Is the empire crumbling before our eyes?

[FMKK]

6 minutes ago, DMJ said:

Shit like this makes me think that maybe I underrate Seth Rollins and that he is secretly a great heel.

And then I see him "in character" on RAW or PPV and realize, no, he's only accidentally a great heel IRL and that, when he's "in character," he's just flat-out boring. 

Another example for the 'just let them be themselves' argument haha

[MoS]

It will be interesting to see how big a paycheck cut Vince, Steph, Hunter and all the other executives take. 

[sek69]

1 minute ago, MoS said:

It will be interesting to see how big a paycheck cut Vince, Steph, Hunter and all the other executives take. 

I'm sure they'll make a big production of whatever cut they take, then make it back  a hundredfold by selling some stock when it rebounds.

[ButchReedMark]

Poor Drake Maverick. He's been released but is being "allowed" to work this fucking tournament. His twitter is heartbreaking. A man who literally pissed himself to get a spot, had made everything he was handed great, as important as Ron Killings with the 24/7 title, can't get home after firing. And mugged off. 

[KawadaSmile]

Is Spud going to go back to UK now? Or he'll stay in the US even without a contract.

 

Also I envy some of y'all. People here in Brasil either aren't taking this thing seriously or just cannot afford not going to work. Our president is almost saying he just wants to see us dead.

[ButchReedMark]

He lives in Florida these days. I hope he stays there and gets picked up by AEW. He's a fantastic worker and mind. But the way he's been treated today by WWE is a fucking disgrace 

[Zoo Enthusiast]

Union.

[sek69]

Was the cruiser tournament taped in advance? Otherwise it's pretty weird to have him still be in it after getting let go.

[Coffey]

46 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said:

Also I envy some of y'all. People here in Brasil either aren't taking this thing seriously or just cannot afford not going to work. Our president is almost saying he just wants to see us dead.

There's a lot of places in the USA, especially here in the Midwest, where many aren't taking it as seriously as they should. Many people can't afford to miss work & if the company they work for hasn't closed themselves, they're still going to work everyday. Walmart is always busy. Fucking Starbucks is busy. 

That's the scariest thing about this pandemic to me. Human stupidity makes it worse & the average person is really stupid. Especially in the bible belt where people are congregating in large groups at church still... trying to pray away the virus. You can't make this shit up.

Meanwhile our president, which most agree is an absolute fucking idiot, keeps trying to blame-shift to everyone else & only cares about "opening the country back up" because he's worried about the economy. All he's really doing is getting more people sick/killed. And he's doing a daily press conference, which he's now basically using as tax-funded campaign re-election air time. 

We're getting one-time $1,200 stimulus checks which right now, for those that don't have direct deposit, are being held-up because President Trump wanted his name, his signature, literally on the check... because he thinks it'll help him come re-election. Our postal service is also on the verge of collapse & Trump & the Republicans are trying to make it so people can't vote via mail, like they just did in Wisconsin.

It's almost like they want more poor people to get sick & die... Guess what all those poor, broke people are going to do as soon as they get those stimulus checks?

Yeah.

Sorry, I know this isn't pro-wrestling only, but it's not all sunshine in the United States, believe me.

[C.S.]

Is this new?

 

[gordi]

Do you think Vince will hold everyone to the 90-day no compete clause? 

[C.S.]

5 minutes ago, gordi said:

Do you think Vince will hold everyone to the 90-day no compete clause? 

Does it matter? I doubt AEW is rolling out the dough right now, and most other feds have gone dark. 

[gordi]

6 minutes ago, C.S. said:

Does it matter? I doubt AEW is rolling out the dough right now, and most other feds have gone dark. 

That's kind of what I was thinking. Hopefully after 90 days, the world might be safely back in business - or at least headed in that direction.

I am guardedly looking forward to seeing Rusev and the Revival working live shows in front of hot crowds for AEW in July or thereabouts.

[FMKK]

There won't be crowds in July.

[C.S.]

Mistake or future future endeavor?

