Elsalvajeloco

I would think some job security, but when you think about it, that's essentially a vast majority of all the top guys who would regularly appear on TV in two different groups. That's not even accounting the guys who were probably adjacent to them. So yeah, due to bumping into the realities of WWF at the time, all you did really is assure you would have a steady house show program.

I don't think it's less agency because the only constant that has always existed is if you're low man on the totem pole, then you have basically zero input. Back then, there was a mentality of onward and upward with the hope one day you would have the same input as a Flair or a Hogan or a Dusty. It would be THEM turning down working with you or god forbid the idea of losing to you. There was a certain trajectory your career was on where you had to work with probably not everyone but at the very least the guys who were over to a certain level. Bobby Heenan hated working with Warrior but Warrior especially pre 1990 was fucking money. Heenan of all people could have turned it down and just refused to bump all over the place but he understood that his guys were in that Ultimate Warrior forcefield where he's the next biggest star not named Hulk Hogan. Now? If you're someone who has a slight reputation and just as over as Flippy McAlister burning it up on the indies or Create a Wrestler #717, what would be the incentive of working with anyone other than your friends of similar ilk? That's probably what is plaguing a lot of guys right now, at least in AEW. A good number of them aren't as over as when they came in originally. You can blame booking personally. However, if you came to AEW for that "creative freedom", then you're partly to blame for trying to ignore an infrastructure that was already in place and successful in pro wrestling which is not fantasy booking your own programs and who specifically you're programmed with. There is a reason why the Kliq (as well as Undertaker's group as well) was able to exist until mid 1996 when new talent came in and interrupted that hierarchy. If the top 7 or 8 dudes are all friends or adjacent to one another save for a one or two exceptions (Bret and the aforementioned Undertaker who has his own group) and all very much over, then whatever is there is already affixed to the power that already exists and your only hope is to be friends with them or the few outside who are over which wasn't many. There wouldn't be a Kliq if Scott Hall or Kid were some fly by night Outback Jack or Scott Casey who were just lucky to be on the roster. When Paul Levesque came in, who did he make friends with? He didn't come in to end up working Doink #3. His goals and aspirations were much higher than that. He didn't drink or party, but he understood that is who I need to be around to make it. You can not like CM Punk, and he's clearly given reasons as to why that would be valid. Moreover, if you're a Hangman Page or the Bucks are who already over to a certain degree, then you have earned the right to pick and choose. Otherwise, you don't really have the agency to pick and choose who you work with unless you're resigned or complacent to being at the same level you are at now.

I just happen to read an old review of one of XPW's shows last night. It's whatever show from 2002 that had the "Raw Sewage" match with the pornstars. When you consider stuff like that, I doubt ANYONE of sound mind and body would want to be in any way connected to him be it in the adult entertainment industry or not. If you want to be the G.G. Allin of pro wrestling, good for you I guess. However, there are better ways to lose your money than running a pro wrestling promotion.

Hell, Vince could have said screw it and put the belt on Austin (who seemed to be universally beloved for his attitude and well ethic) in 1997 instead of juggling it around just to put it back on Shawn who virtually would have started the year champ having beat Sid at the Royal Rumble. However, that wasn't the end game creatively speaking. I think that was a possibility but once he got that pop at the United Center, that was ballgame on him just being an attraction. I think it would be the same way if you had a John Cena or Dave Batista in the 1994 Hogan role in the * > 0% chance they would ever go to AEW. With Hogan it looked like he was just gonna be a part timer and then even on a rigorous TV and movie schedule, he ends up appearing more you than you actually expect. Even when they added folks like Savage and Luger, all those guys ended up with the WCW world title at some point. Now we're in the era where there are few names that unquestionably stand above all others. Vince tried to use Warrior as an attraction in 1996 (he got that one ridiculous pop at WrestleMania XII and then it was diminishing returns after that) and really got nothing out of it in that 3 months he was there. If you're going to work with someone who has already proven himself to be tough to deal with, you might come to the negotiation table with one role in mind and it ends being something entirely different.

The thing about wrestling though is it's not a popularity contest among the boys. Now you would like for the top guy (or gal) to be well liked, but there are several instances of that not being the case. We would like it to be this ideal meritocracy but that's definitely the one thing pro wrestling is not.

