WWE Summer Cleaning 2021

[Evil Vito]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Fightful has learned the following WWE wrestlers have been released. <br><br>- Braun Strowman<br>- Aleister Black<br>- Ruby Riott<br>- Lana<br>- Santana Garrett<br>- Buddy Murphy</p>&mdash; Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) <a href="https://twitter.com/SeanRossSapp/status/1400112103256735744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[owenbrown]

THE FUCK?! :wtf:

[M-A-G]

:lol:

[M-A-G]

Mind you, I don't know who 90% of these people are. I'm just enjoying the asteroid coming down.

[Triple A]

wtf @ Strowman

[Evil Vito]

Everything I read about Strowman's feud with Shane sounded horrendous and like a pretty clear indicator they had no clue what to do with him anymore. Can't really have him lose much but don't want to actually push him, so he just kinda disappears for weeks/months at a time.

Still thought for sure he'd have job security.

[Evil Vito]

I wonder if Braun is going to have to change professions again to pay his bills, or if he'll need a GoFundMe or Patreon to get by.

[owenbrown]

fuck WWE

[Outsider]

None of them, other than Braun, are a shock. Even Black, given everything which happened with his wife.

However Braun is a very big shock indeed. Given his size, thought he’d have a job for life. Clearly the type the WWE has liked before. Not sure what he did to end up on the scrap heap.

[Fignuts]

Everything I read about Strowman's feud with Shane sounded horrendous and like a pretty clear indicator they had no clue what to do with him anymore. Can't really have him lose much but don't want to actually push him, so he just kinda disappears for weeks/months at a time.

Still thought for sure he'd have job security.

I'm wondering if Braun and Aleister asked for their releases given how they've been booked.

[Jordan]

I'm so excited right now. Alister, Brauns and Murphy to AEW would be fucking AWESOME.

[xrodmuc316]

I thought they JUST hired Zelina Vega back. And Aleister just got back on TV.

Lana just signed a 5 year deal last year (the one Miro didnt sign). Strange they would let her leave considering clearly she will be able to join him now.

Strowman is the real shock though. WWE doesnt just let former World Champions go. I can't even think of the last active former World Champ they released.

How much money do they need to save, they are making the most money ever.

[Evil Vito]

From winning the world title off Goldberg at WrestleMania to released in 14 months. Jeez.

[screech]

I'm wondering if Braun and Aleister asked for their releases given how they've been booked.

This would not surprise me. The stop-start booking can't be fun to deal with.

[Triple A]

Yeah feel like something must have happened with Strowman... can't imagine them just deciding to release him unless he asked for it or something else happened

[erickman]

wtf @ Strowman

the way he was treated at mania made him look like a dumb wuss.

[Evil Vito]

Not everyone has to go to AEW either. Look at Brian Myers and Matt Cardona (Hawkins and Ryder). They’re not great but they carved out a nice spot for themselves at Impact. More importantly, seem way happier to have a semblance of control on their careers vs being stuck in catering every week on the bottom rung of the main roster.

A WWE release isn’t a death sentence, they’ll be fine.

[Supreme Olajuwon]

I'm wondering if Braun and Aleister asked for their releases given how they've been booked.

Not Aleister

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Im gathering my thoughts as this was a complete left field for me as obviously we just started the dark father character but this was it, thank you so much WWE universe for allowing me to create and give you small bits of myself.</p>&mdash; Tommy End (@WWEAleister) <a href="https://twitter.com/WWEAleister/status/1400112081060478979?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[erickman]

black needs to join decay, they fire ruby but not her tag partner, i bet she will be next. i think wwe is for sale.

[drave]

I thought they JUST hired Zelina Vega back. And Aleister just got back on TV.

Lana just signed a 5 year deal last year (the one Miro didnt sign). Strange they would let her leave considering clearly she will be able to join him now.

Strowman is the real shock though. WWE doesnt just let former World Champions go. I can't even think of the last active former World Champ they released.

How much money do they need to save, they are making the most money ever.




This. Of course they will blame it on "budget".

[xrodmuc316]

It is also crazy that WWE can lock them up with 5 year contracts, and refuse to release them, but then on a whim they can just release them if the talent asks. They should have to give them a buy out or something.

[erickman]

Not everyone has to go to AEW either. Look at Brian Myers and Matt Cardona (Hawkins and Ryder). They’re not great but they carved out a nice spot for themselves at Impact. More importantly, seem way happier to have a semblance of control on their careers vs being stuck in catering every week on the bottom rung of the main roster.

A WWE release isn’t a death sentence, they’ll be fine.

lana is the only one i see going to aew could be braun too.

[Supreme Olajuwon]

Aleister and Murphy would be great in Japan or really wherever they want to go.

[drave]

Agreed, their styles seem to mesh well.




Braun in AEW would definitely be interesting.

[xrodmuc316]

lana is the only one i see going to aew could be braun too.

Lana is the easy bet to be in AEW 90 days from now.

AEW won't sign Murphy, he is far too much like Omega in the ring, and no way the egos there will let that happen.

Tony Khan said he was interested in Vega before, so id imagine he would also be willing to sign Black.

Ruby Riot maybe, but she would be just another body in the women's division.

Santana Garrett, I'm not entirely sure who that even is.

Strowman is almost TOO WWE to go to AEW. Maybe if he goes and has a big run in New Japan for a year or two, but even then WWE would likely just try to bring him back.

[weather vane]

Bizarre

[Fignuts]

Tommy End in the G-1, please

[drave]

what does "too wwe" to go to AEW really mean and why isn't he too wwe for NJPW?

[drave]

Tommy End in the G-1, please




God damn this would be great

[Fignuts]

AEW could really use a guy like Braun to diversify their roster some more. They have a few hosses, but they don't have anyone who's an absolute monster like Braun.

[xrodmuc316]

what does "too wwe" to go to AEW really mean and why isn't he too wwe for NJPW?

That it is the only place he has ever worked. He only knows the WWE Style.

[erickman]

Lana is the easy bet to be in AEW 90 days from now.

AEW won't sign Murphy, he is far too much like Omega in the ring, and no way the egos there will let that happen.

Tony Khan said he was interested in Vega before, so id imagine he would also be willing to sign Black.

Ruby Riot maybe, but she would be just another body in the women's division.

Santana Garrett, I'm not entirely sure who that even is.

Strowman is almost TOO WWE to go to AEW. Maybe if he goes and has a big run in New Japan for a year or two, but even then WWE would likely just try to bring him back.

santana is a full time jobber, she is like heath slater was. she has been getting stars over in wrestling for years, i know she used to work for impact. so she will ether job for impact or aew.

[erickman]

That it is the only place he has ever worked. He only knows the WWE Style.

now big show and mark henry work for aew they can train him right.

[#1-norm-fan]

NO MORE CHOO CHOO TRAIN???

[erickman]

the funny thing is lana can be in the crowd at aew shows now, as long as she don't work for them. nothing wwe can do to them if she is shown on camera.

