These 5 guys have got to be top priority for AEW, hopefully it happens.Originally Posted by PurePlayer
Rest are hit and miss maybe Ryder just above that. Would love Ryder to get signed too.
These 5 guys have got to be top priority for AEW, hopefully it happens.
Rest are hit and miss maybe Ryder just above that. Would love Ryder to get signed too.
What a hill to choose to die on.
Anyway boys & girls. SHELTON BENJAMIN survives. Best push he’s had since returned to the company.
I thougth they were doing Smackdown cuts the day after Smackdown, meaning tomorrow?
He’s on Raw mate.
The loudest pop was for Iconics tbh.
Well then I don't know. Last thing I remember, before he and Lesnar at the Rumble, was him teaming with Chad Gable on Smackdown.
I didn't just focus on him. I mentioned Hawkins as well.
Sorry forgot I'm not allowed to have an opinion different from you.
I love how you throw out unprovoked personal jibes and then are the first person to complain when someone does it to you.
You’re about the only one having this opinion. There are many others in here that disagree.
Did you call Hawkins a coward? If so...why?
You are allowed an opinion.
People are then allowed to respond to your opinion if they think it is a ridiculous.
Which obviously many people have.
That's kind of how it works.
Lying about the pops he apparently never received after 2011. I've proven you to be a horrible liar right there, with his victories at two Wrestlemanias in the last 4 years.
Ambition? - Jesus, thousands of wrestlers would have fucking killed to have been in his position for the last decade
Wrestling needs jobbers too you maniac. Not everyone can be a winner all of the time.
Something I hadn't considered but is pretty relevant, which he acknowledged in a way, was the fact that Anderson has ties back to Japan (especially with his hot Asian wife). Could be a case where Gallows and Anderson just go back to Japan. They're debaucherous so Japan might be more up their alley.
Styles on Gallows and Anderson being released and how they're hurting:
cont."[Gallows and Anderson] hurt really bad. The only way I can explain it is these guys are like family and I couldn't take care of my own brothers, that's the way I feel about it. I'm supposed to take care of them and I didn't manage to do that. I feel responsible, in some weird way, for them being released. It's devastating. There's a lot of other great wrestlers (who got released). This stuff is expected with everything going on. I'm as shocked as you are with some of the guys that got released. I have my own opinions with things that could have been done differently. I'm not the CEO of the company, I don't make those decisions. Who do you blame with all this? Every company is doing this. When big companies stop making money, it's not the highest up person who takes a pay cut, everyone else does. All I know is I lost a lot of great friends."
Good but incredibly sad Brother."When Gallows & Anderson got released, I just felt alone. Those guys are with me all the time and I've never felt more alone. If Gallows & Anderson go to AEW or NJPW, I hope they kill it. I'm going to miss them, I really am. These next couple of years are going to be different."
Would be shocked if they didn't go back to Japan considering Anderson has been teasing going there already on social media
Via Fightful, here is what Vince McMahon said via video that was sent to all talent and employees prior to the cuts beginning.
"Thank you all for joining me today. First and foremost, I hope that you and your families are safe. What we're going through today is unprecedented, and there's no doubt these are challenging times for everyone. Given the adverse effects of the Coronavirus and the resulting financial recession, WWE, like so many companies have to decrease operating expenses. Effective immediately, we are reducing executive and board member compensation, decreasing talent expenses, cutting third party staffing and consulting, and improving our cash flow by delaying the production of our new headquarters for at least six months.
Despite all these measures, given the uncertainty we are facing today, unfortunately we have to temporarily reduce head count. As such, a number of WWE employees will be furloughed from the company today. At the close of my remarks, employees will receive a communication detailing their individual situations. More specifically, those impacted by the furloughs will receive a text message from Human Resources with specific information for their next steps.
These are not easy decisions, but reflect the reality of the environment we're working in today. We live in a world of troubled times. I'm confident as a company, and most importantly, confident in you as individual employees, will pull through these tough times and come back to work and make life better than it's ever been. Thank you."
This is a lie
There is like zero compassion from Vince in that text.
Yeah but you hate WWE and Vince so you'll see it that way.
I see it as a "I don't want this to happen but due to current circumstances" thing.
Zack Ryder would be cool in Ring of Honor
Rowan, EC3, Maverick, in Impact
Lio Rush to New Japan
If I was Jesus H. God Christ, that's what I would make happen
Must be nice to dream about being a fictional character.
You obviously have never in your life read an email from a higher up in a corporation. This was a standard email. What's he supposed to say?
