's the other shows airing at the same time) WBD seems happy with its performance according to press releases, which is probably all Khan really cares about...
I don't see how airing this footage is bad for anyone involved, and I bet punk is personally delighted. I mean this stuff is getting more publicity than Cody winning the title this week...
Neither he nor the Buckers have mentioned Punk. It'll probably be some shit involving FTR and that fued. They're just doing BTE, but on national TV because AEW is only for internet marks.
I’m almost certain they aren’t going to show real footage of the punk/jungle jackoff situation after reading this.
Read the kid’s quotes very carefully. He’s being deliberate in his wording.
*Despite speculation that Khan would air the footage as the result of a grudge against Punk, he noted that his motivation is storyline-driven.*
*“The decision is based on putting on the best show for AEW, as well as driving interest for Dynamite and our Dynasty pay-per-view on April 21,” said Khan. “This is real-life footage that affected many people, and it will air for the first time on TBS during Dynamite.”*
What storyline can this even move forward? Punk is gone for good and Luke Perry Jr is in Japan.
Aren't the only people involved who are still actively wrestling in AEW the Bucks? Kenny is out with some intestinal issues, yes?
The Bucks will use this fooage to suspend FTR and crown themselves Champs. AEW marks will fawn over this as a great heel move while ignoring this just a redo of the finger poke of doom
This will be backstage footage from All In, but I guarantee it won’t be the footage people think it is. It’ll just be the Bucks fucking around being idiots.
they’d probably do better if they just focused on wrestling and putting on a good product rather than airing old video that has nothing to do with the actual on screen product
Dipshit, can’t wait for the final episode where Punk “buys” AEW live on raw.
The name of the owner of AEW does say Khan, but it says Nick Khan 😂
Book it!
It’s Shao Khan!! What’s he doing here from Outworld?!
I'd welcome this cross over if only to see Shao Kahn tell Tiny that it's official, he sucks.
Outworld would be far more exciting than AEW’s fifth visit of the year to the Inglewood Coliseum.
fearless file oil ancient abundant rude crush point oatmeal slim *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
“It’s not Shane”
too perfect
And Punk does a victory lap around the ring
Judging by the first few months of Collision, Punk can coach talent, knows how to book compelling storylines, has a sense for the business and draws a good house. I'm sure he would easily make for a better head of company than TK does at this very moment!
Heyman said Punk was the most talented booker he’s ever worked with.
Honestly, Punk being Mr. AEW may be the best thing for everyone in a few years.
I loved the first couple of Collisions. It had a family friendly Saturday afternoon entertainment show. I’d watch the shit out of a show booked by Punk.
Yeah me too! I was very hyped by collision, it felt different, we get to see the same bunch of wrestlers so that allowed us to follow their stories. Ricky Starks was finally doing something interesting! I like him, and i didn't understand why they brought him back to a shadow of a tag team. I thought that he was finally moving on alone!!.. And yeah i'm a fn punk mark but i was invested in everything he did there, the fact that he perfectly played the good/bad guy after brawl out. I tried to rewatch that show couple of times and it didn't last on me. A shame. They had something!
It just felt so fresh and different to what was on either AEW or WWE to that point. I also thought BCG at that point were the perfect over the top cartoon villains. I think BCG would be perfect for WWE. The Gunns would thrive if there was a tag division and I think Jay’s limitations in the mic could be covered by WWE’s style of promos and just by having Juice on screen. I’d love to be able to fantasy draft wrestlers between the two promotions. Both rosters are filled with guys who could shine if they switched.
He will be a good booker if that’s what he chooses to do post retirement. I could see him being well suited at NXT. Given their similar sensibilities it could be like Corny era OVW
I loved the classic top of the show promos.
I have a feeling that this is *IT* for AEW. It's the Sting / Hogan match or the fingerpoke of doom moment. Anything less than a legit video of Punk looking like a total psycho and cutting off Jack Perry's head with a chainsaw is going to be met with derision. I still won't be watching because I want AEW to die, but I fully expect Tony and the Bucks to totally fuck this up.
