2021 The WWE Purge, Part 2

[Eoae]

2 minutes ago, J.T. said:

On the business side, Rule One of interviews is try your best to avoid speaking ill of your former employers.

 Several years ago, I was doing on-campus interviews (basically phase one for graduating college senors in my field; candidates we liked got a interview at one of the company's offices).  I'm interviewing one of the "kids" and have a very  positive opinion of them, and then, near the end of the interview, they say to me "Would you like to hear more about what happened at my last job?" 

My reply was "Not really, but I guess I'm going to have to, now that you brought it up."

They ultimately didn't get the job.  The incident wasn't really much of an incident - and I had no idea what they were getting at when they brought it up.  The bigger issue for me and the people who interviewed this person after I did was that they came across as too eager to get their side of the narrative out there.  And, of course, by bringing it up, they planted the idea that I might have heard something about them.  Which made me wonder "Should I have?" It's a no win situation for both of us.

One of the more bizarre situations I've ever witnessed was going to mass with my wife one weekend and discovering that the pastor had left town sometime since the previous week's mass.  Not a huge surprise, since the diocese was having trouble keeping priests at this particular church for various (non-sinister) reasons.  What was a surprise was the new pastor saying "Well, ignore the rumors you've heard.  This has nothing to do with drugs or alcohol or Father ____ fraternizing with college students.

Well, the problem with this nugget is the wife and I hadn't heard any rumors about Father.  Neither had anyone else in the congregation, so far I as know.  We even asked around afterwards and no one had the slightest idea what rumors we were supposed to ignore.  So, by bringing it up, the diocese unhelpfully gave us the impression that there was probably more to the story and they were maybe burying it.

(I doubt the rumors had anything to do with Father being a pedophile.  More likely, he was drinking or doing drugs.  The priest in question had entered the priesthood in college after getting into some sort of tailspin which i always assumed involved a drug habit or alcoholism.  Dude in question was actually living in a rural monastery before the diocese asked him to take over the parish, so my guess was living in a college town may not have been a great environment for him.)

 

[Technico Support]

13 minutes ago, Eoae said:

This has nothing to do with drugs or alcohol or Father ____ fraternizing with college students.

LOL that was oddly specific.  Did he follow up with, "and he definitely did not lose exactly $10,306 of church funds on Draftkings.com on his iPhone 8, nor did he raise the dark demon Bhomep N'al Sur to get revenge on Father Paul in Saratoga Springs for that altercation at the softball game!"

[SirSmUgly]

5 hours ago, Dolfan in NYC said:

Everyone has you on ignore. 

 

I was saying "Boo-urns" don't have @Technico Supporton ignore.

[Greggulator]

The world of entertainment is different than a real job. The WWE in this department is no different than Saturday Night Live or any soap opera or serial drama. How many people have been detectives or attorneys in SVU at this point? Sometimes your character serves no more purpose or they think you make too much money. 

Everyone in entertainment should realize this going into the business: You will very likely get fired one day. There is no shame in being let go. And, if you are let go, there is always a way to return if you remain on good terms with everyone. Why burn that bridge and payday flu the three days of Twitter buzz? 

 

[Eoae]

3 hours ago, Technico Support said:

LOL that was oddly specific.  Did he follow up with, "and he definitely did not lose exactly $10,306 of church funds on Draftkings.com on his iPhone 8, nor did he raise the dark demon Bhomep N'al Sur to get revenge on Father Paul in Saratoga Springs for that altercation at the softball game!"

Lol, no, probably 'cause the money part would have been too on the nose.  It came out later that the bishop of our diocese was partying like a rock star (ie, spend lots of money during the day then get plastered at dinner and grope the help).  Apparently, his monthly alcohol bill was so large, he sent out his minions to various towns around the state to buy booze for him so it would be less conspicuous.  One priest was making weekly booze runs to our college town.  It's a 6-hour round trip.

There was also the usual sexual escapades with altar boys, but by that point the excessive spending and drinking was more newsworthy.

[Infinit]

1 hour ago, Eoae said:

There was also the usual sexual escapades with altar boys, but by that point the excessive spending and drinking was more newsworthy.

Drinking and spending too much money was more newsworthy than pedophilia...?

[Freudian_Slap]

If I ever say thank you to a company that is enriching itself and it's investors by firing me during years of record profits, I hope someone throws me into the ocean

[SirSmUgly]

6 minutes ago, Freudian_Slap said:

If I ever say thank you to a company that is enriching itself and it's investors by firing me during years of record profits, I hope someone throws me into the ocean

I know, right? Have some pride.

There are middle options between "trash company on Twitter" and "gush about how great the company is on Twitter." 

