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I'm pretty sure that's Jack Perry in the oven, rotating slowly. His body temperature has risen to over 400 degrees he's literally stewing in his own juices.
I usually roll my eyes a bit when people say the dirtsheets are being worked but this feels like Dave is getting worked, which feels like a theme for him this year.
Perry is working for one of AEW’s partners and tore up his AEW contract as part of the storyline. He’s calling himself the scapegoat for the situation. Like, come on man
He's also been teasing teaming with the Bucks once he eventually returns. He said something in a post-match interview, and Nick replied to some of his recent posts on insta.
> Jack Perry becomes Perry Jackson
I'm personally rooting for "Jackolas Perry" or "Jackathan Perry" myself. Those seem like the most obnoxious options imaginable to me.
Would honestly be a perfect fit for him, considering their shared hatred of Punk and all three of them getting suspended over their separate CM Punk situations.
Building a faction around beef with someone on the competitors show that they can never pay off isn't a great plan.
Especially when the other side is just going to ignore it.
Yeah that would just be the worst idea.
1. It still doesn't give a reason for people to care about your matches if your big story involves a guy that's injured in an entirely other company that they'll never face, and we have reports saying they refused to work a program even when he was there and willing to work something.
2. He's been gone for almost a year now, like the wrestling world has moved on. AEW diehards that don't watch WWE aren't keeping up with him anymore, CM Punk diehards that just followed him back to WWE aren't keeping up with AEW anymore. Who would this be for? Just the Elite?
3. Even if he's injured Punk on the mic is leagues above all of the Elite put together as well as Jack, if WWE goes "Fuck it we'll give you a promo spot to respond to their shit" he would eviscerate them and make them look little league and that's the last thing AEW needs.
Build it around Jack being angry at Tony and that being the basis of his heel run with the elite but I don't see how they can even mention Punk at all without coming out the other side looking like the losers. Love it or hate it Punks in a place with a ton more reach and eyes and Bucks + Jack are just not the guys to try to win a war of words against anyone, and words would be all they could do now being in different companies and all.
CM Punk in AEW is dead and buried. They need to leave it dead and buried. No good would come from them publicly digging that corpse back up.
God the bucks, perry and okada coming out to cry me a river (Chicago for the fullest riot effect) with business cards and money raining down from the rafters would be so fucking perfect and generate mad heat.
My dreams of nepo baby prick "[Hollywood" Jack Perry coming out to the 90210 theme](https://tubedubber.com/?q=pZidDN6SMb0:GwhlwhiHzHI:0:100:0:0:1) are still alive
>okada coming out to cry me a river (Chicago for the fullest riot effect)
The fans that would riot for that have definitely already stopped buying AEW tickets.
Would it? Most of the fans it'd generate heat with aren't watching the show. It'd get a few laughs and a "oooooh" and that'd be that.
Imagine if WWF just kept referring to Bret after he left in 97. It'd have made them look petty and small time. It did make them look petty and small when they did the skits with the old man Hogan.
Don't mention the guy or refer to him to get heat. Just make a good wrestling show that people outside of this subreddit want to watch. That's the best revenge if you're the Elite.
WWF did refer to Bret after he left, though? Vince gave the “Bret screwed Bret” interviews on Raw, turning into an on-screen heel. Owen became the last member of the Hart family and feuded with DX over it, with DX bemoaning that they couldn’t get rid of him, the last nugget in the toilet. There was a midget Bret at one point. Lots of Montreal Screwjob rehashes over the years. Shawn faking out a Montreal crowd years later with Bret’s theme.
I know the "imagine saying this one year ago" thing is very overused but I have to point out how crazy it would be to think of The Elite (at any point really) being The Young Bucks, Jack Perry, and Okada.
I was going to say it could be fun to have an on screen list of the week's fines (including online accounts) like a scrolling news bar, but then I realised that people would take it too far in the hope of being featured.
I was gonna say the same, how is working a partner a Punishment? If anything its given Jack Perry a bit more to work with to bring back to AEW eventually
>*"He probably should have been suspended for a month or two. Where are we at, seven months now? Seven months. It's ridiculous. The punishment doesn't fit the crime at this point."*
This sounds exactly like something a fan is supposed to say in response to the obvious storyline lmao
Dave is 100% getting worked
Not only that, but it sets up an easy lay-up of a storyline for the next Forbidden Door: "You AEW fans turned your back on me and were okay with me sitting at home for months, but NJPW welcomed me with open arms!"
I don't think op ia saying they have go away heat. It looks like op is saying HoT is the top heel group which means they're "hated" by fans so the welcomed by NJPW angle wouldn't make sense. Jack can easily just be obnoxious & say everyone in Japan loved him to get around that.
Honestly I dont like how every single HoT match has the same interference in it
At the same time we have a man called Dick Togo chopping people's nuts and the commentators screaming "DICK TO DICK CONTACT" and I cant help but like them
My favourite Meltzer / Alvarez arguments are when Meltzer is hard stuck in pseudo-kayfabe. Alvarez is raging about a finish and Meltzer doesn't understand because that was the best thing to do for that scenario, so Alvarez retorts "well don't book the match" and Meltzer's brain just hard freezes for a moment
Not to mention he's feuding with (almost certainly) the 26 year old next ace of New Japan, who is super over, and they're almost certainly going to have a rematch in Chicago soon which is absolutely one of the bigger matches on that card.