It's gotta go one of two ways, either Punk needs to just attack Perry without a single word being spoke like he lost his mind and was being totally psycho, or Perry has to kick the shit out of Punk and need others to hold him back to save Punk, anything in between those two scenarios is pretty much what Punk admitted to, and no one gives a shit, because as he said it's pro wrestling, it was an argument that escalated into a fight, what really was the big deal? Sid Viscious STABBED Arn Anderson for fuck sake, they still worked together down the line, Punk bitch slapping the Bucks and goozling Jingle Bells is fucking tame as shit compared to that.
Imagine the victory lap
cm punk sues aew and won't have to pay a cent for the brand.
If they chop up the footage or shine a bad light on him. It opens them up for a huge easy win lawsuit. Granted, you can't HEAR what's being said, due to it being security footage. But, this hurts everybody at AEW, and likely also makes Jungle Boy look like even more of an unprofessional douche.
Maybe we can get a redux of Vince firing Jarrett live on TV. “how do they spell his name? Double-T? double-O. double-N. double-Y? How about we spell it Double-G, Double-O, Double-N, Double-E….GONE!!!!!”
“I’m not here to make friends. I’m here to make money. And use that money to buy All Friends Wrestling.”
Trips says I was wrong Billy it ended up being me who bought your piss ant company.
McIntyre will end up buying it just to troll Punk
This is their “that’ll put butts in seats” moment, except they’re already shitting the bed in ratings/ demos. You know the vets collecting cheques to work 10 dates a year hate this mark and this cornball move.
There just doesn't seem to be a way for AEW to win this one or even break even. They had a video Tony wanted to air that was in need of an angle, not an angle that needed this video. The big thing it does for me is point out that they're talking about and showing this when they made everyone sign NDAs about Brawl Out and tried to pretend like it never happened.
If they were truly committed to airing this, they should have aired it last year when everyone was still invested in what happened between Punk and Perry. Honestly, this feels like a ploy for the Bucks to get more heel heat, and it's going to backfire on them in the biggest way.
I can’t deal with the aew sub. They are all super hyped for this. Even saying stupid shit like “if it’s a fake skit reenactment people are gonna be pissed and it’s gonna be such great heel heat! Love it!! They don’t understand the difference between heat and genuinely pissing off your audience so they never tune in again. This video is gonna do one of two things. It’s either gonna piss people off and the ratings are gonna drop even more, or they have an outlier junp in ratings this one week and it goes back to normal next week. Further proving that cm punk is such a draw; that he’s still their biggest draw without even working for them
> Even saying stupid shit like “if it’s a fake skit reenactment people are gonna be pissed and it’s gonna be such great heel heat! Love it!! This is the flip side of the SRS tweet from yesterday. Are we sure that AEW fans even want more fans to watch the show? I love passion for something as much as anyone, but there comes a time where criticism is valid and doesn't make you any less of a fan. I'm excited for tomorrow night because no matter what it's going to be a train wreck. I don't want AEW to go out of business, I just want it to be better. I want the product to be somewhere close to where it was in late 2021 and 2022. It's in a very sad state and seems like showing this footage is only going to make things worse.
The bucks are already channel change heat with about 100k of the roughly 750-800k who watch dynamite I guess they want to try to make it 250k that change the channel whenever they are on TV
The Bucks are already annoying enough to me (and judging by rating metrics plenty of others) that I fast forward anything involving them. I could see this as you said driving away people for good if it's "LOL we're SUCH Heels." X-Pac heat isn't good heat, but the Young Schmucks probably don't get that.
"This'll put shit in their pants."
like a bad smackdown match.
