Colt Cabana's Art of Wrestling Podcast

[The Man Known as Dan]

God this thread has gotten... Yeah.

Not going into the silly wanna-be tough guy thing, Colt makes a living on pro wrestling without the E. That's more then just almost anyone else in NA can say. And let's also be blunt here, does Cody Rhodes ever make the WWE as a wrestler without the family connection.

Basically, the "Cody is a better fit for the E" is a silly no duh thing, that isn't really relevant to anything.

[SorceressKnight]

Is anyone going to crack this "independent contractor" deal for WWE, though? I would love for the wrestlers to unionize, and were CM Punk not just sick of it all (and had he not been able to settle for his royalty checks + extra), I would guess that he's the type of guy who would go head to head with Vince McMahon in court over being categorized as an independent contractor.

 

It's not at all a perfect analogy, but will there eventually be a Curt Flood of wrestling, do y'all think? Will there be one in our lifetimes? In Vince McMahon's lifetime?

 

Even if there's a Curt Flood enough to stop the "independent contractor" thing in court on their own- it'd probably be a catch-22. There are people who had nothing to lose and were willing to retire to break the clause [not just this, but the Raven/Kanyon/Mike Sanders lawsuit years ago]- but even if a person does break it, then it wouldn't even hit the WWE since there'll always be people so desperate to MAKE IT to the WWE they'll agree to be independent contractors just to get signed- and even if they have to offer "contracted employee" status, the worker doesn't have to take it.

 

Same with the "when will there be a wrestler's union" case- just because they're "allowed" to unionize may not necessarily mean the wrestlers HAVE to join the union- and doesn't mean they may not decide to hire non-union workers instead. (That doesn't even go into the Punk problems about not main eventing Wrestlemania when a union comes into play, and the non-zero chance union regulations could lead to real booking problems like, say, "I don't care if he's not over and really hasn't been- Diego has been in the company for seven years and hasn't gotten a big push yet, so you HAVE to give him a main event run or you're breaking the union regulations!")

[Niners Fan in CT]

I hate what's being discussed but let me comment on it anyway. It's Punk. There are going to be differing opinions. He's quite polarizing. Furthermore, all anyone has done is discuss Punk's own words that came directly from the podcast.

[Cristobal]

I'm not sure why Cody has to take a shot at Colt, there. What, too chicken to take the shot at Punk?

[SirSmUgly]

I wish Punk would punch me in the throat for calling him a skinny-fat, goofy-looking wrestler who cuts the type of promo a petulant sixteen-year-old would cut for not being given the keys to Mom's minivan for the night.

 

Then I could lawyer up and get enough of a nice cash settlement, the amount of which that Punk would be forced to go back to Vince McMahon and ask for work, followed by six months of Punk jobbing to HHH, then Batista, then Ryback. 

 

I'd be in a new home and this board would have enough material to power not only it, but every other website on the internet for eternity. 

 

SorceressKnight: I confess to only being somewhat versed on unions, but I don't think that pushes would be a real focus of an conceivable wrestler's union. I also think that the union would have to be beyond WWE to work; a nationwide wrestler's union would probably do the trick. 

 

 

I'm not sure why Cody has to take a shot at Colt, there. What, too chicken to take the shot at Punk?

 

 

Probably. Punk's got BJJ training and Cody's only training is being really into the Triforce, so I'm gonna guess that Cody just figures he has a better chance of taking the tubby jokester friend of the BJJ guy. 

[JCM]

I'm still waiting to see what Curtis Axel and David Flair have to say about it.

[Cole Miner]

Is anyone going to crack this "independent contractor" deal for WWE, though? I would love for the wrestlers to unionize, and were CM Punk not just sick of it all (and had he not been able to settle for his royalty checks + extra), I would guess that he's the type of guy who would go head to head with Vince McMahon in court over being categorized as an independent contractor.

 

It's not at all a perfect analogy, but will there eventually be a Curt Flood of wrestling, do y'all think? Will there be one in our lifetimes? In Vince McMahon's lifetime?

I don't know if they would ever form their own union. I think there is a better chance of them joining the screen actors guild, sag-aftra, eventually. Would be more effective I think than a union of 50-100 wrestlers/on air talent.

