Board 8 > All-Purpose Wrestling Topic Part 499 - 2020 is EVIL

(+) Yeah! (+)

WWE Q2 2020 report is out

https://twitter.com/voiceswrestling/status/1288933975600386054?s=21
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Quadrupled their revenue for Q2 compared to last year and still claimed they needed to release people during a pandemic. And they were still paying them through July so this number didn't matter at all.

Quality company.

Also, I'm seeing that they've basically broken even from not having house shows and that their merch revenue barely took a hit. RIP house shows.

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https://twitter.com/davemeltzerwon/status/1288933584426815489?s=21

This system is fundamentally absurd
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investors are going to demand it stays this way

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WWE is also arguing with Rey Mysterio over a raise, citing that they can't during a pandemic. When they're making four times as much in revenue than last year.

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Wow, Vince McMahon sounds worse than I've ever heard him before on this conference call.

Like, I'm actually concerned with how awful he sounds. I can barely understand him.

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Meh, summary of the Earning Meeting:

- Vince sounds absolutely awful and it's concerning.
- Vince's answer to the ratings being down is that once they have a crowd again, they'll improve. That's all.
- Vince says the fact that NXT and AEW haven't been hurt as badly as RAW and Smackdown because they're new.
- Vince says that to help improve ratings they're also going to be focusing on things outside the ring and also character's personalities.
- When asked about why they released Paul Heyman, Vince said that Heyman did a good job creatively. And that's it.

Overall, BS as you would probably guess.

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https://twitter.com/brandonthurston/status/1288937378904670209?s=21

Dave says SD accounts for the entire -4% for overall Fox viewership on this chart, versus what they were airing Q2 last year

Incredible
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Word is Excalibur is suspended for 30 days for saying the n-word in a promo 17 years in PWG that he was scripted to say and has since repeatedly apologized and said he feels awful he did it.

Weaponized cancel culture is fucking bullshit.

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Do we need any more evidence that Twitter (and social media in general) is a disease?

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PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

Word is Excalibur is suspended for 30 days for saying the n-word in a promo 17 years in PWG that he was scripted to say and has since repeatedly apologized and said he feels awful he did it.

Weaponized cancel culture is fucking bullshit.

Stuff like that is why i think a contract saying "don't attack my for things that happened prior to my tenure here" will become the norm

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Man, this is bad. Someone posted a picture of a WWE bar room fight on Facebook and I instantly knew which bar it was filmed at from 1 still picture. Irish Shannon's on Church St in Orlando.

Now I need to look up the match to make sure I'm right

Don't know if it's actually cancel culture if the man isn't actually cancelled.

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Oh didn't take long to confirm. They show the bars name at the start of th match

ShatteredElysium posted...

Man, this is bad. Someone posted a picture of a WWE bar room fight on Facebook and I instantly knew which bar it was filmed at from 1 still picture. Irish Shannon's on Church St in Orlando.

Now I need to look up the match to make sure I'm right

I knew that bar looked familiar. I think I remember going into it before the Magic's home game with Toronto during the playoffs last year.

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It's worth noting that the person who made a big deal of this also spammed AEW and Excalibur's twitter nonstop with the video for months and it's just now caught fire, because he didn't spam WWE or Kevin Owens about it. The person is a shit disturber who just wanted to stick it to AEW, who probably doesn't give a fuck about Excalibur or any apology he's made.

Literally 17 years ago. Almost half of this guy's life ago. Unreal.

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You would think assholes like that would be blacklisted from Twitter. But then Twitter would lose...90% of its userbase...

I jest...but I bet I'm right in some disgusting way.

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TheRock1525 posted...

I knew that bar looked familiar. I think I remember going into it before the Magic's home game with Toronto during the playoffs last year.

Yeah. I very frequently go there before/after Magic games because the beer is cheap and the place is usually empty. I usually go to Harry Buffalo but will go to Irish Shannon's if that place is too busy or is rented out for an event for the night. Or we stumble onto Irish Shannon's enroute to other bars after the game. We get on with the bar staff well

I go to every Magic home game and sometimes drink there downtown for road games too. So I don't feel too bad about recognizing it from one wall shot where the basketball machine is

Wait, The Deadly Draw is going to be exclusively on YouTube? Lame.

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TheRock1525 posted...

Wait, The Deadly Draw is going to be exclusively on YouTube? Lame.

this is perfect for the Deadly Draw! plenty of the women in that tournament aren't TV ready, and would straight up get killed in any ratings war. On the other hand, all manner of women's wrestling does very good Youtube numbers. I was worried about this thing til I heard it would be on Youtube

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Yeah but AEW featured, what, 5 minutes of women's wrestling last Dynamite?

