Is the empire crumbling before our eyes?

[sek69]

I have this image of Vince going to a comedy show and being like "Goddamn pal, where's all  the poop jokes?"

[C.S.]

Drake Wuertz is at it again...

 

[Rah]

Is COVID-19 safety measures the work of paedophiles, dirty commie bastards or Satan's spawn? I'm struggling to keep up.

[sek69]

What's odd is Dave has mentioned more than once that WWE highly encourages vaccination but isn't requiring it (and that while the vast majority of people have gotten it, a few haven't), so the idea they are requiring proof of vaccination to be allowed to work is suspicious.  The idea that Vince (or Hunter for that matter) is part of some communist mob is hilarious though.

Seems more likely they just got tired of his bullshit, and if he wants to go flip burgers for the Lord so be it. I wonder if he does he will claim BUT MUH FREEDUMBS if the fast food place makes him follow food safety guidelines. I can just see him screaming about Jesus protecting him from salmonella or whatnot.

[NintendoLogic]

Hair nets just make it easier for sex traffickers to target children.

[strobogo]

I would assume it's less refusing to get vaccinated and more that he frequently and openly was not following quarantining protocols and putting everyone at risk. But also because he's a nut case drawing the kind of attention WWE certainly doesn't want, as well as conflicts with co-workers. There's probably 4-5 reasons to fire that fuck that had nothing to do with whether or not he got vaccinated.

[C.S.]

#GoSwoleGo

 

[sek69]

On 6/30/2021 at 1:02 PM, strobogo said:

I would assume it's less refusing to get vaccinated and more that he frequently and openly was not following quarantining protocols and putting everyone at risk. But also because he's a nut case drawing the kind of attention WWE certainly doesn't want, as well as conflicts with co-workers. There's probably 4-5 reasons to fire that fuck that had nothing to do with whether or not he got vaccinated.

True, but you can't grift the marks if you say you got fired for being an obnoxious tool bag. 

[Flyin' Brian]

Drake Wuertz is getting around. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/qanons-new-plan-run-school-board-rcna1352

[C.S.]

17 hours ago, Flyin' Brian said:

Drake Wuertz is getting around. https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/qanons-new-plan-run-school-board-rcna1352

This is some scary shit.

[Flyin' Brian]

6 hours ago, C.S. said:

This is some scary shit.

No kidding. It’s amazing how much school has changed in just the last 25 years since I graduated, and not for the better. Thinking about running for school board myself when the position in my area is available. My area is pretty conservative to start with, but this stuff is ridiculous. 

[cm funk]

this is almost an exact redux of the satanic panic.  every 10 years or so there's a new variation of the hysteria

[sek69]

One of the interesting parts of getting older is seeing this happen multiple times in my lifetime. I've already seen the D&D Satanic Panic, obscene lyrics in music panic. violent video games panic, terrorist hiding in every bush panic (at least that one had some basis in reality with 9/11 happening), and now its anti mask/vax panic spilling over into nonsense like qanon.

It's like there's a section of the population that has to be in constant fear of......something...... at all times. 

[Coffey]

Living in Indiana, I also have the constantly terrified Jesus freaks.

When The Passion of the Christ movie came out, we literally had a dude walking around town, wearing a crown of thorns & literally strapped to & dragging a full-size 9'-10' cross like he was heading to his crucifixion. We had crazy moms with protest signs boycotting the opening of a Hot Topic in the mall. It was going to corrupt our children, you see. Same thing when an adult store was opening because of course sex toys & protection leads to the depths of Hell. Magic: The Gathering the card game was banned from schools due to the "Satanic imagery." People literally thought & talked about, openly, that Barack Obama, during his presidential campaign, was the anti-Christ. Until recently, like literally within the last two or three years, you still couldn't buy alcohol on Sundays. You know because alcohol leads to sin & Sunday is the Lord's day or something. Don't even get me started on Planned Parenthood. Everything suddenly becomes "the devil" when they're trying to get it removed, banned, appealed, ran off, whatever.

