sek69

So Alberto mentioned recently that the WWE executive that called him to say he was let go was one of the ones who would openly make racist comments. He didn't name names there, but cubsfan noted in his update today that Alberto mentioned before that it was HHH who called him to break the news. He also pointed out that Ricardo made similar claims towards HHH as well.

Has piracy been an issue? If anything the Network probably helped curb piracy of PPVs by not expecting people to shell out $55 to watch a B show.

What WWE is doing isn't working much better to be fair.

It also can't be understated enough that they more or less promised the entire video library would be up at launch or shortly after, only to nearly pull a hamstring walking that back. I know we'd all like the complete runs of all the 80s territories they own, but it's completely ri-god-damn-diculous they don't have any TV from their biggest periods (Attitude Era or 99-01) other than a handful of Raws. It's simply insane that people need to go to YouTube to find that stuff. Bryan mentions it all the time yet Dave dismisses it as a marketing strategy to not give everything away at once. Well now that they lose as many people they sign up, it may be time to stop holding back and go all in.

It's not that there's a magic bullet of content that would have increased subs by itself, it's just by not adding much of anything at all you give the impression that WWE is losing interest and that won't encourage anyone to sign up. I actually disagree with this, strongly. There are tons of guys on the main roster or NXT I could see either starting or being a key player in a boom period. Unfortunately most of the main roster guys have been cut off at the knees by start-stop pushes and handicapped by not being able to get themselves over by being forced to recite dialog that would make a soap opera actor roll their eyes.

My biggest issue is there were long stretches of time where no new content was being added other than Raw/Smackdown on a month delay and the monthly PPV. Between budget cuts and people leaving for other jobs, there was apparently no one manning the ship until just recently. This is the thing your mortgaging the future on more or less and they let it just hang in the breeze, just mind boggling.

Maybe I'm biased since I never was a fan of the ECW garbage style, but I stand by it. I know he was doing stuff that was unheard of in 1994/5, but his legacy at this point is pretty much no showing events, missing 75% of his signature spots and throwing fits afterwards, and asking every fan who ever attended an ECW show if they have any weed. Hell one of his most famous moments was giving Chris Benoit his Crippler name by botching a backdrop. Plus he managed to be unprofessional enough to get told to GTFO by both WCW and WWF/E (twice!) despite being a relatively hot commodity at the time. I'll be fair and state that maybe there's an amazing Sabu match somewhere that I've never seen that would prove me wrong, but it seems like he's more or less a case of Paul Heyman managing to convince everyone the Emperor was wearing a fancy suit of clothes.

Surprised no one mentioned Sabu yet. At least guys like Sandman usually hit their spots (sometimes badly, but still...), very rarely was there a Sabu match where I didn't think he was going to kill himself at some point.

I just happened to have watched that PPV after Raw, and I agree I don't see how the through-the-cage spot would have supposed to have gone if it wasn't meant to happen like that. The only thing I can think of that makes sense is the chair wasn't supposed to be close enough to fall down with him, since it was the chair bouncing up and hitting his face that caused the tooth to go up his nose (and probably the concussion too).

It fits the storyline and all, but man I dunno about teaming up Cena and Orton a month after the so called crowning match of their generation defining feud.

So is Hunter going to wrestle at Survivor Series or will Team Authority be Seth/Kane/Stooges 2014?

To me it seemed like the show was a fine example of the main event framing opinions of the whole show. This would happen in WCW all the time, there's be a show full of great matches but the end would be some nWo clusterfuck and everyone would say the show was garbage when it was really only the main event. HIAC was a pretty good show, even the main event was good IMO, but the Wyatt angle was kind of corny and also confirmed all the reports that Dean is slotted to be a upper mid card guy no matter how popular he gets. That in turn gets people to dump on the entire show as a result. I wasn't as disappointed as some since I was kind of expecting Seth to go over (not to say I was expecting Bray Won Kenobi to appear).

Two things seem clear here: 1. This thread is getting dangerously close to the people who hate-watch WWE programming over on the WON board just to get aggravated over and over when they know they won't like the show. 2. A lot of folks have never met evilclown before.

Yeah the only time I ever heard about someone getting hurt on a powerslam was when WCW had the trap door for the Warrior.

I hope Billy Jack's lawyer is familiar with current WWE so when the company lawyers trot out how much they do now to prevent concussions, he can point out how guys see their pushes disappear when they miss time due to one.

It seems like he's having a public meltdown but it could be work. On a sidenote, I just read the ROH press release about running Terminal 5 for their Final Battle PPV. I was wondering if the Hammerstein Ballroom was booked already that night or was the building rental fee too expensive for ROH to run there. I know somebody that has gone to Terminal 5 for concerts and says that it's smaller than the Hammerstein. Dave mentioned last night Elgin was booking his own angle on Twitter, pissed off ROH, and in the process might have ended up booking his own legit firing in the process.

I'm looking forward to the Nitro-era Raw shows, they got such a much needed kick in the ass at that time.

There's a new guy that started where I work who looks exactly like the Big Show only he's a normal sized dude. It trips me out every time I see him, and he probably thinks I'm some kind of psycho.

Don't know if anyone else listened to it, but Dave pretty much came out and stated mid card guys are refusing runs with the IC belt now since it's seen as a career killer. They'd be right, but who would have thought it would come to that for the belt that used to headline non Hogan shows in the 80s.

Yes, it was going to lead somewhere but it was either forgotten about or Plans Changed.

I liked Foley's promo, but bringing him out is just going to remind people of his match in the cell and how anything done in 2014 is going to pale in comparison.

I like that "Royal Rumble Stats" style promo they did for Hell in a Cell. I still maintain "THAT'S GOTTA BE KANE" is Announcer Vince at his peak.

I love that the ultimate bad ass fighting chick Ronda Rousey goes out in public wearing glasses like my Aunt Mildred used to wear when I was a kid. Ronda's probably don't have the neat faux pearl chain my aunt's had though.

The basis of any independent contractor case is if the company in question tells the worker where and when to work and limits them from working for other parties, then they are an employee and not independent. WWE gets away with what they do because no one wants to be the Curt Flood of wrestling and end unfair labor practice at the cost of getting blackballed.

So it probably won't matter since most wrestlers lack the means and/or testicular fortitude to pursue it in court, but this ruling could give them the legal leg to stand on if anyone ever wants to challenge the whole "independent contractor" deal.