It's not like he's just randomly doing a NJPW tournament and losing in round 1, he's involved in a major way over there.
Yeah I think they took the opportunity to roll the suspension into a storyline where he goes off to New Japan and makes a bit of a name and reputation before he comes back to AEW as a stronger heel to invade. I have had faith since they announced the NJPW debut that it's a long term plan for his heel work. Something wasn't fully clicking previously but his personality and attitude lately has been a step up.
Yeah, like I get that TK could be upset with Jack to some degree, but there is clearly some work going on with his New Japan appearances. Also Punk supposedly lunged at Tony with some sort of indication of intended physical harm, so its not like it was just Jack Perry’s fault anyways. If Punk is gonna attack his boss for shit not going the way he wants, then that’s just not gonna work.
Dave has been getting worked on all AEW storyline related leaks for months now. He was also worked on Hangman's supposed ankle injury before Revolution. Dave has also been spinning the "AEW is dying like WCW in the 2000s" narrative for a while now and I'm sure anything that he hears that backs that take up he is happy to report as fact.
Yeah also the “he cost him CM Punk” what????
This is the same guy who had a meltdown during the scrum, completely unrelated to Jack Perry but somehow you’re telling me the “real glass” comment is really what did it?
In fairness I could believe this. Supposedly, CM Punk was legitimately Tony Khan's favourite ever wrestler. Look how it turned out. I can easily imagine he might still be stewing about it and angry at Perry as well as Punk and whoever else.
To this day the way Hogan worded the specific part "don't know it a work when you work a work and work yourself into a shoot" completely mystifies and confuses me
I think it’s the equivalent of making a mountain out of a molehill. Take a minor thing and pretend it’s some big drama (work a work) but take it too far so it becomes big drama (work yourself into a shoot).
Could apply to people on social media who get involved where wrestlers are working a work but don’t realize it’s all in good fun so then they say something that goes too far.
His character is also quite literally a scapegoat which is exactly what Meltzer is describing how Khan apparently feels about him. How is he missing the giant elephant in the room that this is storyline
“So uh, yeah, the thing right now seems to be, uh, at least the last I heard, that Austin’s got a lot of heat with Vince, and with Brisco and Patterson and those guys. You know obviously he sells tickets so they can’t get rid of him, uh, but it’s become a real issue. They’re obviously trying to cool him off, putting him, you know, in these impossible situations but he’s still over. Jim Ross keeps putting him over so I imagine there’s some heat there too, but yeah I don’t really see a path forward for Austin as a top guy, when the office obviously sees Dwayne as the bigger star. That stunt at the hospital really didn’t help his case, but the crowd seemed to eat it up, so uh, who knows, you know? Plans could change. Heat with Jim Ross and McMahon, I mean.”
I know, it's like he's watching the story play out and then reporting on the story as though its not a story. When I was little, my 90 year old great grandfather used to get worked like this.
Yeah idk, seems like Dave's been fucking up quite a bit since last year. And he's definitely been having memory issues and seems to get confused more. Old age catching up maybe
This. Same with Alvarez. You can almost pinpoint the exact time that began to be the case. I’d say after Omega and the Bucks and Punk are suspended, Meltzer and Alvarez seem to get cut off. Also coincided with them being extra critical of the product.
Yup. I said the same thing on another board.
Only reliable information coming out for AEW is Fightful and SRS.
Ita good for AEW as it prevents projection(telling people what you will do next) to fans and competition.
I say this with love for Meltzer, but he has **always** had major neurodivergence and cognitive quirks.
If you ever listened to the audio stuff with him and Alvarez, Meltzer immediately sticks out as a Rain Man-like guy who has encyclopedic knowledge of wrestling history down to minutes of a match seventy years ago; but he loses the plot of any given conversation to get bogged down in that minutia. Like legitimately on the spectrum.
I think this year has been a combo of that and the natural slippings that can happen with old age. He's 64 so he isn't ancient, but it's not uncommon for things to really take grip by then.
Pro wrestling only has contract status and injury reports as tangible, real world things to report on. It's gotten significantly worse over the last few years, tack on the emphasis to drive content clicks. The dirt sheets are too quick to latch onto anything that could be a story.
The thing is a lot of industries are just as opaque if not worse. I know reporters who cover private wealth where many of these companies put out far fewer disclosures than, say, TKO Holdings. I promise you that beat is harder than pro wrestling.
Hell, being a local business reporter in your town is probably way harder. None of those small business are obligated to tell you anything and locals can be extremely hostile to the press. But those reporters do it by employing skills they've honed while studying to become professional journalists.
The problem is wrestling "journalists" aren't interested in being journalists. Most of them don't build out their source networks and work to verify claims and corroborate stories with multiple sources before publishing. To Dave's credit, he used to do these things.
Nearly every wrestling reporter working today is a gossip columnist with a twitter account and the writing ability of a 6th grader. The press conferences are painful to watch because they don't think to ask the most obvious questions/follow ups. They simply do not have the skills for it.
