Is the empire crumbling before our eyes?

[NintendoLogic]

Brother @DMJ highlighted one of the major problems with the Fiend: there was no consistency to his power level. Sometimes he no-sold a million curb stomps, other times he worked evenly with Daniel Bryan or got squashed by Goldberg. There was no rhyme or reason to any of it beyond what the particular match called for. He was a walking deus ex machina whose very existence made a mockery of the idea of matches and programs having real consequences.

[DMJ]

^ And once again someone has taken my rambling and absolutely nailed what I was (failing) to say succinctly. 

And just because its my nature to overdo things, I'll just add, I'm not a Wyatt stan. I just think that he clearly has his fans and, on some nights, those fans were the loudest portion of the crowd. Whether it was everyone doing the firefly thing with their phones or, at SummerSlam a couple years back chanting "This Is Awesome" at his entrance, or singing "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands" at WrestleMania whatever...Bray absolutely had his moments of feeling like a special character in a company with lots and lots of forgettable, interchangeable CAWs. Granted, one could just as easily point to some of the awful, awful segments and feuds and booking too, but its a credit to Wyatt that, even as it became increasingly clear that the gimmick could only last a couple weeks here and there before Vince would zap it of whatever made it work (leading to yet another fan backlash), there was Bray, coming back every couple of months and getting over again.

[MoS]

They definitely should have tried to use his talents in a better way. For whatever reason, he has a very vocal, very passionate fanbase, and they loved everything he did. Thing is, I don't know if he can be utilized effectively in any other promotion. His brand of wrestling is very cinematic, with a lot of focus on production, grand entrances, etc. I know Broken Matt Hardy was a thing, but I cannot imagine his gimmick working in Impact and whatever budget they have

[Coffey]

So Adam Cole's contract is rumored to be expiring post SummerSlam. If he leaves NXT/WWE, that seems huge, especially as he's friends with so many people in AEW & of course, Brit Baker is there. 

If AEW get Punk, Danielson & Cole, my goodness, can you imagine? Really makes me wish Joe didn't go back to NXT/WWE.

[sek69]

SRS just reported Cole's deal actually expired at the end of July so as of 8/1 he's technically a free agent but agreed to keep working until after SummerSlam so he could "re-evaluate" things.

Appears to be another case of WWE forgetting how their contracts work since they thought it was up in December.

[Burgundy LaRue]

There had been rumors of Cole wanting to weigh his options as his contract was set to expire, and that it would do so around July/August. I doubt Hunter forgot to check that particular paperwork.

Cole's an interesting case. He's been treated well in NXT, but there's nothing left for him to do there. He *might* be OK if he went to SmackDown-at least his interactions with Pat McAfee would be fun. He's probably DOA if he goes to RAW, though. And his size will likely be a sticking point. But he brings a lot to the table beyond that. 

[Dav'oh]

Regarding Bray being one of the fed's best merch-movers, Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics says that only 30% of revenue comes from "direct-to-consumer" sales these days (ten years ago, it was 67%), and by his calculations that'll drop to 21% next year.

TL;DR Actual wrestling fans are an increasingly small source of income for Vince & Friends. T-shirt sales are a but a drop in their fiscal ocean.

 

[KawadaSmile]

Not so sure about Cole's odds on RAW or SD. He absolutely dominated everyone, even way bigger guys in NXT, but when he came out at the Rumble (2017? 2018?) he looked tiny. Not just in height, but he was also very slim. Rey seemed to have a slighter bigger build.

There is absolutely no way he would be booked the same in either brand, so it would make sense for him to ponder if going to AEW is the best option.

[strobogo]

He's certainly in a great spot because WWE will absolutely throw the bag at him to keep him from AEW and AEW will likely make a very sizable offer as well.

[Migs]

4 minutes ago, strobogo said:

He's certainly in a great spot because WWE will absolutely throw the bag at him to keep him from AEW and AEW will likely make a very sizable offer as well.

Will they? That would have absolutely been true a year ago, but it seems at this point WWE is being much more picky about this stuff. If they're not going to use him in a top role, they may well be willing to let him go. The point above are the obvious ones - he just seems too small to play the character he does on the main roster, and him propping up NXT might not matter much to Vince at this point.

[MoS]

 

[Strummer]

Another legend that Orton beat up in 2020 ends up in AEW. Only HBK remains.

Matt Hardy, Christian, Big Show, Flair

Mark Henry as well!

[Rah]

Quote

WWE sources have indicated that Flair grew frustrated with certain booking decisions on the show, and contacted Vince McMahon directly about it to voice his issues and ask for his release.

Flair hadn't been on WWE programming in quite some time, but we're told the booking issues he didn't like were fairly recent. Flair had been outspoken about his disdain of the Lacey Evans storyline earlier this year.

Flair is most likely heading with Andrade. When does Charlotte get her release?

Other contracts recently ended/soon to end this year:
Ronda Rousey April 2021
Gran Metalik (?)
Sami Zayn

 

 

On 7/24/2021 at 9:37 AM, Rah said:

Canyon Ceman, Senior Vice President Of Talent Development, Released By WWE.

https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/canyon-ceman-released-wwe

You'd think with a surname like that, he'd be Vince lifer.

So, he was going to be but he fucked it with Black and Cole's contract.

 

[C.S.]

Forget about Richard Fliehr. The bigger news is that JoJo Offerman was quietly released months ago. 

Seriously though, with I.R.S., Bo, and JoJo all getting released over the past year, I wonder if any of that played a part in Bray's rumored dissatisfaction.

[Migs]

2 hours ago, Rah said:

Flair is most likely heading with Andrade. When does Charlotte get her release?
 