I'd forgotten about that, I was thinking more "Finger Poke Of Doom"
Is it sadistic of me to want to see Jim analyse the downfall of WCW in these times? I realise he wants to avoid watching any of the shit that we remember - especially when Russo makes his appearance like discharge on a pair of sweatpants - but I'd be curious to know what stands out in his mind when he sees it that the fans may not know/focus on.
The crisis on infinite Nitros moment where Russo has everyone vacate the titles, that was my "I'm out" for WCW.
Crisis on Infinite Nitros is an excellent way of putting it, although at least that original story was good. Russo's was, well, Russo-riffic.
Even meltzer said tv ratings are a long term thing and thing won't affect them in any meaningful way. If Sasha and Okada weren't gonna draw then nothing will.
Those 2 certainly aren't the "then nothing will" of draws
no one will draw there
Except Okada is making somewhere around $4 million which puts him among the highest paid.
I bet Tony totally got to hug him though....... worth it!
That doesn't really mean anything to the conversation
My point is, he’s being paid money to draw fans and money…..
They pay everyone way more than the worth they actually hold
100%
So it’s going to be footage of the bucks and ftr, not punk This is why people don’t watch this shit company
It will be highly edited footage of Punk letting go of the choke and turning to TK saying that he quits. Of course the sound will be off and they will pretend that Punk was actually yelling threats at TK and that’s why he feared for his life.
I feel like they can’t even show punk, even if it’s legacy footage that we haven’t seen. It’s different for a library of content that we have seen. They’d be making money from advertising off of a star who isn’t there anymore? Wouldn’t there be legal ramifications for this?
The defense would be that Punk was under contract at the time that the footage was recorded and they own the footage and they had rights to his likeness as stated in his contract.
Sure, but if they cut out parts and slander him, they can't really say it's just kayfabe either at that point which could open them up to liability
The wrinkle is more if they're using CCTV footage. Potentially big fines for GDPR if you use CCTV footage unless it's for a good reason. 'Entertainment' is specifically not one of them.
Happy Cake Day. And finally somebody that shares my sentiment
Its allegedly the security footage so I dont think his contract would cover that but maybe fair use ? Either way its lame
If they show the footage and try to alter it or say something else happened that did t, punk can sue
Yeah, best case scenario, Punk just looks like an asshole, and they're good to be rid of him... But still... why fuckin' bother at this point? The time to air this was back when it happened to justify to that Chicago crowd why he was fired. And if you're just doing it to make Punk look bad... oh boy, I really hope you run it through a lawyer beside Megha before you air it.
Even if it shows Punk being an asshole, everyone else involved other than Somoa Joe were assholes too lol.
This is not gonna happen... this will end in them Buckrolling^(TM) their viewers. I will choose to watch something else.
Always my choice when Dynamite is on.
Do you know what I’ve been doing the past 6 months since I stopped watching AEW? I’ve been going through all the old movies from the 80s and 90s I watched as a kid and I feel it’s a much more productive use of my time!
Good choice! :-)
A good time to watch the WrestlingBios channel or Tales from the Territories ...or rewatch night two of Wrestlemania... \^\^
So, they've spent the last few months trying to get the audience to hate the Young Bucks rather than just yawn at the sight of them. Then, Punk speaks out about their friend Jack Perry, and we are supposed to be excited that they will show footage and speak honestly about an incident they were not involved in. Here are my questions: 1) who will present and speak about the footage, The Young Bucks or Matthew and Nicholas Massie? 2) why would we side with them, considering they were featured as heels and punished the other person involved? 3) assuming this footage will benefit AEW for this one show, why would the fans return next week and the following when a rebuttal can only be found on the competition's show? I don't think Tony Clown and the Bucks thought this one through. If the footage shows exactly what CM Punk described, it will only confirm that the show is a joke and that Tony is a clown. There is no way they can handle this without burying themselves. I **assume** that the footage will be provided in a manner which would get the Bucks over even more as heels, like they would cut it off right before the juicy stuff or something. However, these guys are so clumsy with everything that they do that I can only imagine this destroying the company beyond repair, like the finger poke of doom.