"Hey peeps, just ol' Flex here wishing everyone a happy 2020! We're going to fire some of you guys that have been here for 15 years not doing anything and we need to trim the fat like every other company in America and across the globe. Peace bitches!"
Yeah....Not going to happen.
It's not an email, twat, he did over the phone
Yep.
Ryder was a guy who could have been much more imo. But the reason he got those big pops at Mania when he won the IC and Tag-Team titles is because people like to randomly get behind people who lose all the time finally getting a big win. I mean, he lost the IC title the next night so I'd even put money on it that victory was simply for a Mania pop. They did absolutely nothing with him after he lost the title.
He had bad luck with Mojo, breaking his leg or whatever, out for a year right as they were going to get a tag-title run MAYBE. But that team was just a vehicle to get Mojo somewhere.
The reality is, Ryder is another guy that nobody was sitting here every week or every ppv or every year going "They need to do this this and this with Ryder" If his name got brought up around here it was followed with something about how pointless it is to have him around just to show up once a year to job. And who goes "Man can't wait to go to a house show to see Lucha Bros v Ryder/Hawkins!" Some die hard I like anything fan lol.
A lot of these wrestlers needed to get released years ago and maybe go the Drew route and come back better. People act like this is the first time WWE released a shit ton of wrestlers----All while the majority of these same people bitch about how WWE is holding talent hostage and trying to keep people to hurt other promotions. Well, now they're putting out some solid midcarders. Have at it Tony Khan.
Fuck, even better! The fuck do you want him to say to these people? He's addressing a thousand employees. Wrestlers, announcers, road agents, cameramen, office employees. It was a very professional, straight to the point message. And I'm sure Vince reached out personally to many and many reached out to him as well.
I'm fully expecting my job to do something similar, laying people off. Just an effect of the circumstances.
He just sent texts
well you get personally upset when people talk shit on wwe, so i'd say both of your takes are worthless.
Better to be positive than negative.
lol
Did you get one?
He has a point Morrison ya fuckin dork.
I don't know how the message got lost initially by saying texts because I posted in the original mention that it was part of a video they sent out to talent/employees. If they did that and then began calling or texting people, that's what happened after the original line of communication by Vince/WWE.
Some more names released from NXT:
Taynara Conti
Tino Sabbatelli
Nick Ogarelli
Cezar Bononi
Nick Comoroto
Jon Quasto
Alyssa Miles
Mars Wang
I only know three names on that list and the only one that bums me out is Taynara but we kind of went through this a couple months ago when she walked out or whatever. Think she's got buckets of potential so I hope she might make it back some day.
Last edited by mth; April 17th, 2020 at 8:36 PM.
Cezar Bononi was the sort of goofy guy with the "80's rock star gimmick" right? Or am I thinking of someone completely different?
Taynara Conti could be a big acquisition for ATM Kahn and the Funky Bunch over in AEW.
She's hot, has assloads of potential, and wasn't she the chick from American Ninja Warrior? There's some potential there.
All big corporations will have the same lingo. Its written by a legal team. Its just the way the world works
No, that's Rik Bugez. This is Cezar...
If they cut Rik Bugez, I riot.No, that's Rik Bugez. This is Cezar...
That dude looks like the bastard child of a jacked up Jinder Mahal and Muhammad Hassan.
He was a decent jobber. No big loss.
I thought Conti was released about six months ago. I remember there being a mild fuss over it.
She was going to quit. And then she didn't. And now she's gone.
She's been bounced around the WWE so much, she's basically a super ball now. And any potential future employer is going to see her as a liability who tried to quit the biggest wrestling company on the planet. She looks unreliable as shit.
Unreliable how? Did she ever no show?
Plus you thought she was a different talent...I don't see how wanting more out of your job and wanting to move on is being unreliable lol.
That unreliable Jon Moxley for example....
Jon moxley sucks
They just released Chris Hero as well as some other PC talent I wouldn't have thought anyone has heard of.
You sure you guys arent thinking of Catanzaro?
- - - Updated - - -
Conti is the Brazilion chick.
It's blushing
Yeah, i just saw Kassius Ohno was gone with a bunch of random nobodies. Not too surprised, they weren't really doing anything with him and he seemed to just be there to be a benefit to the newer folks to work with but with the influx of other seasoned workers, he's a little redundant. Dude's a Wrestling Genius, though.
Nope, Conti "walked out" a couple months back, seemlingly done, but then returned at a house show and has worked a few of them, was wearing a "Released" shirt and handcuffs...
ahhh wasnt aware of that.
