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Is the empire crumbling before our eyes?


flyonthewall2983

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He also mentioned top guys can negotiate a no cut deal if they push for it, while it would be a non starter for anyone below that level. I would assume Edge has the stroke to get a no cut deal, but then again he's done enough acting gigs he might not care if they did cut him. He wanted to come back so he could finish his career on his terms, and I would suspect if he got cut today he would probably feel he's done that. 

Braun is the interesting case for me. He seems like a guy who could be molded into a pretty big star if he's paired with the right people anywhere he goes, but he also gave the impression he bought in completely that anywhere not WWE is low rent trash so it might be hard for him to shake that.

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8 minutes ago, sek69 said:

He also mentioned top guys can negotiate a no cut deal if they push for it, while it would be a non starter for anyone below that level. I would assume Edge has the stroke to get a no cut deal, but then again he's done enough acting gigs he might not care if they did cut him. He wanted to come back so he could finish his career on his terms, and I would suspect if he got cut today he would probably feel he's done that. 

Braun is the interesting case for me. He seems like a guy who could be molded into a pretty big star if he's paired with the right people anywhere he goes, but he also gave the impression he bought in completely that anywhere not WWE is low rent trash so it might be hard for him to shake that.

I've seen firsthand that Braun had legit crossover appeal with casuals a few years ago.  I'm not sure where he is now with people as I haven't been going out and talking with casuals due to the pandemic, and we haven't had real crowds, but he was one of the few "new" guys who was over with Attitude Era fans who were super casual Rumble/Mania and occasional flipping channels on TV types.  Braun with his size, power and look definitely stood out

He also seems like a reasonably intelligent guy, at least based on hearing him on Talk is Jericho.  I think people who think he's just a big dumb meathead due to some of the stuff he's said on twitter/interviews might be surprised.  I got the sense he was a fan and a student of the game, and if he's still friends with people like Jericho and the Good Brothers I don't see why he wouldn't take the AEW/Impact/NJPW route if it becomes available to him.

He definitely has a bit of a Sid in ECW vibe to him where I could see the hardcores loving him wherever he goes as long as he does dope power shit and none of the hokey bullshit WWE had him doing way too often.  Who wouldn't want to see him just killing fools on Elevation?

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2 hours ago, MoS said:

I imagine Braun burned some bridges with his comments about wrestlers starting GoFundMe's during the pandemic

No indie promoter is going to give a shit about that, nor should they.

But Braun isn't going to your local bingo hall anyway... He'd sign with another major league promotion or Japan, if he goes anywhere at all.

My guess is he's back in WWE by WrestleMania. 

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6 hours ago, C.S. said:

No indie promoter is going to give a shit about that, nor should they.

But Braun isn't going to your local bingo hall anyway... He'd sign with another major league promotion or Japan, if he goes anywhere at all.

My guess is he's back in WWE by WrestleMania. 

If Tony Khan's roster is pissed at him due to comments he made when AEW wrestlers started GoFundMes, then Tony Khan will absolutely give a shit about that, and that's just obvious fact. There's a reason Ivelisse is one of two wrestlers AEW released during the pandemic. What your peers think of you in a major league locker room absolutely matters. Sure, for indie promotions it is irrelevant cuz the upside is too much, but for AEW, unless it's a Cena-level star, what the locker room thinks about you is absolutely relevant. PWG and GCW promoters might not give a shit about what their wrestlers think of him, but Tony Khan absolutely will care about how his wrestlers feel about him. To say otherwise is to just ignore how AEW has worked so far. 

That is, if he even wants to go to AEW. Nothing I have seen from him gives me any indication that he cares one bit about wrestling for any promotion that is not WWE, so really, this mutual disdain certainly goes both ways. He probably does not even try getting a job with the outlaw mudshow pissant promotion that AEW is, cuz it's beneath him. Which is fair enough, and it is his prerogative, his decision. So really, both parties are probably on the same page here. 

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18 hours ago, Coffey said:

I would join the Vince McMahon Kiss My Ass Club if he were paying me $200k/year to sit backstage & eat catering. Yeah, the life on the road would be hard & I couldn't personally find myself enjoying driving all the miles, doing all the car rentals, airplane travel & hotel living but even the bottom tier job guys are putting back a lot of money & own big properties to set themselves up for life after WWE. Like look at the house that Zack Ryder was living in. That WWE wanted to use his pool for filming a vignette after he was fired. As a non-wrestler, just a normal, everyday person working long hours for not a lot of money, I can't imagine making enough money where I wouldn't have to worry about going to the doctor, or if I needed unforeseen car repairs or not having to stress about wanting to have a baby because we can't afford it.