[GD]

This. Of course they will blame it on "budget".

Can't wait for them to share record profits on the next call. They're truly a morally corrupt company.

[slik]

I think they are gearing up for a sale.

They let 60 people go from corporate last week and re-shuffled a ton of departments under Kevin Dunn. Everything they've been doing would make them seem as profitable as possible to a potential buyer. I've thought a sale could happen since the SD to FOX deal and more so since the WWE Network to Peacock deal. Vince has also said before during investor calls he is open to a sale.

[GD]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Foreboding that WWE is preparing to sell is the stuff of cynical wrestling fan fatalism. New leadership came on in August and is still in Year 1. I would be shocked if WWE sells in Vince's lifetime. 1) Nick Khan indicated to Cowherd that Vince has no intention to sell.</p>&mdash; Brandon Thurston (@BrandonThurston) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrandonThurston/status/1400128542466248709?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[xrodmuc316]

I think they are gearing up for a sale.

They let 60 people go from corporate last week and re-shuffled a ton of departments under Kevin Dunn. Everything they've been doing would make them seem as profitable as possible to a potential buyer. I've thought a sale could happen since the SD to FOX deal and more so since the WWE Network to Peacock deal. Vince has also said before during investor calls he is open to a sale.

While I agree, it makes no sense to do it now when they still have 3+ years left on their Fox deal.

I could certainly see them selling to NBC once the rights for Smackdown would also be included. Until then though they are going to do everything to keep NBC happy, which includes the corporate moves they are making.

That however should not be effecting the roster at all.

[slik]

Sounds like more releases could happen tomorrow per news sites

[erickman]

Sounds like more releases could happen tomorrow per news sites

yeah i see bray going liv and a few others

[Vastardikai]

I am likely the only person in the world to think this, but Aleister Black isn't a big loss. Nobody looks like him, but everyone wrestles like him.

On top of that, he is the only guy who got helped by the WWE's NXT Name Generator.

[slik]

I actually think Braun could be a good fit for New Japan

Ruby would be a great fit for AEW's womens division

[erickman]

I actually think Braun could be a good fit for New Japan

Ruby would be a great fit for AEW's womens division

yeah japan likes big guys

[Evil Vito]

Just eyeballing the roster, Keith Lee and Jeff Hardy being let go wouldn't surprise me. The former has seemingly disappeared and the latter probably makes a pretty high wage to be relegated to Main Event.

[erickman]

i figured they will do all the cuts today thats why i am waiting around

[slik]

What a wild story it would be if the WWE/NJPW talks were actually WWE talking with New Japan's parent company, Bushiroad, about potential sale of WWE. Stranger things have happened...

I know NBCUniversal/Comcast would seem like the prime buyer but my gut instinct thinks it would be someone unexpected. I mean no one thought a talent agency in Los Angeles would buy UFC, that came out of nowhere.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

Braun isn’t going to have trouble finding work. He’s fucking massive, he’s a big enough name and there isn’t a promotion in the world who doesn’t need a huge monster to crush people.

[owenbrown]

Kevin Dunn needs to be sent to federal prison for attempted murder because I am sure he causes seizures with the 97,000 camera cuts he does in a show

[erickman]

What a wild story it would be if the WWE/NJPW talks were actually WWE talking with New Japan's parent company, Bushiroad, about potential sale of WWE. Stranger things have happened...

I know NBCUniversal/Comcast would seem like the prime buyer but my gut instinct thinks it would be someone unexpected. I mean no one thought a talent agency in Los Angeles would buy UFC, that came out of nowhere.

how much money does bushiroad have,i think wwe will sale to a big streaming co.

[Triple A]

Would be cool if they let Ricochet go free . . .

[Triple A]

Keith Lee would be sweet in AEW also . . .

[slik]

how much money does bushiroad have,i think wwe will sale to a big streaming co.

I'd be shocked if they sold to a streaming company unless it was NBCUniversal for more WWE on Peacock content.

[slik]

Insane scenario would like be Amazon buying WWE and WWE announcing like 3 more shows a week for Amazon Prime, each 2-3 hours long.

[erickman]

amazon has all the money they can buy it if they want it

[erickman]

fox sports too they have money after selling there movies to disney

[slik]

Going public with WWE was a fantastic decision for the McMahon's net worth but it might not have been the best idea for wrestling as a whole.

WWE is basically a content-producing company now, whose goal is to put out as much content as possible and constantly top prior profits. The future goal will be to increase growth and thus have even more content than they do now. There has to be a bubble burst moment at some point.

[Lock Jaw]

Not gonna lie, AEW should bring Braun in as their Brock Lesnar. Should come in, beat the hell out of Moxley with ease in a squash match, then handily when the world title off of Omega.

Then a lengthy title reign where he barely appears/wrestles except for the big events

[slik]

I think the only women's tag teams in WWE now are Nattie/Tamina, Nia/Shayna, and Mandy/Dana. Might be time to close shop on the women's tag division.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Smackdown has seven active women's competitors</p>&mdash; Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) <a href="https://twitter.com/SeanRossSapp/status/1400116422622187526?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>


Or they are getting ready to do a bunch of callups from NXT perhaps, who knows

[Lock Jaw]

Strowman's career is pretty surreal.... get the fans into him, build his momentum.... kill all his momentum and interest, give him a title run only then, and then release him.

[Lock Jaw]

Not gonna lie, AEW should bring Braun in as their Brock Lesnar. Should come in, beat the hell out of Moxley with ease in a squash match, then handily when the world title off of Omega.

Then a lengthy title reign where he barely appears/wrestles except for the big events

Should definitely also straight up have him murder Orange Cassidy and Jungle Boy too

[Evil Vito]

I think the only women's tag teams in WWE now are Nattie/Tamina, Nia/Shayna, and Mandy/Dana. Might be time to close shop on the women's tag division.

Or they are getting ready to do a bunch of callups from NXT perhaps, who knows

They have a metric fuckton of women in NXT who haven't even debuted on TV yet so they've got options.

[Mr. Nerfect]

No big shocks here. Well, it doesn’t seem like WWE to separate from Braun, but he is the drizzling shits. It’s a cut that makes sense, it’s just odd to see the WWE do something that makes sense.

Aleister Black is miserable and isn’t that good. Lana is miserable and costing the company half-a-million per year. Murphy is boring and a flippy guy without much more. Santana Garrett is fine looking and fine in the ring, but not much better.

It’s the circle of life that wrestling needs to keep freshening itself up by cutting people in all sorts of roles that just aren’t working any more.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I even forgot about Ruby Riott here, which speaks itself.

[Bad News Gertner]

They missed the boat soooo badly on Braun during his feud with Roman

[slik]

Pre-Order your Aleister shirt now!

https://shop.wwe.com/collections/aleister-black/products/aleister-black-tales-of-the-dark-father-authentic-t-shirt

[slik]

Sean Ross Sapp reported the Braun release was because his contract was expensive and worth over 1 million per year. Other names might be released too who have expensive deals.

