sek69

it makes no sense that Bryan is putting his and potentially his family's health at risk, for what? He's famously frugal with his money so it can't be that. He's not going to be positioned as a top guy so it wouldn't be some misplaced desire to not let the company down. Is he that invested in the angle with Drew Gulak? He doesn't seem like a guy who's going to be brainwashed by some corporate BS, plus as stated he's told the company no before. I wonder if he somehow feels he "owes" this to them somehow? It just doesn't add up that a guy who's universally known as one of the smartest folks in the business would make a choice like this.

Finally got to watch Smackdown, and realizing at some point Dana Brooke ended up with permanent duck face. Also I know they are working for a limited roster now, but her and Carmella 1. suddenly being a tag team and 2. expecting a title match instantly was a head scratcher.

They were used awesomely in NXT, when the tag division was a featured part of the show. I don't understand the argument that they weren't poorly used on the main roster unless we're lowering the bar to the point where not being completely buried and humiliated is being "not used terribly". There was the point where they were scooting around like a dog with worms when the Usos put icy hot in their gear so I'm not even sure you can make that argument.

Cash Wheeler definitely sounds like the name of a guy who knows where the best meth is, I'll say that. I suppose if the idea is to be maximum 80s then mission accomplished.

The thing about it is there had been tons of rumor/innuendo/insinuations that Kevin hit her often, not that it makes it true of course but there's a lot of "where there's smoke there's fire" there. Personally, I tend to believe he did hit her. There's a possibility Sandra has a worse idea of than it really was, but then she was obviously only getting one side of the story. Nancy by all accounts was a take-no-shit kind of person so I don't doubt she gave some whippings back to Kevin as well....but it's hardly an equal exchange . I get why he didn't want to talk to the crew though, he would have ended up painted as the villain (well after Benoit himself obviously) and anyone who was around the internet when everything happened remembered how "Kevin did the murders" was the hot conspiracy theory.

Bean hit like a semi, and the extra weight was part of that. Bart's only hope was to last long enough to gas him out, and there was no way he was going to be skilled enough to do that. Another point that I always wondered, is how was WWE able to do legit fights without any regulation? Also to my knowledge no one ever seemed to ask how a guy with one eye got the OK to compete in all that lunacy.

That makes me wonder if it was the reason Russo went so hard on that very point when he'd do all those shooty shoot angles in WCW.

I can 100% believe JBL, even then, was a bully to people lower on the card and/or in no position to retaliate considering it's what he's done his whole career. He didn't wake up one day in the mid 2000s and decide to start being an asshole. That kind of thing has been his MO forever. Plus dude's no dummy, no way he'd try to talk shit to any of the folks that had legit backgrounds. That's not usually how bullies work.

I don't see Vince selling the company without giving up control, and I don't see anyone who would have the resources to do that want to spend billions and still have to put up with Vince doing Vince things in their ear. It would either be the buyer demanding a percentage ensuring they had control, or worse putting Vince in a figurehead position where he thinks he has control but they don't pay any attention to him which is something I don't think would end well for a ton of reasons.

By the way, I noticed Smackdown didn't record for me last night since it was listed as a repeat on my channel guide. The repeat airing on FS1 is showing new so I'll get it then, but considering ratings now take DVR into account I wonder how that will affect things.

Butterbean was 100% brought in to fuck Bart up. He even says so in he doc when he says he told Vince "you know I'm going to knock this guy out, right?" and Vince just smiles. Dude was a legit trained boxer who got famous winning Toughman fights, being put in a shoot environment with a dude he outweighed by about 100 pounds is going to end with the same result 99 times out of 100. As far as Russo taking the blame for not using Bart, I get the impression even if he had come up with ideas it wouldn't have gone anywhere since Vince was pissed some jobber won the tournament set up to be the next program for Austin. Plus it's hard to argue that JR wasn't mad his boy lost when he's clearly still salty about it 20+ years later.

Florida's the same state where the Governor had to be basically forced into closing down the beaches because spring breakers wouldn't stop gathering in groups, so I don't think Vince had to dig deep into his bag of tricks for this one. Dude didn't think the virus killed anyone under 25 and as generally shown himself to be a massive dumbass (even by politician standards) every time he's opened his mouth.

WWE confirmed a "non talent on air personality" tested positive and recovered from Covid-19. Seems like a weirdly worded way to say either a ref, commentator, or backstage interviewer had it. WWE is actively putting people's lives at risk at this point. Between older people like Jerry Lawler being flown in, and compromised people like Bryan still working, Once again they are lucky to be who they are and not a sport or business people pay attention to or they'd get ripped to shreds over this.

People who follow the business know that, but other companies who only deal with them on a B2B level just know Vince is the Wrestling Guy. I would wager folks at USA like Bonnie Hammer probably understand Vince better than that because they've worked with him so long and so closely they've had to have picked up on the Full Vince Experience by now.

Even if there was someone savvy enough, to the outside world WWE = Vince, so when he's not around I could see the business/economic world having no faith in anyone else.

Considering the XFL went from "Vince is budgeting 3 years of losses" to dead in one year, I tend to think Vince is worried about potential cash flow issues. Even more so after the snap decision to start airing TV shows live instead of taped out of fear they'll lose TV money. The stock was taking a beating before everything went to shit, so everything that happened since just screams the choices of a guy trying to save as much cash as possible.

You would think that something worth as much money as a TV deal would have some sort of "we''ll probably never have to use this, but here's what happens in case of a giant, world-changing catastrophe" language included as a CYA measure.

It is, I watched the video. Apparently she felt the unnamed person was taking liberties against someone smaller/not willing to speak up to management and get a bad label and that's why she did it. Which I get, at least the things Nia has done weren't deliberate.

So some interesting things happening with the WWE women, Nia went on a Zoom chat with Paige (and others) and told a story about when she took it upon herself to complain to management because Alexa was getting beat up every night by someone not named and widely assumed to be Ronda. Then Ronda did a rambling interview calling the fans who turned on her ungrateful and it's why she left and she's not sure she's coming back (which lead Alexa to post the "shocked white guy blinking meme" pic as a response). So either this is some weird meta world building for Ronda to return as a mega heel, or Ronda just won the all time Gotten To world championship. Normally I would say this is 100% setting up an angle, but she's so notoriously thin skinned it's hard to say what the deal is.

Juice was in matches with young boys but not really in that role himself. He was just in the lower card to see what he could do, and then when he responded he got moved up.

Bucks/Revival/Lucha Bros/Dark Order (I know everyone hates their gimmick but their in ring is solid)/Best Friends/Dustin/QT (as the veteran guys who make everyone look good) is a hell of a group though.

I don't think it's quite fair to scold WWE talents with "you knew what you were getting into" when they get their heads filled with hype about being the next game changers in the industry, only to have every attempt made to advance their characters and/or creative gets passed on or given to someone else. If someone complains then resigns, that's on them I agree, but we should be supporting folks who call BS on WWE being the land of opportunity for the brass-ring-grabbers.

I will say I am intrigued at the possibilities with Evil Candace (it was kind of weird she was still a face when Johnny went so hard heel). Plus I popped for her wearing HBK inspired gear to make sure she got maximum heat on PWO

It wasn't as bad as I was fearing, it was really just like most of their other matches only with an extended dance sequence on top of a semi. I still can't get over one of the guys in the new monster tag team used to pitch in the Pirates' farm system.

Tony's basically stated they won't be offering stupidly large WCW level money deals, but if someone they think is a difference maker becomes available they'd make an offer.