AEWs YouTube stuff generally draws less eyeballs anyway, so it's not like they're gaining any fans with this.

At some point they gotta put real investment into the division and stop making it feel like Brandi's pet project.

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you're right that it needs some real investment, but the division they have right now doesn't warrant featuring that heavily.

TheRock1525 posted...

AEWs YouTube stuff generally draws less eyeballs anyway, so it's not like they're gaining any fans with this.

and this is why I feel like it's a good idea, putting a whole bunch of women's content on youtube will draw more eyeballs than dark and the like

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Steiner posted...

you're right that it needs some real investment, but the division they have right now doesn't warrant featuring that heavily.

It's hard to give them the benefit of the doubt when Deonna Purrazzo was right there. She said she passed on AEW because they said they wouldn't have anything for her right away.

Look at that division and tell me where they didn't have room for her.

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i give them no benefit of the doubt when it comes to their signings or the state of the women's division. I just think that considering the state of the women's division on the day we learned of this, I think putting it on Youtube is the right call, and not just so it can be hidden away - I think that's where they're most likely to get any value from a lot of their signings

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Well agree to disagree here. At the very least they should have the Finals on Dynamite.

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TheRock1525 posted...

. At the very least they should have the Finals on Dynamite.

I agree with this, and I'm also pretty sure the women who end up in the final will be, you know, Dynamite caliber!

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Mark Rollerball Rocco passed away. he's a name probably a lot of you don't know, and one I only learned recently. he's one of the greatest wrestlers to ever come from Britain, to me the most watchable guy from the World of Sport era through 2020 eyes - he was lightyears ahead of contemporaries at the time. here's a couple of samples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIBl7VQw6sQ - Rollerball Rocco vs. The Dynamite Kid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JRTzm1IS1o - Owen Hart & Mark Rocco vs. Keichi Yamada (aka Jushin Thunder Liger) n& Nobuhiko Takada

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The original Black Tiger?

that's the one!

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Seth Rollins says if we love Matt Hardy's Lake of Reincarnation stuff from AEW, then we should like the Eye for an Eye match.

Why does Seth Rollins keep doing this? Why is he such a thin-skinned idiot?

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PrivateBiscuit1 posted...

Seth Rollins says if we love Matt Hardy's Lake of Reincarnation stuff from AEW, then we should like the Eye for an Eye match.

did he hear the reaction to Matt Hardy in AEW? there's a reason he's already rebranded to "Matthew Hardy" and claims to be dropping all the gimmicks

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Yeah AEW Matt Hardy has been pretty terrible and he legit can't work a match anymore.

Seeing that he's gonna be Sammy Guevara's first opponent back makes me feel pretty bad for Sammy.

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Like why is AEW bothering with WWE guys at this point. Two weeks ago they had a match involving 4 guys who (to the best of my knowledge) never stepped foot in a WWE ring draw over a million viewers.

So why a week later do you need Zack Ryder? You have a ton of incredibly talented wrestlers you relegate to your YouTube channel just to bring in a mediocre midcard act.

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TheRock1525 posted...

Like why is AEW bothering with WWE guys at this point. Two weeks ago they had a match involving 4 guys who (to the best of my knowledge) never stepped foot in a WWE ring draw over a million viewers.

So why a week later do you need Zack Ryder? You have a ton of incredibly talented wrestlers you relegate to your YouTube channel just to bring in a mediocre midcard act.

I'm no fan of Ryder at all but I don't have a problem with them signing him, and I think the idea of "WWE guys" is really overblown. WWE signed everybody with a pulse in the last decade, ruling people out based on that is silly - it means nothing. Where this sort of thing becomes a problem, the way it did for Impact, is bringing these guys in and putting them immediately in world title programs, which devalues your title and tells the audience lower card WWE guys are better than most of your roster. I don't see them doing that with undeserving guys. Now if you bring Cardona in and over time he gets over to your audience? Then he's your guy getting over, and that's great and you can run with him then.

I don't think they think they "need" Cardona or any other former WWE guy. I think they think he's a talented guy who will be able to get over with their audience - and the jury is out on that


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I'd say there's a difference between guys who had an unhappy cup of coffee in WWE and guys like Ryder and Hardy who spent a decade+ in the company.

Like Brodie Lee did spend 6 years on the main roster in WWE but he was a long established Indie guy before that.

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And to be fair with Brodie Lee, the first thing they did was put him in as the leader of a major faction and give him a title shot because... he stole Moxley's belt.

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TheRock1525 posted...

I'd say there's a difference between guys who had an unhappy cup of coffee in WWE and guys like Ryder and Hardy who spent a decade+ in the company.