[drave]

AJ Styles maybe? He's a current tag champ, but lol at that actually making a difference.

[slik]

Sami Zayn or KO wouldn't shock me, same for Cesaro

[erickman]

seth has a big contract and no belt

[Evil Vito]

Sean Ross Sapp reported the Braun release was because his contract was expensive and worth over 1 million per year. Other names might be released too who have expensive deals.

Feeling more confident in my Jeff Hardy prediction. There's no way that dude isn't making bank off of tenure/name value.

[Evil Vito]

R-Truth is not a main eventer or anything but he's been with the company for 13 years now so given his tenure he might make more than you'd expect for someone at his spot on the card, and they seem to have gotten bored of the 24/7 title gimmick.

[rez]

Pre-Order your Aleister shirt now!

https://shop.wwe.com/collections/aleister-black/products/aleister-black-tales-of-the-dark-father-authentic-t-shirt

:rofl:

[GD]

No big shocks here. Well, it doesn’t seem like WWE to separate from Braun, but he is the drizzling shits. It’s a cut that makes sense, it’s just odd to see the WWE do something that makes sense.

Aleister Black is miserable and isn’t that good. Lana is miserable and costing the company half-a-million per year. Murphy is boring and a flippy guy without much more. Santana Garrett is fine looking and fine in the ring, but not much better.

It’s the circle of life that wrestling needs to keep freshening itself up by cutting people in all sorts of roles that just aren’t working any more.

A level-headed analysis if I've ever seen one.

[screech]

I don't know where else to put this but someone on my Facebook just said "if you're a wrestling fan, you gotta be more confident in AEW than WWE."

[#1-norm-fan]

They missed the boat soooo badly on Braun during his feud with Roman

You could theoretically make a wrestling company that could surpass WWE within a year just with a roster made up of guys they’ve missed the boat on.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It was a nice run, Shelton.

[Fignuts]

It was a nice run, Shelton.

Was it though?

[Mr. Nerfect]

I don't know where else to put this but someone on my Facebook just said "if you're a wrestling fan, you gotta be more confident in AEW than WWE."

Ugh. Not every thread needs to turn into WWE vs. AEW, but holy fuck no. They have ruined EVERYBODY they have gotten their hands on. Christian isn’t special. CHRISTIAN. Miro is a goof that they are now presenting as serious (soon to be doing more comedy with his wife, possibly in a feud with Cody and Brandi once baby is born). FTR are worse off. Luke Harper showed up in a school sowing class costume. The closest thing to a “star” they have created is Darby Allin, and who really gives a fuck.

Neither wrestling promotion is that amazing at pushing talent. But at least the WWE are trimming dead weight to clean themselves up for a sale and stand to make billions.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Was it though?

Not really, content-wise, but he got to milk 5 years of WWE money to basically pretend he enjoyed being there.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I REALLY hope Bray is next, but I don’t see them kicking him. He’s more likely to make a splash somewhere being something different. I don’t see them releasing Jeff either, because The Hardys being together would improve Mid-Card Matt’s value, but they may just call the bluff there and let them do silly shit to bury themselves.

I see the big “shocker” being Keith Lee, if his medical shit has cleared up and they’re just not using him. He’s just a big fat guy with an overinflated sense of importance and a semi-racist gimmick (“I’m a SMART black man”). It just hasn’t worked and you can let someone else make a big deal out of him and look like fools.

[Mr. Nerfect]

As for where talent will go:

-CJ Perry will go to AEW.

-Matt Silva will end up in New Japan if he wants to go back to the WWE (word is that’s always been his end-goal). If he doesn’t and working in front of smaller audiences is fine, he’ll end up in AEW.

-Santana Garrett will have offers from AEW and MLW (MSL is a huge fan). She may be low-balled by AEW because egos may not like her look.

-Heidi Lovelace to...eh, who gives a fuck? NWA, MLW, TNA, AEW, it’ll all be the same. I can see AEW giving her a shot to do “hardcore” shit.

-Tommy End will get a big MLW offer if they can do it. Court Bauer has said he’s a guy that he would build around. That’s if the WWE run didn’t sour that for him. If he doesn’t go there, I do think he’ll end up in AEW, possibly with his wife.

[Bad News Gertner]

Bix is spot on

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hypothetically, you recruit this giant powerlifter, and because he's big, you call him up to the main roster in spite of him being the worst wrestler under contract. Given the chance to sink or swim, he wins the damn race, gets good, gets over...and you're like &quot;eh...&quot;<br><br>REALLY?!?</p>&mdash; David Bixenspan (@davidbix) <a href="https://twitter.com/davidbix/status/1400200347973476353?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Fignuts]

I REALLY hope Bray is next, but I don’t see them kicking him. He’s more likely to make a splash somewhere being something different. I don’t see them releasing Jeff either, because The Hardys being together would improve Mid-Card Matt’s value, but they may just call the bluff there and let them do silly shit to bury themselves.

I see the big “shocker” being Keith Lee, if his medical shit has cleared up and they’re just not using him. He’s just a big fat guy with an overinflated sense of importance and a semi-racist gimmick (“I’m a SMART black man”). It just hasn’t worked and you can let someone else make a big deal out of him and look like fools.

From what I've seen, Keith Lee's articulated vocabulary has always just been the way he talks. Did WWE make it about race at some point?

I hope they don't reunite the hardyz. Big money Matt is one of the few decent gimmicks in aew, and it's far more entertaining than hardyz Matt.

Bray would be interesting because then we'd see how much of his failed gimmicks was really WWE fucking things up, as there have been plenty of reports of him being upset with people fucking up his creative vision.

[rez]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="und" dir="ltr">rip <a href="https://t.co/ow8km27RwN">pic.twitter.com/ow8km27RwN</a></p>&mdash; Will Ospreay is the greatest wrestler of all time (@Switchbladeera_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Switchbladeera_/status/1400152350887661579?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Mr. Nerfect]

Braun fucking sucks. He almost killed himself in his last match. People are looking at the Ryback/Ahmed Johnson effect. When put into position, he couldn’t really do the job.

He will move into stunt work and try to play a big guy, possibly of the creepy/funny redneck variety, in the pictures. Occasionally he will make occasional appearances for the WWE again. Kind of like The Boogeyman, only maybe a little more serious/used for an actual angle or two.

[Bad News Gertner]

Braun was on fire during his feud with Roman. That's just not true.

[Sepholio]

Yeah he was far and away the most over guy on the roster for months and months until they dropped the ball with him.

[Bad News Gertner]

Do people not remember this Braun in 2017 and how fucking amazing he was

iM582x4sp68

I'm probably Ryback's biggest supporter out there but he was nowhere NEAR as good in ring as Braun was.