[Matt D]

I came out of the podcast very pro-Punk. Per Devil's Advocate, I will say that there's nothing in his actual work with Axel that made me think he wanted to put the guy over in anyway. I remember him utterly destroying him a few times on the ramp, for instance. I could see him worried (as he states) about his perception post losses to Rock, Taker and Brock though. I also think its a little short sighted to think that the casual fans would think less of him for taking Taker and Brock to the limit especially given the physical discrepancies, but it was a cumulative thing. The only other thing I wonder is how he thought he'd fit into the Mania main event scene this year because he knew it was Bryan's year. I guess maybe he could have had a match with HHH with the winner getting to ref the main event, or that if he won, Bryan got in, but all of that seems sort of dubious to me. 

 

It's really too bad that the guy can't even enjoy watching wrestling anymore. 

[Victator]

I'm not sure why Cody has to take a shot at Colt, there. What, too chicken to take the shot at Punk?

He respects Punk and not Cabana?

[Ziggy]

The thing that bothers me the most is that Punk's cascade of injuries coupled with the pressure (both from yourself and the office) to keep going is probably not that unusual and probably equals the normal load of pain all these guys are dealing with all the time. 

 

I would like it if Punk had made that part a bit more clear so that it came off less "look how badly they treated ME!!!" and more "Look how much this job is destroying probably everyone that you watch and like."

 

I mean, I knew his knees were hurt and his arm was a mess, but had no idea he was working through concussions, broken ribs, some kind of pelvis thing, and a fucking MRSA infection on top of all that.  I get the sense that when we hear someone is "banged up" and hear about one thing or another, that there's probably another five or six major issues that are going on at the same time.

Just a week prior to his interview Dolph basically admitted on Jerichos podcast that he himself worked with a concussion from Ryback no less.

im surprised noone here has bought that up yet.

[Tromatagon]

Hey so where is this Cody quote even from?

It's not Twitter since he only posts in character tweets as Stardust

[Hoarr]

It is. Cody has Stardust and another one he uses for his own musings.

[Niners Fan in CT]

Hey so where is this Cody quote even from?

It's not Twitter since he only posts in character tweets as Stardust

It's on his real Twitter.

[Cristobal]

@PrinceCGR is either Cody posting out of character or someone who has way too much time on his hands pretending to be Cody Rhodes.

The latter is not in the least bit unlikely.

[Raziel]

The trick is to see if the Mrs follows it.

[mad cow]

How long until Barbershop Window makes a "WWHRD?" t-shirt.

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

Cody Rhodes has denied that he was referring to Colt Cabana who he 'doesn't know' (vaguely plausible given that Rhodes was on the RAW brand, and that Rhodes was finishing up in OVW when Colt went there) - I doubt anyone really believes him though.

[ivpvideos]

His wife's Twitter profile links that Twitter account so it is real.

[Raziel]

Yeah, Eden retweets it so it is.

Still, Cody > Colt, even if Cody wasn't a Rhodes.

[Niners Fan in CT]

Looks like the roster are making comments (see: Ryback also and Road Dogg among others) and then WWE is telling them "don't draw attention to this dammit!"

I doubt Vince says much on Austin's podcast. I wonder if Austin even brings it up.

[E.J.]

Apparently aside from Ryback and Hunter's boy's posting disparaging tweets, most of the roster loved it.

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

I doubt Vince says much on Austin's podcast. I wonder if Austin even brings it up.

 

Austin looks like shit if he doesn't, and Vince too probably. Vince is probably better off saying that he doesn't want to turn this already planned interview into a response to CM Punk's near 2 hour podcast; he'd take issue with some of the things Punk said, and there are other sides to this story, but broadly speaking he is entitled to his opinion and there are always things WWE can do to improve.

[Niners Fan in CT]

I doubt Vince says much on Austin's podcast. I wonder if Austin even brings it up.

 

Austin looks like shit if he doesn't, and Vince too probably.

I agree with you. I think he should at least address the health and wellness issues.

[Matt D]

I KIND of think he should do a Bret Screwed Bret full on heel talk, even with Austin calling him on it. Look, the general public has known a lot of this sort of thing forever. All the interview did was give example after example of general things we've known for years. They don't care. Pro wrestling is just fake. The government doesn't care. Even as a publicly traded company, it doesn't matter all that much and if he leans hard in a "pro wrestling" sense, then people will dismiss it all the more. 

 

I think what he could do is get a whole lot of people to sign up for the network if they push it hard with relatively minimal risk.

[Niners Fan in CT]

This could be a new thing for the network. Weekly SHOOT INTERVIEWS. Okay, so Vince is really the only one people would care about. Maybe HHH or Steph.