Board 8 > All-Purpose Wrestling Topic Part 498 - In Your House

(+) Yeah! (+)

match starts

Randy kicks Edge in the dick

disqualification match over

Orton poses for 40 minutes

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Yeah my twitter feed was all about the piss too

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still rooting for the instant dick kick, 3 second match

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Its just a setup to bring back Burn in my Light

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So i haven't watched a weekly wrestling show in ages, I've been barely tuning into ppv since I still have the network

But why would you have the end lf a tournament to crown a new champion between Bryan and AJ on the smackdown two nights before your ppv and not just do it at the ppv? I can't wrap my head around that

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Hope people go, "PLEASE WATCH THE TWO BEST WRESTLERS DOING ACTUAL WRESTLING ON OUR WRESTLING SHOW ABOUT WRESTLING" and help ratings.

Cause maybe someone told Vince that legend shows finally dried up.

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No new matches were added last night, so with that...

Backlash card
Edge vs Randy Orton in "The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever"
McIntyre vs Lashley for WWE title
Strowman vs Miz/Morrison for Universal title
Asuka vs Nia for the Raw Women's title
Sasha/Bayley vs Alexa/Nikki vs IIconics for the Women's Tag Titles
Apollo vs Andrade for US title
Jeff Hardy vs Sheamus


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Fastbreak posted...

So i haven't watched a weekly wrestling show in ages, I've been barely tuning into ppv since I still have the network

But why would you have the end lf a tournament to crown a new champion between Bryan and AJ on the smackdown two nights before your ppv and not just do it at the ppv? I can't wrap my head around that

Because ratings are cratering and they dont really care about Network subscriptions anymore considering what theyre about to do with PPVs when crowds come back
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If youre wondering where this title match will put Morrison on the Samoa Joe/British Bulldog/Shinsuke Nakamura list, its surprisingly only his third PPV World Title match in WWE
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Oh and its #4 for Lashley
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ZeroSignal620 posted...

Strowman vs Miz/Morrison for Universal title

What in the fuck

Does this make as little sense in context as it does out of context

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XIII_rocks posted...

What in the fuck

Does this make as little sense in context as it does out of context

The feud has basically been like so...
- Braun beats Miz
- Braun beats Morrison
- Morrison: "Oh yeah? I bet you can't beat both of us at the same time! And put that belt on the line while you're at it!"
- Braun: "Okay"

The most logical thing would be to think Braun's squashing them both tomorrow. So with that being said, watch WWE put the Universal strap on either Miz or Morrison, then Braun squashes them post match and Otis cashes in.

Look, if you want ridiculous, you might as well go all out.

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Jakyl25 posted...

Oh and its #4 for Lashley

I almost forgot about No Mercy 2006.

Also got a feeling Orton becomes the first person to pin Edge one on one since 2010. Edge retired as "The Man" in 2011, so Orton will claim the first retired Man titles. McIntyre and Samoa Joe have the other two retired ones, and Bayley has the current one in the run that started in 2018 with Becky claiming the vacant title.


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I'm hoping they both win, but then either Miz or Morrison decide to go into business for themselves and not share the belt with the other leading to the two of them feuding with eachother

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Kris Statlander tore her ACL diving on Kip Sabian on the last Dynamite.

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I didn't know aliens had ACLs.

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Aural communicative lattice

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Street Profits vs Viking Raiders for the Raw Tag Titles added to the card

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how you gonna follow up the amazing Profits/Vikings vs. Tozawa and his ninja biker gang with Orton vs. Edge?

That was already the greatest match ever

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Orton busting out the Angle Slam

"Greatest Wrestling Match Ever" actually meant "We're Gonna Do Every Wrestling Move"

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bah gawd the Rock Bottom!

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That was not THE GREATEST MATCH EVER, but it was very good/great. Just a shame WWE had to present it as that ahead of time.

also like 45 minutes long

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2020 in ppv main events...