[Sepholio]

The craziest thing about them releasing Braun is that he's the only true "hoss" on the roster. With the way Vince loves his big sweaty monsters it just baffles me that they release the only one they have right now. I mean you could argue Lashley/Drew/Roman are in that class of big guys but they are puny next to Braun. Just does not make any sense.

[Sepholio]

Fuck they are about to hotshot that little Brock Lesnar clone they've been fawning over lately aren't they?

[Fignuts]

Braun should have went over Roman right there. It would have solidified what they were building him to be and it would have given Roman someone to chase. It could have even led to fans getting on board with Roman a bit more, as I could see him turning it up a notch to combat this monster, and historically, the rare occasions where Roman won over everyone in the audience were the moments he went nuts and just kicked a bunch of people's asses. Which is what got him over in the shield in the first place.

[Fignuts]

Too late now though, as he's been start and stopped too many times for anyone to take him that seriously ever again. Reminds me of Big Show in that regard.

[Sepholio]

I dunno, I think they could have made it work with him again. The Shane feud was the perfect place to do it too, tbh. Should have had him just snap and lose control again and start breaking stuff on a weekly basis while Shane runs from him. Then have him just murder Shane at WM and boom, he's instantly mega over again.

[Sepholio]

I honestly think Braun will be back. Probably playing hard ball because he doesn't want to take a pay cut. And he shouldn't take it honestly. But eventually he will. Might be a year or two from now but he will be back.

[Bad News Gertner]

I remember in 2017 coming across some wrestling fans at work and for a time the first thing they'd ask me on Tuesday was "did you see what Braun Strowman did last night"

[Sepholio]

Yeah I had friends who stopped watching any wrestling like 15 years ago start tuning in to just see what he would do the next week. They had something special going during that stretch. Clips of him destroying stuff were viral on social media. It was nuts.

[slik]

Back when RAW25 happened everyone was talking about how great of an idea it would be to have Braun do something big on the show because of the lapsed fans that were tuning in who would see him and be like 'Woah, who is this'.

Braun was the hottest person in WWE at the time, guy was red hot. Instead, RAW25 was a mind-boggling trainwreck and Braun didn't wrestle on the show but briefly appeared in a brawl with Kane and Lesnar.

[Sepholio]

Honestly his whole run then felt like the closest thing we've had to an attitude era in yearsssss. That whole "what the hell are they gonna come up with next!?" feeling was there like it hadn't been for a long time.

[Sepholio]

They should totally rethink his firing, secretly bring him back under contract, and then in the build up to summer slam film an angle of him just walking into titan towers and running absolutely amok. Eventually he barges into Vinces office after having wrecked half the place and Vince tries to talk him down and Brauns just like STFU AND GET THESE HANDS and then power slams him through his desk.

ffs im really in disbelief that he is gone :/

[Sepholio]

And since his name was mentioned....if they let Bray go too that might just be enough for me to call it quits on WWE other than maybe the rumble and mania because they'll always have a special spot in my heart. But between Braun and Black (and potentially Bray) they are cutting some of the few guys I actually wanna watch. Bryan is gone too. Bo. A whole lot of guys with B names now that I think about it.

What does Vince have against the letter B?

[RP]

Braun Stroman - Gone

Jinder Mahal - Still employed

Sounds like normal WWE to me

[RP]

Do people not remember this Braun in 2017 and how fucking amazing he was

iM582x4sp68

I'm probably Ryback's biggest supporter out there but he was nowhere NEAR as good in ring as Braun was.

You have to have some serious power to be able to launch a chair like that perfectly without it it tilting from and destroying Romans face.

[#1-norm-fan]

I see the big “shocker” being Keith Lee, if his medical shit has cleared up and they’re just not using him. He’s just a big fat guy with an overinflated sense of importance and a semi-racist gimmick (“I’m a SMART black man”). It just hasn’t worked and you can let someone else make a big deal out of him and look like fools.

Keith Lee could be a star in any era with halfway decent booking. You’re really getting stuck in a mindset of letting WWE’s braindead booking dictate a guy’s worth. You should know better by now.

[Lock Jaw]

WHAT'S BRANK STRONGMAN DOING IN THE IMPACT ZONE?!?!

[ClockShot]

To piggyback on what others have said, Braun should have been a world champ like 2-3 times already. Summer of 2017 when he was trying to kill Roman Reigns and "I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU!" was the battlecry of the fans was awesome. But, you know, Vince being Vince. Didn't want to capitalize on a good thing or jeopardize his darling Roman Reigns' status as "the guy".

That said, I do remember him sending out a tweet he had "5 million reasons why he's happy today" when he signed his new deal. I wonder how happy he is now. AEW seems obvious, but I ain't getting that vibe.

Aleister Black finally escaped. So does that mean Zelina's new deal is dead? Unless she hasn't signed yet. In that case, smart girl.

No surprise if Lana shows up at AEW. I would be surprised if she got out of the wrestling game altogether and finds a new career path.


Quite the interesting day.

[RP]

Either Vince is truly gone, or there is some plan that involves sending AEW talent and either boost them or blatantly tank them so that Vince can come in a buy them. Maybe Vince thinks AEW will break the bank to sign all these guys and then go bankrupt and he can swoop in a buy them. Why wouldnt he think that btw? It happened with WCW.

[weather vane]

Totally different.

[Lock Jaw]

<iframe width="1130" height="636" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fBwi0Qydal4" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Sepholio]

Totally different.

It's not really that much different. Khan = Turner, a richer billionaire trying to compete with Vince. WCW tried to keep bringing in older ex WWE talent as a boost, same thing AEW is doing. WCW and AEW both seem to let certain groups of rasslers control the booking and book themselves to go over and be at the top of the card all the time. WCW was also petty af and took shots at WWE live on air pretty frequently, another staple of AEW. They are very, very similar promotions.

The only difference is that WCW managed to overcome WWE for awhile; don't see that happening with AEW. Wrestling in general will lose too much popularity before they ever have that chance.

I don't see WWE ever buying AEW though. Vince would be better served to just let them tank eventually and then pick up the pieces after the fact.

[Fignuts]

Per Aleister Black on twitch, Zeina Vega did not get rehired by WWE. She just did some undisclosed work at the PC, and the internet doing what it does, jumped to conclusions.

[Bad News Gertner]

I blame Slik

[xrodmuc316]

It's not really that much different. Khan = Turner, a richer billionaire trying to compete with Vince. WCW tried to keep bringing in older ex WWE talent as a boost, same thing AEW is doing. WCW and AEW both seem to let certain groups of rasslers control the booking and book themselves to go over and be at the top of the card all the time. WCW was also petty af and took shots at WWE live on air pretty frequently, another staple of AEW. They are very, very similar promotions.

The only difference is that WCW managed to overcome WWE for awhile; don't see that happening with AEW. Wrestling in general will lose too much popularity before they ever have that chance.

I don't see WWE ever buying AEW though. Vince would be better served to just let them tank eventually and then pick up the pieces after the fact.

