2021 Post-Mania WWE Purge

[Gordi the recovering AEW f]

47 minutes ago, Eoae said:

Really, there's a long line of people WWE could (and maybe should) let go without affecting the product one bit.

My point is Vince doesn't need a reason to fire people.  It's his company.  If he wants to let people go for sneezing or looking like Dolph Ziggler, he can.  He doesn't need to justify his reasoning for letting people go and he's doesn't have any responsibility to keep people around if he doesn't feel like they fit into the future of the company just because the company is profitable.

Whenever there's a purge, I always wonder how much off-camera stuff plays a factor.  I assume that, at least occasionally, attitude and work habits play a factor in getting cut...

I dunno what I said to make you think I was victim blaming...

How so?  He's been out injured since that time, but he was still on the payroll and was on tv basically every week.

 

Man, ass-kissing corporate lickspittle is such a great heel character and you play it so well.

[TheVileOne]

They broke up a women's tag team when they have a women's tag team division with barely any tag teams to speak of, and now one of the genuine women's tag teams they have has been let go.

They split up Heavy Machinery, took away the push they were giving Otis, then turned Otis heel and paired him up with Chad Gable, and fired the guy Otis was teaming with originally.

Saying you need to make budget cuts after you signed a $1 billion Peacock deal is highly suspicious.

[username]

20 hours ago, AxB said:

The Dark matches are to get people ring time, and to pad the W/L records of the signed guys who are being booked as JTTS's. Like if Jack Evans had his first Dynamite match in months and he was 0-4 on the year, no way you can sell this is a big match. Whereas if he's 12-4, that's a significant win.

 

I mean if we are really honest with ourselves no one watching Dynamite will buy that as a significant win, I'm not sure most of their tv audience has seen Jack win a match. AEW is really bad about things like, that where Red Velvet was at one point the #2 ranked woman in the company while having lost every single televised match she ever had (I think that is still true FWIW). Even when the audience was less "smart"/plugged in that wouldn't really work, nowadays even less so.

 

Using the hours to try and scam a streaming service exec is the best argument for it I've ever heard BTW.

[BrianS81177]

1 hour ago, El Gran Gordi said:

 

Man, ass-kissing corporate lickspittle is such a great heel character and you play it so well.

He should. He looks like this:

[Eivion]

1 hour ago, El Gran Gordi said:

Man, ass-kissing corporate lickspittle is such a great heel character and you play it so well.

I have to ask why the fuck is this considered ok to do here? This is a wildly unnecessary attack on someone just because they disagree with you. Please stop this shit. 

[Shartnado]

On 4/16/2021 at 11:12 PM, Peck said:

Kevin Dunn is currently trending. Unfortunately, he wasn't released. Reading the Twitter replies regarding him trending is absolutely hilarious though.

 

The idea that they like to fancy themselves an entertainment company and the one TV producer they have doesn't "get" Billie Kay character, (next to) only thing they've got that could be considered entertainment, is infuriating and hilarious at the same time!

[TheVileOne]

I would say I agree with the idea Vince McMahon should have the power to fire or release people or even some talents that are turning into dead weight. If it had just been Mojo Rawley or Bo Dallas, I doubt many people would've raised a fuss. Frankly, Mojo Rawley was already treading water and was only able to stick around because they had a short-lived stint with Rob Gronkowski.

But we've also seen WWE waffle on releasing talents who are unhappy and want to leave, or talents they simply aren't even using at all. And then we've seen WWE take away valuable sources of income for them via Cameo or Twitch, when they are independent contractors. I'm sorry, but even more so than it being unfair, and it's also legally questionable and dubious. 

The next time someone asks for their release, get it done and don't drag your feet, especially if you're looking to make budget cuts to finance your next class action lawsuit legal settlement.

[Gordi the recovering AEW f]

55 minutes ago, Eivion said:

I have to ask why the fuck is this considered ok to do here? This is a wildly unnecessary attack on someone just because they disagree with you. Please stop this shit. 

I phrased it as a compliment for a reason. @Eoaeis a family man who seems quite nice and generally comes across as a reasonable person otherwise but those are some seriously Million Dollar Man/Smithers type opinions.

And you cursing me out in that specific post about not attacking people comes across as, at best, ironic.