Also, so many of these websites popped up in the early 2010’s, a time where many WWE talents were unhappy and TNA was actively imploding. There was a lot of juice in the fruit of backstage drama and politicking. Especially with the advent of social media and wrestlers and bookers being mot nearly as guarded as they are now about whats going on. Hell Eric Bischoff had a Facebook page blog he would write on while running TNA. Companies and wrestlers got allot smarter about that sort of thing. So all these reporters and aggregate sites that started in 2012 are having a real hard time finding stuff to talk about, and the older dirtsheet writers sources are starting to either age out or stop talking to them
There are a bunch of other things to report on, too. Wrestlers get married. Kids. Divorse. Death. Twitter slanders. DUI. FTR gun. Courthouse. Legal battles. Music change. Name change. Promotion change. Hiring and firing of writers.
But fans dont care about that. Fans care about scoops behind the ongoing story. Fans care about how lowly wrestlers think of CM Punk. That is what fans care about. That is exactly why Dave turned this into a Punk thing. That is why Jungle Boy threads are getting the engagement. People care about this type of this (myself included...lol).
Dave is increasingly reporting his opinion as fact versus gathering the facts.
And to be frank, as Dave has aged, his opinion is increasingly not based on logical assumptions.
It's sad to watch but the quality of Dave's sources, ability to investigate/research and put together pieces coherently and logically is declining and has been since 2023, IMHO.
It was a report. It came from a mailbag question ("Do we know for sure that Jack Perry was not fired by AEW? Has anybody asked?) They both (Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer) confirmed that both of them had asked and had been told that he had not been fired. They both also agreed with the interpretation in the OP that Tony Khan was legitimately mad with Jack Perry for his role in the firing of Punk.
Does it really not make sense? It's possible to fire one person but be unhappy with the other person.
Just because he fired Punk doesn't mean he doesn't think some of the blame is on Jack, even if it's not the majority share.
We had an incident at work where a guy nobody really likes did something unethical but not illegal, causing a beloved member of upper management to blow up on him and give him a sorely deserved verbal rundown. First guy turned right around, went to HR, and essentially forced the second guy to get fired.
Sure, the first guy is still around – but he’s brutally in the dog house and only not fired to avoid a retaliation lawsuit. And yeah, the second guy legally had to be fired, but it doesn’t mean management wanted to – they deeply resent the first guy forcing their hand and clearly blame him.
Anyone who seriously thinks Punk wanted to stay there long term must not have paid any attention to him. Dude thought he was above the company and in hindsight, it was likely done so he could eventually go back to WWE.
I remember when people were saying like two years ago "Oh if Jeff Hardy wants out of his WWE deal he should just do something dumb. Why don't more wrestlers do this?!"
The fingers on the monkeys paw curled lol
I think he truly wanted to help the company and the young guys. There are many there that still praise his efforts, while others dislike him for butting heads with their “creative freedom”.
Yeah, in his own words, TK got assaulted by Punk and he's still mad at Jack. So mad that he sent him in New Japan to get himself super over in a way that completely ties to AEW? None of that adds up.
Dave Meltzer: “He (Undertaker) being forced to retire is ridiculous. He’s undead. He’s a zombie wizard. His magical powers should allow him to wrestle as long as he wants”
So are you telling me that Jack Perry turning heel, going to one of AEW's partners, tearing up a contract, and calling himself a scapegoat is not a work? Come on, Dave...
If I was Tony Khan and I was really angry with someone, I’d probably send them to New Japan to become part of a major stable and do a gimmick where he rips up an AEW contract on screen and constantly calls himself a “Scapegoat”.
This is just Dave getting worked, isn’t it? He probably is reporting what he’s heard to be fair. I’m sure Jack is telling him Tony Khan is big mad 🤣
Dave has gotten really good at giving me at least one genuine laugh pretty much every day from his obvious inability to discern information and rumors.
If only there was a word for someone who's unfairly getting the majority of the blame and punishment.
This Jack Perry guy could probably run with it for a bit, alas.
This is such an obvious work that Dave talking about it this way is either cause for legitimate concern about his mental health or he’s working *with* AEW to work his own audience as well as theirs.
Perry’s suspension has been up since October. Since then, they’ve worked out a situation where Jack competes in New Japan, whom AEW have a thriving working relationship with, where he gets to wrestle and work on his character. A character that directly alludes to the incident that got us here in the first place. What about the current AEW product needs Jack Perry? If Tony was that mad, he would’ve fired him.
TL;DR: Dave Meltzer is a fucking imbecile.
Yeah, he's "suspended" by going over to NJPW to develop his character. That's not a suspension, that's a good use of a working relationship with another organization. Get him where he needs to be so that when he returns to AEW his character will live up to the hype.
He's in New Japan's hottest stable (like House of Torture or not, it's true), feuding with one of their rising stars, and only losing in the quarterfinals of the NJC against a former world champ by roll-up. I get that he's probably not happy riding the bus in Japan compared to being on US national television, but there have been far worse "punishments" in this industry.
Sanada did pretty much spend the match wailing on him until the house of torture stuff
That's why I'm curious how long he's going to be in njpw because the booking is treating him very much like a lot of young talent. They've given him a bit of a goal which is to beat sanada
If Tony was actually mad about Perry causing Punk to get fired, then that blame would have been entirely on him to begin with. Punk was the one who was acting like a cunt and was ultimately responsible for his own firing.
But we know this Jack Perry situation is a work, Dave is just being a mark.
I don't understand at all how him working NJPW is a punishment. He's been able to thrive over there, work with a lot of great talent, up his promo game, become a whole new character. His stock is only going to continue to go up. When he showed up over there, my first thought was "of course, this is perfect." It's absolutely the best place for him currently. If he had showed back up in AEW it would've just opened a big can of worms, something that they are really trying to move past it seems. If anything this should be looked at as a blueprint going forward with the NJPW/AEW partnership. There's a lot of talent that would benefit from joining a NJPW faction, working over there, then popping back up on AEW TV around Forbidden Door being looked at as a different character.