Like Brodie Lee did spend 6 years on the main roster in WWE but he was a long established Indie guy before that.

that's why I think Ryder and Hardy are guys you can't push at a top level, whereas Brodie isn't as jarring. But I don't think it's bad just to hire Ryder and Hardy. Definitely think they've used Hardy too much though but I wonder how much of that was down to how many people were available those first few weeks of lockdown

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TheRock1525 posted...

Like why is AEW bothering with WWE guys at this point. Two weeks ago they had a match involving 4 guys who (to the best of my knowledge) never stepped foot in a WWE ring draw over a million viewers.

https://youtu.be/42BDZJOUuAQ
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I can't imagine Cardona signing with AEW without assurances of a rather quick ascension up the card after years of languishing in the lower card. It's why I think anyone signs anywhere now. Deonna signed with Impact and became champion almost immediately. Killer Cross signed with WWE and already has an NXT championship match. Brian Cage and Brodie Lee's first feuds were with AEW champion Jon Moxley. Hell Heath Slater is already getting a world title shot (granted it's for a defunct title Moose found in storage).

It would not surprise one bit since he and Cody are friends that Ryder is the one that takes the TNT championship off of Cody.

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TheRock1525 posted...

I can't imagine Cardona signing with AEW without assurances of a rather quick ascension up the card after years of languishing in the lower card

this would make sense if Cardona quit - he was fired. Why would he not sign with AEW?

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Steiner posted...

this would make sense if Cardona quit - he was fired. Why would he not sign with AEW?

Because there's a Pandemic going on and Florida is a hellhole setting daily records in terms of cases and deaths.

From what I understand, independent contractors can qualify for unemployment under the relief bill passed earlier this year.

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TheRock1525 posted...

I can't imagine Cardona signing with AEW without assurances of a rather quick ascension up the card after years of languishing in the lower card. It's why I think anyone signs anywhere now. Deonna signed with Impact and became champion almost immediately. Killer Cross signed with WWE and already has an NXT championship match. Brian Cage and Brodie Lee's first feuds were with AEW champion Jon Moxley. Hell Heath Slater is already getting a world title shot (granted it's for a defunct title Moose found in storage).

It would not surprise one bit since he and Cody are friends that Ryder is the one that takes the TNT championship off of Cody.

I think a lot of that is striking while the iron is hot.

Interest in people leaving WWE is at its highest when they first show up elsewhere, so thats when you put them in top programs
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I think Matt Hardy has been fine in his role in AEW, but what do I know I guess

I mean he's not a guy you want to be your world champion but booking him as a competent upper carder is fine which is what they've done. His promos are amusing and his matches don't stink the show up or anything.

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This is a really weird conversation.

I'm sure they discussed ideas, but Cardona has had literally no stories at all in WWE for the majority of his time with WWE. Why are you conflating Impact's decisions with AEW's? Why can't Cardona just be happy to have a storyline for a change? Everyone who comes out of WWE says they're creatively stifled either by being ignored when they tried to bring up ideas or by having shitty ideas forced on them.

I seriously don't get this.

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TheRock1525 posted...

Because there's a Pandemic going on and Florida is a hellhole setting daily records in terms of cases and deaths.

From what I understand, independent contractors can qualify for unemployment under the relief bill passed earlier this year.

Now I'm even more confused.

What in the world are you going on about man?

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TheRock1525 posted...

Because there's a Pandemic going on and Florida is a hellhole setting daily records in terms of cases and deaths.

From what I understand, independent contractors can qualify for unemployment under the relief bill passed earlier this year.

ah come on, almost no wrestlers are just stopping in the current environment. wrestling is going on, he got the offer, he'll sign with AEW and maybe get a chance to get himself over without working against an owner who doesn't understand or care about him.

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Hes saying that Cardona could in theory sit at home, collect unemployment, and stay safer

But the fact that he has chosen not to means hes probably got some guarantees, in Rocks mind
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Jakyl25 posted...

Hes saying that Cardona could in theory sit at home, collect unemployment, and stay safer

But the fact that he has chosen not to means hes probably got some guarantees, in Rocks mind

Especially since he's a cancer survivor.

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Really I dont think this needs to be a big argument. Clearly he is getting a push and were just sitting here getting mad at each other over guesses about how much of it was guaranteed
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The key will be for Cardona to avoid Aron Rexing himself.

Coming out claiming "finally without shackles I can show you how great I am" only to then prove all his haters correct.

From the discourse it feels like this is what literally everyone is expecting. But...maybe he won't. Maybe he'll get over.

At the very least he'll probably kick QT Marshall off television which is a win all by itself.

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