WWE Finances, et al Discussion

[The Natural]

The road to WrestleMania continues with the Elimination Chamber. I think one of the Elimination Chamber matches will decide who challenges the Fiend for the WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania XXXVI.

For the past two years, the Men's Elimination Chamber participants wrestle a Gauntlet match with Seth Rollins going an hour in 2018 and Kofi Kingston last year. I REALLY REALLY want Daniel Bryan to be the third. 60+ minutes of Daniel Bryan please and thank you.

[The Natural]

Looking forward to seeing Minoru Suzuki vs. Jon Moxley in NJPW The New Beginning.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

12 hours ago, The Natural said:

Looking forward to seeing Minoru Suzuki vs. Jon Moxley in NJPW The New Beginning.

Same. I can't consider myself a regular NJPW viewer, but I'm for sure considering signing up for this (though I do love Suzuki on the chances I do get to watch him- I think the last one I saw was the WK match vs Goto). 

Edited February 1, 2020 by Zakk_Sabbath
Auto correct called him "Go-To"

[AxB]

What else is this month? Another WWE Saudi show (27th) and AEW Revolution (29th). Oh, and Bizzaro Lucha presents A Cold Dead Body In the Woods on the 9th. CZW's 21st Anniversary show is this month too.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

18 minutes ago, AxB said:

What else is this month? Another WWE Saudi show (27th) and AEW Revolution (29th). Oh, and Bizzaro Lucha presents A Cold Dead Body In the Woods on the 9th. CZW's 21st Anniversary show is this month too.

IMPACT Sacrifice on the 22nd 

[notoriusvig]

I'm out of the WWE loop but is Otis' gimmick that he is mentally challenged?

[Curt McGirt]

It's that he's fat and I presume horny, and athletic. So probably all four, knowing them. Basically it hits all of Vince's humor notes. 

EDIT: Changed that from three to four. And he eats a lot. I mean this is Vince's blueprint for what makes him laugh, minus maybe the guy wearing a diaper that gets shit in. 

Edited February 1, 2020 by Curt McGirt

[notoriusvig]

I'm sure I'm not the only one but I can''t buy his and Mandy's relationship at all.  I assume it'll end up being revealed that she was just leading him on but that just seems pretty stupid too.  So, basically, she'd just be a giant bullying bitch who humiliates a semi-autistic fat guy and then proceeds to lose to Bliss and Cross.  To fantasy book a little, I'd be more interested in this if they had more of a dom/sub relationship, where she tells him what to do and he does it because that's the most attention he's ever got from a woman.  They wouldn't need to sexualize it with whips and chains, etc. but just have him be a human footstool for her or clean her feet or something.  I'd buy that.

[SturmCRF]

Wasn't that basically Carmella and James Ellsworth's angle?

[Johnny Sorrow]

1 hour ago, notoriusvig said:

I'm out of the WWE loop but is Otis' gimmick that he is mentally challenged?

No.

[MORELOCK]

1 hour ago, Curt McGirt said:

I mean this is Vince's blueprint for what makes him laugh, minus maybe the guy wearing a diaper that gets shit in. 

 

Please - do not give them any ideas. 

[mattdangerously]

51 minutes ago, notoriusvig said:

I'm sure I'm not the only one but I can''t buy his and Mandy's relationship at all.  I assume it'll end up being revealed that she was just leading him on but that just seems pretty stupid too.  So, basically, she'd just be a giant bullying bitch who humiliates a semi-autistic fat guy and then proceeds to lose to Bliss and Cross.  To fantasy book a little, I'd be more interested in this if they had more of a dom/sub relationship, where she tells him what to do and he does it because that's the most attention he's ever got from a woman.  They wouldn't need to sexualize it with whips and chains, etc. but just have him be a human footstool for her or clean her feet or something.  I'd buy that.

Paul E?

[Eivion]

Otis is weird. He is fat, strong, athletic, a very skilled grappler, charismatic, and incredibly eccentric. Nearly everything you are seeing on Smackdown now is stuff he was even back in NXT so he isn't even a trying to please Vince issue. Even the crush on Mandy goes back to NXT. Its just something they have finally chosen to build on these past few months since it does something with both Heavy Machinery and Fire & Desire. Not really sure what the end game for it is unless they have Mandy go ultra bitch in how she dumps Otis and brings in her actual boyfriend Sabbatelli.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

32 minutes ago, Eivion said:

Otis is weird. He is fat, strong, athletic, a very skilled grappler, charismatic, and incredibly eccentric. Nearly everything you are seeing on Smackdown now is stuff he was even back in NXT so he isn't even a trying to please Vince issue. Even the crush on Mandy goes back to NXT. Its just something they have finally chosen to build on these past few months since it does something with both Heavy Machinery and Fire & Desire. Not really sure what the end game for it is unless they have Mandy go ultra bitch in how she dumps Otis and brings in her actual boyfriend Sabbatelli.