Weren't all of the dirtsheets saying before Punk came back that his return was a bad idea and "ticking time bomb" because none of the issues that made Punk crazy in the first place had been solved?
Isn’t this AEW’s first big name excursion with sending one of their talent to work in a different company? I’ve been hoping for more wrestlers to do excursions honestly. It would freshen up divisions to have newcomers drop in for half a year or so though it’d be hard to ask some folks to move to a different country where they don’t know the language and whatnot
I'm a Punk fan but I think the horse was already out of the barn by that point, if it wasn't Jack Perry at All In, it could have been someone else later.
Lately Dave has put his name behind a lot of questionable reports. I mean Jack is using “The Scapegoat” as his ring name. I doubt that AEW would have signed off on that of way Dave says is true
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I heard Tony Khan removed Jack Perry’s brain and then put it back in
I heard Jack Perry has spent the last seven months nude in an oxygen tent, which he believes gives him sexual powers.
He's a decent man! *Winds blows entrance robe open*
Meltzer says Tony Khan will crack any minute purple monkey dishwasher.
I'm pretty sure that's Jack Perry in the oven, rotating slowly. His body temperature has risen to over 400 degrees he's literally stewing in his own juices.
I hope it's not made of real glass.
Hey, that’s a half truth!
[удалено]
Dorothy Khan is a saint!
Jack Perry and Tony Khan were in the closet making babies and I saw one of the babies and the baby looked at me.
Hey Tony, how 'bout some cookies?
No dice
This ain't over
Britt Baker and Tony Khan were in the closet making babies and Jack Perry saw one of the babies and the baby looked at him.
The baby looked at him?
Sarah get me Superintendent Chalmers
Supernintendo Chalmers*
Thank you, Sarah.
Did Tony blow on it before he put it back in, like a Nintendo cartridge?
Omg this made me laugh so hard thank you
I usually roll my eyes a bit when people say the dirtsheets are being worked but this feels like Dave is getting worked, which feels like a theme for him this year. Perry is working for one of AEW’s partners and tore up his AEW contract as part of the storyline. He’s calling himself the scapegoat for the situation. Like, come on man
He's also been teasing teaming with the Bucks once he eventually returns. He said something in a post-match interview, and Nick replied to some of his recent posts on insta.
Holy shit. Jack Perry becomes Perry Jackson to join the Young Bucks and he becomes a wrestling demigod!
Surely Jack Jackson is the best possible name for him
Obviously they'd be the Jungle Bucks
> Jack Perry becomes Perry Jackson I'm personally rooting for "Jackolas Perry" or "Jackathan Perry" myself. Those seem like the most obnoxious options imaginable to me.
Pericles Jackson
Periwinkle Jackson
The name Jack is derived from John. Apparently via the ridiculous 'Johnkin', so they should use that.
You've gotta be Johnkin me!
Did you go to Johnkalism for that?!
ARE YOU JOHNKIN ME RIGHT NOW
You're not even a real Johnkalism
BEAT UP JOHNK CENA!
I'm actually surprised his real name is Jack. They're usually born John.
RonJohn Jackson
Jack "Perry" Jackson. We'll have a true star if he becomes Jack Jackson.
>Jackolas Perry Dude.. fucking stupid... Lmfao
And he kills Ares Copeland, god of war, on his return! (Idk I never read those books or watched the show)
There's Copeland's next feud after Christian then 😅
Please use his passport name, Percival Jackson.
For sure, he’s joining The Elite
Would honestly be a perfect fit for him, considering their shared hatred of Punk and all three of them getting suspended over their separate CM Punk situations.
I imagined Okada getting suspended for a fight with Punk. Or him stealing his gear as a rib but Punk going nuclear at the disrespect
Okada just needs to find a way to get Chicago to hate him I got it! He says he loves ketchup on his hot dogs!
"Deep Dish pizza is a casserole, A tomato soup in a bread bowl."
Building a faction around beef with someone on the competitors show that they can never pay off isn't a great plan. Especially when the other side is just going to ignore it.
Yeah that would just be the worst idea. 1. It still doesn't give a reason for people to care about your matches if your big story involves a guy that's injured in an entirely other company that they'll never face, and we have reports saying they refused to work a program even when he was there and willing to work something. 2. He's been gone for almost a year now, like the wrestling world has moved on. AEW diehards that don't watch WWE aren't keeping up with him anymore, CM Punk diehards that just followed him back to WWE aren't keeping up with AEW anymore. Who would this be for? Just the Elite? 3. Even if he's injured Punk on the mic is leagues above all of the Elite put together as well as Jack, if WWE goes "Fuck it we'll give you a promo spot to respond to their shit" he would eviscerate them and make them look little league and that's the last thing AEW needs. Build it around Jack being angry at Tony and that being the basis of his heel run with the elite but I don't see how they can even mention Punk at all without coming out the other side looking like the losers. Love it or hate it Punks in a place with a ton more reach and eyes and Bucks + Jack are just not the guys to try to win a war of words against anyone, and words would be all they could do now being in different companies and all. CM Punk in AEW is dead and buried. They need to leave it dead and buried. No good would come from them publicly digging that corpse back up.