There's a different level of batshit fucking crazy when you bring Religion into the fold as well. Fear + Religion is a bad mix. Take Drake Wuertz in example... he's not just crazy, he's religiously crazy, which is fucking dangerous.

Honestly, if you've ever seen the movie The Mist, the crazy religious lady getting a following & power that quickly? That shit is scary. I really don't think it's that far-fetched to think we would only be a couple of bad days away from another Salem witch trial or turning our country into Handmaid's Tale.

When the internet was first coming out & first getting into homes, even with dial-up, I remember thinking how great it was that people could look up things whenever they wanted in real time. I thought it would make everyone more educated. I didn't think about the spreading of misinformation & that spawning a growing population. I was naïve. It gave conspiracy theorists & misinformation moguls a platform to spread their ignorance with anonymity. 

[C.S.]

On 7/11/2021 at 5:11 PM, Coffey said:

Honestly, if you've ever seen the movie The Mist, the crazy religious lady getting a following & power that quickly? That shit is scary.

Marcia Gay Harden is a national treasure.

[Timbo Slice]

With the report that Danielson will appear at the Arthur Ashe show and Punk rumors flying around, Cena coming back makes a lot more sense, but it really does seem more and more like desperation. Vince has run out of ammo in a lot of ways, and they have a sterile presentation they can’t change drastically due to who they’ve gotten in bed with to keep the money flowing. I’ve made the ESPN comparison many times, but ESPN has stuck around mainly because nobody has built a credible competitor to face it. There just seems like there’s no future with WWE, and that they’re treading water hoping they get lucky somehow. The women becoming more of a focal point helps, but what they have doesn’t seem sustainable, even if the way they run their business from a financial standpoint makes sense.

[Dale Wolfe]

I'm pretty surprised no-one has stepped in from the network at this point and told them they need a new director for Raw. Got to be one of the worst presented shows on television and is as much of a hindrance as the writing & length. 

When the dust settles the Kevin Dunn infatuation will have a lot to answer for I tjink

[NintendoLogic]

The sad thing is that more network involvement would likely make the show even worse. Recall that the 24/7 championship came about because USA was pitching ideas to improve ratings for the third hour of Raw. All the ideas were terrible, but Vince new he had to use one of them and the 24/7 title was the best of the bunch. Also, it was reported a while back that USA was pushing for NASCAR and NFL-themed episodes of Raw.

[Migs]

11 hours ago, Timbo Slice said:

With the report that Danielson will appear at the Arthur Ashe show and Punk rumors flying around, Cena coming back makes a lot more sense, but it really does seem more and more like desperation. Vince has run out of ammo in a lot of ways, and they have a sterile presentation they can’t change drastically due to who they’ve gotten in bed with to keep the money flowing. I’ve made the ESPN comparison many times, but ESPN has stuck around mainly because nobody has built a credible competitor to face it. There just seems like there’s no future with WWE, and that they’re treading water hoping they get lucky somehow. The women becoming more of a focal point helps, but what they have doesn’t seem sustainable, even if the way they run their business from a financial standpoint makes sense.

I was thinking the other day about who the right person to unseat Roman would be. They've built this up for a year now, and presumably you'd want the person to do it to be a newer, hot act with a future. Also, I'd assume it's someone already on the main roster (and frankly, I don't see anyone in NXT who Vince would get behind). Here is the complete list of candidates I came up with:

• Matt Riddle
• Keith Lee

Everyone else is either going nowhere and clearly is out of the top guy running, has had runs as a top guy where they either don't need it or would be bad choices (Fiend, Rollins, Orton), or has been on the roster so long as a midcarder that they aren't credible top guys (are they really going to pull a trigger on Big E after a decade?).

Maybe I'm missing one or two people, but the point remains - their biggest pile of ammo has always been the stars, and the lack of depth to replace the current ones is really dwindling. And  now, for the first time in 20 years, he has competition for the best up and coming talent and for the already established guys, and it feels like a big ask for them to pivot from burying everyone for the sake of the brand.

