Notices by theleftfist (theleftfist@mastodon.social), page 17

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Vince McMahon's pre-Montreal leaks that Bret had turned his back on the WWF to defect to WCW - and already had outraged fans flipping the finger in Bret's face at shows - would have taken on a greater reach and impact with the existence of social media and a bigger dirtsheet clickbait industry. In fact, there may well have been no "Mr McMahon" character.

Working on something that examines the parallels between Bret Hart and CM Punk and, well, let's just say this for now: if there was social media back in 1997/98, Bret would have been absolutely trashed; the portrayal would have been that of a difficult, threatening, dangerous, egotistical, disloyal individual who ruined his legacy and wasn't well-liked in WCW, either. #BretHart #CMPunk #BretWasRight #PunkWasRight #wrestling #ProWrestling

Zelina Vega Praises CM Punk Following AEW Termination https://www.hausofwrestling.com/2023/09/07/zelina-vega-praises-cm-punk-following-aew-termination/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=zelina-vega-praises-cm-punk-following-aew-termination #ZelinaVega #CMPunk #wrestling #ProWrestling #AEW #WWE

A better obituary here: https://www.postwrestling.com/2023/09/06/sheik-adnan-al-kaissy-general-adnan-dies-at-84/

Former WWE wrestler ‘General’ Adnan Al-Kaissy has died at age 84 https://www.cagesideseats.com/wwe/2023/9/6/23862309/former-wwe-wrestler-general-adnan-al-kaissy-dead-age-84 #WWF #GeneralAdnan #wrestling #ProWrestling

@jake2 That's probably the first test. At least threaten a billionaire promoter, then you get a medal called the Punk Hart.

And now he's gone. The star who once tweeted "Respect the Young Bucks" and came into the company expressing a desire to work with The Elite and Jungle Boy has been fired, after being mocked, villainised, antagonised, and smeared for over eighteen months, and in recent months marginalised in a death slot Saturday nights and booked in a way that resembled the presentation of a mid-card nostalgia act. And now the Saturday show's ratings bottomed out instantly. But the "heart and soul" of AEW go on.

Jack's attempted excuse was that he said it, into the camera, to garner heel heat in the match with Hook, which of course made no sense whatsoever for the story, and only Punk, people in the company, or smart marks would understand this reference alluding to Punk dissuading him from using real glass in real life backstage at a previous show. But Elite ally Jack clearly couldn't resist taking a shot at Punk. And why not? They all got away with it for so long, it'd be worth it to make Punk snap.

Because of Elite ally Jungle Boy, who mocked Punk at a press conference months before (though you can be forgiven for failing to recall it, as the dirtsheets didn't barely bother acknowledging it). Months later, Jungle Jack then threw a tantrum backstage and Tony Schiavone asked Punk to reason with him and dissuade him for wanting to use real glass, then decided to nonsensically reference the fact on-screen during his match in Wembley Stadium, where Punk witnessed it at gorilla position.

And yet billionaire Tony Khan was the one "fearing for his life" when Punk finally lost his cool with him at a time he got into another backstage fight adding to his sin sheet since the EVPs stormed into his locker room when he dared to call them out at a press conference. And why did this last fight happen?

So what happened? The biggest star, top draw, and main babyface of the company got booed out of the building everywhere outside Chicago (and even, to a significant degree, in Chicago), fans spat rage in his face, thrusted their middle fingers towards him, expressed legitimate hatred. It increasingly looked like the heat could easily turn into violence, such was the strength of feeling. And what did the company do? Left him to wander around London, taking the tube, trying to find his hotel.

Then came Collision. In its short but brilliant run in the Punk era, it thrived yet was clearly designed so that Tony Khan could isolate Punk away from the Executive Vice Presidents are their clique who refused to speak to Punk. And, you guessed it, yet again the dirtsheets created the impression that these were Punk's demands. Meanwhile The Elite were telling reporters they wanted to move on, and hours later going on TV and mocking Punk, who was off-screen, injured. Which further enabled them.

So instead, on a weekly basis, we had report after report about Punk then going into business for himself (in response) in a promo, and implications he needed his own spaces and shows to work in like a primadonna - when in fact he repeatedly reached out to The Elite, who never once chose to talk, even as Executive Vice Presidents (which of course is utterly untenable), and they (not Punk) are known backstage for being separate from the general roster, while Punk was hanging around with everyone.

And to think, it all began with Adam Page going into business for himself on the microphone (making accusations that were categorically denied by the boss himself, without consequences) and in the ring (chopping CM Punk in the mouth, chipping his tooth in the process, also without consequence because Punk gave him the benefit of the doubt). But the dirtsheets rarely ever mentioned these facts. Significant facts. They were the catalyst for all of it. But the dirtsheets had a narrative to further.

What's also telling is that so many people never learnt anything from the smears on some of their favourite leftist politicians. But when it comes to wrestling, they've demonstrate an ignorance befitting the mass media we criticise. Part of being a wrestling fan means also demanding greater coverage, better scrutiny, and a higher standard of journalism. But it isn't there. That's partly why the smear campaign against an outspoken, pro-union, pro-abortion, pro-LGBTQ+ star has been so successful.

Mastodon so far full of leftist wrestling fans who never bothered applying that leftism *to* wrestling. Most seem content with merrily yet blissfully ignorantly following a narrative started by dirtsheet writers who are so cosy with certain wrestlers that those wrestlers name their fucking ring moves after them. jfc.

"This is the lowest viewership so far for Collision, which has thus far presented twelve episodes, with one going up against WWE SummerSlam." https://www.hausofwrestling.com/2023/09/06/aew-collision-sees-lowest-viewership-ever-following-cm-punk-release/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=aew-collision-sees-lowest-viewership-ever-following-cm-punk-release #AEW #CMPunk #wrestling #ProWrestling

Keep seeing reports that the #AEW camp anticipate an "explosive" response from #CMPunk. Why? If you just fired someone who was entirely in the wrong "for cause" you really wouldn't care at all about anything they had to say on the matter ever again. But they know, don't they? They know. For the last 18 months this has been a #ProWrestling scandal waiting to happen. And the reason it will be "explosive" is because a lot of people are going to be found to be on the wrong side of history.

If Joe Strummer taught you well, you will speak truth to power.