Is the empire crumbling before our eyes?

[sek69]

Honestly it's probably less evil than that, when WWE sees people at a certain level and then tries to justify that perception based on that. So if they didn't see value in Keith and he obviously saw value in himself, then any attempt he makes to change their mind is going to be seen as a problem. 

Also Dave explained the vax issue as now that they are touring again they plan to do international tours (like the UK one they are doing now) and unvaxed people would just be a logistics headache. Part of the job is going to be  international travel and to do that (in most places) you need the vax. He also went into the Nia situation and pointed out it's sending a message to the talent that if you ask for time off for mental issues they won't refuse, but when it comes time for cuts you're probably going to be high on the list. So its a nice way to discourage folks from seeking mental health which I'm sure won't lead to anything bad happening. 

Pretty good compare and contrast how AEW handled the Mox situation too. Another one for the "why would anyone want to go to WWE" pile. 

[Coffey]

3 hours ago, C.S. said:

I'm pretty sure "attitude problems" for Keith Lee meant a big black man "getting uppity" with Michael Hayes or one of the other MAGA/QANON/Confederate Flag wavers over there. 

Legitimately one of the first things I thought when I saw his name on the list was "they probably asked him to dance & he said no."

[C.S.]

Jon Moxley wrote in his book that he accidentally swore after a title victory, didn't realize he had done it, and no one immediately brought it to his attention or acted like there was any issue at all.

Then, two days later, he was called into Kevin Dunn's office and made aware of what happened. He apologized sincerely and profusely, only for Dunn to bury him and the apology behind his back.

That is the kind of petty, sophomoric, "you've got heat, brother" bullshit WWE wrestlers have to deal with on a daily basis.

[strobogo]

Surely even from a corporate line of thinking, giving their talent time off for mental health issues as they arise has to be more cost effective than waiting for someone to do something crazy and be a PR nightmare, or all the money they spend on rehab for people that no longer even work for them.

[sek69]

WWE provides drug/alcohol rehab since a direct line can be drawn from drug abuse to wrestler deaths. Mental health issues provide more deniability so there's less pressure on them from a PR standpoint to care about that. 

[rovert]

14 hours ago, sek69 said:

Taya (and Morrison) were happy living in Southern California, and since everyone in NXT is expected to work at the PC you pretty much have to live in Orlando. Reading between the lines, it would seem she tried to get some things guaranteed before uprooting her life and it appears they were just blowing smoke since she got cut just a few months lather. 

She reported to NXT initially and not the main roster as the main roster management didn't like her look or her age (38).

I assume Taya, John and their internal advocates continued to try to press on WWE on that. And I guess there was a window of opportunity where Taya was going to be put on screen with John or that carrot was again dangled.

[El-P]

Catching up with the bullshit (and the great and fun pro-wrestling, but that's not in this thread), I hate to tell you people I told you so, but I told you so. Referring to at least two people I used to care about in other places, namely Scarlett Bordeaux and Taya Valkyrie.

When Scarlett signed two years ago (TWO years ago, amazing), I pretty much said WWE would not get her character and waste her. I was still way off in how much they would. TWO years and they did absolutely *nothing* with her. She was coming off an IMPACT/indy stint where she was quite a hot (pun intended) character, and they reduced her to basically an animatronic for her boyfriend's entrance. When you add the fact the boyfriend in question's stint has been a miserable failure in every way (when even IMPACT never used him as a main event player, you know there was a disconnect here), it gets even worse. And know here she goes, having wasted two years of her career basically in term of visibility (yeah, I realize she was in WWE, but she was doing nothing apart from being associated for the guy who will forever be linked to the death of the formerly hot brand).