[Strummer]

I completely get the idea of Big E being a fresh act on top but yeah technically next year will be his 10th year on the main roster. I made the same point about Naomi. It will be her 10th year coming up as well

[Blehschmidt]

1 hour ago, Migs said:

I was thinking the other day about who the right person to unseat Roman would be. They've built this up for a year now, and presumably you'd want the person to do it to be a newer, hot act with a future. Also, I'd assume it's someone already on the main roster (and frankly, I don't see anyone in NXT who Vince would get behind). Here is the complete list of candidates I came up with:

• Matt Riddle
• Keith Lee

Everyone else is either going nowhere and clearly is out of the top guy running, has had runs as a top guy where they either don't need it or would be bad choices (Fiend, Rollins, Orton), or has been on the roster so long as a midcarder that they aren't credible top guys (are they really going to pull a trigger on Big E after a decade?).

Maybe I'm missing one or two people, but the point remains - their biggest pile of ammo has always been the stars, and the lack of depth to replace the current ones is really dwindling. And  now, for the first time in 20 years, he has competition for the best up and coming talent and for the already established guys, and it feels like a big ask for them to pivot from burying everyone for the sake of the brand.

So going by this break down, and WWE's track record, we should expect either Orton, Rollins, or The Fiend to be the person to unseat Roman.

[NintendoLogic]

1 hour ago, Migs said:

I was thinking the other day about who the right person to unseat Roman would be. They've built this up for a year now, and presumably you'd want the person to do it to be a newer, hot act with a future. Also, I'd assume it's someone already on the main roster (and frankly, I don't see anyone in NXT who Vince would get behind). Here is the complete list of candidates I came up with:

• Matt Riddle
• Keith Lee

Everyone else is either going nowhere and clearly is out of the top guy running, has had runs as a top guy where they either don't need it or would be bad choices (Fiend, Rollins, Orton), or has been on the roster so long as a midcarder that they aren't credible top guys (are they really going to pull a trigger on Big E after a decade?).

Maybe I'm missing one or two people, but the point remains - their biggest pile of ammo has always been the stars, and the lack of depth to replace the current ones is really dwindling. And  now, for the first time in 20 years, he has competition for the best up and coming talent and for the already established guys, and it feels like a big ask for them to pivot from burying everyone for the sake of the brand.

No one's going to unseat Roman. That's the whole idea behind his current push. They're trying to make him the top babyface by having him kill off all the other babyfaces until the fans basically have no choice but to cheer for him. I don't think it's going to work out the way WWE hopes it will, but getting Roman over is the goal and everyone else has to be sacrificed along the way.

[Migs]

1 hour ago, NintendoLogic said:

No one's going to unseat Roman. That's the whole idea behind his current push. They're trying to make him the top babyface by having him kill off all the other babyfaces until the fans basically have no choice but to cheer for him. I don't think it's going to work out the way WWE hopes it will, but getting Roman over is the goal and everyone else has to be sacrificed along the way.

I only mean unseat in terms of winning the title - unless he's going to hold the title for 3 years, he needs to drop it at some point, and even if he gets it back quickly, the loss would be a big deal. If the plan is actually for him to go 3 years with the title... honestly, that's so extreme that I'd be interested in seeing them try it, at least it would be better than guys holding the title for a year + 1 day.

[strobogo]

1 hour ago, NintendoLogic said:

No one's going to unseat Roman. That's the whole idea behind his current push. They're trying to make him the top babyface by having him kill off all the other babyfaces until the fans basically have no choice but to cheer for him. I don't think it's going to work out the way WWE hopes it will, but getting Roman over is the goal and everyone else has to be sacrificed along the way.

I do not believe that is the idea at all. I know that was a report, but that's stupid even by WWE logic. WWE only has two ways to book main event heels: Super heels that destroy all challengers (HHH, Brock), or chickenshits who steal every win (Edge, Rollins). This is similar to how WWE only has two ways to book main event faces: Super dominators who never lose and if they do it's bullshit (basically every champion from Bruno through Roman) or who lose way more than they should be constantly get more chances anyway (seen more recently with Bryan and Drew). 

[MoS]

At least they know they have a problem I guess