WWE TV 05/24 - 05/30 Ja Morant is the greatest person in Memphis ever

[C.S.]

Todd Phillips has a rep for being a backstage politician. Kyle Edwards' (Arda Ocal) wife said something to that effect after he was released. Wonder if ol' Toad played games to get Virk ousted. If so, we'll probably see him back in the chair. To be honest, Toad is a completely inoffensive choice - bland and unmemorable but doesn't actively make the show worse either.

[WingedEagle]

Leaving aside any creative or storytelling efforts, this was probably the best in-ring raw in ages. Drew vs. Kofi, Charlotte vs. Asuka and Riddle vs. Woods were all solid matches given real time.  

[Microstatistics]

5 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

Look who's become a CCP bootlicker. Looks like the Cena Sucks crowd was right all along.

The funny thing about this is that the pathetic backtracking is largely meaningless since now people want him to say Taiwan belongs to China (a common CCP talking point) or they won't accept the apology. Maybe placating authoritarians and their enablers is not such a wise idea. You give a hand and they take an arm.

[Microstatistics]

1 hour ago, C.S. said:

Insane conspiracy theory: With Jim Ross idiotically calling Randy Orton the best wrestler in the world instead of, ya know, someone from his own fucking company (okay, we'll pretend to appreciate his "honesty"), could Good Ol' J.R. be preparing to move back to WWE? Raw could certainly use someone right about now.

It might be a bit odd but if he believes it, there is nothing wrong in saying so. 

The AEW roster jumping to Kenny Omega's defense in response and touting him as the best on Twitter is much more bizarre and frankly quite pathetic.

[C.S.]

4 minutes ago, Microstatistics said:

 The AEW roster jumping to Kenny Omega's defense in response and touting him as the best on Twitter is much more bizarre and frankly quite pathetic.

Which is why I didn't suggest Kenny as the "alternate answer" because that brings about its own set of controversies and disagreements.

But is it too much to ask for a guy to put his own company over? Apparently so.

J.R. could've said Christian, been 100% correct, and not sounded like he was burying AEW.

[Microstatistics]

As sek69 mentioned earlier, I think he just doesn't care.

[NintendoLogic]

Zero fucks Punk is pretty great.

[El-P]

33 minutes ago, Microstatistics said:

It might be a bit odd but if he believes it, there is nothing wrong in saying so. 

The AEW roster jumping to Kenny Omega's defense in response and touting him as the best on Twitter is much more bizarre and frankly quite pathetic.

So, JR "just stating his opinion", even if that implies putting someone from *the other company*  over, has nothing wrong about it, but guys "stating their opinion" defending the guy *from their own company* is bizarre and pathetic ?  Wait, what ? 

If JR doesn't care, maybe he just should not be in his position, because he's paid to care or at least pretend he cares so that the audience cares too and thinks they're watching the greatest wrestlers in the world.

[sek69]

I think the AEW roster is jumping to Kenny's defense because there's been some annoyance that JR doesn't event try to put AEW folks over at times and this is a way they can kind of stick it to him without being blatant about it. 

[C.S.]

9 minutes ago, sek69 said:

I think the AEW roster is jumping to Kenny's defense because there's been some annoyance that JR doesn't event try to put AEW folks over at times and this is a way they can kind of stick it to him without being blatant about it. 

Plus, J.R. himself unnecessarily mentioned Kenny, which is why he's the guy everyone in AEW is naming. 

[DMJ]

Fuck it. I still think calling Randy Orton the best wrestler in the world is ridiculous in 2020/2021. Like, sure, I can understand a hypothetical situation where a motivated Randy Orton had a series of great matches against a variety of guys over the past 18 months. But that's not what happened. He had some good-to-very good matches with McIntyre (but nothing MOTY level), a very, very poorly-received falls count anywhere with Edge at Mania last year (though I did think their Backlash match was much better), and a series of WrestleCrap-worthy matches and segments with Bray and Alexa. 

If you're not going to acknowledge the Tribal Chief, at least acknowledge Daniel Bryan, who, in that same stretch of time, absolutely OWNED the Thunderdome with just great match after great match. 

