I was going to show the analysis of the potential insanity of this "Worked shoot" storyline, then I saw someone share a version of it on Twitter, but I am going to share anyways since some of the discussion is pretty interesting.
Some people also point out the fact that you can even trace it to the ROH 6 man title loss which was one of the Buck's first temper tantrums. Hangman costing the team due to his Swerve obsession.
In the end, the showing of the Brawl In footage, while I can get how it is a bit cringey, even without Punk's interview was a big spark to it, a needed flavouring. Because the storyline isn't just about Okada, or the Bucks, or even Hangman and Kenny, it's for Jack to get him back on track. The footage sort of showed he didn't really "do" anything wrong. Though Punk was mostly truthful about the incident in his interview (Though he didn't 'punch' anyone, he DID swing multiple times) and TK's "Feared for my life" saying was stretched (Feared for safety, yes, with two wrestlers fighting for real in front of you, ramming into your monitors while you're on headset with everyone yelling). So he is justifiably in storyline pissed off to have received that sort of punishment. Then in Chicago, enemy territory, Punk country, the crowd didn't really chant for CM Punk (Any Punk chants were boo'ed) they chanted for him.
Now we have:
-The Bucks being heels again but having new characters, something people often criticized them on.
-Okada as a primarily Japanese speaker but is otherwise charismatic, has an aura about him, great in the ring, has people around him who can lead promos, hype him and his matches up while he's continuing to improve his English.
-Jack Perry getting reactions and after his initital heel turn showing some "potential" but wasn't refined enough as a character and maybe didn't have the confidence yet, getting loud reactions positive or negative, a more fleshed out character, more confidence, and a storyline which he can sink his teeth into and rise up the card.
I'm always iffy on the idea of "Worked Shoots" in wrestling since often it is very forced. "You don't want to PUT OVER people." and the peak of Russo without a filter soured me on it. But this is actually an overall well done example of using real life and blending it into storyline. Is it everyone's cup of tea? No. But this story is interesting. Personally, my hopes are, for whoever "Stands up" to this new Elite, whether the ones who fall along the way or the ones who succeed, that there's a mix of new exciting blood along with players who make sense and have history.
As for the people who say "Oh, you're reaching." We're the same fanbase who picked apart the "White Rabbit" saga and the current one for Howdy. We look for details and shit. And sometimes the details are blatant (Roman hitting Shield gear wearing Seth with a chair in a near mirror of Seth's original heel turn) other times subtle or makes sense afterwards (The times someone gives someone a small glare in the background, Jay White's takeover of Bullet Club, making people think he's trying to take over CHAOS, instead weakening it from the inside and taking the BC, where he had ties to Devitt, but not wanting to be in the shadow of Kenny after laying him out on Jan 5th). And maybe sometimes we're wrong. Other times, we're right, or things just work out. That's sort of the key with long-term storytelling in wrestling. Sometimes you plan something out beat for beat, but a lot of the time it is just as simple as seeing the foundation you have and instead of just levelling it and trying to put something artificial there, you build something on it which fits, even if there were some "mistakes" when you laid it. That's how you build a story.