How about Taya, who was a total star in IMPACT, she had everything going on, a great look, promo ability, tons of character, could work heel or babyface, a veteran worker. At 38 years old, I pretty much figured she was "too old" for the WWE. And after another dumb renaming, she's gone in a bunch of months after apparently having been lied to about opportunities. If I'm AEW, I jump on her, because as showed by some of the latest TV matches, they still badly need workers like her (I mean, I like Soho and all, but she hasn't set the world on fire as far as in-ring work goes to me, and Anna Jay & Tay Conti are still green as grass, not to mention Jade) and she has that total star potential as far as her character goes. I'd love to see her get that big mainstream stint after she was so good (and got better and better) in both LU and IMPACT.

That whole "don't sign girls older that 25 years old" is pretty rich coming from the company who has marketed a "woman's revolution", as pretty clearly the thing in NXT2.0 is pushing hot young women to try and attract a younger male audience. Meanwhile, Mickie James has been killing it in IMPACT and her next challenger is Mercedes Martinez, and both are past 40 years old and they are gonna have probably a terrific match on the next special. I guess in WWE, you're a star if you're a 50 year old dude from a previous era, but you can't hire girls older than 25... Yeah, talent relation really sounds at a great point. Agism is only about women I guess.

Keith Lee. Well, I have no idea why people gave WWE the benefit of the doubt each and every time they fucked up with him. The latest of which was giving him the old Bearcat name. Keith Lee never had a chance in WWE because they would not let him be Keith Lee and work like Keith Lee. Hopefully he's another guy who shows up in AEW and demonstrate how incompetent WWE is. 

With ROH basically becoming a glorified indie, it's not the best of time to get released, but I guess we'll see a new influx for the indie scene, as not everyone will get picked up by AEW or IMPACT. 

But hey, thanks to Peacock and the Saudi money, they are idiot proof. Just sell this shit to Disney already, can't be much worse (and then I think about the last Star Wars trilogy, oh yeah, sure it can !)

[NintendoLogic]

Vince has openly stated that he pays for rehab solely for PR purposes and he takes no responsibility for wrestlers' drug problems. Also, let's remember that it took the Benoit murders to get them to institute a wellness policy that wasn't a total joke.

[MoS]

Hey remember when there were some fans acting like WWE paid for Lee's medical expenses to give them a nice PR shine. 

[C.S.]

12 minutes ago, MoS said:

Hey remember when there were some fans acting like WWE paid for Lee's medical expenses to give them a nice PR shine. 

Came here to post this.

WWE not even bothering to pay Keith Lee's medical expenses, sadly, is probably only the 330th most sleazy act they've committed this year.

[Alucard]

 Certainly amusing in hindsight.

[sek69]

Was really funny seeing WWE Champion Big E responding to Angel Garza's tweet announcing he lost his last name by "welcoming him to the club" and telling him to ask Cesaro to coordinate what food and drink he's be expected to bring to the next meeting.  Like it's clear he was doing it in his usual joking manner, but it was something seeing the champ basically saying how silly it is how everyone loses part of their name in WWE. 

[KawadaSmile]

HHH would just become H (not that one) in today's renaming economy

[sek69]

Well he *did* get the name shortening treatment too since he went from Hunter Hearst Helmsley to Triple H. 

[sek69]

SRS reporting that Xavier Woods' UpUpDownDown and G4 hosting gigs count against his downside which is complete horseshit for WWE to do, and he's basically holding out from doing any UUDD content until a better deal for that can be reached.

[SirEdger]

1 hour ago, sek69 said:

SRS reporting that Xavier Woods' UpUpDownDown and G4 hosting gigs count against his downside which is complete horseshit for WWE to do, and he's basically holding out from doing any UUDD content until a better deal for that can be reached.

Correction; it's the other creators on the UUDD channel that are holding out on creating content for the channel in support to Woods until WWE gives him a better deal.

[sek69]

6 minutes ago, SirEdger said:

Correction; it's the other creators on the UUDD channel that are holding out on creating content for the channel in support to Woods until WWE gives him a better deal.