[Eoae]

22 minutes ago, Infinit said:

Drinking and spending too much money was more newsworthy than pedophilia...?

Sadly yes.  By this time this story hit the public, the priest pedophilia scandal had been in full swing for quite a while.  The sex abuse allegations got a lot less play - both in the news and among local congregations - than tales about his wild spending and getting drunk every evening by 5 PM.  Articles about homes he purchased with church funds consistently got the front page.  Sex abuse allegations and the ensuing lawsuits were buried further back.  

I can't explain it either. 

[AxB]

Apparently a few indies have been reaching out to Eric Scherr, asking if he'll come in for a shot. But his asking price is "Five Figures". So, probably not getting many booking then.

[Technico Support]

4 minutes ago, AxB said:

Apparently a few indies have been reaching out to Eric Scherr, asking if he'll come in for a shot. But his asking price is "Five Figures". So, probably not getting many booking then.

Damn, I was hoping he'd be at BOLA this year.

[RIPPA]

This tickles me and ties into the current discussion and the original purpose of the thread

Per PWI - there are some folks in the WWE who are are trying to convince Vince to bring Aleister Black back already

Quote

According to PWinsider.com, they report: “... in certain corners of the company, there’s been some talk that Aleister Black was cut prematurely and a push that the company should bring him back in.” The reports adds that there’s no word yet on whether a return is remotely possible, but the feeling is "that of everyone, Black was cut too soon."

They go on to write that Black was a "victim of broken promises and start/stop creative more than of anything that he did” on his own. In other words, he wasn't released because he didn't have talent, he was let go because creative's lack of vision for him put him on the outs with those who made the financial decisions to cut the latest run of talents.

 

[NoFistsJustFlips]

4 hours ago, Greggulator said:

The world of entertainment is different than a real job. The WWE in this department is no different than Saturday Night Live or any soap opera or serial drama. How many people have been detectives or attorneys in SVU at this point? Sometimes your character serves no more purpose or they think you make too much money. 

Everyone in entertainment should realize this going into the business: You will very likely get fired one day. There is no shame in being let go. And, if you are let go, there is always a way to return if you remain on good terms with everyone. Why burn that bridge and payday flu the three days of Twitter buzz? 

 

I don't disagree with anything you posted.

But a company that had record profits during a pandemic, and enters into one sided contracts with talent that don't have the same rights as the employer... hear me out... shouldn't be firing anyone (without cause). In what world do we have people defending WWE for firing people before their contracts are up? Everything you wrote is valid. But can't that all be true and they keep their word on the agreements they sign? In 2004 Brock didn't want to be a wrestler anymore. He couldn't just send WWE an early release and say hey we're no longer in a contract anymore. So why does WWE get a pass for doing this? Pay everyone until the end of the agreement and keep your word. Clean house at the end of contracts. Not in the middle.

Or if they want to keep this practice, make it fair. Allow the wrestlers to terminate the deals when they aren't happy. This "let's keep everyone as unhappy as possible by firing the happy people mid-contract, while also holding unhappy people that want out hostage" shit... is fucking bullshit.

But I digress...

[elizium]

2 hours ago, AxB said:

Apparently a few indies have been reaching out to Eric Scherr, asking if he'll come in for a shot. But his asking price is "Five Figures". So, probably not getting many booking then.

That's a "I don't want to say no, but I really don't want to do it" number

[Custos]

Further to RIPPA’s linked PWInsider info, which was an extension of comments made by Tommy End in speaking with Renee, I listened to the whole thing (End being an eloquent and engaging speaker) and I don’t think there’s a more perfect distillation of the multiple simultaneous realities that you have to reside in current WWE:

- I am going to put my heart and soul into bettering myself and come from every angle to succeed

AND

- I am dying a slow death feeling creatively hamstrung and wasting my best years

BUT

 so thankful and grateful for achieving my dream

AND 

- I will maintain my self-esteem and pride despite being put on the shelf as the unwanted toy for multiple months and sat ignored outside Vinces office for 5 hours at a time

AND

- I will jump on board with whatever whim Vince has, leaving aside my honed instinct and experience of what work, to show I have some value in this crazy world

AND
- Everyone across the board is working so hard and in it all together with so much attention to detail as a coping mechanism to manage the old man’s whims which utterly undermine the big picture, but we’re such a GREAT TEAM that it’s all worthwhile.

I realise none of this is new insight but this conversation just has it all in a neat package, I just wonder if End realises himself how utterly insane it is all is, taking a step back.

