The Wall Street Journal Vince McMahon Thread.

[Johnny Sorrow]

3 hours ago, HumanChessgame said:

I didn't watch the post Rumble presser but I'm shocked that a place like WWE where everything has always been so scripted they didn't just only include journalists who would tow the company line and only ask pre-screened questions.

I didn't watch it either, because these wrestling post show scrums stink. It's either Khan wearing his Inoki scarf saying how awesome everything is as chaos is happening, or HHH not having a prepared statement that didn't actually say anything, but wasn't him looking like a buffoon as he did.

Wrestling didn't need post show media press conferences. Get rid of them.

Edited January 31 by Johnny Sorrow

[Greggulator]

6 hours ago, Johnny Sorrow said:

I didn't watch it either, because these wrestling post show scrums stink. It's either Khan wearing his Inoki scarf saying how awesome everything is as chaos is happening, or HHH not having a prepared statement that didn't actually say anything, but wasn't him looking like a buffoon as he did.

Wrestling didn't need post show media press conferences. Get rid of them.

All of this. The only good that has come out of any of them have been the car wrecks if you enjoy that sort of thing.

[Godfrey]

For those who care, Cornette took a second pass at this after reading the full filing and apologized for his initial reaction. Last just apologized if you were offended which is not an apology

[Zakk_Sabbath]

55 minutes ago, Greggulator said:

All of this. The only good that has come out of any of them have been the car wrecks if you enjoy that sort of thing.

Thirded - you and @Johnny Sorroware on the money. I had very similar feelings after the TK hat thing - just too much of a potential minefield. And as sorta mentioned by others: I legitimately had no idea WWE did shoot media scrums after PPVs - the last one I saw was years ago now, and it was just a bunch of PAs pretending to record on their iPhone while they asked The Wyatts why they want to fight for the tag titles or whatever.

[Elsalvajeloco]

40 minutes ago, Godfrey said:

For those who care, Cornette took a second pass at this after reading the full filing and apologized for his initial reaction. Last just apologized if you were offended which is not an apology

I'm afraid to ask what his initial reaction was ESPECIALLY given that Jim is the I apologize if you were offended guy as well.

[Godfrey]

12 minutes ago, Elsalvajeloco said:

I'm afraid to ask what his initial reaction was ESPECIALLY given that Jim is the I apologize if you were offended guy as well.

They laughed at Vince naming sex toys after wrestlers and the poop thing because it was so shocking and defaulted to suspicion that the relationship was more consensual than it was because it was so unbelievable to them. After reading the scope of the filing, they took back their comments that it was in any way consensual and apologized for laughing before calling it evil and going in on McMahon, Prichard, and Laurinaitis

[Loki]

8 hours ago, Johnny Sorrow said:

I didn't watch it either, because these wrestling post show scrums stink. It's either Khan wearing his Inoki scarf saying how awesome everything is as chaos is happening, or HHH not having a prepared statement that didn't actually say anything, but wasn't him looking like a buffoon as he did.

Wrestling didn't need post show media press conferences. Get rid of them.

Now I imagine seeing Nick Khan with the Inoki scarf.

I second the ending of the press conferences. They don't make any sense, being that both HHH and TK run them so that they're half in storyline, half business. Not to mention, "wrestling media" are just a bunch of geeks. These companies have the media relations staff to do much better pitches.

Getting back to the post RR one, if all they wanted to do was talk about their business success of the week, why didn't they trot out Nick Khan to do it? He's much more adept at these things anyway.

[Elsalvajeloco]

21 minutes ago, Godfrey said:

They laughed at Vince naming sex toys after wrestlers and the poop thing because it was so shocking and defaulted to suspicion that the relationship was more consensual than it was because it was so unbelievable to them. After reading the scope of the filing, they took back their comments that it was in any way consensual and apologized for laughing before calling it evil and going in on McMahon, Prichard, and Laurinaitis

I know there are blindspots anytime you have two people talking about another gender, but goddamn, that's a bad one. If you're going to talk about this on any serious level, there is an amount of leg work and pre show prep required that I'm pretty sure both of them were aware of. However, they didn't want to make that effort UNTIL they got skewered. Cornette ain't apologizing sincerely unless he has to. I mean if this doesn't end up in some type of settlement, we're at like step 1 of a 300 step process. The last thing folks want happening is months from now people digging up stuff someone said that looks extremely horrific cause people will have receipts. If you make your living as a "man of the people", you gotta acknowledge you took an L right now so you don't take a bigger one you cannot come back from later.

[Zakk_Sabbath]

30 minutes ago, Godfrey said:

They laughed at Vince naming sex toys after wrestlers and the poop thing because it was so shocking and defaulted to suspicion that the relationship was more consensual than it was because it was so unbelievable to them. After reading the scope of the filing, they took back their comments that it was in any way consensual and apologized for laughing before calling it evil and going in on McMahon, Prichard, and Laurinaitis

You know what, those guys can be real jerks at times, but fair play to 'em here. They got new info, and reacted accordingly - kinda can't ask for more than that, really.

(I mean, other than, oh idk, reading the fucking thing before you go on the air to goof around about it - but I digress)

[No Point Stance]

36 minutes ago, Zakk_Sabbath said:

You know what, those guys can be real jerks at times, but fair play to 'em here. They got new info, and reacted accordingly - kinda can't ask for more than that, really.