AEW also has always tried to imply they are WCW reborn. They often say things like "this is the first time WE have been on TNT since 2001" and things of that nature.

AEW is very much like WCW, and they even put out that narrative.

[slik]

I forgot about this ppv already but interesting point

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Braun Strowman was literally in a WWE Title match on a PPV TWO WEEKS AGO.</p>&mdash; Wrestle Features (@WrestleFeatures) <a href="https://twitter.com/WrestleFeatures/status/1400123451634028552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 2, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[rez]

It's not really that much different. Khan = Turner, a richer billionaire trying to compete with Vince. WCW tried to keep bringing in older ex WWE talent as a boost, same thing AEW is doing. WCW and AEW both seem to let certain groups of rasslers control the booking and book themselves to go over and be at the top of the card all the time. WCW was also petty af and took shots at WWE live on air pretty frequently, another staple of AEW. They are very, very similar promotions.

The only difference is that WCW managed to overcome WWE for awhile; don't see that happening with AEW. Wrestling in general will lose too much popularity before they ever have that chance.

I don't see WWE ever buying AEW though. Vince would be better served to just let them tank eventually and then pick up the pieces after the fact.

eh...I'll avoid the comparison talk until the day they put the belt on Marco Stunt to promote a B level wrestling movie.

[Sepholio]

I mean Jungle Boy is the number one contender for the world title right now. We aren't far off from Marco Stunt.

[Sepholio]

Jungle Boy getting a world title shot before Luchasaurus is insane. Just wanted to put that out there.

[Fignuts]

It's not insane because Jungle Boy is a great worker and Luchasaurus is sloppy as fuck.

[Fignuts]

That said Jungle Boy could definitely stand to hit the gym and bulk up a bit. But he at least looks like an athlete, unlike Stunt.

[rez]

Just because he has a title shot doesn't mean he has a chance.

He'd be a legit TNT Champ if and when Miro moves onto the world title scene.

[Fignuts]

I think Luchasaurus would be way better if he stopped trying to be an "agile" big man. Because 90% of the time, whenever he does those moves it looks slow and choreographed. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you can do it well.

Luchasaurus continuing to do this shit is just one example of why I'm convinced the older veterans don't actually critique and coach the younger guys and are just there for the payday.

[Triple A]

Luchasaurus seemed really good for the first couple of months in AEW and was insanely over, then got injured and when he came back a few months later, seemed really immobile and slow and it seems like he has never recovered over a year later for some reason...

[rez]

Any who

I'd like to see Braun in AEW but I think it's best if he tried transitioning into movies. There could probably be a place for him in a movie like Army of the Dead sequel. That or strong man competitions.

[Lock Jaw]

Maybe he can play softball like his old man

[erickman]

wonder what the cuts will be today, will they do nxt or continue with raw and smackdown?

[rez]

I just can't believe Vince is selling off control. He's likely selling stocks off but not enough to lose his power. jmo

[rez]

I'd be pissed the f off if I were Steph/Trip and to a lesser extent, Shane-o (who left and made bank).

[GD]

I REALLY hope Bray is next, but I don’t see them kicking him. He’s more likely to make a splash somewhere being something different. I don’t see them releasing Jeff either, because The Hardys being together would improve Mid-Card Matt’s value, but they may just call the bluff there and let them do silly shit to bury themselves.

I see the big “shocker” being Keith Lee, if his medical shit has cleared up and they’re just not using him. He’s just a big fat guy with an overinflated sense of importance and a semi-racist gimmick (“I’m a SMART black man”). It just hasn’t worked and you can let someone else make a big deal out of him and look like fools.

As for where talent will go:

-CJ Perry will go to AEW.

-Matt Silva will end up in New Japan if he wants to go back to the WWE (word is that’s always been his end-goal). If he doesn’t and working in front of smaller audiences is fine, he’ll end up in AEW.

-Santana Garrett will have offers from AEW and MLW (MSL is a huge fan). She may be low-balled by AEW because egos may not like her look.

-Heidi Lovelace to...eh, who gives a fuck? NWA, MLW, TNA, AEW, it’ll all be the same. I can see AEW giving her a shot to do “hardcore” shit.

-Tommy End will get a big MLW offer if they can do it. Court Bauer has said he’s a guy that he would build around. That’s if the WWE run didn’t sour that for him. If he doesn’t go there, I do think he’ll end up in AEW, possibly with his wife.

Such compassion for someone who just lost their job. Truly remarkable. Only someone who’s ever held a job could relate to this.

[DaveWadding]

Keith Lee could be a star in any era <s>with halfway decent booking. You’re really getting stuck in a mindset of letting WWE’s braindead booking dictate a guy’s worth. You should know better by now</s>.

[Mr. Nerfect]

People are way overplaying how good/over Braun was. From what I saw, his reactions were pretty tepid. He didn’t help business any and whatever was there was the “Not Roman” principle. You push him, you get Roman Reigns but with a dude who is even worse.

I was embarrassed to be watching when Braun was on 9/10 times. Good for people who enjoyed him, but this is not a bad release. And the whole “Lol, he was in a WWE Title match two weeks ago” people...yeah, and he fucked that up too, and now he’s finished. He’ll probably be back, but thank fuck he’s gone in the meantime.

Keith Lee is overrated as fuck. Outside him tackling smaller people, the dude is pretty average and he’s a bland promo.

[GD]

People are way overplaying how good/over Braun was. From what I saw, his reactions were pretty tepid. He didn’t help business any and whatever was there was the “Not Roman” principle. You push him, you get Roman Reigns but with a dude who is even worse.

I was embarrassed to be watching when Braun was on 9/10 times. Good for people who enjoyed him, but this is not a bad release. And the whole “Lol, he was in a WWE Title match two weeks ago” people...yeah, and he fucked that up too, and now he’s finished. He’ll probably be back, but thank fuck he’s gone in the meantime.

Keith Lee is overrated as fuck. Outside him tackling smaller people, the dude is pretty average and he’s a bland promo.

We should all learn and aspire to be like this compassionate human being.

[Evil Vito]

Things Noid and Buddy Murphy have in common:

1. Australian
2. Been dropped on their head a lot

[Jordan]

Braun is awesome, once he got his groove they should have pushed him like they do Roman now. I hope he goes to AEW but he'd also get me back into NJPW if he worked there. If I was Tony I'd be opening up the wallet for Joe, Bryan and Braun. Lana will ruin Miro's gimmick I'd prefer they don't pick her up.

[erickman]

with mlw about to start on vice they might get some of the old wwe wrestlers. now dirtsheats claim nbc is waiting for the fox deal to end to buy wwe in 2024. i wonder if fox would sale there rights to leave early.

[XL]

How does Ziggler survive these culls?

[Ruien]

<iframe width="1130" height="636" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fBwi0Qydal4" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Peak Braun :(

[Ruien]

People are way overplaying how good/over Braun was. From what I saw, his reactions were pretty tepid. He didn’t help business any and whatever was there was the “Not Roman” principle. You push him, you get Roman Reigns but with a dude who is even worse.