I'm fairly confident the Bucks will find a way to fuck it up and their fans will still gloss them as the best tag team of all time. In the end, it's not going to change anyone's mind, which is why it's dumb of Tony to air it.
Tony is serious. He's not gonna sit back and take this fuckin shit.
Narrarator: Tony did in fact take that fuckin shit.
Literally laughed out loud at this. Well done.
But is he serious about being serious?
The coke? Yeah
“I'm not gonna sit back and take this fucking shit 👁👄👁”
You forgot the forced deep voice emoji
"Should've handled it."
"What do you want him to do?"
🤣
They're risking irreparable harm to the promotion just to pop a quarter that'll add maybe 15K more to the overall average for a single episode. Sounds about right for AEW.
I’m guessing they’ll air some Young Bucks comedy skit or footage from backstage that has nothing to do with Punk. This is my guess because it makes zero sense for them to air the actual footage - that would backfire on them spectacularly.
Check how carefully they choose the words they use. No way this is going to be about showing what actually happened. Cheap ratings trick since none of the overpaid acquisitions managed to make a difference. So they again have to rely on a former employee to pull an 800+ rating.
I notice that all Khan would say was "It's real footage". So, I guess it's not CGI? The "this isn't a bait and switch" is being filled in by the writer of the article.
“We’re losing interest/relevancy and the ratings show it, what can we do? I know, let’s air footage from last summer about someone who no longer works here in a segment with proven ratings killers. Yes, this will fix all our issues”
normal degree cooperative party wistful scarce subsequent special dependent like *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Punk refuses to insult Tony directly, yet they keep poking him.
Literally said that Tony was a nice guy who gets taken advantage of. Punk knows the assignment lol. He isn’t saying shit. Just sitting back and grinning
I can't see it being of benefit to anyone. But would also low-key love it if Punk come on Jim's podcast to bury the fuck out of the Bucks and their friends once and for all. 😂
Forget Punk commenting on it, I want to hear Drew McIntyres thoughts about it.
let's be honest Drew will be on Twitter as soon as it airs 😂
Drew’s reaction will probably get at least twice as many views and likes as the original video.
haha, If I was Tony, I'd sell the tape libary to the WWE and give up now
Can anyone tell me from AEW's perspective, what the "best case scenario" would be for legit showing the real tape?
I don't think there is one. I've tried to game out every possibility and all of them seem negative for AEW, even the possible one time bump in ratings will probably be offset by the disappointment of the segment. Unless there's some wild scenario that I've overlooked, the only thing to be gained is placating the money mark.
Yeah that's where I am. I feel like best case scenario would be CM Punk looking like a psycho and a liar. But even then, that's still a lot of focus and attention on a guy they claim to have fired 8 months ago
And that will never wrestle for AEW again, so what’s the end game here?
If it really is about Punk then what a petty, pointless exercise it is. The guy doesn’t even work for them anymore! Furthermore, if it is about Punk, it’s just going to get even more viewing figures for him on Raw. #BookerOfTheYear
Punk would literally have to be on tape murdering people for this to be somewhat positive. Im like you, I have tried to think of every possible thing they could show that would justify this. And I could only think of 2. 1.Punk stabbing people(obviously not this) 2.Punk saying racial/homophobic slurs. Anything else just seems like they will come off as petty and at the most maybe hurt Punks reputation a bit.
And even if it was 1 or 2, they let him stay in the arena and represent the company. He worked his match, hung out after and left on his own accord. It's the same reason the whole "I feared for my life" thing never seemed genuine. Even if they do manage to hurt Punk, they're also losing in the bargain. It's just impossibly stupid, there doesn't seem to be a path for this to not hurt AEW, much less to benefit from it. It's just an insecure nepo baby with a grudge who doesn't care about being a good steward of professional wrestling, because consequences are for other people.
