APRIL 2021 Discussion of Wrestling

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

2 hours ago, D.Z said:

WWE just fired Mark Carrano, it was him. He was Senior Director of Talent Relations.

Surprised there wasn't some on air skit (potentially involving the return of Duke Droese) before firing him. 

[The Natural]

No way to treat an ex employee, dumping their personal possessions in a bin bag like that. Treat others right.

Edited April 23, 2021 by The Natural

[Kang]

WWE President Nick Khan hired Chris Legentil and he is now Senior Vice President & Head of Global Communications.  A veteran of streaming service DAZN as well as Showtime and the NBA. And Scott Zanghellini is now Head of Revenue Strategy and Development, while Alex Varga is VP of Revenue Strategy and Development. All will report to Khan.

Mead Rust, Vice President, Communications was let go after two years with the company.

They let go Joe Villa, whose job was Manager Publicity and Corporate Communications, he had been with the company for over 22 years, started with the fan services department and then moving into Live Events Management and publicity.
 

Edited April 23, 2021 by D.Z

[bazzil]

Maybe this belongs in the hot take thread, but i dont see the big deal with the garbage bag stuff. Theyre good bags. Large, durable, waterproof, got the little tie gimmick on the end to close them up. As long as it wasnt pulled out of a dumpster then its just a fucking plastic bag.

[The Natural]

4 hours ago, bazzil said:

Maybe this belongs in the hot take thread, but i dont see the big deal with the garbage bag stuff. Theyre good bags. Large, durable, waterproof, got the little tie gimmick on the end to close them up. As long as it wasnt pulled out of a dumpster then its just a fucking plastic bag.

A person has lost their job after putting years in only to find personal items in a bin bag with a name sticker on is an additional insult. Bin bags are mainly used for rubbish, this isn't. Deliver them differently.

Edited April 23, 2021 by The Natural

[The Natural]

 

[paintedbynumbers]

I mean the product they put on tv every Monday night has been trash. At this point maybe it's all they really know

[Technico Support]

9 hours ago, The Idiot King said:

Not trying to leap to the defense of Dave Meltzer here, but yeah, I think he was pretty clearly saying that there's a lot of pressure in pro wrestling for women to look a certain way and that seems like about as uncontroversial an opinion as could possibly exist.

And I'm sorry, I don't know what the line is when it comes to Charlotte or any other public figure who has, uh, increasing amounts of noticeable plastic surgery. I'm not saying it's fair game for everyone to pile on and be an asshole or anything (if nothing else, it's pretty hacky Jay Leno monologuing about Cher kind of stuff), and it's anyone's god given right to do whatever they want to their bodies, but are we, as an audience, just supposed to...politely ignore it? Pretend that's not what's going on? Cena's hair implants were also very jarring and weird initially! A very famous wrestler has more or less debuted a new face, I feel like that's at least -- notable?

What kills me is that she's all YOU HAVE MY NUMBER DAVE YOU COULD HAVE CALLED ME.  And then you realize that she has Dave's number, too, and could have called him to straighten all this out if she really had an issue with a guy who is a longtime family friend.  That, plus how much of a misplaced overreaction her tweet was, makes this feel so performative. 

Hulk Hogan is garbage but he did get one thing right.  Don't work yourself into a shoot, brother.

[NikoBaltimore]

10 hours ago, sabremike said:

Because she probably never actually heard it and was responding to some rando trying to stir shit up by bringing a misleading version of what he said to rile her up and she took the bait. Dave no selling it is the correct way to handle it.

That rando is one reason why Twitter snitches made it far in the VrtlPros Super Shame Cup last year.  Even if Meltzer didn't say anything bad all it takes is to frame a tweet the right away and they take the bait.  So fuck that guy.  But in Charlotte's defense Meltzer did have that issue where he commented on Peyton's looks and that got him in hot water.  I don't blame her for reacting the way she did.  I don't expect her to apologize and it's likely best to just let it blow over.

But seriously, fuck that guy.

As for Carrano he seemed like a slimeball so if he did the trash bag treatment for Mickie and others then good riddance to bad rubbish.

EDIT:  Okay, I saw the tweet again and she said she heard the clip.  As for what Dave said I think he was trying to play it safe by saying it was more about the company/industry and not her.  But even something like that is just not good to say especially after the Peyton situation.  Dave might not have meant harm but maybe going forward he should just let Bryan/Garrett/etc. talk about it and not say anything.

Edited April 23, 2021 by NikoBaltimore

[hammerva]

To me there is nothing more WWE than on the day of this,  they decide to put on their Twitter a commercial with Drew McIntyre and Sasha Banks for Hefty Trash bags.

 

[Log]

33 minutes ago, hammerva said:

To me there is nothing more WWE than on the day of this,  they decide to put on their Twitter a commercial with Drew McIntyre and Sasha Banks for Hefty Trash bags.

 

Maybe the whole Mickie thing is just viral marketing?

[Ultimo Necro]

Back in the early 00’s most indy wrestler’s gear would have been indistinguishable from a plastic trash bag.

[Technico Support]

Has it been mentioned that Johnny Ace tweeted out the same, word for word, "heartfelt and very humane" response that HHH did?  LOOOOOL maybe mix it up a bit so it's less obvious some intern in marketing fired that off while dropping a deuce, probably.

[bazzil]

10 hours ago, sabremike said:

Because she probably never actually heard it and was responding to some rando trying to stir shit up by bringing a misleading version of what he said to rile her up and she took the bait. Dave no selling it is the correct way to handle it.