McIntyre
Goldberg
Baszler
Undertaker
McIntyre
Asuka*
Otis*
Orton

* - Otis technically closed the show but both matches were running simultaneously

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I'm probably about two hours behind, and...

What the **** just happened?

Was that... Shaq? Shaq and Akira Tozawa? ShaKira?

Also, does No Way Jose get an appearance fee?

Bobby & Drew MOTN so far.

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Greatest match ever.

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The biggest thing that bugged me about the show?

The ref coming out when the Viking Profits are in the dumpster, yelling at them that their match is next, and then... here come Edge and Orton?

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To be fair, they did have Saxton say the match wasn't happening like right after.

I assume due to difficulties running from the... Dumpster octopus?

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I believe it was a dumpster alligator, what with them being in Florida and all.

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new japan is back baybeeeeeee

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WWE is looking at a lofty settlement here, most likely.

https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.533776/gov.uscourts.nysd.533776.57.0.pdf

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What's the issue here? That the City of Warren invested in WWE for their pensions and suffered when WWE needlessly tanked their own stock?

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The extremely basic version of it is that these stockholders allege Vince et al. have all purposefully misled or held back important stock information in order to manipulate the purchase of stocks. The Saudi Arabia deal is a huge part of this, which information of it not going as well as implied or stated seems to be withheld from the stockholders.

I only skimmed it so I wasn't able to get the full gist of things, but these things usually end up with a settlement, and this in particular will probably be significant.

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Worth noting is that Scott Dawson testified anonymously for this about the trips to Saudi Arabia and the hostage thing to fuck WWE. lol

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Has it confirmed to be Dawson? I know that's the speculation based on his tenure being 2012-2020 lining up with CW2.

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It was the only tenure that matched up.

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Yeah basically its that WWE withheld and lied about the state of their deals in the Middle East and during the time they were lying Vince sold hundreds of millions of dollars in stock and they tanked their stock all while not disclosing that they had no more middle east deals.

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Okay, reading into this further now. Running points as I go through it. I'm actually somewhat knowledgeable on this much of the law, but nothing close to an expert on it.

- WWE is being sued by shareholders in a class action suit because, in simple terms, they lied or misled shareholders about information that would have impacted their decisions. This is very illegal for obvious reasons.
- It appears this is mostly because of Saudi Arabia, where they were dishonest about how close they were to renewing a TV deal there and outright lied to the investors about the renewal, which they knew wasn't going to happen when they made that statement, and they in fact signed an early cancellation with the network months before then. (Super, super illegal and dishonest)
- Further to this, Vince McMahon sold shares before revealing their very disappointing first quarter numbers which, while not outright illegal, is incredibly questionable given the dishonesty beforehand. He also did this while the company continued to tell shareholders that a renewal was still in the works with that Saudi network.
- When they did finally reveal the deal was dead several months after they had already cancelled the deal, they claimed that they were talking with the Saudi government about a big TV deal and they were "very close" to sealing it.
- This is around the time that WWE and Saudi had payment issues. An anonymous employee working for the Saudi TV station (wanting to stay anonymous so their government doesn't find out I guess), stated that WWE was blowing major smoke up their ass with ridiculous expectations for the dollar amount on the contract and how much viewership they would bring. WWE thinks they'd get 100 million people watching in the middle east and the company said 6.5 million was more expected. WWE wanted $80 million, and to be nice, they offered $15 million instead. WWE tried to settle for $50 million, and then the company said they refuse to go over $14.5 million. (I wasn't going to put these numbers but they were so fucking ridiculous I had to.) This is while they were claiming a deal was close to being made.
- They claimed they were close to a deal before the Crown Jewel PPV with the infamous hostage situation. Definitely not Scott Dawson confirms all the rumors under oath with more information. A stewardess said it seems like they don't want them to leave the country. The pilot was "distressed" when he announced they couldn't take off. Guards with big guns and black clothes were staring at them at the exits. He asked noted Diva Creep and Director of Talent Relations Mark Carrano who told mystery wrestler that there's a dispute over the Saudi Prince not paying him, so they're refusing to let them leave and that the Prince was "very mad" when Vince cut the feed to the show as a result. All under oath, so... loldirtsheets still?
- WWE did not disclose with shareholders that the Saudi government neglected to pay WWE as well, and apparently they've always been slow to pay WWE which was also not disclosed.
- They finally started to admit the payment issues and the failure to secure the network in February 2020, which is entirely too late and quite dishonest given everything, and their stock plummeted. But the inference is that people would have sold if they knew about this earlier.
-This summarizes the main issue super well actually, and it's why I think they aren't getting out of this without a hefty settlement.