I may have been going off the fact someone mentioned American Ninja Warrior and was quittin the company, which it did look like Catanzaro was going to do.
Lance Storm used to refer to Kasshius Ohno as a "player-coach" for NXT. He wasn't there because he really needed the seasoning, but he was always the guy who could help the younger guys get their time in. I'm not surprised or sad to see him go, it just seems like they'd still have a use for him after all this is over. New guys always need a good older talent to work with.
You might be one of the smartest people I know.
Here's how Mike kanellis described the process
We got a video sent to us from the boss telling us they were going to start laying people off and they would call you if you were one of them. When we got that video I looked at Maria and was like “oh yeah, let’s get ready” Kind of jokingly I was like “its us, it’s going to happen” We both kinda knew it and then an hour later we got a call from Mark Corano who is Head of Talent relations, he was another guy who was super good to me, and I have nothing bad to say. It was one of the things I said to him on the phone, “I wish went a little bit different than it did, but I’m not going to yell and scream at you because you guys gave me a fun three years and then they called my wife. They are not going to tell me to tell my wife. Mark has known my wife longer than he has known me. He adores my wife and she adores him. We both kinda knew it was happening but there’s always that small hope in the back of my head where I was like “just release one of us. Just hold on to someone else”
Catanzaro did look like she was going to leave at one point. She suffered an injury and was contemplating quitting. They let her take a leave of absence to figure things out. She came back and said she decided to come back after taking time to realize this was her new passion.
The original post did mention Conti and thinking she was on ANW, which was Catanzaro.
Conti reportedly was out, came back, and did the shirt thing.
Uhhh... thanks?
(I know you're making fun of me. But how?)
odd thing to think, but maybeeeee....
Drake has been the one to come out with an emotional video, and is still in the tourney. What if he isn't actually released, and real life situations is used to make it a surprise when he wins the Cruserweight tourney?
Porbably not, but I wouldnt hate it.
I wasn't making fun of you. And you're welcome.
Well thanks. There's a huge amount of people on here who'd rather like to see me gone. Its nice to be liked.
I mean shit, the last 2 years they spent more time talking about how much fun they had in Japan and ROH than what they were doing in WWE. (if you hate my posts skip the rest). And to be honest, I loved the pair but I swear their entire run was just one big rib. They were catching steam in Japan, ROH, and even Impact. And the WWE snatched them up and I have no doubt someone said, fuck Maria for all her shit talking the last 7-8 years, and fuck her husband too.
I don't think Bennett ever realized what was happening. They were clowning him. At first I was like oh my God this is like a joke gimmick, like how people probably viewed Sunny and Chris Candido in real life. Then I realized oh shit, they're saying Mike is just a pussy whipped dude who is banking on his wife's "fame". The problem is that they didn't do shit with the gimmick to get it over, it was just "Let's give him his wife's last name since he probably would do something like that in real life!" But if they had been doing that weird pregnancy angle earlier and then maybe Mike turns babyface because the fans are very sympathetic toward a guy who kicked a drug habit, got in great fucking shape, only for his wife to fuck with him the way she did.
For me it's like with EC3. One of the last great heels, honestly took me to see them fuck him up in NXT to realize holy shit, Impact did a great job with EC3. 30+ years old I was buying into the heel persona. It wasn't like with Corbin where I want to legit shoot my dick off when he's on tv. But yeah, WWE just snatched up this guy and basically had him do the same bit he did in Impact.....It wrote itself, he could have been like Vince's douchebag nephew and a big reveal would be Dixie was fucking Vince's brother idk.
I don't hate your posts but I skipped the rest because I don't like reading.
The WWE doesn't make SuperStars anymore, they just make sorta famous people. In the 80s, everyone who wasn't a jobber felt big and important. Next Generation suffered from stupid gimmicks and it was the actual wrestling that made people stars. Attitude Era was the 80s were everyone felt like they were young, hunger and wanted to prove a point in the Monday Night War. Ruthless Aggression made Brock, Orton and Cena for Vince Cena was good enough. Punk and Bryan made themselves SuperStars by the fans not WWE. I would not consider anyone on the current roster a massive Star except Becky not even her finance. The sad part is this roster is good enough to be the 80s and 90s, but they are stuck with too much TV time to fill, they jump back and forth on who the Superstars are. They waste talent and opportunities all the time, because the fan base bails them out every Rumble to WrestleMania by getting the network, buying merch and getting casual fans interested or a place to go and watch it. This year thatf failed and that is the excuse to fire people even though they have $500 million in the bank with TV money still coming in.
