Is the empire crumbling before our eyes?

[strobogo]

If there is such a thing at winning at life, The Rock absolutely won at life

[El-P]

There isn't.

[strobogo]

Okay

[C.S.]

2 hours ago, El-P said:

There isn't.

You okay, man???

[El-P]

1 minute ago, C.S. said:

You okay, man???

No worse than I usually am. 

[Rah]

8 hours ago, strobogo said:

If there is such a thing at winning at life, The Rock absolutely won at life

 

8 hours ago, El-P said:

There isn't.

 

8 hours ago, strobogo said:

Okay

Shut it down. We've peaked. 

[El-P]

Legit cracked me up, I admit.

[fxnj]

Maybe I've been living in a cave, but never heard of there being heat between Rock and H. Thought it was just Rock and Michaels. Given that H losing power has led to Michaels taking over NXT, that's not very good revenge.

[Timbo Slice]

I thought it went back to Rock’s appearance on SNL, yeah?

[MoS]

I think the Rock-HHH heat is the continuation of the Rock-HBK heat, especially because Hunter was involved both in trying to get Bret to beat Rock for the IC title in 1997, as well as trying to convince Vince that Rock didn't deserve to headline against Austin at WrestleMania in 1999. I also remember Meltzer pointing to voices in Vince's ear telling him they no longer need Rock, after they had somehow let the fucking Rock's contract expire, under the guise of a clerical error. 

As for NXT, while Shawn oversees the execution of Vince's vision these days, it is clear that creatively he has lost power from the Adam Cole-Johny Gargano-Ciampa days, which had his fingerprints all over the product.

[Timbo Slice]

Saw this over at DVDVR, but apparently Thatcher has transferred over to being a trainer now? I wonder if injuries caught up to him? Seems like a natural fit (his friends I’ve worked with at local indies out her still rave about how much they’ve learned about him to this day), but my hope is that he can still work when need be, as he can obviously still go. 

[strobogo]

WWE having Thatcher and Hideki as trainers but then just having people do front rolls for months and months on end 

[El-P]

They don't want "indy style" in their product because WWE Style (tm) is the law. However, they hire "indy guy who never worked in the main roster" as trainers. Make sense.

[sek69]

I would assume Thatcher saw the writing on the wall and decided his best chance to stay employed was to be a trainer.  

Hell, him teaching guys to do front rolls would still be a better use of him than being a jobber in NXT or a comedy gimmick on Raw chasing the 24/7 title. 

[El-P]

'member when people where having fantasies of big time matches against WALTER when he signed ? That good ol' WWEptimism...

[sek69]

I hate to defend WWE, but there wasn't much they could do if he didn't want to come to the US for more than a short trip. 

[El-P]

Him or anyone else really. He's been a complete waste of talent for someone who has such a unique kind of talent. It's not like he had any shot to begin with of course. 

[Zoo Enthusiast]

They destroyed an incredible European wrestling scene and they are left with… a trainer.  What a shame.

[sek69]

32 minutes ago, Zoo Enthusiast said:

They destroyed an incredible European wrestling scene and they are left with… a trainer.  What a shame.

Hey there's also NXT UK which apparently is still putting out great matches on the regular but nobody watches it. 

[Dale Wolfe]

NXT UK in-ring is great but commentary is awful

It really is a studio show, though, if you are nostalgic for that

[Timbo Slice]

I do think there's going to be an attempt to branch out in the UK once safe to do so, mainly because it can be budgeted somewhat better.

But at the same time, yeah, something has to give.

 

[Flyin' Brian]

Looks like Owens and Zayn have both resigned. Lord knows why, especially Sami. 

[Timbo Slice]

My guess is that they saw a contract with 7 figures on it. 

[Zoo Enthusiast]

It's too bad but I can't blame them if they got paid that much.

[PeteF3]

On the other hand, as Dave pointed out on WOR, they essentially signed rolling 90-day contracts, not "3-year" deals or however long it was.