(I mean, other than, oh idk, reading the fucking thing before you go on the air to goof around about it - but I digress)

IIRC, they covered the initial filing as a 'breaking news' item while they were in the process of recording an episode, so it's perhaps a little more understandable when you're skimming the text while trying to comprehend the details and significance. 
That's not to entirely excuse any insensitivity or misunderstanding; they record live-to-tape (or whatever the vernacular is these days) rather than stream live, so they could have gone back and re-recorded after taking time to digest the information.

[Curt McGirt]

The only time a press conference is good is when the press is talking to Zack Sabre Jr. 

[odessasteps]

As I said last week, where the circumstances not so serious and distressing, some of the more absurd and outrageous parts of the story would generalte mockey and laughter. I give you George Carlin’s routine about context in comedy as an example. 

[The Natural]

13 minutes ago, Curt McGirt said:

The only time a press conference is good is when the press is talking to Zack Sabre Jr. 

QFT.

[dragonzombie]

Eric Bischoff on Vince

https://youtu.be/ipbebTBz8Ag?si=aYYQtSBYHtLBQ8j3

 

Dutch Mantel uploaded his own vids talking about Vince.

[Elsalvajeloco]

5 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

As I said last week, where the circumstances not so serious and distressing, some of the more absurd and outrageous parts of the story would generalte mockey and laughter. I give you George Carlin’s routine about context in comedy as an example. 

Yeah, that's kinda the whole caveat here, chief. We're through two dozen pages here and every reply wasn't 100% serious. However, I don't think there was one post where someone reacted like this was just another crazy Vince story. Probably cause someone knows (rightfully) it would draw ire.

[odessasteps]

Well, Jae warned people in the pinned post about being flippant that I think just about everyone respected it that I saw (disclaimer: many ignored posts).
 

A rare display of restraint from the board as a whole.

Edited January 31 by odessasteps

[Elsalvajeloco]

Yeah, that (as well as probably the brief pause) saved about 5-6 people from getting timeouts or worst (best?) case scenario, banned permanently.

[Zimbra]

1 hour ago, No Point Stance said:

IIRC, they covered the initial filing as a 'breaking news' item while they were in the process of recording an episode, so it's perhaps a little more understandable when you're skimming the text while trying to comprehend the details and significance. 
That's not to entirely excuse any insensitivity or misunderstanding; they record live-to-tape (or whatever the vernacular is these days) rather than stream live, so they could have gone back and re-recorded after taking time to digest the information.

They also very much had the option to not say anything about a sensitive situation until they knew all the facts.  That is always on the table.

[Godfrey]

1 hour ago, No Point Stance said:

so they could have gone back and re-recorded after taking time to digest the information.

Just now, Zimbra said:

They also very much had the option to not say anything about a sensitive situation until they knew all the facts.  That is always on the table.

You're right, it was a live reaction of the article before the full filing was out and they absolutely should have waited but that's not the way online. I think it's better that they leave their bad takes out there for people to hear instead of pretending they didn't say them and maybe learn something from the experience (hahaha)

[AxB]

When your revenue is determined by Total Minutes Consumed, leaving your bad takes out there (rather than deleting them) is simply good financial business. Especially if they’re outrageous and distasteful.

[Godfrey]

24 minutes ago, AxB said:

When your revenue is determined by Total Minutes Consumed, leaving your bad takes out there (rather than deleting them) is simply good financial business. Especially if they’re outrageous and distasteful.

Good point

Moving on, Paul London who dated Ashley Massaro says this is just the tip of the iceberg. I think he has his own issues but who knows what he heard

[Matt D]

Jarrett discussing it was kind of brutal since he was looking at things through the lens of his own journey of rehab and redemption and I think maybe without full knowledge. 

As for the scrums, the greatest benefit is when you get someone who doesn't often do media who gets to go out there and present themselves well. I'm thinking Athena, who really comes off as the face of a promotion and Garcia who got to stretch himself a bit and humanize himself. But there are other ways to do that. 

[Elsalvajeloco]

Wait, is Jeff one of the I want to believe in Vince guys? 

I will say this: Jeff refuses to bury people on his own podcast, even those who screwed him over personally like Richard Scrushy. Even when he does slightly bury someone, you can tell there is no venom there.

[(BP)]

Jeff spends at least five minutes throwing a pity party for the wrestling world he came up in disappearing because Vince is gone before Conrad brings up that there is an actual victim at the center of the story, and then Jeff goes straight into the anyone, even Vince, can be redeemed rap. It sucks. 

[Elsalvajeloco]

19 minutes ago, (BP) said:

Jeff spends at least five minutes throwing a pity party for the wrestling world he came up in disappearing because Vince is gone before Conrad brings up that there is an actual victim at the center of the story, and then Jeff goes straight into the anyone, even Vince, can be redeemed rap. It sucks. 

I am going to listen to episode soon so I am going to save some bullets until I get the full context, but Jeff is too smart to be in that party in that he knows damn well he grew up in the Wild West. At some point, even the Old West went away and for good reason. Moreover, even though he beat his own demons, he should also realize sometimes YOU are the demon. At some point, you cannot separate the man and the actions.