To me, if you're speaking strictly in the US, Bryan is still at the top and then there might be arguments for 2 involving Omega, Reigns, Moxley, yadda, yadda...but Randy Orton? C'mon. You might as well fucking say Goldberg.

[El-P]

I mean, the "I know everyone will say Kenny Omega but sorry I think it's Randy Orton" (RANDY BLACK FUCKING HOLE ORTON TO BOOT, he could have said, I dunno, Daniel Bryan...) almost feels like trolling.

Plus, crazy notion around this place I know, but *a lot* of people are of the opinion that Kenny Omega is the greatest wrestler today. It's not like we're talking about some hot take guy either.

[Coffey]

2 hours ago, sek69 said:

I mean, it could be he really does think Randy Orton is the best in the world. He's clearly in the "no fucks given" phase of his life, and knows Tony K will keep him well paid since he was one of the reasons they got the Turner deal. I would doubt he has any desire to go back to being Vince's punching bag unless they gave him a completely stupid money offer, which if they did it probably wouldn't go over well with the talent after multiple rounds of cuts for "budget reasons".

After reading his second book, which isn't that old, I don't believe that Jim Ross doesn't want to go back to WWE. Despite all the shit they did to him & how they treated him & disrespected him, he still talked about Vince McMahon like he was his father. AEW offered him stupid money, which is probably the sole reason he went in the first place. Even beyond the whole "grumpy" part about Jim Ross which has been true for years, I think - at least it appears this way (even from his live on air comments but especially if you listen to his podcast) that he considers AEW second rate. He's not putting in anymore effort than he did for New Japan where he couldn't even be bothered to learn the names of the talent. He frequently buries the talent on live TV. It's embarrassing.

He needs to go away. He's a detriment to the on-air product, regardless of what Turner brass think of him.

And Randy Orton, never in his entire career, has even been in the conversation for best wrestler in the world. Not even if you just look at WWE only during his peak years.

[sek69]

I wonder what WWE is going to do with their announcing. Cole and Pat Macafee have been doing pretty good on SD (Pat's obviously still new at this, but he's such a natural performer), and they got rid of Joe. Barrett and Vic are good on NXT, I hope they don't put Beth on Raw. 

[cm funk]

Cena story got mainstream traction from NYPost and Daily Mail, it was a top story on both websites for much of the day.  Curious to see how much backlash he gets at the end of the day.  He misspoke and didn't make it political.  Pandering to China is standard now for Hollywood and the NBA, but with the Wuhan lab theory gaining major traction now we might be about to see a lot more backlash against China in the US

The Virk news is so unsurprising.  I didn't watch any of the shows he called, but when do people with zero product knowledge ever have success in that role?  I'm a fan of the old school radio/TV sports guys doing wrestling (I love Rod Trongard, leave me alone!) but WWE is barely wrestling, it's definitely not sports, and it's an absolutely mental work environment.  I don't care who hired the guy, WWE has been down this road before and yet they never learn

[sek69]

Also released NXT talent Ezra Judge (who is black) did an interview stating Drake Wuertz called him "boy" at one point. Luckily for WWE they timed a bunch of office releases that kind of drowned out the reaction to this.

[C.S.]

37 minutes ago, sek69 said:

Also released NXT talent Ezra Judge (who is black) did an interview stating Drake Wuertz called him "boy" at one point. Luckily for WWE they timed a bunch of office releases that kind of drowned out the reaction to this.

Here's that interview: https://www.fightful.com/wrestling/exclusives/ej-nduka-blindsided-wwe-release-talks-confrontation-drake-wuertz-nxt

[KawadaSmile]

1 hour ago, sek69 said:

Also released NXT talent Ezra Judge (who is black) did an interview stating Drake Wuertz called him "boy" at one point. Luckily for WWE they timed a bunch of office releases that kind of drowned out the reaction to this.

Dude is built like a Dragon Ball Z character. Drake would get his ass slammed back to deathmatches.

[sek69]

Yeah Drake at least knew when to pick his battles. 