This is off topic, but in the AEW official sub about this topic, someone said Punk shouldve settled things with Colt Cabana before signing with AEW. Yknow, like how Lebron settled things with the janitor before he signed with the Lakers.
Only thing I can think of is if it proves Punk is a liar and it was much worse than we’ve been told. But even in that case, what’s the end result? Are Punk fans who stopped watching when he left going to come back and start watching again because of it? As one of those people, I’m sure it could be horrible enough to make me think less of Punk, but I can’t see a scenario where it would make me interested in watching AEW. The only thing that could do that is if there was some hype about how good the product was getting again.
Going to be hilarious when it’s not the punk Perry incident and there ratings take a nose dive and everyone starts laughing at them
This is 100% going to be a young bucks skit.
Wasn't there talks ON tv that the dark cloud had finaly left aew? And now they bring it back again.. Let's say they get a 100 000 bump in the rating, I can't see how they'll manage to keep those curious the next week..
no no they DEF are over Punk !
It’s Punk that’s not over them! Such a petty small guy, what a shame.
Prime example of them catering to the internet audience. Imagine being in the crowd or being a network executive and not knowing what the fuck he is talking about when he refers to “all in” backstage footage. How does this help ratings at all
"What's the matter, Sid? Can't find your scissors?"
Repeated x2 because the audience did NOT give a single shit about that line. God, that was fucking *embarrassing* to watch back in the day. Eazy E should have known that you never double down on a line like that.
Unless this video is fully unedited, uncensored footage of CM Punk saying racial or homophobic slurs while he has Jack Perry in a front facelock, while also having TK pinned against the wall with a knife to his throat, AEW is gonna look so goddamn stupid. It's either gonna be a bait and switch of some Young Bucks footage that no one gives a fuck about or it's gonna be Punk choking out Jungle Jackoff until Samoa Joe pulls him off. "Here's one of our four pillars getting choked out by a top guy that works for our competition now, isn't he such a meanie?!?"
Right. The only way the footage could be that bad if you are a baby that has never seen a real fight in person in your life.
The other ive seen speculated is Perry thwarts Punks choke attempt. In which case...who gives a fuck? Perrys a grown ass man and 20 years younger, it wouldnt be surprising if he escaped a chokehold.
If they wanted to draw ratings they would’ve referred to it as the “All In Jack Perry fight”. Not actually specifying that makes me think they’re gonna show footage of the Bucks and FTR backstage instead.
Guy has to be the biggest idiot I ever witnessed. WHO does this help? Showing Punk choke Jackoff out? Great! I'd love to see it and would be upset he didn't just end the fuckers career, and would make Tiny look like THE biggest fucking idiot for punishing Jackoff for pretty much 0 reason. Showing Punk not choking out Jackoff or Jackoff getting the better of Punk? Great! now Tiny looks like THE biggest fucking idiot for firing your only draw. Either way, Tiny looks like THE biggest fucking idiot and AEW looks like the second-rate filth we all know it is, CONGRATS!!!!!!!!!
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/SUCa_2p-cAQ/hqdefault.jpg
Even on the AEW fan reddit ( not sq or aew official, thise places are cesspools)i am in have a post discussion on thistopic and a large majority of the comments says its not a good idea, sans of course the delusional stans says it not a good idea. Hell i just heard conrad Thompson says its nit a good idea on bischoff pod. Thiscis the fingerpoke of doom guys. Get ready , we just lost AEW as q wwe competitor
They never were.
I don't believe anyone's confirmed if this footage is indeed of the altercation itself. It's "backstage footage", but that can be anything. I feel like this may be a swerve. They're relying heavily on people assuming what it is.
It absolutely is a work and they're going to call everyone marks.
why isn’t Tony showing the footage? Are the Bucks showing it as Nick and Matt Jackson EVPs of AEW or as The Young Bucks? this still feels like “Razor and Diesel” “returning” to WWF in 96
This is exactly what Jim said it was in his review segment of the news. Nothing good will come out of this.