I was embarrassed to be watching when Braun was on 9/10 times. Good for people who enjoyed him, but this is not a bad release. And the whole “Lol, he was in a WWE Title match two weeks ago” people...yeah, and he fucked that up too, and now he’s finished. He’ll probably be back, but thank fuck he’s gone in the meantime.

Keith Lee is overrated as fuck. Outside him tackling smaller people, the dude is pretty average and he’s a bland promo.

Pretty sure getting non hardcore fans talking about WWE again is a good thing. I don't think there has been anyone who peaked interest since Braun's peak run. WWE went overboard with it and then killed him.

[erickman]

How does Ziggler survive these culls?

i am ready for zigler and his tag partner to be relaesed, zig can be with his brother and beer money can get back.

[Lock Jaw]

People are way overplaying how good/over Braun was. From what I saw, his reactions were pretty tepid. He didn’t help business any and whatever was there was the “Not Roman” principle. You push him, you get Roman Reigns but with a dude who is even worse.

I was embarrassed to be watching when Braun was on 9/10 times. Good for people who enjoyed him, but this is not a bad release. And the whole “Lol, he was in a WWE Title match two weeks ago” people...yeah, and he fucked that up too, and now he’s finished. He’ll probably be back, but thank fuck he’s gone in the meantime.

Keith Lee is overrated as fuck. Outside him tackling smaller people, the dude is pretty average and he’s a bland promo.

His reactions were pretty good for the modern era. If you compare it with the "glory days", sure his pops weren't as big as someone like The Godfather or Scotty 2 Hotty.

Part of it was definitely the "not Roman" thing, but a large part of it was also because he is a freaking huge guy who was being booked like a freaking huge monster. Not rocket science.

[Lock Jaw]

Agree about Keith Lee, though. I admit I've only seen him a handful of times though.... but nothing screamed star

[xrodmuc316]

with mlw about to start on vice they might get some of the old wwe wrestlers. now dirtsheats claim nbc is waiting for the fox deal to end to buy wwe in 2024. i wonder if fox would sale there rights to leave early.

I suppose they could then, but they would really have to overpay at that point.

They would have to not only purchase WWE, they would need to offer enough for Vince to give up the new TV contracts he could sign for Raw and Smackdown, as well. They would also need to cover the remaining $400 million on the Network deal.

I think the more likely option would be for them to sign new shorter deals for Raw and Smackdown (assuming Fox doesn't get in a bidding war for the rights) that would mirror the remaiming time in the WWE Network deal, with the option to buy in 2026.

Who knows by then though, it would really depend on how Peacock is doing at that point.

[erickman]

like the fox disney deal and the at&t warner deal it took 2 years. i see the peacock deal starting next year. then the 2 year holding pattern with vince running till the fox deal ends in 2024.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Pretty sure getting non hardcore fans talking about WWE again is a good thing. I don't think there has been anyone who peaked interest since Braun's peak run. WWE went overboard with it and then killed him.

Pretty sure this didn’t happen en masse like people are suggesting. Where was the ratings spike? I’m not doubting anyone’s anecdotal experiences, but mine is that no one has given a shit about wrestling in years and years, and Braun did nothing to change that.

If the guy made a difference, Vince would have been the first to froth at the mouth and push the guy more consistently. But he couldn’t really work and he wasn’t that over.

[Lock Jaw]

To be fair, no one will make a difference again. Making differences isn't best for business.

[xrodmuc316]

Less we all forget WWE purposefully killed Brauns push because he showed up only 4 hours early before the show actually started instead of 6 hours early.

It was more important to WWE to teach Braun to show up 2 extra hours earlier than make more money or give the fans something entertaining.

[Bad News Gertner]

Him winning the tag belts with that 12 year old kid literally took all the cool factor away from Braun

[erickman]

i guess no news is good news no one fired yet.

[rez]

Him winning the tag belts with that 12 year old kid literally took all the cool factor away from Braun

yeah..he shoulda won them with Brodie Jr. Fuck Nicholas!

[Ruien]

Pretty sure this didn’t happen en masse like people are suggesting. Where was the ratings spike? I’m not doubting anyone’s anecdotal experiences, but mine is that no one has given a shit about wrestling in years and years, and Braun did nothing to change that.

If the guy made a difference, Vince would have been the first to froth at the mouth and push the guy more consistently. But he couldn’t really work and he wasn’t that over.

I dunno if you are trolling. Vince killed Ryback. Ryback, the guy who was getting Attitude Era pops when it was deemed impossible. So yes, Vince will destroy people that are over.

Honestly, I don't care or know about the ratings. That is really weird to me. I don't go around looking at the ratings for the sports talk shows I watch or listen too. What I do know, in my universe, for a few months, people that don't typically post about WWE were making social media posts regarding Braun. These are the casual fans that get back into WWE when something amazing is happening like Daniel Bryans run. Braun was that.

Honestly, most casual fans probably just watch video clips of what they want to watch. I doubt any of them decided to watch a 3 hour show to see Braun for 15 minutes. I wouldn't.

[Lock Jaw]

Him winning the tag belts with that 12 year old kid literally took all the cool factor away from Braun

Was that before or after singing and playing the giant stand up bass vs Elias? Feel like that was the point where it was like "yyyyeah ok, so he's just like everyone else now"

[Damian Rey 2.0]

I dunno if you are trolling. Vince killed Ryback. Ryback, the guy who was getting Attitude Era pops when it was deemed impossible. So yes, Vince will destroy people that are over.

Honestly, I don't care or know about the ratings. That is really weird to me. I don't go around looking at the ratings for the sports talk shows I watch or listen too. What I do know, in my universe, for a few months, people that don't typically post about WWE were making social media posts regarding Braun. These are the casual fans that get back into WWE when something amazing is happening like Daniel Bryans run. Braun was that.

Honestly, most casual fans probably just watch video clips of what they want to watch. I doubt any of them decided to watch a 3 hour show to see Braun for 15 minutes. I wouldn't.

Remember when Ryback hit that clothesline in Punk with JR I’m commentary and the crowd went ape shit to the point that the hard cam was shaking? That was the moment to go all in on Ryback and see where it went. But nope. Not Vince.

[Savio]

Rubalcaba?

[Ruien]

Ryback.

[Lock Jaw]

If only he had the name Rubalcaba, he would have been multiple time WWE Champ by now

[Mr. Nerfect]

I dunno if you are trolling. Vince killed Ryback. Ryback, the guy who was getting Attitude Era pops when it was deemed impossible. So yes, Vince will destroy people that are over.

Honestly, I don't care or know about the ratings. That is really weird to me. I don't go around looking at the ratings for the sports talk shows I watch or listen too. What I do know, in my universe, for a few months, people that don't typically post about WWE were making social media posts regarding Braun. These are the casual fans that get back into WWE when something amazing is happening like Daniel Bryans run. Braun was that.