Seems like he is as well, this is how the story is written:

We're told Woods had decided to hold out from creating content until he got a deal for it, which shocked many people involved, as they assumed that not only did he have one in place, but assumed that he was doing well from it. As it turns out, we're told that in relation to gaming, those close to the situation believe he's "not seen an extra dime" from the channel he grew to 2.27 million subscribers

[sek69]

As much work as he put into that, to the point they got official UUDD Uno cards made, this is straight up wage theft. 2 million Youtube subs and hasn't got a dime. That's disgusting.

[SirEdger]

22 hours ago, sek69 said:

Seems like he is as well, this is how the story is written:

 

 

I had missed the part about Woods holding out for content as the report I had read only said that other UUDD content creators were not posting content in solidarity for Woods. Thanks for clearing that up.

[strobogo]

How on earth could the G4 gig count against his WWE downside

[Dav'oh]

22 minutes ago, strobogo said:

How on earth could the G4 gig count against his WWE downside

Is he doing it as Xavier Woods, Registered Trademark?

[NintendoLogic]

WWE has more of a leg to stand on here since they own UUDD and always have. Also, the G4 deal is an official WWE content partnership. Regardless, it goes without saying that wrestlers who work on their own time to get themselves over as stars, especially to a younger demographic, should be rewarded for their hustle and not nickel and dimed. The guy who wrote the Pillman book (he posts here sometimes, but I don't remember his username) said on the F4W board someone in the know told him at the end of August that Woods has one foot out the door and he and Big E are going to AEW once their contracts are up. You'll note that since then, Big E has become WWE champion and Woods has become King of the Ring. Hopefully they know their value and won't be marks for a belt or a push.

[sek69]

5 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

WWE has more of a leg to stand on here since they own UUDD and always have. Also, the G4 deal is an official WWE content partnership. Regardless, it goes without saying that wrestlers who work on their own time to get themselves over as stars, especially to a younger demographic, should be rewarded for their hustle and not nickel and dimed. The guy who wrote the Pillman book (he posts here sometimes, but I don't remember his username) said on the F4W board someone in the know told him at the end of August that Woods has one foot out the door and he and Big E are going to AEW once their contracts are up. You'll note that since then, Big E has become WWE champion and Woods has become King of the Ring. Hopefully they know their value and won't be marks for a belt or a push.

WWE has a leg to stand on if Woods leaves and wants to keep doing UUDD, but their ownership shouldn't mean that he doesn't get any of the money from it. That's like a restaurant owner stealing tips from the wait staff and then justifying it by saying they own the place. 

[sek69]

Also it has seemed for a while like Woods has been eyeing the post WWE phase of his career. Once they started releasing people (and most of his UUDD crew) you could really start reading between the lines in his social media posts that he was getting sick of the BS but he was doing so in the most professional way possible. 

[Coffey]

7 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

The guy who wrote the Pillman book (he posts here sometimes, but I don't remember his username) said on the F4W board someone in the know told him at the end of August that Woods has one foot out the door and he and Big E are going to AEW once their contracts are up. You'll note that since then, Big E has become WWE champion and Woods has become King of the Ring. Hopefully they know their value and won't be marks for a belt or a push.

Brodie Lee was Big E's best friend, from what I understand... and how AEW treated his passing, compared to WWE acknowledgement is a night & day difference. It wouldn't surprise me. That's even before you to get what they've done w/ a lot of Xavier's friends like Tyler Breeze or how WWE treated Kofi Kingston or a number of other things. Hell, the New Day Podcast, even. If they were in AEW, they can do their podcast, they can do Twitch, they don't have to worry about being exploited, they earn their own money that they get to keep & they're back working with a lot of their friends. Plus AEW doesn't have the history of racism & isn't in a working deal with Saudi Arabia, nor are they a publicly traded company that cuts people each quarter just to look better to non-wrestling fan shareholders. 

To be completely 100% honest, I have zero idea why ANYONE would choose WWE over AEW right now. WWE can't even claim to be where the money is at anymore. The only negative about AEW right now is that their roster is getting so big, there's not enough room/time for everyone.