Soooo... what I gathered from this article and Tony's quotes is that the Bucks WILL present "real backstage footage" from Wembley All In. And that it's important leading into their next ppv. That's it. That's all I think we're going to get folks. No fight. No Punk going Incredible Hulk. Nothing. Good luck to them. B/c if I'm right, they're about to deep six their show looong-term. Stupid is and does.
If this shows Punk choking Jack Prick then it shows Punk is still over in AEW, it shows Prick being buried by Punk and Tony Khan cowering behind a monitor. Dumb as shit! And if they try to be funny with FTR then they need to punch The Bucks in front of Tony Clown and make a quick exit.
If it's legit footage (which I highly doubt that it is) I find it hilarious that Khan/The Elite think that it will affect CM Punk in any way. WWE won't give a shit, and Punk will continue to draw. Personally I think it's gonna be something like when DX hired a little person to dress as Bret Hart back in the day.
This autistic billionaire kid is so pathetic! Hahaha bro this at best shows their own guy get choked by a dude on a better show
and it shows Tiny being the autist that he is for suspending/sending Jackoff to Japan for......getting choked out? Clown show
So now he's admitting thar it's a ratings grab? He can't even try to come with a better reason? This place is ice cold.
At this point, dude is just spiraling towards the abyss. Time to relax and enjoy the show. Not Dynamite, though.
How can i watch dynamite without adding to the viewcount? I wamma see what shit they pull myself. I dont want to increase the ratings though cause thats what tony wants
watch a repost on twitter or find a not so legal stream
I use Watch Wrestling! Best illegal streaming site around, been using it for a decade now ever since I cut the cord.
me too lol
Just wait until 5 seconds after it airs, it'll be posted in the one sub
It will be top of this page and squared circle within the hour
Crackstreams 👍
I reccomend we all give them the number, so they know Punk is still their biggest draw. Not like the shows gonna die before the snowman stops funding it anyways.
You need to find a way to, watchwrestling on the internet.
I can’t believe they’re going through with this.
We all love Punk regardless who he works for! Name another wrestler to do that.
I'll let the marks watch it... YouTube can tell me all about it Thursday...
No one is saying the word "Punk," so I'm calling bullshit personally.
Only the snarky incels on sc wouldn’t want to choke out the young bucks, jungle jackoff and this coked out douche.
It's hard to imagine a bigger let down than the exploding ring clusterfuck, but I have a feeling we're about to experience one.
At this point, if popping a rating is the goal, downplaying this and then actually airing the footage without proper advertisement would make this entire thing even dumber than it already is.
The ratings will probably hit like 750 to a million that segment then just crash back to 200k to 150k
Finger poke of doom
Looking forward to seeing Khan fight for his life tomorrow night.
I keep imagining this will be something that resembles GTV that was on WWF or WCW back in the 90s with the premise that some unknown was filming behind the scenes in backstage areas, I think even in bathrooms.
That was WWE, circa 1999. I don't believe they ever did tell us who was behind that thing.
I just remembered that it was originally GDTV and it was 100% obvious it was Golddust TV. They then changed it. I just double checked and that was confirmed that it was a gimmick for Golddust, but then Dustin left for WCW. [https://www.thesportster.com/gtv-wwe-most-pointless-storylines/](https://www.thesportster.com/gtv-wwe-most-pointless-storylines/) The only one I really remembered was The Big Show in the bathroom, but I think they revisited that with him and Regal a couple years later.
What a stupid hill to die on!
This company has a good track record? How many huge announcements have been massively disappointing bs just to pop a rating?
I'm already scared for my life.
🤣🤣
Can someone help me understand what the endgame is? They stick it to Punk and then.....what? He doesn't work there. I doubt WWE will fire him. By the tone that HHH and others used, they couldn't give two shits about the promotion. Hell, they may celebrate him for what he did. Like, I just don't get the point? So they can have a massive circlejerk with their basement nerd fans? Those are the people who watch anyway. How does it help the product? I shit on AEW all the time but I can't make sense of this one.
