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APRIL 2019 WRESTLING DISCUSSION


RIPPA

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7 hours ago, alstein said:

Also, are they really better than Robbie Eagles/El Phantasma, or Despy/Kanemaru?

Yeah. A lot.

I mean it's somewhat beside the point, since the AEW marriage is so obvious. But no one can possibly argue that New Japan has enough--much less too many--good tag teams.

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Props to the Revival for turning down the money and then going through with a completely stupid angle involving Dash shaving Dawson's back. It's like Christian said. Even if you're given nothing to work with, just straight garbage, make it the best garbage ever and do the most you can to stand out.

So anyway, to anyone saying that WWE should still use these guys that want a release or don't want to re-sign, the flip side of the coin is that the talent needs to go along with it and more than likely, if WWE uses you, you're going to be used in humiliating ways.

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1 minute ago, Technico Support said:

Vince is this close to offering Steve Lombardi a million to stay and looking up Lanny Poffo's contract status.  Dude is petty as fuck and is cutting off his nose to spite his face.

I was thinking about this exact same thing. How many Lanny Poffos will Vince sign to large contracts to just sit and do nothing?

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Follow up on Lio Rush from Mike Johnson over at PWI

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There's been a lot of talk about the future of Lio Rush.  He was backstage at Raw last night, but was not used.  There's been a lot of talk within the company that he's going to be shifted back over to WWE NXT in the near future.  Rush has been a polarizing figure backstage for some time among other wrestlers, dating back to the November 2018 European tour, where as the junior member of the tour, he blew off  what has long been considered standard backstage etiquette for the junior member of the roster on overseas tours, including being at the gorilla position after matches to provide water to talents as they returned from the ring as well as carrying coolers and drinks into the hotels where the roster was staying in order to set up a common area where everyone could socialize privately together.  These sorts of menial jobs are often done to show respect to the locker room and the business and are usually passed on to the next junior member of the locker room when someone else is brought up to the main roster.  Given that this was his first European tour, those responsibilities would have technically fallen on Rush’s shoulders.  When several veterans tried to explain to Rush that he was making a mistake at the time, he blew off the advice and complained to WWE management, which didn't score him any points.  Things calmed down in recent months, but there have been additional issues, including Rush allegedly bringing friends and relatives backstage without proper credentials and other moments where he has blown off counsel of senior Raw roster members.   Rush has completely disappeared from Raw with zero explanation of the end of his on-screen relationship with Bobby Lashley.

 

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2 hours ago, Craig H said:

I was thinking about this exact same thing. How many Lanny Poffos will Vince sign to large contracts to just sit and do nothing?

And remember, this is the CEO of a publicly-traded company.  Throwing millions around at talent he has no real plans for.  Maybe shareholders should ask about this. 

 

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...as the junior member of the tour, he blew off  what has long been considered standard backstage etiquette for the junior member of the roster on overseas tours, including being at the gorilla position after matches to provide water to talents as they returned from the ring as well as carrying coolers and drinks into the hotels where the roster was staying in order to set up a common area where everyone could socialize privately together.  These sorts of menial jobs are often done to show respect to the locker room and the business...

This type of belittling, old time fraternity bullshit is dumb as fuck and has no place in a (I'll say it again, publicly-traded) company in 2019.  You want a private area with food set up for "the boys?"  Hire somebody to do it.

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Why did they sign Lio Rush in the first place? He was the idiot who no sold a ladder bump. That should have been a big sign he was an unprofessional ass. You want to hurt the indies, let Rush out of his contract. 

Really releasing a bunch of guys who want out would serve two purposes. 

Freeing up a lot of money. 

Flooding the indies with expensive talent. 

We are into some weird reverse psychology where people are being paid to stay home as a punishment.
 

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41 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

And remember, this is the CEO of a publicly-traded company.  Throwing millions around at talent he has no real plans for.  Maybe shareholders should ask about this. 

WWE only pays out 8% of its revenue to talent. That's far below what sports leagues dole out. WWE could quadruple the talent share and still be well below the threshold.

Overpaying well-trained contractors to remain in company isn't ideal, but also isn't the proverbial straw. And it puts more money into wrestlers' bank accounts.

 

As for the water and towel fetching, doesn't NJPW expect even more from the Young Lions? 

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8 minutes ago, Burgundy LaRue said:

WWE only pays out 8% of its revenue to talent. That's far below what sports leagues dole out. WWE could quadruple the talent share and still be well below the threshold.

Overpaying well-trained contractors to remain in company isn't ideal, but also isn't the proverbial straw. And it puts more money into wrestlers' bank accounts.

 

As for the water and towel fetching, doesn't NJPW expect even more from the Young Lions? 

Damn, that 8% number is sad.

I was going to include something about how Lio's treatment is still better than having to wash someone's balls but that's getting into whataboutism. 

I used to subscribe to the point of view that, "it's wrestling, you can't treat it like normal corporate America."  At some point, I realized that's just a dodge that allows us to justify all manner of awful shit.  And, if you're on the stock exchange, congrats, you are now corporate America.  If I was hired at a new company and they told me I had to arrive early and stay late to set up refreshments for more senior members because I needed to learn to respect them and the company, they'd probably find out just how disrespectful I could be. 

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2 hours ago, RIPPA said:

 There's been a lot of talk within the company that he's going to be shifted back over to WWE NXT in the near future

I don't understand why he was moved up so soon from NXT in the first place.  He had maybe one or two matches where he lost then was brought up.  205 Live seemed promising before being paired with Lashley though I'm not sure if the junior member counted while he was on 205.  I never heard of the junior member role but that doesn't sound too bad.  Archaic, sure, but not as bad as other areas.  But I'd be cool with him in NXT if this means he's used against bigger opponents.  Him against Keith Lee or Dijak would be neat to see under the WWE banner.

But honestly he was doomed from the start in WWE.  The tweet about Emma was stupid on his part and his demeanor can rub people the wrong way.  Hearing him talk about it though makes me understand his mindset to the point of risking becoming a Lio apologist.  At this point he might be better off just getting out of WWE and going around the world some more though if he learned to wise up while in NXT then it might be worth re-assessing where his mind's at in a year or two.

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As I recall, someone showed Vince some promos Lio posted on social media. Vince was impressed and figured he'd be a good mouthpiece for Lashley. Vince wasn't wrong. He gave energy to Lashley's act to where I wanted Lio vs Finn for the IC title. I suppose the Finn matches were a way of testing/punishing him. But man, they were enjoyable.

I don't claim to understand the junior member dynamic. For example, does everyone who's new to the main roster have to do this? It's certainly not exclusive to WWE or pro wrestling. I almost get the feeling if Lio hadn't went to management about it, he may have been grudgingly respected. But doing that seems like a tattletale and doesn't go over well in any setting.

The guy is talented, both in ring and on the mic. He's 24 years old. I don't see Lio getting fired unless he goes full Enzo. Let's be clear, bringing unannounced friends backstage is a lot more concerning than not handing someone a towel.

To NXT he goes, I imagine.

 

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