29. Moreover, unbeknownst to investors, during the Class Period, Defendants McMahon, Barrios, and Wilson had been heavily selling WWE stock in unusual and suspicious amounts totaling more than $280 million (Defendant McMahons stock sales amounted to an increase of more than 1000% during the Class Periodfrom $22.9 million during the Control Period to $261 million during the Class Period) while in possession of material non-public information regarding, among other things, the early termination of the Companys media rights agreement in its MENA region (which was known in November 2018), delays in finding and finalizing an agreement with a new media rights partner in the MENA region, and growing tensions among WWE and the Saudis over late payments for live events.

- George Barrios and Michelle Wilson left the company right before February 2020, and they are being framed as the main people peddling these lies during stockholder meetings. (I imagine part of why they left was because they could see the writing on the wall before they had to announce the failure to secure a Saudi TV deal and the issues on payments with Saudi Arabia at the Feb 2020 stockholder meeting)
- This was just funny.

50. Thus, the jig has been up for a while. While the matches are choreographed and storylines scripted, the wrestlers rarely break character and the fans suspend their disbeliefa practice known in the industry as kayfabe, which refers to the portrayal of events in the wrestling industry as real and not staged (or worked), and wrestling fans knowingly buy in to the charade.

- They call the fuck out of WWE for the backlash they got about no women competing at first at Saudi events. And then later people calling them out for going after they murdered that journalist. I'd imagine this was done to explain that this company is awful.
- Wait, how did they get away with claiming live attendance numbers were growing?

122. For example, despite how Defendants characterized the following chart33 included in the presentation associated with its fourth-quarter and full-year 2018 resultsit is clear that average attendance at its live events has been steadily decreasing since 2015, and that total attendance decreased in 2018.

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- Okay, so basically they are also trying to frame the picture that literally everything else about WWE including live event attendance, TV ratings, and merchandise sales have been so shitty that now more than ever the Saudi deal was so much more significant that lying about that matters so much more than the other stupid shit they lie about.
- They have so many fucking receipts for the timeline of events. Holy shit. I'm skimming this part because it's so god damn huge.
- Holy shit, not only did they go to this Saudi network with that number in desperation to claim they made a new deal, they went to a United Arab Emerites network and gave them the same numbers, and UAE network gave them the same estimated numbers as the Saudi network. They are WILD.
- They also discuss that WWE gave the shareholders literally no information about the "10 year deal", because it seemed to fluctuate without a set plan (such as x amount of shows a year, etc.)
- SHOUT OUTS TO DAVE MELTZER
- Scott Dawson just savages WWE and their narrative that "You can just not go to Saudi if you don't want to!" This paragraph is also important because it shows they made it sound like the Saudi issues with payments were fake news, partly so their shareholders wouldn't worry..