Nothing to do with anything but for a company that loves mainstream attention, it kinda blows my mind that they'd change the name of an ex NFL player like Sabbatelli or going back further Monty Brown

[kafkonia]

Watching that Naomi/Flair clip again, I feel like they'd make a great team. Not going to happen, since they're both already at the top of their division, but the pairing has a great 70s action heroine look.

[AxB]

56 minutes ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

Nothing to do with anything but for a company that loves mainstream attention, it kinda blows my mind that they'd change the name of an ex NFL player like Sabbatelli or going back further Monty Brown

Vince isn't actual a fan of the NFL, or the Gridiron sport as a whole. He probably thinks John Cena is a bigger Bostonian hero than Tom Brady.

Also, whether you have to change your name or not is purely a function of what the policy is when you sign there, not how big of a star you were before you went. 

[odessasteps]

Imagine if Vince had changed Angle’s name. 
 

“goddamn it pal, I don’t care if he won a gold medal or not.” 

[Niners Fan in CT]

I buy Otis and Mandy. You can't judge a book by its cover. Look at the real life WWE marriages. A lot of them don't seem as youd expect just by looking at it.

[Ziggy]

38 minutes ago, AxB said:

Vince isn't actual a fan of the NFL, or the Gridiron sport as a whole. He probably thinks John Cena is a bigger Bostonian hero than Tom Brady.

I thought he was a Redskins fan. Wasn't there talks of him buying The Jets, and The Vikings and even the Redskins at different points over the years. I though I remembered Bruce saying Vince hated them talking about sports in meetings not because he didn't like it but because he was to busy to keep up with it. I remember alot of topical NBA and College basketball references on the early 94 RAW.

On another note, I  seen a clip of Austin taking a Knockout punch from George Chuvalo on a Toronto house show. He sold it and rolled out the ring. Its crazy to think that early  97 he was still a chickenshit heel when he needed to be. The same in 01. Guys today wouldn't dare to be a backpedaling heel especial at the top of the card

[Ultimo Necro]

1 hour ago, AxB said:

Vince isn't actual a fan of the NFL, or the Gridiron sport as a whole. He probably thinks John Cena is a bigger Bostonian hero than Tom Brady.

Also, whether you have to change your name or not is purely a function of what the policy is when you sign there, not how big of a star you were before you went. 

Yet he’s ran a football league..... twice!

 

[sabremike]

You have no idea how bad I want to see happen what seems to ALWAYS happen in wrestling where people playing a couple become a real couple with Otis and Mandy.

[Jiji]

I don't listen to WOL normally but I saw it was a Jim Valley solo show and he was talking about the lack of fan buy-in with WWE. Brother went off and it was both entertaining and really well done. I don't agree with everything he said but he talked about wrestlers lacking motivation, start-stops, and there being no stakes for anything. He closed by going through the wrestling fan stereotypes. They are fat neckbeards that wear black, smell, virgins, living in mother's basement, etc. But they aren't stupid. And that WWE can't get all that many of them to buy into their product and open up their wallets, really who is stupid at this stage? 

[SirSmUgly]

I think the "You'll just watch next week and complain about that too" argument, which was pretty popular there for awhile on message boards, might have also found its way into the mindsets of the McMahon family. This has been getting posted around the internet in light of this week's news, and watching it, it's a pretty clear shoot IMO:

I think they really believed that, but actually, they're killing pro wrestling in the United States under the mistaken belief that people will just keep watching. 

 

Edited February 2, 2020 by Smelly McUgly

[Niners Fan in CT]

Those arguments are all dead.  I mean sure there's still a few of us here who are sick enough to continue to watch WWE but I remember ten years ago WWE being like "they'll still watch though.."  

Then 5 years ago they said "they'll still watch..."  

Then last year they said "Oh shit.. maybe they aren't going to still watch?  Please! come back! We will do everything you asked!" 

Then they proceeded to have the worst lead up to WrestleMania in a long time..   and followed that up with months of Roman and Corbin bullshit over dog food?  

I mean the shows don't always suck,  I've seen them far worse than they are now but they're in trouble.  Ratings following the Royal Rumble were pretty down.  This is the time of year where they are at least supposed to right the ship. 

 

[The Natural]