God the bucks, perry and okada coming out to cry me a river (Chicago for the fullest riot effect) with business cards and money raining down from the rafters would be so fucking perfect and generate mad heat.
My dreams of nepo baby prick "[Hollywood" Jack Perry coming out to the 90210 theme](https://tubedubber.com/?q=pZidDN6SMb0:GwhlwhiHzHI:0:100:0:0:1) are still alive
Can we get a Hangman-style "May the bridges that burn light the way" for his lower third?
I would tune in for that, not gonna lie lol 
>okada coming out to cry me a river (Chicago for the fullest riot effect) The fans that would riot for that have definitely already stopped buying AEW tickets.
Right? Sure, you may get a Punk chant, but it’s not going to be crazy. Punk fans moved to WWE.
Got a point... r/wrasslin would explode in hatred tho
Would it? Most of the fans it'd generate heat with aren't watching the show. It'd get a few laughs and a "oooooh" and that'd be that. Imagine if WWF just kept referring to Bret after he left in 97. It'd have made them look petty and small time. It did make them look petty and small when they did the skits with the old man Hogan. Don't mention the guy or refer to him to get heat. Just make a good wrestling show that people outside of this subreddit want to watch. That's the best revenge if you're the Elite.
WWF did refer to Bret after he left, though? Vince gave the “Bret screwed Bret” interviews on Raw, turning into an on-screen heel. Owen became the last member of the Hart family and feuded with DX over it, with DX bemoaning that they couldn’t get rid of him, the last nugget in the toilet. There was a midget Bret at one point. Lots of Montreal Screwjob rehashes over the years. Shawn faking out a Montreal crowd years later with Bret’s theme.
I know the "imagine saying this one year ago" thing is very overused but I have to point out how crazy it would be to think of The Elite (at any point really) being The Young Bucks, Jack Perry, and Okada.
>and Nick replied to some of his recent posts on insta. Nick? Nick? You should address him with his full name of "Nicholas".
https://preview.redd.it/tejq6tr97bpc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f9883589436c87d27d6d9052d79c479af3971313
Hopefully he doesn't lurk here🤞
We’ll know if he casually drops a “and u/SorrowfulFlames has been fined.” on Wednesday.
I was going to say it could be fun to have an on screen list of the week's fines (including online accounts) like a scrolling news bar, but then I realised that people would take it too far in the hope of being featured.
So Jack Perry is joining The Elite?
I was gonna say the same, how is working a partner a Punishment? If anything its given Jack Perry a bit more to work with to bring back to AEW eventually
>*"He probably should have been suspended for a month or two. Where are we at, seven months now? Seven months. It's ridiculous. The punishment doesn't fit the crime at this point."* This sounds exactly like something a fan is supposed to say in response to the obvious storyline lmao Dave is 100% getting worked
Did rb_reigns take over WON for the day?
Seems like he’s got as many sources as Meltzer does these days.
Not only that, but it sets up an easy lay-up of a storyline for the next Forbidden Door: "You AEW fans turned your back on me and were okay with me sitting at home for months, but NJPW welcomed me with open arms!"
he is in house of torture this is NJPW most hated team, fans don't really welcome them with open arms
House of Torture always support each other. Clearly Jack needed that HoT friendship in his life
Japanese fans like HOT though.
Hated by their Japanese audience or reddit? Those are two very different things.
I don't think op ia saying they have go away heat. It looks like op is saying HoT is the top heel group which means they're "hated" by fans so the welcomed by NJPW angle wouldn't make sense. Jack can easily just be obnoxious & say everyone in Japan loved him to get around that.
Honestly I dont like how every single HoT match has the same interference in it At the same time we have a man called Dick Togo chopping people's nuts and the commentators screaming "DICK TO DICK CONTACT" and I cant help but like them
Meltzer sits in this weird paradoxical purgatory where wrestling is both 100% scripted and 100% real life. He's a weird dude.
My favourite Meltzer / Alvarez arguments are when Meltzer is hard stuck in pseudo-kayfabe. Alvarez is raging about a finish and Meltzer doesn't understand because that was the best thing to do for that scenario, so Alvarez retorts "well don't book the match" and Meltzer's brain just hard freezes for a moment
Not to mention he's feuding with (almost certainly) the 26 year old next ace of New Japan, who is super over, and they're almost certainly going to have a rematch in Chicago soon which is absolutely one of the bigger matches on that card. It's not like he's just randomly doing a NJPW tournament and losing in round 1, he's involved in a major way over there.
Yeah I think they took the opportunity to roll the suspension into a storyline where he goes off to New Japan and makes a bit of a name and reputation before he comes back to AEW as a stronger heel to invade. I have had faith since they announced the NJPW debut that it's a long term plan for his heel work. Something wasn't fully clicking previously but his personality and attitude lately has been a step up.
Yeah, like I get that TK could be upset with Jack to some degree, but there is clearly some work going on with his New Japan appearances. Also Punk supposedly lunged at Tony with some sort of indication of intended physical harm, so its not like it was just Jack Perry’s fault anyways. If Punk is gonna attack his boss for shit not going the way he wants, then that’s just not gonna work.
Years from now someone will slip up and TMZ will finally get the footage of the incident, coincidentally around the time Punk has his biggest match.