Honestly, most casual fans probably just watch video clips of what they want to watch. I doubt any of them decided to
watch a 3 hour show to see Braun for 15 minutes. I wouldn't.

I’m not trolling. Ryback wasn’t very good and wasn’t very over. Did he need to be booked to shit in 2013? No. But he wasn’t a fucking difference-maker outside one curiosity buy for Hell in a Cell. Then Survivor Series tanked.

You may not care about ratings and buys, but they are a good indicator as to whether or not your anecdotal experience is universal or not. It’s not.

It’s fine to like the guys. But all this talk of “Attitude era pops” is just ridiculous.

[slik]

https://cultaholic.com/posts/report-wwe-to-regularly-release-talent-going-forward


More WWE releases are on the horizon and talent being let go is going to be a regular occurrence, according to Andrew Zarian of the Mat Men Pro Wrestling Podcast.


He said: "I was told specifically that there's going to be more releases to come... This is going to be a regular thing. You're going to see these releases happen. They're reshuffling the deck with talent. They're realising that the company got very bloated with talent over the last two-three years where WWE doesn't release anybody, they hang on to people. They threw ridiculous money to guys like Gallows and Anderson."


WWE had stockpiled an enormous amount of talent in recent years and over 300 wrestlers were reportedly on the books in early 2020.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I was skeptical that more would be coming. Everyone reports that there are “more to come tomorrow” then they don’t come. But it would honestly be the best thing for the WWE as a talent-based company. You can’t stockpile talent. It would also be good for the industry writ large to have more seasoned guys out there working. Theoretically, it’d be good for guys to go elsewhere and develop too, but the wrestling in other places is pretty low-standard, so I’m not sure there are countless spots out there.

[Ruien]

I’m not trolling. Ryback wasn’t very good and wasn’t very over. Did he need to be booked to shit in 2013? No. But he wasn’t a fucking difference-maker outside one curiosity buy for Hell in a Cell. Then Survivor Series tanked.

You may not care about ratings and buys, but they are a good indicator as to whether or not your anecdotal experience is universal or not. It’s not.

It’s fine to like the guys. But all this talk of “Attitude era pops” is just ridiculous.

So you are trolling. Got it.

[Mr. Nerfect]

So you are trolling. Got it.

Yeah, because the person using actual metrics to back up what they’re saying is a troll, versus the guy who says “I don’t really care about things like evidence.”

[XL]

I’m surprised Nakamura is still around. I guess he’s got the “Jinder Benefit” that he could appeal to a specific market.

[#1-norm-fan]

I’m not trolling. Ryback wasn’t very good and wasn’t very over. Did he need to be booked to shit in 2013? No. But he wasn’t a fucking difference-maker outside one curiosity buy for Hell in a Cell. Then Survivor Series tanked.

You may not care about ratings and buys, but they are a good indicator as to whether or not your anecdotal experience is universal or not. It’s not.

It’s fine to like the guys. But all this talk of “Attitude era pops” is just ridiculous.

Lol He was getting massively over and they snuffed it out ASAP. You brush off Hell in a Cell as just “curiosity” and then after he jobs and Cena enters the picture the next month you blame him. You’re not using metrics to back anything. You’re stating your narrative and then seeing how you can make the metrics work for you. “It was just curiosity” being your excuse for a bump being a pretty clear example.

And yes calling this...

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WyxU_c-EVnY?start=88" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

... an attitude era pop is not ridiculous. The fact that you can’t at least admit that is more pretty hard evidence that either you’re trolling or you’re dead set on skewing or just flat out ignoring any evidence that a guy you don’t like was making waves.

[screech]

Anyone who can't admit Ryback was over in that time either wasn't watching or doesn't know what a hot crowd sounds like.

[screech]

Also not that he'd go there, but Ryback would at least look more legit than 85% of the AEW roster.

[GD]

Anyone who can't admit Ryback was over in that time either wasn't watching or doesn't know what a hot crowd sounds like.

The person in question has surface level knowledge of each pockets. I'd compare his opinion to that of a homeless person who's convinced himself that the world is ending.

[Bad News Gertner]

Watching that video makes me angry lol

Howwwww did they mess that up!

[Mr. Nerfect]

Lol He was getting massively over and they snuffed it out ASAP. You brush off Hell in a Cell as just “curiosity” and then after he jobs and Cena enters the picture the next month you blame him. You’re not using metrics to back anything. You’re stating your narrative and then seeing how you can make the metrics work for you. “It was just curiosity” being your excuse for a bump being a pretty clear example.

And yes calling this...

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WyxU_c-EVnY?start=88" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

... an attitude era pop is not ridiculous. The fact that you can’t at least admit that is more pretty hard evidence that either you’re trolling or you’re dead set on skewing or just flat out ignoring any evidence that a guy you don’t like was making waves.

Watched that video. Do you really consider that an Attitude era pop? You can see people not reacting at all. Did he get automated reactions by WWE standards at the time? Sure. But holy fuck is this place insane when it comes to overrating the appeal the guy had just because he was jacked and got people to sing along to “Feed me more!” Talk about fucking narratives.

I was watching far less when Braun was around. When I did, you could literally pick apart the individual “Rawrs!” from the crowd they were so isolated. Cold period? Sure. But let’s not pretend he melted the fucking ice. He was the drizzling shits designed to be in the Kane role, except like Kane, no one got over working with him, and he didn’t make them the money they were spending on him.

That’s why both guys have been released and why one, at least, has turned out to be a definitive nothing in the industry. You’re kicking water uphill by arguing anything otherwise. There’s no evidence either guy ever really mattered.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Also not that he'd go there, but Ryback would at least look more legit than 85% of the AEW roster.

If referee Jason Ayers took his shirt off he’d look more legit than 85% of the AEW roster. It’s a shame Ryback needed people to project their own ideal charisma onto him.

Lol, remember when the dick cut a promo about The Secret? He fucking sucked. No instincts. Anything he had was paper thin and spurned on by the idea of potential, which actually wasn’t there.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Lol, I can’t believe I’m being called a troll because I’m pointing out that Ryback was a flop. Yes, if they had just pushed him harder we’d be in a golden era right now. We wouldn’t have needed that if they had just put Tom Magee over Bret Hart at WrestleMania though. And if only they had stuck with Nathan Jones instead of taking him out of that Mania tag with Taker.

These wrestlers are guilty pleasures. They weren’t money just because they made half the arena pop a couple of times and actually looked the part.

[Mr. Nerfect]

What this proves to me is that kayfabe isn’t dead, and people are so hungry for someone like Goldberg again that if you get anyone jacked, push them, people will love the shit out of them and defend them 7 years after their one PPV peak.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Wrath should have been a mega-star and beaten Goldberg at Starrcade ‘98, yo.

[screech]

Watching that video makes me angry lol

Howwwww did they mess that up!

