Is the empire crumbling before our eyes?

[Coffey]

It's weird how wrestlers getting released is like the modern version of Lex Luger showing up on Nitro. Due to the no compete clauses, we don't really get jumping ship surprises anymore, so now all the speculation is where someone might wind-up after they leave one company.

[strobogo]

I understand cutting the people they haven't used in ages, but it seemed like they gave Billie Kaye a lot of screen time the past 3-4 months. I don't know why they bothered putting in so much time to get her a story for WM just to cut her immediately after along with her partner who they thought had way more upside and did nothing for in the same period.

[Loss]

I love people blaming John Laurinitis for this. His role is to take the heat so that Vince McMahon doesn't have to, and I thought everyone understood that by now.

[sek69]

10 minutes ago, Loss said:

I love people blaming John Laurinitis for this. His role is to take the heat so that Vince McMahon doesn't have to, and I thought everyone understood that by now.

Are people doing that for real? I assumed a lot of it was being sarcastic since they just brought him back not too long ago and they immediately started letting people go. 

[Zoo Enthusiast]

Have to think it’s just the tip of the iceberg but they don’t want to release 40 people in one day.

[Mad Dog]

They could easily release 100 people today and still have a bloated roster. I remember doing an EWR sim of the WWE in 2019 and it was insane. I think I had over 200 people under contract to start.

[KawadaSmile]

This company fired the good Rotunda brother

[sek69]

2 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said:

This company fired the good Rotunda brother

Did he beat JTG's record of staying employed without having anything to do? It's got to be close. 

[strobogo]

Bo Dallas sucks, too, though.

[Coffey]

Now can they put the axe to some people in NXT? Like Drake Wuertz & Velveteen Dream should have been gone yesterday.

[sek69]

1 minute ago, Coffey said:

Now can they put the axe to some people in NXT? Like Drake Wuertz & Velveteen Dream should have been gone yesterday.

There's so many people who have been in NXT/Developmental for YEARS with little to no signs of improvement that could be let go with little fear they'll show up on TV elsewhere but those are the ones that weirdly seem hoarded the most. 

[C.S.]

NXT releases were announced on a different day last year, so here's hoping Velveteen Dream, Jordan Devlin, Drew Wuertz, etc. aren't far behind. 

Feels callous to actively wish for people to lose their jobs, but it's also impossible at this point to see Dream, etc. without feeling utter disdain and nausea. 

[C.S.]

No more GronkMania, I guess.

[Mad Dog]

It amazes me Mojo was there for as long as he was and showed zero improvement as a worker.

[KawadaSmile]

Ok that was the last straw for me. Mojo is fucking great and from now on I'll spam #CancelWWENetwork 

[sek69]

13 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said:

Ok that was the last straw for me. Mojo is fucking great and from now on I'll spam #CancelWWENetwork 

Now you have to spam #CancelTheCock instead.

 

.......wait...what?

[Jmare007]

Mojo was still employed??? holy shit.

 

And yeah, to be honest, they could cut 50 more people and it would still feel they have too many wrestlers on the roster.

[sek69]

The company can't make it any more clear that they won't do shit with 85-90% of the people they sign other than waste their peak drawing years, yet somehow folks still are acting like signing a WWE deal is a worthy life goal. 

At this point the only people who should sign with WWE are guys at the end of their run looking to cash out for a big payday. The Nak Special if you will. 

[KawadaSmile]

Let's be honest, WWE sounds like a dream job if your main concern is making money. You're earning what, a 5 digit salary per month? To sit in catering and work out? Sounds pretty fucking cool to me!

[strobogo]

Yeah there's a whole lot of talent that gets signed to WWE that really has no business being there to begin with, those people should be thrilled they're getting paid to have access to the PC 24/7 and not have to travel and take bumps.

[sek69]

To me and you that sounds good, but someone who busted their ass to be a pro wrestler isn't going to be satisfied sitting in catering for months instead of doing what they spent all that time/effort/money into becoming. 

 

[Coffey]

1 hour ago, sek69 said:

At this point the only people who should sign with WWE are guys at the end of their run looking to cash out for a big payday. The Nak Special if you will. 

Nak is another dude that if WWE released I wouldn't bat an eye. Surprised they've kept him this long to be honest.

Then again they just used Nattie, Tamina & Nia in a tag team title match at Wrestlemania, so what do I know.

[KawadaSmile]

1 hour ago, sek69 said:

To me and you that sounds good, but someone who busted their ass to be a pro wrestler isn't going to be satisfied sitting in catering for months instead of doing what they spent all that time/effort/money into becoming. 

I totally get it, sometimes people really love what they do and just cannot live without it - look at Daniel Bryan as the major example. On the other hand, if someone from the indies end up getting a contract, I believe they wouldn't mind getting zero exposure (it's not like they don't train with each other or keep in touch) if that meant getting their families and themselves a new house and financial stability.

It sucks at an artistic level, but business-wise people shouldn't be feeling too bad about it. Besides, they can still have their presence felt over social media and raise their stock enough so that other companies are aware of what they have to offer. It's a win-win at this current conjuncture.

[strobogo]

9 hours ago, sek69 said:

To me and you that sounds good, but someone who busted their ass to be a pro wrestler isn't going to be satisfied sitting in catering for months instead of doing what they spent all that time/effort/money into becoming. 

 

 

I'm not talking about high talent guys sitting on the sidelines. Not talking about Andrade types. I'm talking about these people who got recruited to the PC and then did nothing for years but get paid to be in catering. 

[Robert S]

3 hours ago, strobogo said:

 

I'm not talking about high talent guys sitting on the sidelines. Not talking about Andrade types. I'm talking about these people who got recruited to the PC and then did nothing for years but get paid to be in catering.  

Those are guys (and girls) who (1) don't have highly paid contracts and (2) often come directly from colleges (if at that). Once they are released, they have at best a college degree in their pockets and did something for a couple of years that won't entice potential employers to hire them. They might find it fun during their stay there, but very soon afterwards will find out that they squandered their time.