sek69

I would kind of agree that it's hard to make a surprising debut nowadays since more people (and certainly a lot of AEW's base) are far more aware of who's coming and going than back in the day. Impactful is another story. I would say both Jericho and Moxley's debuts were impactful and helped both their own careers and their company's prospects.

I was too until he started doing the same "I'M BACK AND I'M TIRED OF BEING DISRESPECTED" shtick that Sheamus *just* did like a month ago when he came back. It was like either the Random Storyline Generator pooped out the same idea twice in a row or they can't be bothered to come up with anything else for an ex champion coming back from a long layoff.

The outrage is for the obvious "releasing people during a pandemic is fucked up" reasons and also because it was completely unnecessary since WWE was set to have the most financially successful year ever even after Covid shut things down. Also someone (Bix maybe?) did the math and the money they are saving running TV from the PC more than offset the cost of paying everyone they let got. There are some companies that had to let people go to survive, which sucks but at least is defensible. WWE fired a bunch of people for basically no reason seemingly to get rid of people who had the nerve to either want to leave or ask for more money at some point. So yeah, TL;DR WWE's pandemic firings were worse than most since they were completely unnecessary.

Yes, the heel has to make sure that he's better than you, and you should know it.

I'm starting to think he was never actually let go to be honest. If you look back, pretty much everyone else let go had either made waves about wanting to leave or was someone that hadn't been used in forever. Drake didn't really fit in either category, and it made the company look stupid for appearing to release someone who was already announced to be in a tournament spanning multiple weeks of TV. That's some Dixie-level TNA shit to do, not something you normally see in WWE - especially on a show they are putting focus on as the one combating the new competition. I'm probably being too conspiracy theorist (and almost certainly giving the company too much credit), but it just seemed to work out nicely for everyone involved in a way that just seemed too neat for something not planned long in advance.

Man, if I got fired during the pandemic and the company came back offering me a fraction of what I was making as if it was a gesture of goodwill I don't know if I could tell them to fuck off fast enough.

Fantasma-Drake was a fantastic match and the post match would have been a great angle had the whole thing not been based on the company cutting people to save money in a year they were set to make record profits no matter what.

This is why I'm thinking Cole might leave. He has to know there's zero chance Vince does anything with him on the main roster, and he has a much better shot of being a top guy in a place like AEW where he obviously already has connections. Dave mentioned WWE is now feeling comfortable letting guys go they feel won't be difference makers anywhere else, and I can easily see Vince putting Cole in that group.

WWE painted themselves in a corner with Dream, some of it wasn't their fault, but now they're in a position where if he wins they put the belt on a guy who seems to have sent dick pics to someone underage. If he loses, then they face the wrath of having him lose a high profile match in the middle of historical racial unrest. Did Adam Cole ever re sign with WWE? I kept hearing his contract was ending this summer so I assumed this feud was set up to write him out if he leaves.

The bald one looks like a mini Michael Elgin now that he trimmed his beard.

Britt;s wheelchair should get more and more intricate every week until she ends up in some Captain Pike monstrosity.

So I guess Tully's plan is to turn Spears into Mid-South era Ted DiBiase with the glove?

Well it's not like they're winning or anything at least. Also props for actually saying the words Black Lives Matter. All these other corporate PR statements dance around it without actually saying the words.

With Big E I can kind of understand it since the New Day is such a popular act they don't want to break it up, and all three of them have stated they resisted any suggestions to do so. There's no excuse for Keith Lee not being made the top star though. Dude's got the ability and the charisma for it and it's hard to think of any reason why he isn't other than the obvious that wouldn't make for good PR in the current climate. It really seems they are trying to run out the clock on him til he gets to that point where Vince deems you too old no matter what logic dictates.

Weird that Spud would be featured when presumably they are building up the story of him winning the tournament on NXT to keep his job.

For younger folks I would imagine that could be the case, but Vince came of age right when MLK was doing all the stuff you'd expect he would very much not like. It's what makes it even more head scratching for me, it's not like he only knows of an idealized version of the man. He would have been very aware of what he stood for in real time.

By all accounts Vince legit idolizes MLK, but is also best pals with Trump. I don't think the entire psychiatric profession could unravel the enigma that is Vince McMahon.

Tammy Sytch out here showing her entire ass on Twitter, and not in an OnlyFans way.

Looking back at Taker's reactions to people upset at what he's wearing, I think we have to consider the possibility he legit thinks it's just run of the mill rah-rah "support the troops, MURICA" stuff with no other context.

Yeah, I don't want to speak for the admins but the intent of the PWO Rule was always to avoid hot button topic that only drag things down (religion/abortion/guns, etc), and it's hard to avoid Real World Topics when the US is on fire and wrestlers are making public statements on it. LIke KO said, Gunner fought for his right to have wrong opinions so no argument from me there, but his co-workers also have the right to call him on it.

Ali dragged him too, dude just pissed off a lot of his co workers to win points with racists. Hope it was worth it to him.

Gotta keep Charlotte strong, bubba.

Yeah it's not that his viewpoints were not known before, it's the fact he could look around at everything that's going on and feel it's a good time to show his love for His President.

Said POTUS made a speech threatening to send the US military to shoot citizens protesting, which is illegal, around the time this piece of shit made his tweet.

Honestly I'm fairly certain the only reason they don't do that is either it's too expensive to keep them around full time like Brock or the old guys they would want to do that with can't physically do a full time schedule.