The WWE Performance Center

[takerson]

The WWE has opened a state of the art facility in Orlando, FL and it's incredible, watch this video to see the grand opening press conference, I promise it's worth it.

7 rings, one with extra padding specifically to practice high flying moves with less chance of injury. Every ring is hooked up to HD cameras that are linked directly to the Stamford offices where executives can watch/evaluate anything that goes on at any time. They have a promo room, that works on an ipad interface that the talent can access at any time to practice promos and such. SOOOOO much more. It's a big fuckin' deal.

http://www.wwe.com/videos/the-nxt-wwe-performance-center-opening-day-press-conference-26131149

[Cewsh]

I'm thrilled that they've invested in this. Up until recently, WWE's developmental program has been about the most half assed thing imaginable. But with NXT and now this, it's going to be a lot harder for guys to say no to a developmental contract, and those who come in are going to actually have resources to improve and get ready to be called up. Couldn't be happier about it.

[chatty]

Its amazing to think that a company that has been as big as WWE has (biggest in the world for around 25 of the last 30 years) has took this long to get something like this sorted. As with NXT this should help reap rewards in the future and make for better and more developed wrestlers.

[Cewsh]

Yeah, I think we all just kind of got used to how bad developmental was under Johnny Ace. Even compared to Jim Cornette's OVW, the past year has been incredible. All thanks to Triple H.

I think it's pretty much a certainty that the company 2 or 3 years from now will be ridiculously full of talent.

[Hero!]

I love this. NXT has consistently been an amazing program, churning out tons of future stars an this is just another wonderful tool to help invest in the future.

[Kimura Kid]

Steph seemed pretty emotional when Triple H asked her to ring the bell as the 4th generation McMahon.

[Andy]

Trips really struggled through that speech.

[The Law]

Hard to believe it took this long for them to really professionalize their developmental program. It seems like other than OVW their developmental has always been a disaster. I guess it stems from the fact that they never needed one up until the 2000s because they could just raid other people's rosters for talent. Before the territories died out, there were the territories. After after the territories, there was ECW (and to some extent WCW). I don't know what they would have done post-ECW if Cornette hadn't put together OVW for them.

Johnny Ace took over for Jim Ross in June 2004. Triple H officially replaced him in in early 2011, but I feel like he was running the show before that. Who came up through developmental in the time-span? Sheamus, although I feel like he was a Triple H guy. They signed Punk and Bryan in this period, but they were both already established talents. I'd love to see a shoot interview with Johnny Ace. I'd be really interested to see him defend himself against all the charges leveled against him. I've never heard anyone say anything good about the guy.

[The_Mike]

This should have been done quite some time ago, but better late than never. Really hope it produces solid results. And I hope they send Cena there so he can learn how to do a bloody STF.

[Cewsh]

Hard to believe it took this long for them to really professionalize their developmental program. It seems like other than OVW their developmental has always been a disaster. I guess it stems from the fact that they never needed one up until the 2000s because they could just raid other people's rosters for talent. Before the territories died out, there were the territories. After after the territories, there was ECW (and to some extent WCW). I don't know what they would have done post-ECW if Cornette hadn't put together OVW for them.

Johnny Ace took over for Jim Ross in June 2004. Triple H officially replaced him in in early 2011, but I feel like he was running the show before that. Who came up through developmental in the time-span? Sheamus, although I feel like he was a Triple H guy. They signed Punk and Bryan in this period, but they were both already established talents. I'd love to see a shoot interview with Johnny Ace. I'd be really interested to see him defend himself against all the charges leveled against him. I've never heard anyone say anything good about the guy.

I have heard some good things said about him.

- That he was a major reason that All Japan continued to be successful after Giant Baba started dying, and he helped Mrs. Baba with the booking duties.
- That he was an good tag team wrestler in the All Japan environment.
- That he had really interesting plans on how to build up young talent after he took over WCW immediately before the end.
- That he's always looked after veteran wrestlers and has pushed to make sure they were taken care of after retiring.

[Hero!]

Don't forget:

He really, really, REALLY did not like CM Punk.

[MACE]

The new WWE Performance Center will be a great place to teach exciting young talent how to all work exactly the same.
;)

[Matty C]

This sounds great. The WCW Powerplant was a revolutionary idea nearly 20 years ago at this point. It was about time WWE took things to the next level for wrestler development. Investments like this can only be a good thing for fans and I love the added emphasis on safety. Seemingly gone are the days that wrestlers were supposed to be tough-guy robots, working through everything to prove their toughness. Don't get me wrong, pro-wrestling will never be easy, but it would seem that WWE continues to evolve in how they protect their talent. The extra high-flying padding gets a big thumbs up from me.