Diversions To Silence The CM Punk Chants For AJ?

[Mitch Henessey]

During AJ and Paige's tag team match against The Funkadactyls last night, the focus was on the tension between Naomi and Cameron, with Cameron refusing to tag Naomi and the little scuffle between the two after the match.

During the match, one question constantly popped in my mind: What about AJ and Paige? It's the obvious elephant in the room, because it's hard to ignore AJ's surprise return to reclaim the Divas Championship one week ago. On top of that, we're supposed to believe AJ is naive enough to trust Paige, when Paige wants the Divas Championship?

Clearly AJ/Paige is the bigger story in the Divas division, but the friction between Naomi and Cameron overshadowed everything last night, with AJ and Paige quietly leaving the ringside area during the confrontation between Naomi and Cameron. Call me crazy, and this is a theory that popped in my head, but do you believe in WWE using Cameron and Naomi to take the focus off of AJ to put a stop to the "CM Punk!" chants?

The whole scenario felt really strange to me, and maybe I'm reading too much into this, and maybe I'm too impatient, but during and after the match, I couldn't shake this feeling of WWE intentionally downplaying AJ's presence to silence the chants. After all, Punk and AJ as a married couple is not a secret. We all now they're married, and it's out in the open now.

I'm wondering if WWE has any future plans to pull anymore diversions to silence the Punk chants. AJ's presence in front of a live crowd will spark the chants no matter what, and the only way to put a stop to it for good is if CM Punk returns to WWE. Also, I don't believe the fans starting the chants are doing so out of support for a Punk return, when AJ is in the ring. I sincerely believe the vast majority of them are being dicks, because they know what's going on in real life.

Do you believe in the chances of WWE using diversions to silence the CM Punk chants, or am I reading too much into the fiasco between Naomi and Cameron last night?

 

[Slash-LN]

Nope.
Cameron and Naomi were already having tension while AJ was taking a break. At that time Paige was the champion and the Naomi and Cameron stuff was building as the two tried to get the title off Paige.

The idea last night was two people who shouldn't be getting along (Paige and AJ) were able to work together to beat two people who should be getting along because they're supposed to be friends.

Last night just furthered that storyline as it continues to grow.
They'll be focusing on AJ and Paige soon enough.

Also if they didn't want attention on AJ they wouldn't have had her win the title her first night back. That would be counterproductive.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

I doubt it. The "CM Punk" chants are essentially something like the new "What?" chants, they're often things that fans do sometimes for certain promo segments, matches or, in AJ's case, because she happens to be married to Punk.

All in all, the chants are pretty much a non factor now and have been for quite a while. I think WWE has handled the chants perfectly by ultimately not giving into them. Wrestlers who're doing promos keep their focus and push through them with the fans who're chanting stopping after 10-15 seconds after they start because they're not getting the rise/reaction they're hoping for. The few times they have been acknowledged, such as when Stephanie was talking with Daniel Bryan in the ring several weeks back, she essentially put the chanters in place by saying, after hearing Punk's name, something to the effect of "...is not hear because he up and quit." It drew great heat, partially because it's true regardless of what the circumstances might've been.

WWE's most definitely put a much stronger emphasis on in-ring action over the course of this year, which I think has been a big factor in preventing the situation with CM Punk from being a major detriment to them during WrestleMania season. It's hard to complain when there's strong wrestling content on week after week, storylines & feuds that are interesting even if they're not all ways executed smoothly and ultimately the fans know that the show has to go on.

 

[Viola Moonlight]

The Funkadactyls have been building up to an implosion for weeks now (excluding any Total Diva's stuff) and it got to the point where if they waited any longer to execute, it would've caused the angle to lose some steam. The AJ/Paige angle just started and considering they are the top two Diva's in the division, they can afford to skip any major storyline advancement and allow them to pick it up later down the track.

Naomi vs. Cameron was simply the higher priority storyline that needed the attention, not the AJ/Paige rivalry. The CM Punk chants have nothing to do with anything except for smarky, douchebag fans who know AJ & Punk are a couple.

 

[Pedigree1]

The CM Punk chants are just that right now,chants that mean nothing... The WWE is doing a great job,in ignoring the chants and not giving in,or even acknowledging them. The chants only last a few seconds,no longer than that...

The wrestlers are doing their promos,everything is business as usual. The Tension between Naomi and Cameron,happened before AJ went on Hiatus.. Indeed very hard to argue,WWE has been putting on kick-ass matches,that takes away from the CM Punk absence..

The Product is fresh,and is enjoyable to watch.. New Stars,Roman,Wyatt,Seth,Dean,the Rebirth of Cody Rhodes aka Stardust! Yes the Wheel does keep on spinning

 

[Mustang Sally]

As stated above, Naomi and Cameron were due to have their falling out, and it seems the better path to not having their program drowned out by Punk chants would be to not have AJ not involved in a match that involved the Funkadactyls.

That said, I'm enjoying the start of the apparent AJ-Paige feud. In everything involving her, AJ has always been the one who acts out while her opponent/partner is the "straight man." Here, Paige is the one acting out of character while AJ essentially ignores her, which has never been AJ's stock-in-trade. Is AJ taking a lower profile to stifle Punk chants from the fans? It's hard to say since it's so early in AJ's latest run with the company, but I would think WWE could quiet the chants by having AJ do some outrageous schtick on her own, which she's surely proven herself capable.

Wait until she and Paige really get going. Then, we'll see some fireworks.....Punk chants be damned.

 

[JoeFromTomsRiver]

I honestly think that the CM Punk chants only bother self-righteous wrestling fans.

They feel bad ON BEHALF of the wrestlers who are performing while the chants occur, but the wrestlers themselves couldn't give a shit.

And the WWE itself doesn't give a shit. If they were so concerned with white-washing Punk from programming they wouldn't have done a WM Rewind ABOUT him last night.

 

[Mudlup50]

Maybe they are and Punk is coming back next week hence the Sting tweet! ><

No seriously it was building for the Funkadactyls to break up for a while now it just so happened to be this week. They had to be the focus, could you imagine it being a hard fought win for AJ and Paige, if anything it'd just make them look week and ruin the feud they're gonna have going into SummerSlam. This needed to be a squash!

 

[toddmb]

I honestly think that the CM Punk chants only bother self-righteous wrestling fans.

They feel bad ON BEHALF of the wrestlers who are performing while the chants occur, but the wrestlers themselves couldn't give a shit.

And the WWE itself doesn't give a shit. If they were so concerned with white-washing Punk from programming they wouldn't have done a WM Rewind ABOUT him last night.

^^ This. ^^ Honestly, I don't think it's anything any of us should get too bent out of shape about.

...Isenberg

 

[Dagger Dias]

I don't think that it was a diversion to get past the CM Punk chants. The Funkadactyls had been showing signs of tension between them for a while so this would have been coming anyway. I don't care personally. Both of them suck so why would I ever root for either one of them? It will be a boring feud that in the grand scheme of things, few people will end up being remotely interested in. As for distractions for the Punk chants? There's really nothing that the WWE can do but either ignore it or figure our a way for AJ to use the chants and reactions to help fuel her promos. The Punk fans miss seeing one of their favorite wrestlers and AJ happens to be in a relationship with him in real life. It's going to happen. WWE will likely find a way to deal with it, or just ignore it. It's been almost half a year. I'm fully convinced he's never coming back.

 

[Prasdana]

I'm not sure but I guess no. WWE does a good job for ignoring CM Punk's chants anyway. Let AJ Lee becomes her own person like she was