 

[KawadaSmile]

It might be a mistake. Saw people also showing Ohno's picture as an active member. Who knows at this point?

[C.S.]

Heyman is there too.  

 

[C.S.]

Road Dogg, Tyson Kidd, and Regal are also there, but I'm not sure if they always were and they're there because they're no longer active wrestlers.

[MoS]

 

[gordi]

27 minutes ago, FMKK said:

There won't be crowds in July.

So, when do you figure?

[PeteF3]

July of 2021, maybe. There won't be a vaccine until fall 2021 at the very earliest, but I could see limited gatherings if we vastly increase the supply of tests and preferably if some sort of treatment--not a vaccine, necessarily--is discovered and mass-produced before then.

But, those are huge "ifs." Especially in the U.S. Japan could be up and running before then, but alongside sporting events and concerts in front of crowds, I feel like international travel is going to be one of the absolute last things to return to "normal" if such a thing is possible.

[gordi]

It also strikes me pretty insensitive to release Gallows and Anderson while they are still in mourning for their good friend AJ Styles.

[ohtani's jacket]

8 hours ago, Loss said:

The reporting was that Tanahashi was making the case that pro wrestling should be the last thing they reopen. Is that incorrect?

Tanahashi was making some type of personal statement about the importance of pro-wrestling to society. It was nonsense, really. The actual proposal was for testing kits so the wrestlers can begin performing again safely and compensation for lost pay since most of the wrestlers are independent contractors and don't receive the benefits or protection of full-time employees. The Bushiroad director put a spin on it that it was an important first step towards restarting live entertainment, and Hase cut a promo, but you have to wonder if this meeting would have taken place if Hase wasn't a former wrestler. At least Kyoko wore her face paint. Meanwhile, the entire country went into a State of Emergency today.

I'm far from an expert on the current Japanese wrestling scene, but you have to think that the majority of the income comes from ticket gates and merchandise. There are no major TV deals to speak of. I don't think they can make a ton of money wrestling in empty arenas. It seems they want to use temperature checks and hand sanitizers to let the fans in. But it was that type of congregating that caused the problem to worsen. During the early stages of the pandemic, when the Japanese government was trying to downplay the spread of infection to save the Olympics, people kept going out. 

I hope the wrestlers get some type of financial support, and I know they wanted to take some type of action to protect their industry, but the timing felt wrong to me. 

[ohtani's jacket]

8 hours ago, ButchReedMark said:

 Although, I'll say this, NZ has had the best response of any country to the virus. 

Don't tell that to the opposition party supporters who think we've ruined the economy. They think we should have copied Australia. 

Pretty much every sporting organization is crying poor at the moment. It can't all go belly up. Or maybe it will and we'll return to the era of amateur sport. 

[El-P]

Hey people. How are you enjoying your apocalypse ? I'm doing mighty fine. Being confined for a month already and going for another one (at least). Been enjoying AEW (although I wish they would only do BTE from compound/confinement homes), IMPACT, NWA (yeah binged watch that second season and it was soooo much better than the first). I enjoyed Taker vs Styles from that pathetic, irresponsible Mania show, got good laughs at GiFMania from Ciampa/Gargano. Been enjoying the second season of Dark Side, although the Benoit stuff was hard to watch and heartbreaking. And well, I guess Vince really did cover up for a murder and here he is doing mass firing during a pandemic (after bribing is way into running live shows and putting his workers and their families at risk). So yeah, fuck Vince McMahon and his awful sociopathic family and stooges. Also fuck Jerry Lawler and Jim Cornette (who managed to come off *worse* than Vince Russo on the Brawl for All episode, yeah, we have reached that point) old redneck ra(pist?)cist asses.

And fuck Macron and his irresponsible government, too (yeah, it's been handled pretty badly here too, with some apex of bullshit like the spokeperson explaining that masks are not necessary plus it's too complicated to use because it's scientific and hell, she even does not know how to use it. Yeah. It did happen. Because you see, we don't have masks, so might as well tell the people that it's useless).

Hope you are doing well, people.