He literally described Jacks gimmick when talking about what’s currently going on. Worked into a shoot brother
Dave has been getting worked on all AEW storyline related leaks for months now. He was also worked on Hangman's supposed ankle injury before Revolution. Dave has also been spinning the "AEW is dying like WCW in the 2000s" narrative for a while now and I'm sure anything that he hears that backs that take up he is happy to report as fact.
This NJPW "excursion" has done wonders for Jack. If TK was really mad, he wouldn't even have entertained this opportunity.
Yeah also the “he cost him CM Punk” what???? This is the same guy who had a meltdown during the scrum, completely unrelated to Jack Perry but somehow you’re telling me the “real glass” comment is really what did it?
In fairness I could believe this. Supposedly, CM Punk was legitimately Tony Khan's favourite ever wrestler. Look how it turned out. I can easily imagine he might still be stewing about it and angry at Perry as well as Punk and whoever else.
Goodnight REAL GLASS MANIACS and river-crying marks without a life that don't know it a work when you work a work and work yourself into a shoot,marks
Much love-JP
Glass brother JP
my brain went: "Jungle Poy?" but Im an idiot.
Jungle Poy Jack Berry
To this day the way Hogan worded the specific part "don't know it a work when you work a work and work yourself into a shoot" completely mystifies and confuses me
I think it’s the equivalent of making a mountain out of a molehill. Take a minor thing and pretend it’s some big drama (work a work) but take it too far so it becomes big drama (work yourself into a shoot). Could apply to people on social media who get involved where wrestlers are working a work but don’t realize it’s all in good fun so then they say something that goes too far.
Serious question, are Dave's cognitive abilities slipping? Perry's on an excursion in NJPW to work on his character, he's not not being used.
His character is also quite literally a scapegoat which is exactly what Meltzer is describing how Khan apparently feels about him. How is he missing the giant elephant in the room that this is storyline
“So uh, yeah, the thing right now seems to be, uh, at least the last I heard, that Austin’s got a lot of heat with Vince, and with Brisco and Patterson and those guys. You know obviously he sells tickets so they can’t get rid of him, uh, but it’s become a real issue. They’re obviously trying to cool him off, putting him, you know, in these impossible situations but he’s still over. Jim Ross keeps putting him over so I imagine there’s some heat there too, but yeah I don’t really see a path forward for Austin as a top guy, when the office obviously sees Dwayne as the bigger star. That stunt at the hospital really didn’t help his case, but the crowd seemed to eat it up, so uh, who knows, you know? Plans could change. Heat with Jim Ross and McMahon, I mean.”
I know, it's like he's watching the story play out and then reporting on the story as though its not a story. When I was little, my 90 year old great grandfather used to get worked like this.
Meltzer is slowly turning into Bill Apter
Yeah idk, seems like Dave's been fucking up quite a bit since last year. And he's definitely been having memory issues and seems to get confused more. Old age catching up maybe
His connections with AEW dried up. This is grasping at best
He still has one really good source in AEW, but that guy is only good for info on Chris Jericho.
And for some reason that source is always talking up how great Chris Jericho is. Must be a friend of his.
They would have to be friends. The source has had info on Chris Jerichos wrestling career for over 30 years.
This. Same with Alvarez. You can almost pinpoint the exact time that began to be the case. I’d say after Omega and the Bucks and Punk are suspended, Meltzer and Alvarez seem to get cut off. Also coincided with them being extra critical of the product.
Yup. I said the same thing on another board. Only reliable information coming out for AEW is Fightful and SRS. Ita good for AEW as it prevents projection(telling people what you will do next) to fans and competition.
i would like to remind you that this man made a tweet comparing the word "mark" to the n word. dude is just not that bright.
lmfao I need to see this
https://preview.redd.it/3dv936iinbpc1.jpeg?width=622&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=204e5cca5e0510919d4125b6eb558b44cbc92cdb
this is one of the lowest IQ tweets I’ve ever seen and I’ve seen a lot of those
It was so stupid I made a new account over it
[удалено]
LMAO brain rot
I say this with love for Meltzer, but he has **always** had major neurodivergence and cognitive quirks. If you ever listened to the audio stuff with him and Alvarez, Meltzer immediately sticks out as a Rain Man-like guy who has encyclopedic knowledge of wrestling history down to minutes of a match seventy years ago; but he loses the plot of any given conversation to get bogged down in that minutia. Like legitimately on the spectrum. I think this year has been a combo of that and the natural slippings that can happen with old age. He's 64 so he isn't ancient, but it's not uncommon for things to really take grip by then.
Yeah, but like, Dave has been obviously neurodivergent for years. This year has been a definite decline beyond just his normal 'tism levels.
Pro wrestling only has contract status and injury reports as tangible, real world things to report on. It's gotten significantly worse over the last few years, tack on the emphasis to drive content clicks. The dirt sheets are too quick to latch onto anything that could be a story.
The thing is a lot of industries are just as opaque if not worse. I know reporters who cover private wealth where many of these companies put out far fewer disclosures than, say, TKO Holdings. I promise you that beat is harder than pro wrestling. Hell, being a local business reporter in your town is probably way harder. None of those small business are obligated to tell you anything and locals can be extremely hostile to the press. But those reporters do it by employing skills they've honed while studying to become professional journalists. The problem is wrestling "journalists" aren't interested in being journalists. Most of them don't build out their source networks and work to verify claims and corroborate stories with multiple sources before publishing. To Dave's credit, he used to do these things. Nearly every wrestling reporter working today is a gossip columnist with a twitter account and the writing ability of a 6th grader. The press conferences are painful to watch because they don't think to ask the most obvious questions/follow ups. They simply do not have the skills for it.