[The Natural]

4 hours ago, RIPPA said:

This tickles me and ties into the current discussion and the original purpose of the thread

Per PWI - there are some folks in the WWE who are are trying to convince Vince to bring Aleister Black back already

 

[TheVileOne]

2 hours ago, elizium said:

That's a "I don't want to say no, but I really don't want to do it" number

Is that his asking price or his manager/booking agent's?

[NikoBaltimore]

13 hours ago, AxB said:

Apparently a few indies have been reaching out to Eric Scherr, asking if he'll come in for a shot. But his asking price is "Five Figures". So, probably not getting many booking then.

I guarantee you the main local indy here is going to give him those five figures.  They have no problem with shelling out cash for legends to just sign autographs and pose in the ring.  So once Maryland opens up wrestling again I guarantee you he'll be there on one of the first shows back.

10 hours ago, Custos said:

Further to RIPPA’s linked PWInsider info, which was an extension of comments made by Tommy End in speaking with Renee, I listened to the whole thing (End being an eloquent and engaging speaker) and I don’t think there’s a more perfect distillation of the multiple simultaneous realities that you have to reside in current WWE:

- I am going to put my heart and soul into bettering myself and come from every angle to succeed

AND

- I am dying a slow death feeling creatively hamstrung and wasting my best years

BUT

 so thankful and grateful for achieving my dream

AND 

- I will maintain my self-esteem and pride despite being put on the shelf as the unwanted toy for multiple months and sat ignored outside Vinces office for 5 hours at a time

AND

- I will jump on board with whatever whim Vince has, leaving aside my honed instinct and experience of what work, to show I have some value in this crazy world

AND
- Everyone across the board is working so hard and in it all together with so much attention to detail as a coping mechanism to manage the old man’s whims which utterly undermine the big picture, but we’re such a GREAT TEAM that it’s all worthwhile.

I realise none of this is new insight but this conversation just has it all in a neat package, I just wonder if End realises himself how utterly insane it is all is, taking a step back.

I think he does but he made it clear early on that he didn't want to get too much into that as he's trying to stay in a positive mindset.  It really depends on what happens next but I can see him elaborate more on that down the line.  Then again he's handled everything with such class that he might feel he's best off keeping that off the record.

[Pete]

14 hours ago, AxB said:

Apparently a few indies have been reaching out to Eric Scherr, asking if he'll come in for a shot. But his asking price is "Five Figures". So, probably not getting many booking then.

That's also Matt Cardona's asking price, but he'll work for four figures if they're MIB.

[Technico Support]

13 hours ago, NoFistsJustFlips said:

I don't disagree with anything you posted.

But a company that had record profits during a pandemic, and enters into one sided contracts with talent that don't have the same rights as the employer... hear me out... shouldn't be firing anyone (without cause). In what world do we have people defending WWE for firing people before their contracts are up? Everything you wrote is valid. But can't that all be true and they keep their word on the agreements they sign? In 2004 Brock didn't want to be a wrestler anymore. He couldn't just send WWE an early release and say hey we're no longer in a contract anymore. So why does WWE get a pass for doing this? Pay everyone until the end of the agreement and keep your word. Clean house at the end of contracts. Not in the middle.

Or if they want to keep this practice, make it fair. Allow the wrestlers to terminate the deals when they aren't happy. This "let's keep everyone as unhappy as possible by firing the happy people mid-contract, while also holding unhappy people that want out hostage" shit... is fucking bullshit.

But I digress...

This right here.

Vince runs his company like it's still 1979.  In his mind, wrestlers are no better than racehorses, cattle, indentured servants, whatever analogy you want.  He's a pimp.  For the talent, contracts aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

@Greggulatorwrote this long thing comparing wrestling to the entertainment industry and I don't think they're comparable.  If an actor signs on for, say, three seasons of a show, and the studio decides to fire him without cause after one, I'm guessing he's got some recourse (contract paid out?  lawsuit?) and isn't just getting 90 days pay in a non-compete period during which he can't work on anyone else's TV show, movie, etc.  Also, actors have agents and lawyers who review their contracts so they'll hopefully never be in situations former WWE "independent contractors" end up in.  And don't tell me that wrestlers could hire agents and lawyers, too.  Vince always side-eyed the very few wrestlers who had agents.  And show me a wrestler who said "let me have my lawyer read this before I sign" and I'll show you a wrestler who was behind the 8 ball on day one. 

Edited June 10, 2021 by Technico Support

[supremebve]

48 minutes ago, Technico Support said:

This right here.

