WWE TV 05/02 - 05/08 I miss Persia Pirotta

[KawadaSmile]

NXT 2.0 just lost its MVP

[sek69]

So apparently WWE is planning to do releases every 90 days, so "rolling contracts" indeed. 

[Timbo Slice]

Hell yeah, shaking things up and then some. Love corporate business practices. Because putting talent out on their ass for decisions that were incorrectly made by their bosses? That’s the American way in a nutshell. Love a quarterly update leading to quarterly layoffs. 

[KawadaSmile]

They are swimming in money like Scrooge McDuck even without taking the layoffs into consideration.

I guess not making any indie signings in the future (unless we are talking about the top tier talent/prospects like Rok-C, Jacob Fatu or Hammerstone) is the direction going forward. Taking young talent with zero experience, paying them some above average wages just to work out and look good for developmental TV pays off more than outbidding the competition for talent that are, at most, seen as midcarders by the ones who really matter.

[SirEdger]

2 hours ago, sek69 said:

So apparently WWE is planning to do releases every 90 days, so "rolling contracts" indeed. 

I assume it's about NXT 2.0 talents in this specific case.

[sek69]

6 minutes ago, SirEdger said:

I assume it's about NXT 2.0 talents in this specific case.

Probably, but I wouldn't be shocked to see some mid to low level  main roster people in a couple of these as well. I mean if they are actually looking to get rid of dead weight, there's a ton of people who haven't left catering in months. 

[sek69]

Fightful reporting Roderick Strong has asked for his release multiple times in the last several months and WWE denied the request. Hilariously, the WWE source that confirmed the news mentioned WWE didn't want to release him because he was featured in current plans which is rich to hear after the last round of releases.

[C.S.]

I assume this is who sex69 is referring to in the OP:

Edit: Didn't see the post right above this one.

[sek69]

7 minutes ago, C.S. said:

I assume this is who sex69 is referring to in the OP:

Now I know how people in WWE feel when they get assigned a new name 

[C.S.]

3 minutes ago, sek69 said:

Now I know how people in WWE feel when they get assigned a new name 

LOL. Oh Lord... What an unfortunate typo. 

I'll leave it uncorrected though, because you already quoted it.

[El-P]

2 hours ago, sek69 said:

So apparently WWE is planning to do releases every 90 days, so "rolling contracts" indeed. 

Rollin' rollin' rollin' 

Making sure everybody there is uncomfortable and anxious all the time. Toxic management indeed.
Roderick Strong would be so at home where you know, plus his wife already works there.

[sek69]

Can't wait for the drones/stans/bad faith trolls try to spin that this is just the same as AEW letting their contracts expire on people they don't plan to keep. 

[Timbo Slice]

Sek getting called sex69 from now on and ruining all our autocompletes isn’t something I thought I needed until this moment. 
 

And it’s only Monday. 

[RingoPlaysDrums]

58 minutes ago, KawadaSmile said:

I guess not making any indie signings in the future (unless we are talking about the top tier talent/prospects like Rok-C, Jacob Fatu or Hammerstone) is the direction going forward. 

Has there been recent talk that they are interested in Fatu and Hammerstone like they were Rok-C? You'd have thought both of them would've signed ages ago. Fatu because he's an Anoa'i family member. Hammerstone because... well, look at him. The fact that they haven't already signed is strange to me. 

[KawadaSmile]

Hammerstone had some WWE tryouts, the last of them being in 2017, when the Fed was on a hiring spree. Based on what he told on this interview, they just were too full and the whole hiring process was ass. While his experience there wasn't good, he did turn his career around and is fucking DOPE.

As for Fatu, both AEW and WWE got in touch, but according to him, they were "too late". 

 

I imagine that right now, it's a matter of time, just waiting until their contracts are expiring so that the bigger boys can make moves.

[Al]

I don’t have a problem generally with WWE releasing wrestlers. Athletes in major legitimate sports get sent down, it’s cutthroat and there’s always more talent coming up. The capricious and seemingly random nature of it is depressing though and it has to be hell on the talent. 

[Jesse Ewiak]

5 hours ago, Al said:

I don’t have a problem generally with WWE releasing wrestlers. Athletes in major legitimate sports get sent down, it’s cutthroat and there’s always more talent coming up. The capricious and seemingly random nature of it is depressing though and it has to be hell on the talent. 

Yup, this is no real difference to this than an NBA 10-day contract running out or cut days in various other sports. Hell, this isn't even new in pro wrestling - 90-day rolling contracts were a thing in WCW for years. Want a fully guaranteed contract? Then negotiate for one. Otherwise, WWE wrestlers are in the same position as millions of other people in the United States, many of them making far less money than they are. On my grand scale of sympathy, professional wrestlers who choose this profession rank fairly low on the list, in all honestly. 

At this point, it's kind of infantilizing of wrestlers to act like they haven't known historically you can be released at any time. Just like every NFL player should know they can get released at anytime, every WWE wrestler should know they can be released at anytime, in all reality - the only difference is, you don't get paid for 90 days afterward if you're the 55th guy on an NFL team. 