Edited April 18, 2021 by El Gran Gordi

[Eivion]

16 minutes ago, El Gran Gordi said:

I phrased it as a compliment for a reason. @Eoaeis a family man who seems quite nice and generally comes across as a reasonable person otherwise but those are some seriously Million Dollar Man/Smithers type opinions.

And you cursing me out in that specific post about not attacking people comes across as, at best, ironic.

Trying to pretend to your attack wasn't one is ridiculous. It wasn't a compliment, and it wasn't funny. It was you insulting someone because they had different opinion than you and doing so because you know you can and will get away with it. It should stop.

[Casey]

I don't have a problem with a company firing people. Well, during a pandemic when work is hard to come by, especially wrestlers, yeah, it's kind of fucking heartless. And when you cite budget cuts as the reason and you do all of these things in the previous week that you probably could have left out of a show... well, seems hypocritical at best. The main problem I have with WWE, or any company really, firing someone and using blatantly bullshit reasons is because I think you should be given the real reason if you're being let go from a company. If they didn't have any ideas for them, or didn't see them fitting in the company, or didn't "get" their appeal, or whatever, say that. If I get fired from my job while my employer is posting record profits and they cite budget reasons, I'm going to think that's bullshit and want to know what the real reason is. Is it because I wasn't doing my job fast enough? Didn't meet your expectations? Just tell me, so I can go to the next place and maybe improve my work ethic (or in a wrestlers case, be more hands-on with creative ideas - if they hadn't tried that already - or work harder, etc etc).

I saw a Reddit post that cited some website online from 2018 that said Samoa Joe was making $800K a year. I don't know if I believe that, but let's say it's true. They compared what he makes to Michael Cole, who this website said was making $650K or something. That's not taking into account the fact that Cole probably gets a ton of perks since he's an actual employee, things like stock options, healthcare, 401K, etc. I'd wager to say he's not driving town to town like the wrestlers, either. 

Also, yes, that was funny. I don't know what this dude is on about. I've been called a tankie on here multiple times, and I'm not out here crying about it.

[Eoae]

10 hours ago, El Gran Gordi said:

 

Man, ass-kissing corporate lickspittle is such a great heel character and you play it so well.

I think you've got me all wrong, friend.  I'm much more into toe-licking than ass-kissing.

Ass kissing is ok, I guess, but I'm much more a "this little piggie" type of guy.

[Black Angel]

Budget cuts? Pfft. Well it's a good thing that they had enough budget to pay Logan Paul and send him a private jet just to come to Smackdown.

[BrianS81177]

5 hours ago, Eoae said:

I think you've got me all wrong, friend.  I'm much more into toe-licking than ass-kissing.

Ass kissing is ok, I guess, but I'm much more a "this little piggie" type of guy.

I stand corrected. He's not Waylon Smithers at all. He's Tony Atlas. 

Edited April 18, 2021 by BrianS81177

[A_K]

On 4/17/2021 at 2:30 AM, Happ Hazzard said:

I don't have a problem with WWE cutting guys, they should cut a lot more, and more often. The roster is so stagnant it's unbelievable. Every WrestleMania for the last 15 years is largely indistinguishable from the last, they just shuffle the same guys around. If you look at the roster changes between WM1 and WM5, and any 5 years for any of the first 20 years of the expansion era, not just the roster was greatly different, but the whole feel of the promotion was completely different, night and day. It would be to everyones benefit if they cut 25% of the roster every year and anyone that had been there for more than 7 years got automatically cut, with the proviso that they can be re-hired after spending 2 years elsewhere.

Interesting perspective. Whether it is creative, management or roster complacency, the ‘feel’ of the product certainly merges together. As you say, take 93 & 96, 97 00, even 00 and 03 and you end up with a very visually and conceptually different product from period to period on relatively short time frames. Now you can look at literally 10 or 15 years in succession and just .. blah. Certainly seems like it was more of a passion-project back then. He/They probably also damn near killed them selves from exhaustion taking it to the top of the tree in those few decades, so understandably coasting in latter years.

[A_K]

12 hours ago, Eivion said:

Trying to pretend to your attack wasn't one is ridiculous. It wasn't a compliment, and it wasn't funny. It was you insulting someone because they had different opinion than you and doing so because you know you can and will get away with it. It should stop.

