>>9788858Botching aside I like his gritty style and I think Punk being a huge territory mark and Bryan being a technical marvel brought AEW's in-ring standard in a more positive direction after they came in. Both guys for different reasons got a crowd that was overly used to flashy spotfests to appreciate the more grounded stuff.
Like go back and watch Punk vs Dustin Rhodes on Dynamite, that was a fun little throwaway match but it's the kind of fundamentals driven shit you rarely see on TV anymore whether it's AEW, WWE, Impact, whatever. And I loved it, genuinely one of my favorite TV matches in years.
This is not a defense of Phil Brooks himself, who is a whiny bitch who got owned in the UFC.