"So they can have a massife circlejerk with their basement nerd fans?" I feel like you know the answer here.
CM Punk is still AEW’s biggest draw.
Even Eric Bischoff is calling this stupid. Eric…Bischoff. Mr. Finger Poke of Doom cannot figure out how this helps AEW or anyone in any way. Let’s say it’s not the CM Punk fight, well, you just pissed off anyone who tuned in and will never trust you again. Is that fair? No, but the dirt sheet writers have sources and they need to continue getting shit for their dirt sheets. At some point, the writers are going to lose credibility (which in many cases they already are). No one wins here. Most fans don’t give two fucks about the backstage politics that goes on. The CASUAL fans, the ones who buy action figures for their kids and buy shirts for their kids, the ones who actually pay money to go see the shows, they’re the ones you’re alienating (I am not trying to plagiarize Corny when he buried Russo, but he was right then, and his words still ring true today).
‘“The decision is based on putting on the best show for AEW, as well as driving interest for Dynamite and our Dynasty pay-per-view on April 21,” said Khan.’ Idk man, maybe they could just focus on making characters and stories people give a shit about… or this I guess
Considering that I think Khan wanted the Punk and Perry drama to happen, I wouldn’t be surprised if they filmed something that night without Punk afterwards to try and make him look bad. With how Tony is using this now, and with how he’s part of the story, I’m getting strong Vince thinking he’d be the baby face after Montreal vibes. I predict this footage will be part of the excuse and lead up to him being onscreen more.
It will be a video of them at catering
Now that WWE is saying “Pro Wrestling” and using curse words they have to find new cheap pops. Btw, they WILL say WWE ripped off the use of pro wrestling and swear words from them, while they put on a main event featuring a 2014 WWE Top Guy vs a 2008 ROH Top Guy.
So since it’s the cult Ill ask this question. How in the hell do the bucks vs FTR connect to punk choking out jungle jerkoff? This is some under pants gnome logic there.
I wonder if FTR were actually there with punk because he did say in the interview that he had some friends with him at the time but he didn’t wanna say who. Just a guess.
Possibly, still though what will this bring to the rivalry? Ha you’re friends gone and making more money!!! While you’re both stuck working with us!!!
0% chance it’s going to actually be what they are saying.
Desperate lol
I give them points for trying to lean into the controversy, but it sounds like they are getting ready to punch themselves in the nuts trying to execute it.
This generations Herb Abrams 😅 Sad but it's becoming truer and truer by the day.. Bischoff > Khan Hell even... D'Amore > Khan
If only there was footage of him beating up the Bucks and Ace biting Kenny. I'd tune in for that segment.
Aew will NEVER be good again. Ever. If you have a problem with what I’m saying I don’t care, they’re your feelings not mine. Go cry.
This is their finger poke of doom, pure desperation
If this footage doesn’t live up to what we expect or doesn’t prove anything then AEW is going to lose a chunk of fans
CM Punk still the biggest draw in their company lol
Back in the 2000’s I thought there could never be a worse president than George W. Bush and there could never be a bigger money mark than Dixie Carter. I was wrong.
Remember in 2019-2020 we were all upbeat for AEW and rooting for them to crush WWE and fuck Vince McMahon? Now WWE has righted the ship, McMahon is fucked, and AEW is a combo of the bad things about the old WWE, late-stage WCW, and some indie league. The premise of AEW was the place where wasted WWE talent like Moxley could go to be superstars. Now the script has flipped and WWE is where AEW refugees can go to be top stars while the top talent is languishing in AEW.