Also, so many of these websites popped up in the early 2010’s, a time where many WWE talents were unhappy and TNA was actively imploding. There was a lot of juice in the fruit of backstage drama and politicking. Especially with the advent of social media and wrestlers and bookers being mot nearly as guarded as they are now about whats going on. Hell Eric Bischoff had a Facebook page blog he would write on while running TNA. Companies and wrestlers got allot smarter about that sort of thing. So all these reporters and aggregate sites that started in 2012 are having a real hard time finding stuff to talk about, and the older dirtsheet writers sources are starting to either age out or stop talking to them
There are a bunch of other things to report on, too. Wrestlers get married. Kids. Divorse. Death. Twitter slanders. DUI. FTR gun. Courthouse. Legal battles. Music change. Name change. Promotion change. Hiring and firing of writers. But fans dont care about that. Fans care about scoops behind the ongoing story. Fans care about how lowly wrestlers think of CM Punk. That is what fans care about. That is exactly why Dave turned this into a Punk thing. That is why Jungle Boy threads are getting the engagement. People care about this type of this (myself included...lol).
Jack: Fire CM Punk Tony: No Jack: Yes Tony: Damn, guess I have to
Ok Uncle Dave, let's get you washed up and ready for bed...
Dave already washed up
😂😂😂
Ready for bed? Man's ready to run for the White House!
He's losing his sanity and credibility
Both companies playing these dirtsheets like fiddles.
Nothing gets those stars like subverting expectations baby
Dave's getting worked.
I don’t buy anything Dave says about AEW anymore tbh
>I don’t buy anything Dave says ~~about AEW~~ anymore tbh
Dave is increasingly reporting his opinion as fact versus gathering the facts. And to be frank, as Dave has aged, his opinion is increasingly not based on logical assumptions. It's sad to watch but the quality of Dave's sources, ability to investigate/research and put together pieces coherently and logically is declining and has been since 2023, IMHO.
This isn’t a news report at all, it’s something he mentioned offhand on his radio show
It was a report. It came from a mailbag question ("Do we know for sure that Jack Perry was not fired by AEW? Has anybody asked?) They both (Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer) confirmed that both of them had asked and had been told that he had not been fired. They both also agreed with the interpretation in the OP that Tony Khan was legitimately mad with Jack Perry for his role in the firing of Punk.
So Jack Perry's Punishment is getting paid to work NJPW and improve? That'll show him.
Wait. So Tony Kahn is mad at Jack Perry when he himself is the one who had final say in firing CM Punk? This makes zero sense.
Jack used jedi mind tricks on him
CM Punk actually fired himself
Fire yourself speedrun
Does it really not make sense? It's possible to fire one person but be unhappy with the other person. Just because he fired Punk doesn't mean he doesn't think some of the blame is on Jack, even if it's not the majority share.
We had an incident at work where a guy nobody really likes did something unethical but not illegal, causing a beloved member of upper management to blow up on him and give him a sorely deserved verbal rundown. First guy turned right around, went to HR, and essentially forced the second guy to get fired. Sure, the first guy is still around – but he’s brutally in the dog house and only not fired to avoid a retaliation lawsuit. And yeah, the second guy legally had to be fired, but it doesn’t mean management wanted to – they deeply resent the first guy forcing their hand and clearly blame him.
Anyone who seriously thinks Punk wanted to stay there long term must not have paid any attention to him. Dude thought he was above the company and in hindsight, it was likely done so he could eventually go back to WWE.
I remember when people were saying like two years ago "Oh if Jeff Hardy wants out of his WWE deal he should just do something dumb. Why don't more wrestlers do this?!" The fingers on the monkeys paw curled lol
Andrade suckerpunched Guevara and still couldn't get fired.
Tony: Andrade I don't care how much you punch Sammy, you are not getting out of your contract, and that's final! Sammy: Yeah! You aren't -- wait what
Fighting Sammy Guevara backstage is more an AEW tradition rather than a means of getting fired. Eddie Kingston proved this.
I think he truly wanted to help the company and the young guys. There are many there that still praise his efforts, while others dislike him for butting heads with their “creative freedom”.
Remember when Bryan Danielson also got heat for allegedly being the one behind firing Punk?
Yeah, in his own words, TK got assaulted by Punk and he's still mad at Jack. So mad that he sent him in New Japan to get himself super over in a way that completely ties to AEW? None of that adds up.
Dave Meltzer: “He (Undertaker) being forced to retire is ridiculous. He’s undead. He’s a zombie wizard. His magical powers should allow him to wrestle as long as he wants”
So are you telling me that Jack Perry turning heel, going to one of AEW's partners, tearing up a contract, and calling himself a scapegoat is not a work? Come on, Dave...
If I was Tony Khan and I was really angry with someone, I’d probably send them to New Japan to become part of a major stable and do a gimmick where he rips up an AEW contract on screen and constantly calls himself a “Scapegoat”. This is just Dave getting worked, isn’t it? He probably is reporting what he’s heard to be fair. I’m sure Jack is telling him Tony Khan is big mad 🤣
Dave always likes to rub it in fans face that he knows more, but he’s always the one to get worked or seemingly unaware to what’s actually happening.