The tweet she responded to had an audio clip of what meltzer said.

[Hagan]

The Dave/Charlotte thing kind of dovetails into what Mickie said about how in WWE once a woman hits a certain age they're put out to pasture. Charlotte is hitting her mid-30s and, well, historically this is the time they start to tend to phase out woman performers unless they maintain a certain look. 

Just look at the example of Nattie who is virtually unrecognizable from how she began and even then had to undergo work to even get hired in the first place. 

It's a touchy issue but it's not like Dave should avoid stating obvious acts unless you assume that it's convenient that just about every female performer WWE hires just adores plastic surgery and other cosmetic improvements. 

Next time y'all go to your office you should ask your co-workers when they're getting work done because it's just a totally routine deal for people. 

 

Re: trashbag gate. It's bad optics but, realistically, if they put people's jackets and clothes in there and ship them that's probably not as sinister as it looks. Could the WWE afford to pay extra and ship people's crap back in nicely packaged Fed-Ex boxes. Certainly, as well. 

[clintthecrippler]

DAMN. Steve "Mongo" McMichael is battling ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) and is barely recognizable.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/bears/ct-prem-chicago-bears-steve-mcmichael-als-20210423-okfosu3f7ffzpcn6d4lja62cw4-story.html

 

[Hagan]

That story is just awful. 

[Eivion]

I think its amusing how many are coming to Dave's defense with him falsely saying Charlotte was getting dental work for a complete makeover. He may have a point about the industry and its expectations of women, but it was also also a pretty shitty thing to say without getting any sort of confirmation. That was what set Charlotte off. She seemingly isn't getting any work done and with how people look at her at times and judge her for looks that was some extra unnecessary shit put on her by Dave. 

Edited April 23, 2021 by Eivion

[Hagan]

Yeah but I'll also place better than even odds that she is. I mean, she does look a lot different after coming back from her hiatus. These are wrestlers. They're all liars. 

[Technico Support]

40 minutes ago, Eivion said:

I think its amusing how many are coming to Dave's defense with him falsely saying Charlotte was getting dental work for a complete makeover.

I'd have to go back and listen again, but I'm pretty sure he didn't say that.  He said she's getting dental work and then segued into talking about how unfortunate it is that women have to go through this shit in general.  As far as I can recall, he didn't say a thing about any further cosmetic surgery for Charlotte or even hint at it.  Listeners may have made that inference due to his moving from one specific topic to something general but I'm pretty sure he didn't say that. 

Edited April 23, 2021 by Technico Support

[Hagan]

Why I took the reference to she's getting dental work as part of a recent complete makeover, which in the Observer he had mentioned how she had come back with an "all new look."

[Zimbra]

Who is the wrestler I'm thinking of: Late 90s-early 00s Japanese guy, very stiff and kicky offense, used a run-up-the-corner enzuigiri as a finisher, had to stop wrestling because of some kind of brain injury (I think).  Pretty sure he worked Zero-One frequently when they were starting out.  

My brain keeps spitting out Shibata or Mochizuki and those aren't it.

[Eoae]

17 minutes ago, Hagan said:

Yeah but I'll also place better than even odds that she is. I mean, she does look a lot different after coming back from her hiatus. These are wrestlers. They're all liars. 

And that's any of our concern how, exactly?

 

When Dave said dental surgery, I assumed he meant "necessary" dental surgery.  I mean, I'm surprised more people who get punched in the face for a living don't need time off for dental surgery.  Then he took the conversation in a different direction and I started wondering how much he actually knew and how much was supposition.  Given Charlotte's reaction, I assume the "complete makeover" is Dave getting a little bit of info and reading too much into it.  Even if he's right (and I do think he has a general point about the company's perception of female workers as they get older), it's none of his or his fanbase's concern.

I dunno.  Dave has a history of making comments about female workers that aren't out-and-out offensive, but tread into subjects and viewpoints better left alone.  I still remember him sarcastically congratulating Layla El for managing to stay on tv past age 30.  Maybe I'd be more inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt if his online persona wasn't such a troll.

@Hagan, I dunno where you work, but if one of my employees walk up to a co-worker and asked where he or she got their plastic surgery done (without the employee bringing it up), they better hope the conversation doesn't get back to me.  I imagine the best case scenario is that'd I'd refer them to HR.  At a minimum, that sort of comment seems like the jumping off point for a harassment complaint.

Edited April 23, 2021 by Eoae

[Eivion]

9 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

I'd have to go back and listen again, but I'm pretty sure he didn't say that.  He said she's getting dental work and then segued into talking about how unfortunate it is that women have to go through this shit in general.  As far as I can recall, he didn't say a thing about any further cosmetic surgery for Charlotte or even hint at it.  Listeners may have made that inference due to his moving from one specific topic to something general but I'm pretty sure he didn't say that. 

He literally says she is just having a complete makeover after mentioning the dental work.

[The Natural]

1 hour ago, clintthecrippler said:

DAMN. Steve "Mongo" McMichael is battling ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) and is barely recognizable.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/bears/ct-prem-chicago-bears-steve-mcmichael-als-20210423-okfosu3f7ffzpcn6d4lja62cw4-story.html

 

I'm not clicking that link. Feel for Steve McMichael. All diseases are bad but ALS, Motor Neurone Disease as it's know in the UK is bloody awfu!. One of the worst. Thoughts go out Mongo, his family and friends xxx.