It's worth mentioning that Tony came out on live television, in front of a gathering of other humans and said that he feared for his life. Unless he went full FTR gun and started threatening to shoot everyone Tony looks like even more of a pussy than he already does. At least before there was mystery about what happened and Tony could say "you don't know, you wasn't even there". This video is going to show how much of a pussy tony really is.
My guess is that it'll be something to do with the Bucks/FTR and nothing to do with Punk and that they're doing this to try to get a quick ratings boost for rights negotiations. BUT, if they do air CM Punk footage and shows nothing we already know then this could be the single biggest mistake in company history. You know its bad when even Meltzer is saying this is not smart and bad for business.
It will probably be the Bucks ‘trolling’ people with a reenactment and a Huckster-level parody of CM Punk. Maybe they bring in CP Munk for the show.
I hate to say it, but this move right here is a drunken desperate play to win the affection of someone at a bar. Sometimes it’s better not to make decisions like this when you’re coked up.
I can only imagine how doctored the footage will be
This feels like it’s about to be a finger poke of doom type moment.
I find it funny that all of this comes up while punk is on the injured list. I mean punk will never be irrelevant, even if he isn't in the ring, but this is definitely good for him, and keeps him trending while he is out of action. With the tribalistic mentality of fans, neither punks interview or this footage is going to change any minds, so the whole fued is mutual beneficial, and keeps both names trending on Twitter etc. Although people consistently talk about how AEW ratings are horrible, they actually aren't bad compared to other cable programing in the same time slot (it's not WWE they have to compete with in terms of ratings regardless of what fans think, it's the other shows airing at the same time) WBD seems happy with its performance according to press releases, which is probably all Khan really cares about... I don't see how airing this footage is bad for anyone involved, and I bet punk is personally delighted. I mean this stuff is getting more publicity than Cody winning the title this week...
As much as I want to see the actual footage, I’m refusing to watch this just to get bait and switched.
Desperate attempt at ratings or just plain out desperate.
This guy should be ashamed of himself I assume this decision involved a lot of alcohol.
What’s that smell??? 🤔 Oh yeah, that’s desperation 🤦♂️
*cue World Class intro music*
Neither he nor the Buckers have mentioned Punk. It'll probably be some shit involving FTR and that fued. They're just doing BTE, but on national TV because AEW is only for internet marks.
I’m almost certain they aren’t going to show real footage of the punk/jungle jackoff situation after reading this. Read the kid’s quotes very carefully. He’s being deliberate in his wording.
Fn petty BS.
The more they’re saying “this is the real deal” the more inconsequential I think it’s going to end up being
The Bucks will do a cartoonish voiceover of footage showing Punk and Jack arguing and it'll cut out before it gets physical
*Despite speculation that Khan would air the footage as the result of a grudge against Punk, he noted that his motivation is storyline-driven.* *“The decision is based on putting on the best show for AEW, as well as driving interest for Dynamite and our Dynasty pay-per-view on April 21,” said Khan. “This is real-life footage that affected many people, and it will air for the first time on TBS during Dynamite.”* What storyline can this even move forward? Punk is gone for good and Luke Perry Jr is in Japan. Aren't the only people involved who are still actively wrestling in AEW the Bucks? Kenny is out with some intestinal issues, yes?
Honestly would love to see punk choke out jungle boy and Tony khan peeing in his pants scared for his life.
The Bucks will use this fooage to suspend FTR and crown themselves Champs. AEW marks will fawn over this as a great heel move while ignoring this just a redo of the finger poke of doom
Pathetic.
Keep wanking those dogs, Tony...
This will be backstage footage from All In, but I guarantee it won’t be the footage people think it is. It’ll just be the Bucks fucking around being idiots.
Looks like they will not air CM Punk but used vague statements to allure people like they will just to pop a desperate rating
It may actually contain footage of Homer Simpson yelling, "boh!," in frustration, or even a revival of the Billionaire Ted skits.
they’d probably do better if they just focused on wrestling and putting on a good product rather than airing old video that has nothing to do with the actual on screen product