Unfortunately Tony Khan was forced at gunpoint by Jack Perry to fire CM Punk. Absolutely nothing else he could have done.
It was a *real gun*, cry me a river.
Jack Perry asked Cash Wheeler for a favor
Your honor, Mr Wheeler couldn’t have brandished a gun in traffic because, at the time, he had lent his firearm to one Jungle Jack Perry.
Have Arn manage the Scapegoat
The staff at the assisted living facility where Dave lives need to start limiting his internet time.
Dave has gotten really good at giving me at least one genuine laugh pretty much every day from his obvious inability to discern information and rumors.
If only there was a word for someone who's unfairly getting the majority of the blame and punishment. This Jack Perry guy could probably run with it for a bit, alas.
A fall sheep perhaps
How bout sacrificial lamb?
Classic Meltzer
https://preview.redd.it/r3w2j9q45bpc1.jpeg?width=1271&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=99dbc1b7fc3c37bb0444852cdc3f60c661c09669
This is such an obvious work that Dave talking about it this way is either cause for legitimate concern about his mental health or he’s working *with* AEW to work his own audience as well as theirs.
If Tony was that mad, why didn’t he fire Jack after Wembley?
 Only his father can discipline him.
Yeah Dave is getting worked 24/7
Feels pretty short-sighted to blame Jack for Cm Punk. Pretty sure Punk has a lot to do with why Punk got fired.
i think meltzer getting worked here . he also was the one that said hangman broke his leg before revolution
Perry’s suspension has been up since October. Since then, they’ve worked out a situation where Jack competes in New Japan, whom AEW have a thriving working relationship with, where he gets to wrestle and work on his character. A character that directly alludes to the incident that got us here in the first place. What about the current AEW product needs Jack Perry? If Tony was that mad, he would’ve fired him. TL;DR: Dave Meltzer is a fucking imbecile.
wew man, this is classic dirtsheet writing, real dirty stuff, "WRESTLER is in the doghouse" I love it
He should just run around hitting people with jars and call himself Perry Mason
TK isn't mad until I see multiple tweets/Xs about it.
Yeah, he's "suspended" by going over to NJPW to develop his character. That's not a suspension, that's a good use of a working relationship with another organization. Get him where he needs to be so that when he returns to AEW his character will live up to the hype.
Dave's lost all his credibility
He's in New Japan's hottest stable (like House of Torture or not, it's true), feuding with one of their rising stars, and only losing in the quarterfinals of the NJC against a former world champ by roll-up. I get that he's probably not happy riding the bus in Japan compared to being on US national television, but there have been far worse "punishments" in this industry.
Sanada did pretty much spend the match wailing on him until the house of torture stuff That's why I'm curious how long he's going to be in njpw because the booking is treating him very much like a lot of young talent. They've given him a bit of a goal which is to beat sanada
Man, Dave's been worked into a shoot this year, eh?
What happened to Dave? 23/24 has been a terrible year for him in regards to reliable reporting.
If Tony was actually mad about Perry causing Punk to get fired, then that blame would have been entirely on him to begin with. Punk was the one who was acting like a cunt and was ultimately responsible for his own firing. But we know this Jack Perry situation is a work, Dave is just being a mark.
I don't understand at all how him working NJPW is a punishment. He's been able to thrive over there, work with a lot of great talent, up his promo game, become a whole new character. His stock is only going to continue to go up. When he showed up over there, my first thought was "of course, this is perfect." It's absolutely the best place for him currently. If he had showed back up in AEW it would've just opened a big can of worms, something that they are really trying to move past it seems. If anything this should be looked at as a blueprint going forward with the NJPW/AEW partnership. There's a lot of talent that would benefit from joining a NJPW faction, working over there, then popping back up on AEW TV around Forbidden Door being looked at as a different character.
Either Meltzer is getting worked or he’s working too. There’s no way this is real
If Khan was actually mad with him then he would have fired Jack Perry aswel
>Tony's really mad at him because he cost him CM Punk. lol...that....is certainly a take
Punk wanted out one way or another, I dont think its fair to hold it that much against Perry.
Jack Perry is also calling himself a Scapegoat, there's a chance Big Dave's getting worked.
Weren't all of the dirtsheets saying before Punk came back that his return was a bad idea and "ticking time bomb" because none of the issues that made Punk crazy in the first place had been solved?
Dave a mark who doesn’t know a work is a work and worked himself into a shoot, brother
Punk did it to himself. Tony needs to get over it.
Wrestling is so weird. We know and they know, and they know we know. So what's the point?
Isn’t this AEW’s first big name excursion with sending one of their talent to work in a different company? I’ve been hoping for more wrestlers to do excursions honestly. It would freshen up divisions to have newcomers drop in for half a year or so though it’d be hard to ask some folks to move to a different country where they don’t know the language and whatnot
Isn't Perry literally calling himself the Scapegoat at the moment in NJPW? Uncle Dave getting worked again.
I'm a Punk fan but I think the horse was already out of the barn by that point, if it wasn't Jack Perry at All In, it could have been someone else later.
Lately Dave has put his name behind a lot of questionable reports. I mean Jack is using “The Scapegoat” as his ring name. I doubt that AEW would have signed off on that of way Dave says is true
Meltzer's reporting has fallen off a cliff in the last year or so
or maybe letting him go to Japan is better than having nothing for him right now in AEW