The only thing is people should stop believing the "budget cuts" lie - the reality is the WWE doesn't think these contacts are worth it anymore, and use budget cuts as a nice way to not directly tell the wrestler the office doesn't see them as worth it. 

[sek69]

What's bullshit is that these alleged "independent contractors" can be fired whenever Vince gets a wild hair up his ass, but you end up with situations like Roddy Strong where they clearly don't see him as main roster material but won't let him go because they think (know) he can be a success somewhere else. 

Also a lot of the folks getting eaten up with these 90 day deals are going to be NXT 2.0 folks or those still in the PC. How the hell is someone at the PC supposed to get better since they aren't doing the Florida loop anymore to get reps? How are the NXT kids supposed to get any better working in front of the same 400 people 4 times a month? If you aren't someone with the innate ability to do this naturally like Bron, you're being set up to fail at a ridiculous level. 

[Jesse Ewiak]

1 hour ago, sek69 said:

What's bullshit is that these alleged "independent contractors" can be fired whenever Vince gets a wild hair up his ass, but you end up with situations like Roddy Strong where they clearly don't see him as main roster material but won't let him go because they think (know) he can be a success somewhere else. 

Also a lot of the folks getting eaten up with these 90 day deals are going to be NXT 2.0 folks or those still in the PC. How the hell is someone at the PC supposed to get better since they aren't doing the Florida loop anymore to get reps? How are the NXT kids supposed to get any better working in front of the same 400 people 4 times a month? If you aren't someone with the innate ability to do this naturally like Bron, you're being set up to fail at a ridiculous level. 

Even a normal independent contractor deal doesn't mean an independent contractor can't sign an exclusive deal w/ the company. I'm sure there are consultants that sign exclusive contracts for company x in y field, where they can't work for any other company in that field while working for company x. So, that's sort of a false idea that being an independent contractor means contracts don't matter. Now, specific parts of WWE contracts may be BS, but if people don't fight them, then they aren't BS in reality, and this idea that even in a world with stronger independent contractor rules, that it'd mean anybody could walk out on the WWE at any time, is out there, since even NFL players, who have a union, can be basically cut at any time, any many contracts are non-guaranteed, just like WWE ones. 

Also, the same thing happens in sports - teams don't play players, but won't trade them either, until they get a good enough deal in their view. Should a team be forced to play somebody if they're under contract? When you're signing a contract for a job, you're not signing a contract for creative fulfillment, you're signing an agreement for money. Again - in any recent times, if you don't want that deal, don't sign a contract w/ the WWE. Period. 

On the second point, to make a devil's advocate, the idea isn't that everybody who doesn't become a superstar in 90 days is immediately let go, but 90-day cycles mean people who aren't improving according to the WWE can be let go without being dead weight for months. Again, might be a bad idea, but just like it turned out the WWE hadn't actually stopped hiring independent wrestlers, I highly doubt there are going to be tons of people who are let go after a single 90-day cycle of being hired. 

[sek69]

I mean, in the NFL teams that have an unhappy player they want to get rid of (or a happy player they don't want to pay the going value for) they usually try to trade them for at least draft picks so they don't end up getting nothing of value for the player. Plus they could also put the franchise tag on them to give themselves another year to figure out a deal. 

Plus when NFL teams cut someone, their remaining salary still gets paid and the amount gets held against them in terms of the salary cap, which can make it difficult for them to sign new players.  NFL contracts actually are guaranteed to a degree. A player drafted gets slotted based on the spot they were picked. #1 picks get a set amount, then #2 and so on. Also when you see someone signing a mega contract for 7 years/$100 million or whatever, the first 3-4 years are usually guaranteed money. The back half of a long term NFL deal usually has enough outs for both sides to make them essentially worthless, but the first half is usually pretty ironclad (or at least so to the point it makes cutting the player financially unsound for the team). 

The problem with WWE contracts (well one of them at  least), is that they are so one sided in their writing that practically nothing is guaranteed. Sure, you get a yearly dollar figure but there's nothing in there stating you'll actually make it that long to see all of that money. Stronger IC rules wouldn't mean anyone could walk out on WWE at any time (they can always fire someone for cause if something happens), but it would mean that WWE would be expected to live up to their side of the contract and not doing so would give the contractor the option to not continue at that point. WWE has made a living out of targeting folks who either had dreams of WWE and/or would not have the financial means to call them on the BS, and that shouldn't be their get out of jail free card because no one has challenged them yet.

[sek69]

LOL the intro to NXT just got a lot of wrestling fans questioning themselves right now 

[sek69]

Three way was a banger, Baby Uso shoulda won tho.

 

 

[sek69]

Man, going from a main event mask match at Triplemania to doing community theater Goodfellas with Tony Baggadonuts. Santos must lie in bed at night and wonder wtf happened. 

[KawadaSmile]

I mean, Santos has a degree in International Relations, is a top tier fashionista in the wrestling business, and is bilingual. Dude is set for life regardless, but WWE is really pushing it at this point. Teasing a feud with REY MYSTERIO and not following up is unforgivable. Just put LdF in the main roster, already.

[KawadaSmile]

Everything about Lacey Evans feels like a huge swerve/trolljob