AEW is going to be better off even if they get say three of these people, because they can use them correctly.
Times change. Trust me buddy, there are people who grew up on Bruno that think he was a bigger star than Stone Cold. And 20 years from now, there will be fans who are our age going "Roman Reigns was a huge SuperStar in comparison to *insert top guy from 2040*"
I don't know if people my parents' age even followed the product enough to truly understand how Austin and Rock's popularity was different than Hogan and Ric Flair.
I also don't buy into your idea that Punk and Bryan made themselves "SuperStars". Did they start their own promotion, get the tv and ppv deals, etc.? Nope. Vince gave them the platform.
Saying AEW can use someone correctly..........Based on 8 months I've seen basically the same guys who were over in other promotions as the only truly over talents. Inside the AEW, sure, I bet they consider Shawn Spears a success. Just like 15 years ago I'm sure people thought TNA were going to use Johnny the Bull better than the WWE lol. But come on man, be realistic and don't contribute to bigging up AEW when realistically, in every way measurable, they have nothing to make anyone say "Oh yeah WWE fucked that guy completely up!"
Moxley held the World title and had an entire brand built around him with Smackdown. What's he doing now? You mean to tell me you wish he was still in the WWE so a World title angle could go down with Jack Swagger?
Some people think that WWE, the biggest wrestling company in the world, doesn't know what it's doing.
Even the guy who puts the turnbuckle pads on would be better off working in AEW or NJPW.
I'll also add that very very very few fans who chirp in with the "AEW will use them better" approach look at it from a positive. Cody Rhodes may or may not have been used incorrectly as Stardust and maybe he was never going to reach the top 3-4 spots due to how many wrestlers were on the show but we don't know. Not everyone who didn't get a World title gifted to them are a failed WWE talent.
If I say AEW or someone might use a talent "better" it's not so much that WWE failed it's just there are so many spots, so many hours in the day, so many minutes on tv and all our favorites can't be The Rock. It's just the reality.
LOL.
..
Last edited by Donald; April 21st, 2020 at 9:31 AM.
I agree with your take here. I thought that could have gone a lot differently. Shame because they'd been entertaining elsewhere.
I also wanted to show that it wasn't that it wasn't all exclusively text messages. Its a tough call when you have to get a hold of lot of people quickly. You either make people wait indefinitely as you have to move through, or tell many at once, and then try to do individuals as fast as is feasible. Glad that Mike and Maria got a call on their way out.
Cain Velasquez has been released. I'm a huge MMA fan but Cain was probably the least fitting crossover star in history. He just doesn't have pro wrestling charisma. As an understated athlete fans could gravitate towards him in MMA based on his talent and work ethic, but in wrestling he never stood a chance. Plus, he's super broken down. Just a bad fit all round.
All that kayfabe hype as the one guy Brock was afraid of only to beaten in two minutes in a glorified house show and now released?
Where do you go from there though? You build him up as the guy who beat Lesnar before, only to have Lesnar basically squash him. His mystique and aura is already ruined.
Moved the posts about Cain Valasquez into this thread.
You can also add Gerald Briscoe to the list apparently.
Very odd how things went with Cain. Hype the dickens out of the guy, release a bunch of merch, he has a two minute match where he gets squashed, and you never use him again, then he's gone. Would you consider that a massive fumble? Could anything better have come of him? not sure he could really come back with much to offer after the defeat but did his one match have to go the way it did or could they have gone a different route? Should they have even bothered signing him in the first place?
Last edited by mth; April 28th, 2020 at 11:11 AM.
Velasquez was a major waste of money if they couldn't come up with a plan for him after the Brock match.
Briscoe was furloughed, which makes sense. He's primarily a scout now and there's really not an opportunity for him to do that at the moment.
No.
Oh and just to add to the ridiculousness, he was Dominik’s storyline godfather despite the fact he is not all that old and Rey would’ve had to ask him to be one when he was a teenager. When it went back to just Brock and Rey then it became fun.
Complete waste of time and money signing.
If the answer is no or they weren't sure what to do after, the easy answer is that the shouldn't have bothered.
I wonder why they have kept MVP around? He doesn't really add much of anything to the current peoduct and I was under the impression his return was a one-off so his son could see him wrestle.
On-screen: do what he's doing now, help those who probably aren't able to carry their own weight on the mic.
Off-screen: producer.
He was good fodder for Edge in the Orton feud but other than that he's been entireky forgettable.
