The Wall Street Journal Vince McMahon Thread.

[piranesi]

I didn’t mean he quit as like a punishment. He had a chance to reach for some personal redemption if anything like that means anything to him. Just a missed opportunity to save himself is all. 

[EVA]

14 minutes ago, Cobra Commander said:

It would require (a) they pay attention to these things and (b) they work on a Saturday Night/Sunday. If the unofficial goal was "don't say anything that can directly get you fired".. he probably achieved that. Which was hardly a guaranteed outcome since this is HHH, of the "me and my friend named Mark" nature at one time.

If he would have played it like a Dana White, that would have been a worse idea than what he did.

In the world of million dollar corporations, mealy-mouthed weakness like HHH displayed tonight will get you canned quicker than anything. Those people only respect strength. Dana White was caught on video slapping his wife, and he literally stood in front of the press and was like “I won’t be accepting any punishment for that,” and that is exactly how it went down.

[Cobra Commander]

I suspect the same HHH fiefdoms thing is gonna be attempted against Endeavor that he has tried for years with Vince and it likely won't work well vs people who aren't related to him by marriage.

HHH just wants to run his 2010s workrate indy in peace and the people would probably kibosh this dream are gonna do it eventually even without legal problems.

Edited January 28 by Cobra Commander

[John from Cincinnati]

22 minutes ago, jaedmc said:

I actually believe he didn't read it. And that's really the problem, isn't it?

That any of us are more curious than someone in his position? Yes, that’s the kind of shit that riles me up as much as almost anything. 

Edited January 28 by John from Cincinnati

[piranesi]

Can you even imagine the things he’s managed not to read, see, hear over the years as they were happening in the next office, backstage, in the hotel. 
 

he’s just a doomed creature. 

[Cobra Commander]

For the record, I haven't read the actual lawsuit. I've chosen to just trust that the summary is an accurate reflection of what's in the lawsuit.

Considering the lack of followup questions for pretty much anything, he probably could have pulled off lying about reading it and not been asked any specific questions about what he (didn't) read.

[Ace]

You're also not the COO for one of the defendants.

[John from Cincinnati]

For as shitty as this was, all respect to Thurston, Alba, and Hawkins. People like to talk shit about wrestling journalism, sometimes for good cause, but they did their job.

[Octopus]

Wait, did Tony Khan in an Afro wig and sunglasses address a sexual assault allegation during a press conference better than HHH? Is TK for better or worse the presser GOAT?!

[Casey]

Triple H had an AEW shot ready in the chamber, but didn’t have a boilerplate corporate statement ready for any Vince questions. Fucking lol.

[EVA]

They had 48 hours to either cancel this press conference or prep HHH on how to handle these inevitable questions. The fact that they evidently did neither might suggest to me that key players at TKO expected and wanted HHH to embarrass himself up there.

[Octopus]

HHH - Handles Harassment Horribly 

please, no standing applause. We got not have so much time and let the other posters get an opportunity to post. Save your loud cheering and whooping for the end.

[EVA]

4 minutes ago, Casey said:

Triple H had an AEW shot ready in the chamber,

Big mad that TK outbid them for Okada and Ospreay.

[Cobra Commander]

Just now, Ace said:

You're also not the COO for one of the defendants.

not to do too much of a whataboutism but... wouldn't shock me if someone high up in the company like Nick Khan also took the Readers Digest version of what was gonna ruin his Thursday/Friday instead of reading the lawsuit. There's probably a wellpaid industry of people reading stuff for the rich and powerful.

[Octopus]

Cody for EVP of Wrestling? Finish the Story.

[TheVileOne]

PWInsider is reporting that WWE/TKO wants Stephanie McMahon back in the company.

[Cobra Commander]

Just now, TheVileOne said:

PWInsider is reporting that WWE/TKO wants Stephanie McMahon back in the company.

"just when you think you know the answers, I change the questions"

[John from Cincinnati]

25 minutes ago, Octopus said:

Wait, did Tony Khan in an Afro wig and sunglasses address a sexual assault allegation during a press conference better than HHH? Is TK for better or worse the presser GOAT?!

There are much better, but this is the best we’ve got in this space somehow. 

[Casey]

1 minute ago, John from Cincinnati said:

There are much better, but this is the best we’ve got in this space somehow. 

Monkey’s Paw: Billy Corgan announces that NWA will start doing post show scrums streaming live on Truth Social.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

45 minutes ago, Octopus said:

Cody for EVP of Wrestling? Finish the Story.

Outside of the obvious things about his onscreen character and certain creative choices he made at the time, I think his absence as an EVP has been felt in myriad ways to any AEW viewer paying attention enough. So after a torrent of absolutely garbage news, surrounding garbage people and their garbage company, my mind is a little blown at the now entirely non-zero chance that TKO would shitcan HHH, and ask Khan and Johnson "Hey, does anyone there have any experience running a wrestling company?" That would be a pretty cool symbolic ending for Vince the executive (as opposed to Vince the monster, who deserves prison): send him out to pasture, replace him with a Rhodes, and open the most forbidden of doors. Nice to smile at one thing in this Godforsaken thread for a moment anyway

Edit: I've now listened to Levesque's answer and it's fucking baaaaaad, man. Wildly tone-deaf, and worse than described.

Edited January 28 by Zakk_Sabbath

[Zakk_Sabbath]

5 minutes ago, Casey said:

Monkey’s Paw: Billy Corgan announces that NWA will start doing post show scrums streaming live on Truth Social.

Gorilla's paw: a now jobless booker with a billion in seed money and a bad reputation discovers Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness, phone calls are made, and things spiral from there

[The Natural]

Triple H: " I haven’t read the lawsuit.” That's a problem. Those answers by Trips, ugh. 

 

Edited January 28 by The Natural

[The Natural]

1 hour ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

Edit: I've now listened to Levesque's answer and it's fucking baaaaaad, man. Wildly tone-deaf, and worse than described.

QFT.

[Hamhock]

“I haven’t read the lawsuit” is a variation of when a Senator/House Rep. wants to duck giving their opinion on what was said/done/written/etc. by [not naming who]…”I haven’t watched the video”, “I haven’t read the interview”, “I haven’t seen the speech”.

It’s bullshit then, and it was bullshit now. It happens often enough that just *one time* I’d like to see the reporter anticipate this avoidance strategy by immediately following up with, “no problem - here you go!” and handing them a printed copy of the lawsuit. “Summary is only a couple of pages - we’ll give you a few minutes for your thoughts on it.”

Edited January 28 by Hamhock

[StretchMediatedHypertrophy]

Levesque's response was horrible, but in my heart of hearts I sort of understand why he might not have wanted to read that document about the grandfather of his kids. 

And ultimately, yeah tbh I looked at a few yt royal rumble clips this morning. Maybe this is a good opportunity to make my break with WWE, maybe I will, quite probably actually, but I won't pretend it's easy for people with careers in WWE and people they're looking out for to know exactly what the right thing is. As far as we live in any kind of ethical world thesedays, we live in a culturally consequentialist & pluralist one and there are few easy answers. As viewers of content, which exists in abundance, there are somewhat easier options. It might just involve throwing out some t-shirts idk.