I've listened to both the CM Punk interview and Dave Meltzer/Bryan Alverez reaction.
Punk always has this habit of giving these kind of interviews where he peels back the curtain whilst at the same time saying he hates peeling back the curtain. But I thought the majority of what he said made absolute sense. AEW is poorly run and is mostly not interested in ratings and making money. Tony has no interest in running AEW as a serious wrestling company (for better or for worse) and does not have control of that locker room.
I think losing Regal from that backroom team was the moment when they went full 'Inmates running the asylum'. But then again the way Regal left AEW was a huge dick move at the time. I mean if you are relying on Tony Schiavone being the main voice of reason back there then you have already lost.
Punk talking about Perry before and after London was pretty much filling in the blanks that the dirtsheets reported at the time. Same with Hangman Page, Colt Cabana and the 'Brawl-Out' NDA. Just piling on to the fact that if there was a proper leader back there making the decisions then you would never see it get to where it eventually did. But Tony doesn't want to piss off his friends.
Case in point - Dave and Bryan were in full damage control mode. They went all in on bashing Punk and defending AEW, Tony and The Elite. Them trying to twist quotes saying punk was going to 'Murder Hangman Page on TV' as an actual murder rather than Punk going equally off script to 'murder him' in the promo. The 'I only choked him a little bit' was a bit of a stupid line by Punk but at the same time Tony should never have let it get that far backstage after all the warnings that were out there.
As for Jim Cornette, he is a guy stuck in the 70's and 80's wrestling scene and doesn't always sees where the product is nowadays. But I do find his views on storylines and selling a story to an audience in a ring really interesting. He isn't in it to make friends or keep sources open. He speaks his mind and is honest in his own head about what he sees. He isn't explaining why matches are worth 4 and 3/4 stars over a 5 star match and when he has an agenda he doesn't switch it on a dime either.
Put it this way. I would much rather listen to Jim Cornette's opinions on something wrestling related than Uncle Dave Meltzer.
Tony runs it as his fantasy fed, and quite frankly he can do that, he has more than enough money to do so. If he was so inclined he could run the place for like 1000 years before his family runs out of money if they don't make any more money ever across all their businesses.
I don't think they are going to be off TV, whatever is said about ratings and them dropping it's still way higher than what was on, probably for cheaper too for WBD. Every indication is they want more and will resign the TV deal. Tony could absolutely be a better boss and stronger but he can afford to be as fast and loose as he wants to be as well.
While Regal leaving may have had an impact, he was in a similar being to other talent that went there, just seeing it as a parachute. How he left was proper snake behavior as well (lying about what he would do, and at a time when Tony was worried about his mum dying).
On Dave and Bryan, what I would say is they absolutely 100% do not have sources in AEW anymore and they aren't happy about it. As someone who used to listen regularly they clearly turned, and that co-insided with the news Dave had drying up. Basically both of them are functionally useless for wrestling opinion and news - too partisan, gimmicked, and uninformed.
I wouldn't listen to Cornette though. Guy is stuck in an age and now, like Bischoff or Bubba Ray or Konnan and Disco, hasn't got success in the industry anymore and so act as podcasters to fans who treat them too highly and mimic their opinions with little critical thinking. And the grift is all bash AEW (sometimes rightly, sometimes wrongly, sometimes with lacking self awareness) - see how WWE is hotter than ever yet they barely touch it, because the grift isn't there