Vince runs his company like it's still 1979.  In his mind, wrestlers are no better than racehorses, cattle, indentured servants, whatever analogy you want.  He's a pimp.  For the talent, contracts aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

@Greggulatorwrote this long thing comparing wrestling to the entertainment industry and I don't think they're comparable.  If an actor signs on for, say, three seasons of a show, and the studio decides to fire him without cause after one, I'm guessing he's got some recourse (contract paid out?  lawsuit?) and isn't just getting 90 days pay in a non-compete period during which he can't work on anyone else's TV show, movie, etc.  Also, actors have agents and lawyers who review their contracts so they'll hopefully never be in situations former WWE "independent contractors" end up in.  And don't tell me that wrestlers could hire agents and lawyers, too.  Vince always side-eyed the very few wrestlers who had agents.  And show me a wrestler who said "let me have my lawyer read this before I sign" and I'll show you a wrestler who was behind the 8 ball on day one. 

Pretty much every working actor is part of the Screen Actor's Guild, and I'm not sure how they are compensated if they are fired, but that's what happens when you have representation.  Wrestling is carny bullshit, and when you are knee deep in carny bullshit, you are convinced that having representation makes you some type of pussy or something.  Until that changes, all of these dudes are going to get fired for budget cuts while the company making record profits.  There is no reason for Vince to honor these contracts, because there is nothing in it for him.  It's like when you date someone who is too gullible or a push over, eventually you'll just keep doing shit that you know is fucked up because they won't hold you accountable.  If you look back through history, the only people Vince respects are the people who won't put up with his bullshit.  Seriously, every time these dudes leave and thank him for letting their dreams come true, he laughs to himself remembering all the times he stuck it in their butt when he knew they didn't like it.  OK, this went off the rails, but that's how I see the entire situation.

[BobbyWhioux]

4 hours ago, Technico Support said:

This right here.

Vince runs his company like it's still 1979.  In his mind, wrestlers are no better than racehorses, cattle, indentured servants, whatever analogy you want.  He's a pimp.  For the talent, contracts aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

@Greggulatorwrote this long thing comparing wrestling to the entertainment industry and I don't think they're comparable.  If an actor signs on for, say, three seasons of a show, and the studio decides to fire him without cause after one, I'm guessing he's got some recourse (contract paid out?  lawsuit?) and isn't just getting 90 days pay in a non-compete period during which he can't work on anyone else's TV show, movie, etc.  Also, actors have agents and lawyers who review their contracts so they'll hopefully never be in situations former WWE "independent contractors" end up in.  And don't tell me that wrestlers could hire agents and lawyers, too.  Vince always side-eyed the very few wrestlers who had agents.  And show me a wrestler who said "let me have my lawyer read this before I sign" and I'll show you a wrestler who was behind the 8 ball on day one. 

exactly/Wendi Richter says hello.

[Eoae]

3 hours ago, supremebve said:

Pretty much every working actor is part of the Screen Actor's Guild, and I'm not sure how they are compensated if they are fired, but that's what happens when you have representation.  

SAG contracts vary from person to person.  If you're in the main cast of a tv show, or have a large role in a movie, you're generally getting paid till the end of the season (or shoot), assuming you leave the project for a legitimate reason or "creative differences".  If they fire you for some sort of behavior detrimental to the show or castmates, you probably won't get much.  The contract will generally specify what they can fire you for without compensation.

Bit players, extras, and a lot of crew positions generally just pay for time on set.  If you get fired prematurely, you're probably not owed much extra, if anything.

As with a lot of professions, it depends who you are.  Bigger the star, the more clout you have to get guaranteed money written in to the contract.  

Personally, I don't have a lot of sympathy for wrestlers who sign one-sided contracts then develop buyers remorse much later, but i also don't subscribe to the idea that all these people are naive babes in the woods who need protected from the Big Bad Wolf Vince, so your mileage may vary.

Edited June 10, 2021 by Eoae

[supremebve]

7 minutes ago, Eoae said:

Personally, I don't have a lot of sympathy for wrestlers who sign one-sided contracts then develop buyers remorse much later, but i also don't subscribe to the idea that all these people are babes in the woods who need protected from the Big Bad Wolf Vince, so your mileage may vary.

They literally could stop all of this if they just hired a lawyer/agent to do their negotiations like everyone else in a similar field.  Seriously, LeBron James has an agent in a sport that has a maximum contract that he knows he'll get.  He knows for a certified fact that the Lakers will give him the maximum contract, and he still pays someone to negotiate it for him.  Why, because negotiating for himself is fucking stupid.  You know what an agents primary role is?  So the employee can say fuck you to his employer, and the employer can say fuck you to the employee, without anyone ever getting upset.  The reason that this shit keeps happening is because none of these people are willing to look Vince in the eye and say "FUCK YOU," when he gives them a bullshit contract and they won't hire anyone to do it for them.  

[AxB]

Unless they're Ronda Rousey or Brock Lesnar.