Also, racism aside it's always a shitty look when someone screams at a trainee for some bullshit just to be a swinging dick. Dude's not even a trainer, just a ref that helps set the rings up. He had no business pulling that shit and Robbie Brookside approving of him getting told off speaks volumes. 

[Rah]

I'm probably out of context here but, listening to his apology, he never once admits to apologising for Taiwan being a country. The only thing he mentions, relating to the interview, was that he was fed a lot of information (and seemingly wrong at that) as well as that he loves the Chinese.

The statement he made in the interview was "Taiwan is the first country to see the movie". He could simply be adjusting that to include China, as well, as not to snub them (considering the tensions between the two).

Here's a translation of what he said:
 

Quote

Hello, I'm John Cena. I have to say right now in Fast & Furious 9 I have many many interviews (many, many, many!). In one of them, I made a mistake***. Everyone asked me if I can use Chinese. People at Fast & Furious 9 me lots of interview information*. Uh, I made one mistake***. I have to say one thing. It's so, so, so, so, so important. I love and respect China and the Chinese people. I'm so, so sorry for my mistake. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm very sorry. You have to understand, I [stops to think] I love and respect China and its people. I'm sorry. See you again**!


*I think he meant to add "gave"

**literally translated. More probably "goodbye".

***This might be lost in translation but the original phrase is "有一个错误" (there is an error/it was a mistake)

 

[NintendoLogic]

Cena wouldn't have apologized in Mandarin on a Chinese social media platform if it was simply a case of misstating the movie's release schedule. China is well-known for losing its shit over the slightest suggestion that Taiwan is anything but a renegade province. There was a similar incident a few years ago involving Tzuyu, a Taiwanese member of the Korean girl group Twice. She had to issue a public apology after Chinese netizens accused her of being an independence activist when she held a Taiwanese flag on a Korean variety show. The incident led to a backlash in Taiwan that resulted in the pro-independence candidate winning the presidential election by a larger-than-expected margin. As a fan of both pro wrestling and kpop, I get a kick out of when the two worlds intersect.

[Robert S]

18 hours ago, NintendoLogic said:

Zero fucks Punk is pretty great.

He should post a bunch of Winnie the Pooh pictures tagged with a 6/4 hashtag.

[Coffey]

Jim Ross said the following on his podcast:

“We have a little controversy going about who I apparently said that I thought Randy Orton was the best wrestler in the world. People forget that I recruited these guys. I’ve had a business association with a guy like Randy Orton since day one. Coach Barry Switzer said, ‘You recruit these kids for life’ and I kind of take that to heart. I’ve helped a lot of guys who got down on their luck and needed a check, what have you, way past WWE days.

Apparently, people thought I was besmirching Kenny Omega…Nothing could be farther from the truth..How many times have I said to you (Conrad Thompson), ‘I can have many opinions to this question and have many answers.’…I don’t know how that could be such a big issue. I just don’t get it. I really don’t understand what the inflammation is regarding this topic that is so subjective. There’s no right or wrong answer. He’s the best in the world based on what? Arm drags? Drop toeholds? Money drawn? Major events headlined? Tenure? What is the criteria? TV ratings?

I don’t know what the criteria is for these things. Anybody that can debate me and tell me that Randy Orton is not one of the best in the world will have a hard time winning that argument. Anybody can debate me and say, ‘Well, I think Kenny Omega is.’ Well, you make a good point. I don’t have any problem with that. Kenny Omega is the AEW Champion. He’s a hell of a hand. There’s no doubt about it, but golly. People are so sensitive right now, but that’s the whole tone and tenor of social media.

I’m not so sure how great in some sense that social media is for pro wrestling today, because it’s one little blotch, one little missed word, one little missed move, and it becomes a major issue. It’s getting a little bit predictable first of all, but it’s getting a little bit tired, if you know what I’m saying.”

[Coffey]

Kenny Omega, "a hell of a hand."

 

[sek69]

Clearly, we're the sensitive ones and not the guy who has to reply "lighten up, Francis" to anyone who tweets about his frequent gaffes on commentary. Dude clearly vanity searches  himself in between retweeting various "WWEPorn" and "DivaBoobs" type accounts.