Flair doing promos for Andrade with both of them in nice suits seems like a direction that might work for all involved.

[SirEdger]

I'm counting the days before a BTE skit with Ric Flair & Hangman Page drinking whiskey together.

[sek69]

Saw it pointed out on Twitter, but what does it say about the state of WWE when 72 year old Ric Flair who can just take the money and ride it out is like "this shit sucks, let me out of here"?

Apparently he was not happy with the Lacey Evans storyline and how it played out, which is saying something considering he's  the guy who danced with a mannequin on WTBS pretending it was Precious. 

[strobogo]

Is Ole in any condition to be wheeled out somewhere for a full blown Four Horsemen reunion on Turner Networks. Last I heard, Flair and Arn aren't even on speaking terms and Ole hasn't been on speaking terms with any of them since the mid 90s. Don't know what Tully's dynamics are with Flair and/or Ole. 

[Robert S]

Ole is in bad shape due to MS for something like 15 years now. A quick Google search brings up reports from the Four Horsemen HoF induction from 2012 where Ole apparently said that he would not have been physically able to attend the induction if he wanted to (and would have been invited as well, of course). There is no way that he is able to do any appearences now.

[FMKK]

Ric on AEW is…not necessarily a good idea imo. If they can get him as a special edition character in the video game and sober him up enough to do voice overs for pre-match videos that would be cool but he shouldn’t be a week to week manager on TV or anything.

As for WWE, the least interesting thing about the company right now is their actual TV shows. They’ve gone from one extreme position of hoarding wrestlers to stop anyone being able to get a promotion off the ground to cutting star names left, right and centre. Nick Khan is doing his job of finding savings so that the profits are always going up but that completely ignores other issues like talent morale, harming the company in future negotiations by showing their contracts to be worthless and having a negative media perception at a time when AEW feels as hot as it ever has. It’s Vince’s responsibility to factor in all those things when he makes the final call on these cuts but right now he’s wielding Khan’s axe. Maybe they figure that AEW is already well established and not going away so the hoarding strategy no longer has any purpose.

The other thing I find fascinating is HHH and his rapid slide into irrelevance. This guy wormed his way into the kliq to get himself to the top of the card, got into Vince’s inner circle and married into the family and ruthlessly politicked to keep his main event spot for over a decade. Then when he knew he was done in the ring and he was the assumed heir to Vince, he built NXT very deliberately to be the in-house alternative to main roster WWE and Vince’s booking with simple storytelling and big name indie signings. He spent years cultivating a reputation as the saviour of the hardcore fan in preparation to take over the company and it seemed like 25 years of careful political manoeuvring would put him in the highest position in all of wrestling. And then NXT was used to go head to head with AEW and he got completely decimated by his old nemesis Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega and a fucking smark message board poster with a rich dad. Now it seems like he’s lost Vince’s trust and a generation of climbing the greasy pole was washed away in 18 months. The dude is a fucking Shakespearean tragedy.

[strobogo]

Tbh I could see Khan just straight up getting rid of HHH all together in the event Vince retires or sells and puts him in charge.

[MoS]

33 minutes ago, FMKK said:

Ric on AEW is…not necessarily a good idea imo. If they can get him as a special edition character in the video game and sober him up enough to do voice overs for pre-match videos that would be cool but he shouldn’t be a week to week manager on TV or anything.

I would at most use him to heat up a particular PPV match or angle, but yeah that would be it.

34 minutes ago, FMKK said:

The other thing I find fascinating is HHH and his rapid slide into irrelevance. This guy wormed his way into the kliq to get himself to the top of the card, got into Vince’s inner circle and married into the family and ruthlessly politicked to keep his main event spot for over a decade. Then when he knew he was done in the ring and he was the assumed heir to Vince, he built NXT very deliberately to be the in-house alternative to main roster WWE and Vince’s booking with simple storytelling and big name indie signings. He spent years cultivating a reputation as the saviour of the hardcore fan in preparation to take over the company and it seemed like 25 years of careful political manoeuvring would put him in the highest position in all of wrestling. And then NXT was used to go head to head with AEW and he got completely decimated by his old nemesis Chris Jericho, Kenny Omega and a fucking smark message board poster with a rich dad. Now it seems like he’s lost Vince’s trust and a generation of climbing the greasy pole was washed away in 18 months. The dude is a fucking Shakespearean tragedy.

 I think it's become very evident that a lot of NXT's initial appeal also was Dusty's booking and how he would develop characters, get gimmicks and rookie wrestlers over, build to matches and rematches, etc. After Dusty passed and the vestiges of his booking were gone, NXT became a super-indie where they relied on already big names to sell their shows, and the storytelling was basically either "Hey check out these amazing wrestlers have the matches you have seen before, but with a good budget" or the Shawn Michaels soap opera storytelling. For years we used to think that Hunter was an evil genius who was very smart and understood the business (although not his limitations) but used his understanding for evil. The last few years have shown that apart from being selfish and limited, he was perhaps also not very smart 

[strobogo]

HHH smart for a wrestler who politicked into the office. Not smart in a legitimate corporate environment with true corporate sharks.

[MoS]

I get that, but even smartness in a booking sense. I always thought HHH knew the basics of booking, character development, how to extend feuds while increasing the stakes, etc. After all, you have to truly know and understand the business in order to sabotage and undercut your co-workers. But I'm not sure he possesses that either. He turned NXT into an ice-cold product where nothing matters, no motion happens, just an endless treadmill of the same content. A part of it has to do with NXT talents hitting a brick wall on the main roster, but even in its own self-contained universe, NXT feels so cold 

[Al]

WWE cutting costs makes sense if theyre looking to sell the company. I wonder if that’s in their mid-range plans right now.