Yup. There’s nothing more grubby than weaselling out of the sentiment of a comment. Lowest of the low. Own what you have to say, and if you want to make grubby or vulgar unsolicited attacks on people, own the reaction too.

[Ziggy]

18 hours ago, Eoae said:

How so?  He's been out injured since that time, but he was still on the payroll and was on tv basically every week.

Don't get me wrong, Im a big fan of Joe's work in the  ring and I thought Joe was going to eventually get back in the ring. He even put it out there himself a while ago that he'd be back in the ring again. But I started to think that Joe would be this Generations Gorilla Monsoon as far as Wrestler transitioning to a really good Commentator. He's close with MVP who's close to Bruce Prichard so I figured he'd  be in good company. I'm sure Prichard knew him well enough from TNA.

Alot of guys here and on Twitter felt like he was phoning it in when he came in to NXT and even earlier in his main roster run. Maybe so but I think he stepped up depending on his opponent or the Angle. I enjoyed him in WWE even though he was booked very poorly in WWE outside of the Brock Lesnar deal and I'm sure that had alot to do with Heyman. He was so great on the mic or anytime he got to speak. He has ability to talk you into getting in to a feud or a match. The only other person with that skill is Eddie Kingston.

[Craig H]

Joe definitely wasn't phoning it in with NXT.

[SirSmUgly]

Who thought Joe was phoning it in while he was in NXT?

Have we already forgotten Joe bleeding and stalking Finn Balor and looking king-sized?

[GuerrillaMonsoon]

Yeah I don't think he phoned it in (TNA dickface period only needs to show what that looks like).

I just felt like he was physically shot, and post NXT there was an element of him trying to feed for babyfaces as expected with the WWE style, when his best matches there were guys pinballing off him as needed.

[joseph2112]

If I'm not mistaken, WWE wrestlers are signed to contracts that have a specified length.

Do I think WWE should pay them forever? No.

If a company is making record profits, do I think they should honor the contracts until the end? Yes I do.

The roster is bloated? WHO SIGNED THE TALENT?

Can the wrestlers leave halfway through the contract if they wish? No, they can't. 

This is one sided corporate abuse.

 

 

[Ryan]

The unfairness of their contracts and their status is a whole other thread that could go on for years.

[TheVileOne]

I never got the sense Joe was ever phoning it in for WWE. Clearly slowed down and past his prime?  Yes. But he signed with the company at 36 years old, when his best prime years were already behind him, and sadly he wasted most of them in TNA.

He even had a good/great match with Ricochet at Stomping Grounds. Didn't seem to be phoning it in at all here. The intensity and impact of classic Joe is still there. He can still sell a hurricarana better than Bronson Reed, who really shouldn't take those types of moves. IMHO all of Joe's US title era work throughout 2019 that I recall watching was remarkably solid. Also, Joe was clearly over and the fans definitely believed and accepted Joe as a believable ass-kicker.

Also one thing I like about this match, Ricochet does a diving move and it actually f'n works. WrestleMania week, I saw guys doing multiple dive type moves to the outside and they looked like trash. Drew McIntyre does like a somersault plancha and mainly looks like he just flopped on his ass. Or Shotzi Blackheart almost kills herself and hits nothing on a dive. Here, when Ricochet did it at least it looked decent and made sense, and he actually made contact on Joe and served to advance his offense.

NXT Takeover London match with Finn Balor was awesome. Granted that was over five years ago. Joe and Balor always had a great series of matches.

Their full cage match is up at WWE.com as well. If anything, the feud with Brock I think just scratched the surface of what some strong common sense booking you can get with Joe at his best. Few things are better to me than Samoa Joe politely telling Paul Heyman he's about to choke him unconscious. Joe's promos skills were always underrated because he had that intensity without having to yell and scream to get his point across. In fact, his best promos are when he's not raising his voice and just dryly, simply and matter of factly saying what he plans to do.

 

Edited April 19, 2021 by TheVileOne

[Gonzo]

On 4/17/2021 at 4:16 AM, Leonidas said:

Subscribe now to the AEW Hook 24/7 channel~! Hook all day, Hook all night, Hook life~! Only $9.99/day

And if the subscription should lapse, they can always re-subscribe.

Because the Hook brings them back.

[just drew]

He aint tellin’ you no liiiiiiiiies....

[Craig H]

Ban plz