With the reports coming out that WWE is willing to release anyone who asks for it, makes me believe that they really are under financial struggles. For weeks now all I've heard is "How dare WWE release Heath Slater when they have $500 million just sitting there" And it's completely the opposite of their mentallity of signing anyone and everyone they could. Interesting times indeed.
Personally I feel like the WWE didn't understand what they were getting. He's barely fought since beating Lesnar due to multiple serious injuries. He was injured going in to the match with Lesnar which is why it was a 2 minute loss, they probably had no clue when/if Cain would be back.
It made sense to bring him in and try to grab some crossover appeal and do something different and interesting, which it was. Definitely a mistake in hindsight for all parties except Lesnar lol.
Although in his defense it did look like he could go in the ring. I mean he was doing lucha stuff in AAA. Still Mr Glass though.
Don't know if this experiment wil end the trend of getting MMA stars in if they were interested. Probably due to the current financial crisis and the money they'd haveto spend, probably.
Cain helped get Dominic over. In the end, could they ask for anything more?
The answer is yes. They could
Still boggles the mind how no-one on the roster bothered to help when Dominic and Rey were getting the piss beaten out of them by Brock for ages yet are quick enough to break up other fights lol.
I legit laughed.
It weirdly did feel like (and rumors seemed to lend credence to the idea) they were actually building up Dominick for something. A match with Brock was even rumored. I thought maybe Rey was going to pass the mask on after getting trounced by Brock.
They let Edge get his head smashed in, too. Geez, you'd think at least Rey and Dominick would've helped out considering they know how it feels...
Last edited by mth; April 28th, 2020 at 2:20 PM.
Oh yeah he looked like if he wasn't hurt he might have won the title.
I don't know about the 2nd part of your post. I don't see it as any experiment any more than I would call former football players transitioning to wrestling an experiment. Very few legit MMA fighters have wanted to be a full time pro wrestler. Even Matt Riddle has yet to really touch a WWE schedule, he's doing that NXT schedule which is probably a 5th of Raw/Smackdown house show bookings.
I saw that Curtis Axel is trending on twitter. Yeah, he's gone. Bye Axeman
Was with WWE a long time. Like 12/13 years. Strange career really as he was pushed with the New Nexus and as the Heyman Guy Curtis Axel quite a bit but was more entertaining as a lower card job guy and comic relief. AxelMania, the Social Outcasts and the B-Team.
Wonder if he asked for his release or if this is the first in another round of releases. Seems strange to not release him the first time round and just do it here.
Mr. Mediocre.
It is merely the genesis.
I could really see myself getting excited about a wrestling named Joe Hennig.
Put him in a singlet.
It is nice to come here and not see a wave of people suddenly a fan of Curtis Axel. A good hand, on an elephant.
I loved him in the Social Outcasts. Those were the days...
I didn't even remember that he was in the Social Outcasts. I only remembered Slater and Rose. Guess that tells you something.
I liked him in the B Team - the B stands for Best!
I'm not sure if it was planned, but he and Bo Dallas really grabbed the brass ring after the "A list" Miz's casting call, but they ran with it as the Miztourage, and ultimately became the team that got their "B-Team" chant over with the crowd.
I'm having a hard time trying to determine who's had the better career - Slater or Curtis Axel.
Slater for me.
Axel was the epitome of bland.
Such a travesty, really fucking loved Curtis Axel.
This might be a tough one for you to recover from, Donald.
Nothing Axel ever did was entertaining. Forgettable 5-6 month tag title run with Dave Otunga, and even worse run with the IC title. Spurts of comedy where he was never the main focus and none of it lasted longer than a few months. Fuck I HATED HATED HATED the fact the B-Team won the tag titles off Wyatt and Hardy.
At the very least Slater has the 3MB stuff, that whole storyline with him wanting a job and then winning the tag titles and those segments with Rhyno, Renee Young, and his "family". Also we can't forget when he had the segments getting the fuck smashed out of him by legends like Sid, Lita, DDP, etc.
Yep him and Curt Hawkins helped The Rock. I'm not sure about Goldberg, wouldn't shock me but it would also explain why he thought he had strength to work with Taker and Wyatt. He was used to throwing these lighter dudes around and forgot Taker is 55, 300lbs. and Wyatt's like 6'2" about 285lbs.
I'd say it was Slater but it's relatively close. Axel had the title Slater ultimately wanted (the IC title), but I think Slater was more of a standout in a team and solo role (especially later). Axel was probably the better wrestler but Slater was the better performer.
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