All Elite Wrestling

[Childs]

48 minutes ago, Cien Caras said:

Remember to never side with a billionaire (or the son of one) over labor. The real change for a new company would have been full employee benefits including health insurance and a union. Instead it’s just another billionaire, same as the old one.

Sure, but do we have any indication this speaks to a broader labor vs. management issue? I would love to see wrestlers establish some collective bargaining power, but there are still going to be individual situations in which the worker behaves like an asshole.

[Loss]

I'm fine siding with capital over labor, especially in professional wrestling, but there's also an element of producer vs consumer to this, and that's typically a more complicated divide.

[ragemaster]

3 hours ago, MoS said:

Did the Pillman angle draw a single cent? It's mostly raved about by insiders and hardcore fans, but I never felt it had any actual impact apart from confusing the live crowds sometimes. 

The work wasn't about drawing money, it was working Bischoff into giving Pillman a release so he could play both WCW and WWE against each other for a bigger contract. 

 

[Childs]

30 minutes ago, Cien Caras said:

No excuse for the son of a billionaire to perpetuate the independent contractor farce and not to offer full benefits and enable unionization.

The worker in this situation is never an “asshole” and is likely massively underpaid relative to their worth. This is exactly the kind of situation where the worker can leverage their power to assert themselves especially in the absence of any legitimate employee rights.

if the consumer suffers, so be it.

You're correct of course that the worker has every right to try to exercise leverage if he thinks he has it. And I understand the lens through which you're looking at it, but you can't expect the average consumer to view it in than context, especially in the absence of any explanation from MJF. Shit, it's hard enough to garner sympathy for labor when you have union leaders laying out clear reasons for their actions. It's fine to say "if the consumer suffers, so be it," but there is risk in that viewpoint because consumer sympathy is part of the worker's leverage. It's muddled all the more by wrestling's strange relationship to reality.

 

 

[Embrodak]

If I knew clearly that this was a contract dispute, I’d be 100% on MJF’s side. If this is just MJF doing some weird work, eh.

[NintendoLogic]

In any event, AEW needs to clearly announce what the deal is on the buy-in. Making people purchase the PPV to find out if one of the most heavily promoted matches will actually take place would be a scumbag carny move.

[MoS]

3 minutes ago, NintendoLogic said:

In any event, AEW needs to clearly announce what the deal is on the buy-in. Making people purchase the PPV to find out if one of the most heavily promoted matches will actually take place would be a scumbag carny move.

10000% yes

[KawadaSmile]

1 hour ago, Cien Caras said:

No excuse for the son of a billionaire to perpetuate the independent contractor farce and not to offer full benefits and enable unionization.

The worker in this situation is never an “asshole” and is likely massively underpaid relative to their worth. This is exactly the kind of situation where the worker can leverage their power to assert themselves especially in the absence of any legitimate employee rights.

if the consumer suffers, so be it.

While I do agree with your overall point, isn't MJF possibly fucking over the pay of other workers as well? I guess he was having that Scottie Pippen contract, but isn't the word around that TK was willing to pay him more? If the underlying reason is just that other workers were having more money/time in the spotlight, are his claims as valid?

[Embrodak]

6 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said:

While I do agree with your overall point, isn't MJF possibly fucking over the pay of other workers as well? I guess he was having that Scottie Pippen contract, but isn't the word around that TK was willing to pay him more? If the underlying reason is just that other workers were having more money/time in the spotlight, are his claims as valid?

If his gripe is that he’s being paid as much as Luchasaurus or some other midcarder despite being basically the top heel in the company, or that Christian Cage or Mark Henry are making more than him despite them barely having to be there, I think that’s valid. 

[Loss]

He is being underpaid. He's also being offered more money. (And no, it's not true that he wanted more money without an extension. That was an online rumor that got started that Fightful has debunked many times.)

He's also definitely hurting Wardlow's future potential to make money and be a star if he doesn't show up tonight, given all the build.

[Embrodak]

Idk, Wardlow being able to say that he was such a kickass badass that he scared MJF away from even showing up to the PPV may be great marketing.

[KawadaSmile]

Maybe, but it's still not giving people what they wanted to see, which is the asskicker kicking ass.

[Loss]

https://twitter.com/BrianMaxMann/status/1530879122368495617

[Coffey]

[El-P]

WWE : Sasha & Naomi have disappointed the entire WWE Universe by failing to show up for tonight's main event. They are unprofessional and are now suspended without pay.

Also WWE : We welcome MJF as the new addition of the WWE Universe, he's a superstar and a great professional.

The preview has been posted on AEW's Youtube, so the match *has to* happen. How it will be worked is another matter and may tell the story of what's to come.

[KawadaSmile]

18 minutes ago, El-P said:

Also WWE : We welcome MJF as the new addition of the WWE Universe, he's a superstar and a great professional.

If he truly went to business for himself, I am not sure this happens, at least not for the price he wants. It's what puzzles me the most about the whole thing, too, as his stock only decreases when it comes to a bidding war.

[Stiva]

Hogan’s tweet warning people to not work themselves into a shoot, brother seems apt here 

[Embrodak]

Conversely, MJF might have realized that the buy rate for this rather cold PPV was gonna be the shits compared to the last few, and figured he could inject a little juice into it by stirring up some drama just beforehand.

[El-P]

2 hours ago, El-P said:

The preview has been posted on AEW's Youtube, so the match *has to* happen. How it will be worked is another matter and may tell the story of what's to come.

The preview has been removed from AEW's Youtube channel.

[El Dragon]

45 minutes ago, Embrodak said:

Conversely, MJF might have realized that the buy rate for this rather cold PPV was gonna be the shits compared to the last few, and figured he could inject a little juice into it by stirring up some drama just beforehand.

Ah yes, nothing like adding potential buys to a PPV by potentially not delivering one of the main 2 matches on the show.

 

I was considering putting 50 down on this show and decided to save my money partly because I of the uncertainty of this match. 

[Loss]

The Buy-In starts in like 3 1/2 hours, I think AEW is really pushing it not clarifying yet. Tony being quiet all day is also really strange. He's never like this on PPV day.

[The Thread Killer]

6 minutes ago, El Dragon said:

I was considering putting 50 down on this show and decided to save my money partly because I of the uncertainty of this match. 

Same. I was going to order this show for sure, now I am on the fence. $50 is a lot of money, and the only two matches I really wanted to see badly are MJF/Wardlow and Punk/Page.

All this uncertainty about MJF showing up combined with no FTR might make this show a pass for me.

[C.S.]

7 hours ago, Stiva said:

I guess we’ll see if this works when the DoN numbers come out. It’s certainly added some intrigue, I’ll give him that

None of this is motivating me to order DoN.

I was on the fence before, and if anything, this has tipped me firmly into the "I'll save my money" category.

The build hasn't been great, and while I'm sure the matches will be bangers, good wrestling in a vacuum means nothing to me.

[WingedEagle]

This story is phenomenal.  Straight out of the Monday night wars with rumors of the other side interfering with talent and all kinds of open ended possibilities.  I'm intrigued enough that if it weren't for game 7 I'd actually consider going all in on soda tonight and buying the PPV.  I have no idea how it shakes out, what is/was/becomes a work or shoot, but love the open questions.  How does TK handle it from an employer/employee perspective?  How does he handle the PPV and any fallout to the lineup?  How do the rosters of both companies view things based on where this goes?  There is good and bad that can come from this, but its fascinating regardless and that's been sorely missing from the business.

[Jmare007]