So I come away with this with the same two questions: 1) Is Vince willing to sale under the premise he doesn't have control? (Nick said a whole lot that didn't answer that question and we also didn't get one here) 2) How interested are these "multiple parties"? The parent company for CNBC isn't interested but they doing the hard sale that this would be a great purchase and I don't really disagree. If we're still throwing out Disney, who from what I can see has shown no real interest in making such a move, it sounds like they're still trying maneuver a real interested party into the mix. Already touched on Endeavor. Also, if the TV deals still need to be negotiated, why are they moving to get this sale done ASAP? Is the buyer going to negotiate the TV deals? I thought the current regime would be the ones to do that.

@Belgian_Waffle That reminds me, you left out Chris Jericho. As for the parallels to Bret/Shawn, Tony Khan even let Punk go out there on one Rampage IIRC and let Punk give his version of the Lost His Smile speech. I guess Tony wouldn't allow him to get it back. I dunno. Vince let Shawn run amuck even when most of his friends (Aldo and Jarrett were like honorary members of the Kliq) were either on their way to WCW or on the shelf for almost two years. He coddled Shawn until Shawn got way too out of control even for Vince. Keep in mind, three or four months after Montreal, Shawn is basically written out as well. He shows up some months later as this non-performer who doesn't have a real purpose, but that's basically it for him wrestling in WWF for four years. Now that said, I see Punk as more of a Bret Hart level high maintenance and stubborn, refuses to budge on stuff type guy at this point. Bitches constantly about stuff which affects creative. That's why he's in the predicament he is in now.

No, if you want to make the claim it seems like you'd be able produce it. I am guessing you're a foot specialist on the side. Like the Dr. Robert Anderson of DVDVR. Also, if Tony Khan is the dad at the dais looking like a bewildered guest on the Jerry Springer show when he finds out his wife has been sleeping with her stepson for the last five years when Punk went on his rant at the scrum, I fail to see him being the dude that would force someone to wrestle hurt. How is he one way in the public but he's mid 90s Suge Knight in private? That doesn't make a lick of sense.

We gonna find out this is just a play on: Except we're going find out that Riho is the lovechild of Scott Steiner from one of his trips in WCW to Japan. Next, she's going to be wearing chainmail, doing that bicep kiss pose, and hitting Screwdrivers on people. If Tam Nakano can do one on Himeka, she can do one on Jamie Hayter. 2023 will be the year of the Lil Booty Mama Riho, dammit.

F4W reports it's "hot and heavy". That makes it sound like it's a random Lori Harvey fling. This just sounds like a bunch of nonsense mixed in with stuff we already know. Also, if folks don't how UFC is being run currently, I cannot wait until they get hold of possibly UFC AND WWE. That sounds like a goddamn disaster.

Still waiting on that MRI, babydoll.

Both are good ideas, but it has to be whatever makes it feel like it's not disconnected from the rest of AEW. Otherwise, you will end up with Codyverse Part II with him feuding with Parker Boudreaux and Tony Nese.

No. However, it did make sense for the final movie to end in a Jesus Chavez vs. Leavander Johnson (not to be morbid or disrespect the memory of Leavander) type scenario where he takes a bunch of punishment in a tough loss and somehow has the strength to get back to the locker room under his own power. Then, he collapses and has to be rushed to the hospital. Then you can do something like that. If you're going to include Morrison, you can put him in the Larry Holmes role vs. Muhammad Ali. Holmes being a former sparring partner earlier in his career was now the young champion out to prove something. Despite loving Ali like everyone else, he felt he needed to earn that respect and beat Ali from pillar to post. That had to be Ali's second or third comeback after some short retirements. It always made sense that Rocky's career end like Ali's since Muhammad famously ribbed Stallone about the Rocky story being secretly based on him and not Chuck Wepner. You can logically do the he got greedy and came back one too many times. Ali was able to beat Leon Spinks in the rematch in New Orleans and be the first person to regain the HW title multiple times after losing to Leon in the first bout. He retired and then came back when it was clear the effects of all the punishment he had endured had taken a clear toll on him. You can have it where Rocky beat Drago but Tommy Gunn is just a step too far at that age and stage of his life.

Konosuke Takeshita: Works at Cinnabon so he can stay in the US, moonlights as a pro wrestler On that note: I always wondered how Big Bossman managed to be a prison guard AND a full time pro wrestler. Did he take a private jet back to Cobb County after working a spot show in Binghamton, NY? Why would he become a pro wrestler when his job probably requires 24 hour supervision of wards of the state? A fast food worker makes the most sense because you can at least say you have chains across the country and said person can drop in at any time when restaurants are short staffed which is all the goddamn time.