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JANUARY 2019 WRESTLING DISCUSSION


RIPPA

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1 hour ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

I wish I knew what WWE was paying these dudes.  Jericho said in an interview recently that AEW is paying him the most he has ever made. That's kind of crazy to think about considering he was a near-top guy in WWE for about two decades. He had to be making quite a bit of money off merchandise also.

Jericho is the carniest of carnies, so I'm not sure that I take him at his word on that, honestly. 

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8 hours ago, Curt McGirt said:

Yeah, I can just see Russo in some hotel room in Iowa, missing his cats Pussy and Eater, flipping through channels to the pay stuff in search of softcore, only to find the Coens title and having his eureka moment.

Russo is going to meet his end watching softcore porn in an Iowa motel, getting Bob Crane'd by a high on bath salts Juventud Guerrera.

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5 hours ago, joseph2112 said:

I half wonder if some of these folks maybe aren't getting paid so great from WWE and know they aren't going to be used much. Then they look to the Indies and see the talent base there is drying up by the day, therefore leaving tons of work to be had there, regardless of opportunity in a AEW or MLW or whatever.

What a crazy time.

I don't know- I think at least in Mike and Maria's case, this is going to blow up in their faces if they leave.

Mike Bennett's whole thing on the indy scene was "this guy is the type of guy that it seems like WWE would absolutely want as a lowcarder. Don't you hate that? Boo him"- to the point where he was dropping down the card in ROH when it looked like "nah, WWE doesn't really want this guy". Even with his TNA run, he seemed like a main eventer there, but that was mostly because "he was the best indy guy that TNA could get at the nadir of their existence, and they ran him into the end zone." 

If Mike and Maria go back to the indies now, it'll be closer to "that guy bombed in WWE, so clearly WWE didn't want him that much after all"...and suddenly, all you're left with is...Mike Bennett: Pro Wrestling's portrait of Replacement Level Player.

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Honestly, would Mike Bennett really have a job if it wasn't for his wife? Maria is tremendous, and has come so far so her days as interviewer without a brain. The power of love act could have made a splash in NXT as has already been said, but otherwise he's never struck me as anything special. She absolutely could have and still could work as a manager though.

Revival, those guys need to ask for their release yesterday. I'll admit to not caring about them at all when they first came together, to going all in after seeing them and American Alpha on an NXT house show. Injuries halted their momentum on first getting called to main roster, but my god if these guys were in a company that actually gave a shit(outside of NXT)on tag team wrestling they would be HUGE.

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3 hours ago, Niners Fan in CT said:

I wish I knew what WWE was paying these dudes.  Jericho said in an interview recently that AEW is paying him the most he has ever made. That's kind of crazy to think about considering he was a near-top guy in WWE for about two decades. He had to be making quite a bit of money off merchandise also.

I'm going to guess Jericho is referring to a base pay. I would think a WWE deal for a headlining talent would be backloaded with % of merchandise sales.

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11 hours ago, Brian Fowler said:

I was watching some of the stuff from 06 last month. Slamboree was this really good ppv, then it ended with Jarrett winning the belt. In a King of a Mountain match. When Earl Hebner and Larry Zybsco both helped him. That's TNA in a nutshell.

Jeff Jarrett was NWA World Champion way too long. Jeff Jarrett should've dropped the belt to Raven when he joined in 2003 (the match with lots of interference), Monty Brown and Samoa Joe at Bound for Glory 2006

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From the Observer (spoiled for size)

Quote

After the Bandido situation, WWE has made it clear, at least for certain people, that they will beat anyone’s offer for talent, although they did not do so in the case of Chris Jericho. WWE has told people if you can show on paper an offer from another company, they’ll beat it, even double it on the spot provided you sign immediately. While Jericho was a clear example of the opposite, WWE and Vince McMahon right now are going very hard on trying to avoid the idea that people want to leave, or the concept being in the business that people can get more money leaving or benefit from leaving, particularly after people like Juice Robinson, Jericho and Cody all clearly did. 

So, yeah, it's a damn good time to be a decent wrestler right now.

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4 hours ago, Phil4126 said:

Honestly, would Mike Bennett really have a job if it wasn't for his wife?

This isn't some revelation - they literally named him Mike Kanellis.

I don't know how fair it is to say that Mike bombed in WWE - he got like a month on TV before injury/Maria's pregnancy kept them both off for a year plus. And by the time someone remembered he was there and put him on 205 Live, the grand plan was to pair him with TJP for a month and then forget he was there again (in a roster of like 10 dudes).

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Mike and Maria should be received as conquering heroes on the indies. They presumably signed for a decent number, got WWE to pay for rehab (the results of which have apparently stuck), surgery, and a pregnancy, all while contributing as little as possible to the product. Anyone who has ever worked for a massive corporation should aspire to something like this.