I get the creative aspect of it & the wanting to succeed & be a top guy & all that. But, at least for me, and I'm sure others as well, that shit would come AFTER being financially secure first. WWE has provided that to a lot of people & their families. The TV sucks, the creative is tapped out but there's still a lot of bonds & friendships being made, relationships backstage among the talent & they're all still getting paid. 

There does seem to be some Stockholm syndrome & a weird father figure relationship among Vince & a lot of the talent but even if you're not main eventing Wrestlemania or getting the top belt put on you, even if you're just doing a Main Event taping or whatever, you're still there, a part of WWE, still making the shows & the towns, still away from your family & basically living with the roster.

The thing is, people with this mindset have no shot at WWE in the first place. You have to be driven beyond reason to bust your ass on the indies racking up miles and building up word of mouth to earn a shot at the big time. If you just want a decent steady paycheck, you'll nope out of that life well before arriving on WWE's radar. Also, almost nobody comes out of wrestling set for life. A few million in the bank sounds like a lot until you realize you have to spread it out over 40 or so years. And even if you have more than that, it doesn't take much (divorce, bad investments, medical emergency) to put you underwater financially. Just ask Hulk Hogan or Lex Luger.

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Drake Wuertz interviewed by Fireside Chat, post-release, discussing the Ezra Judge incident:

"It was at a live event, EJ was fairly new and one of my jobs is leading the ring crew on the Florida loops. Everyone gets together to set up the ring. Any time there is a new class coming in, we teach them how to set up the ring and do it safely and efficiently."

Please note his use of the present tense. I'm no headshrinker but I think it's further proof there's some kangaroos loose in Drake's top paddock.

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2 minutes ago, Dav'oh said:

 Please note his use of the present tense. I'm no headshrinker but I think it's further proof there's some kangaroos loose in Drake's top paddock.

While I'm sure it's true that there are "some kangaroos loose in Drake's top paddock" (lol), speaking in present tense - which a lot of people do, whether it's warranted it or not - isn't really an indication of that.

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Not to mention Ezra's issue wasn't anything to do with being asked to help set up the ring, but with Drake talking grimy to him when he wasn't in a position to be doing that. Wording it that way makes Judge look like he was being an uppity brat (which I'm sure that isn't the word Drake would use) instead of telling someone acting like he's the boss to STFU. 

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21 minutes ago, C.S. said:

speaking in present tense....isn't really an indication of that.

Not always, no, but here I think it speaks of a disassociation from reality, or a very strong state of denial.

He starts off with the correct tense, "It was at a live event", but when it comes to his employment status he switches tenses - in the same sentence. I think (again, I'm no headshrinker) a balanced mind would say, "It was at a live event and one of my jobs was to...". He speaks like he's still employed there, which is what leapt out at me.

Taken alone, you're right, @C.S.. As part of the bigger Drake Wuertz picture, it seems like another indicator of his psychological decline. Or I'm reading to much into it and it was a slip of the tongue. 

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I don't see what the big deal is. He was given a shitty gimmick and he tried to make something of it? And he's proud of the thought he put into it and wants to share that with people? I mean, yeah, it's all a bit cringe, but it's also pretty shitty dunking on him because he's proud of some of the work he did. Unless I'm missing something completely.

Now, the whole 'the dirt sheets know nothing' and 'Vince really liked me' shit.... That's a different story.

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Also I'd think three times before comparing anything to The Fiend. When I think about it, WWE's downfall can be traced directly at that garbage man Bray Wyatt having basically free reign to do any horrible, poor man's Rob Zombie shit he wanted. It's no coincidence SmackDown is a cut above the rest when Roman was directly responsible for sending that hack fraud to RAW.

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I have a hard time believing that this was him trying to make the best of an imposed shitty gimmick. Seems clear to me that all of this was his idea, that Vince never bought it but lied and manipulated him into believing that he actually did, and right now he is shitting on some fans for being too online while spending 18 hours a day on Twitch talking about different coloured socks.

I don't blame him for trying to come up with a creative gimmick, but, like, this might not be as terrible as some of Wyatt's worst, but it's pretty dorky, come on

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