221. In addition, CW-2 recalled a number of wives being very concerned on social media and then when wrestlers returned home there were a lot of messages expressing how grateful they were to be home. CW-2 stated that after he returned, the WWE put out a letter that Case 1:20-cv-02031-JSR Document 57 Filed 06/08/20 Page 74 of 141 - 70 - attempted to remove all blame from the company and that, in his opinion, many wrestlers were scared of speaking out due to the limited job opportunities in the industry and the WWEs comparatively high salaries. CW-2 explained that many spoke on the condition of anonymity to journalists and the WWE denounced these stories as conspiracies and laughable. Nevertheless, after the event, CW-2 said that he and a co-worker went straight to Talent Relations and said they would not go back to Saudi Arabia. CW-2 noted that other wrestlers tried to do the same but the WWE abused their power and threatened the future trajectory of their careers if they did not go.

- Aight, this entire paragraph is too hilarious to leave out.

222. Social media posts by other wrestlers also revealed frustration about being detained in Saudi Arabia post-event, while other more prominent wrestlers were allowed to leave. For example, Joe Hennig wrote on Twitter, Not the #Top20? [middle finger emoji] Im #1 at home! We don't leave each other behind. @WWE. Brodie Lee wrote on an Instagram post, Larry, I'm home. I guess I didnt want it enough to pay for my own charter, but Im home now. #NotTop20. Several other WWE stars commented on the post, expressing their distaste with the Companys handling of the situation. Even, AEW World Champion Chris Jericho responded: Shame on you lazy embarrassments to the company . . . Glad everybody made it home safely!

- I can't get over the amount of receipts they have for EVERYTHING. There's no way WWE even attempts to take this to trial.

So okay, WWE is not winning this case if it goes to trial. They just aren't. Major props to the law firm representing the Plaintiffs because they did an amazing job here. It's so sealed tight with plenty of receipts and information backing up every single claim they make, there's just no wiggle room.

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Couldn't have happened to a nicer company.

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A developmental talent in WWE tested positive for Covid-19.

There goes your crowds going forward.

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Honestly between the settlement, Vince taking a bath on XFL and the network failing, forcing Vince to go back to ppv..

Either Vince pulls another Attitude Era out of his ass or this company just expels talent and shrinks down in a year or two

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one step closer to the crash

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How do you have a positive covid case in the arena and then bring in ric flair

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I'm feeling like Vince is making some really bad business decisions overall anymore.

Getting caught up with a Saudi government that is, frankly, vile and keeps taking you for a ride on paying for your show is a bad move.

Lying to your shareholders so constantly was a really, really bad move (obviously).

Dumping a ton of money into XFL reboot for literally no reason, after another league just failed so hard, is also a bad move.

Playing games with XFL to bankrupt it and avoid paying people what they're owed like Luck was very bad too, with the idea to still buy your company back is also super bad.

Bleeding out fans for years upon years and seemingly not caring about keeping them or bringing them back so long as you keep making loads of money is also not good.

Having lofty promises to FOX about what you'll bring to their network and under delivering on everything is a poor idea.

Locking in so much of your money on Saudi Arabia and brand new TV deals is also a bad idea.

And between these two law suits, with ratings how they are now, I think when things go back to normal and Vince goes back to PPV instead of the Network, I think WWE is really going to be hurting.

Vince should have retired a long time ago. Not only is he not the guy who should be making booking decisions now, he's been making bad business decisions for way too long now and I'm starting to feel like they're all starting to catch up to him lately.

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Also, if AEW can test every single person for COVID at every recording, I don't see how WWE can't do the same.

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WWE's "coronavirus test" is simply putting a therometer in a person's mouth and checking their temperature. This has been known for weeks (if not months), now.

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paulg235 posted...

WWE's "coronavirus test" is simply putting a therometer in a person's mouth and checking their temperature. This has been known for weeks (if not months), now.

I would have assumed, by now, they would have at least done one round of actual testing, especially after they had the one Coronavirus case.

This floors me that a company that has enough money to spare can be so irresponsible with something like this.

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https://twitter.com/bryanalvarez/status/1272779412837031936?s=19

https://twitter.com/jeremylambert88/status/1272749535773802496?s=19

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How is WWE still in business?

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by saving money as demonstrated in these last few posts

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