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Mike and Maria can be rehabbed, I think (no pun intended, obviously). I actually think she's a hell of a promo and he looks like a million bucks. They seem like someone that Billy Corgan and Lagana could do some great videos with and build up to an NWA shot. There's definitely a captivating story there. 

He's no great shakes in the ring but, and a lot of it is due to Maria but there has to be a baseline in performance, he was able to be pushed in both ROH and NJPW to a decent level. 

Would they be difference makers? Absolutely not. But they have credible names and I could see ROH taking them back especially with them trying to reload the roster. 

 

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By Mike Johnson on 2019-01-17 08:28:00
Over the last several weeks, there have been a number of stories and rumors about WWE talents asking for releases and/or departing in the wake of the announcement of All Elite Wrestling.  While we normally shy away from rumors, we've received so many emails and questions about this, I figured it was best to address what we know in one place.

*Dolph Ziggler - There has been a lot of talk in the last week that Ziggler is done with WWE after turning down an offer to become a producer.  His last appearance was the beat-down he took in a steel cage on Raw against Drew McIntyre last month.  He has removed the Dolph Ziggler name from his social media and is embarking on a comedy tour soon.  He has not been on the road for WWE in recent weeks.  As of today, sources claim he remains under a WWE deal (and some there have denied he is exiting at all) but others have been some pointing to 1/31 as an exit date.  Whether that turns out to be the case, we will see.  Ziggler was coy with PWInsider.com last August when asked about whether he had signed a new WWE deal, commenting, "I guess you’ll have to see Sunday or Monday, but I’ve also heard that [his deal was coming up.]  I’ve also heard about several different contracts that I signed but I didn’t sign.  So…I’m giving you a comment.  I’ve been doing some great work and looking forward to doing what I do and Sunday or Monday, we’ll see what direction we’re heading in afterwards.”  So, time will tell, but there are some who believe he is done.

*Goldust - While his name obviously would be attached to his brother Cody's due to their relationship, PWInsider.com has not been able to substantiate any rumors that Dustin Runnells has asked for a WWE release.

*Mike Kanellis - We have heard from several sources that Mike Kanellis requested a release from WWE but was denied three weeks ago.  Kanellis was last seen on 205 Live programming on 1/9 during a backstage vignette with Drake Maverick and before that, had not been on TV in a number of weeks.  The belief among some WWE wrestlers is that Kanellis was hoping to return to Ring of Honor, but as of today, he has not been released from the company.

*Maria Kanellis - Her name has floated around in the last few days as also having asked for a WWE release, but PWInsider.com has not been able to substantiate that story.

*The Revival - Yesterday, Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com reported that there was "fear" within WWE that The Revival, Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder, were trying to get out of their deals with the company.  While we cannot confirm there was any "fear", the talk among wrestlers on the Raw side after this week's TV taping was that The Revival had spoken with WWE management about their unhappiness in the company and indeed asked for a release.  As of this morning, they are still slated for this weekend's Raw live events.  Obviously, if they were able to get out of their deals, in a perfect world, they would be the perfect foil All Elite Wrestling could use against The Young Bucks, which is exactly why WWE wouldn't release them.

WWE, as you would expect they would, did not return a PWInsider.com request for comment yesterday.   After giving them time to respond, I opted to publish.  If WWE should comment, we will update.

Here is the reality of the situation: There is no way WWE is going to release anyone they see of value in the current environment as the last thing they want is to hand talent over to any potential competitors, especially one with the type of financial backing that AEW has.  That doesn't mean that a talent who wants out couldn't conceivably go home and sit out their contract, as Neville did when he decided he wanted out last year.  Thus far, no one has done that and there's no indication yet anyone is going to do that.  It's quite possible some will try to opt out and complain about their position or pay, believing the grass is greener elsewhere (and they may be right on that), and in the process, getting a better WWE deal to stay in the same position but making more money in the process.

PWInsider.com can confirm, however, that WWE officials have started approaching talents whose deals are coming up in the next year, seeking to lock them up to longer form deals now.  Whether there is a cause and effect there is debatable, since WWE has been locking talents (including Kevin Owens and The Miz) to new five-year deals for some time, but the timing is interesting, to say the least.

So you don't have to actually go to PWI (the article headline is "What's Up With All the Rumors of WWE Releases and Departures")

https://www.pwinsider.com/ViewArticle.php?id=123300

Don't click unless you have protection

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25 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

I still love how much you dislike Volador Jr

I feel like at least part of the rest of the world caught up to me there, not as it pertains to hate, necessarily, but at least about the narrative emptiness and repetitiveness. 

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2 minutes ago, Matt D said:

I feel like at least part of the rest of the world caught up to me there, not as it pertains to hate, necessarily, but at least about the narrative emptiness and repetitiveness. 

Especially if he is wrestling Ultimo Guerrero. 

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