It's not even the last time they've bricked a layup lol

[#1-norm-fan]

Watched that video. Do you really consider that an Attitude era pop? You can see people not reacting at all.

I’m pretty sure if we could go back and measure the decibels of that live crowd when he hit that clothesline you’d argue that you saw a ton of fans sneezing at the same time and that threw it off.

Now, we could discuss whether he had what it takes to keep it going in the long-run but if you can’t concede this then it’s kinda pointless.

[XL]

Personally I didn’t rate Ryback all that highly but I can’t deny he was on the rise. Would he have been the next Hogan/Austin/Cena? Fuck knows. Because they derailed him before we could find out. The dude lost to Mark Henry at Mania. Pre-salmon jacket Mark Henry no less. This is the common thread with most of these releases. It’s not necessarily that they would have been the next guy to lead another “boom period”, it’s that there’s always, always something more left on the table.

That Vince/Creative didn’t “get” Aleister Black and couldn’t find something decent for him to do is insane. A dude that looks like that, who walks to the ring and kicks people’s faces off. You don’t even really need to try. There’s an almost never-ending list of guys that could be/could have been more than they were in WWE. They look back and laugh at WCW for letting go a “Stunning” Steve Austin. You think he even gets the chance to become “Stone Cold” in this era?

[Mr. Nerfect]

I’m pretty sure if we could go back and measure the decibels of that live crowd when he hit that clothesline you’d argue that you saw a ton of fans sneezing at the same time and that threw it off.

Now, we could discuss whether he had what it takes to keep it going in the long-run but if you can’t concede this then it’s kinda pointless.

Lol, you’re starting at the conclusion you want and not moving past that while accusing people of doing the same. If we could measure the decibels of that reaction, I’m sure I would be saying “See?” It’s not that fucking hot, dude. It’s not a terrible reaction, but holy shit are people overplaying this. He was a big dude who got mildly over with squashed, then got a decent reaction in a segment with Vince McMahon, CM Punk and John Cena in front of a crowd that was hungry for almost anything else. And make no mistake about it — had they have gotten Ryback they would have wanted something else then too.

That he wouldn’t have been able to keep it going is kind of the whole point. There was a catchphrase, a look and a push to the guy. When he lost the push, the catchphrase and the look fell through too.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Personally I didn’t rate Ryback all that highly but I can’t deny he was on the rise. Would he have been the next Hogan/Austin/Cena? Fuck knows. Because they derailed him before we could find out. The dude lost to Mark Henry at Mania. Pre-salmon jacket Mark Henry no less. This is the common thread with most of these releases. It’s not necessarily that they would have been the next guy to lead another “boom period”, it’s that there’s always, always something more left on the table.

That Vince/Creative didn’t “get” Aleister Black and couldn’t find something decent for him to do is insane. A dude that looks like that, who walks to the ring and kicks people’s faces off. You don’t even really need to try. There’s an almost never-ending list of guys that could be/could have been more than they were in WWE. They look back and laugh at WCW for letting go a “Stunning” Steve Austin. You think he even gets the chance to become “Stone Cold” in this era?

Of course he shouldn’t have lost to Mark Henry. But no, he wouldn’t have been Hogan/Austin/Cena, lol. All three of those guys could work. And no, they probably wouldn’t get Steve Austin in this environment. But that doesn’t mean that everyone who doesn’t get a chance is Steve Austin either.


Aleister Black has a decent look, but he’s pretty boring in the ring and on the mic. He does way too much indy stuff for a dude who is supposed to be a bad-ass. There’s no “oomph” there. People want him to be like a legit CM Punk or something, but he’s more like a Marty Jannetty to Punk’s Shawn Michaels. There’s nothing wrong with him, per se, but there was nothing wrong with Al Snow or Stevie Richards either.

[GD]

TIL, I wanted Aleister Black to be like CM Punk.

[Ruien]

Anyone who can't admit Ryback was over in that time either wasn't watching or doesn't know what a hot crowd sounds like.

[Mr. Nerfect]

It’s how over, you stupid fuckers. He was not Attitude era over, nor did he do much but increase the buys of a single PPV. Those are facts.

[#1-norm-fan]

Lol, you’re starting at the conclusion you want and not moving past that while accusing people of doing the same.

Fuck what I want. I’m starting at the conclusion that that pop was massive. Which seems clear. Because I have eyes and ears. You don’t want to acknowledge even that much. So any discussion past that is pointless because I think your conclusion leaves you unable to admit the obvious. It’s probably the same reason you find yourself needing to rationalize agreeing with xrod’s terrible takes because not doing so might hamper your conclusion. You can admit xrod’s point is stupid while not conceding that AEW doesn’t suck ass. Just like you can admit a crowd reaction was huge while not conceding that he doesn’t suck ass. In fact, it ultimately helps your case.

I don’t think you’re comfortable doing either of those things anymore and it leaves you untrustworthy of honest conversation. You have sadly become CyNick-esque.

[Damian Rey 2.0]

The Ryback was over as fuck for brief moment in time. I remember it looking like he was going to get pushed into the US title scene while Miz was champ. Maybe it was IC. Regardless, that looked like the direction till Cena got hurt and Ryback was fast tracked to be fed to Punk. Which is dumb. This company had hot shot title runs for Sheamus, Swagger, Mahal etc. but didn’t just take a shot on a guy who was getting pops. Mind boggling.

[Lock Jaw]

Feel like Braun was much more of a "dropped ball" than The Ryback. Feel at points the fans were definitely way more into Braun than they ever were The Ryback.

Yes, WWE didn't do The Ryback any favours in getting him over, but also neither did The Ryback.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Fuck what I want. I’m starting at the conclusion that that pop was massive. Which seems clear. Because I have eyes and ears. You don’t want to acknowledge even that much. So any discussion past that is pointless because I think your conclusion leaves you unable to admit the obvious. It’s probably the same reason you find yourself needing to rationalize agreeing with xrod’s terrible takes because not doing so might hamper your conclusion. You can admit xrod’s point is stupid while not conceding that AEW doesn’t suck ass. Just like you can admit a crowd reaction was huge while not conceding that he doesn’t suck ass. In fact, it ultimately helps your case.

I don’t think you’re comfortable doing either of those things anymore and it leaves you untrustworthy of honest conversation. You have sadly become CyNick-esque.

I have eyes and ears too. It wasn’t that big, dude. You can see bored people in front fucking row. Hardly anyone is “losing their minds” like you would see routinely through the Attitude era, which this is being compared to. It doesn’t “help” my case to be goaded into conceding an untrue point, based on your subjective interpretation of what’s in front of you, masquerading as objective fact.

It’s possible to have two different interpretations of a crowd reaction. You obviously think it is massive. I feel it is pretty cold and forced compared to genuinely hot reactions. Doesn’t make me fucking wrong because you can’t admit you have a bias like anyone. I can very easily say “If you think this is an Attitude era sized pop, there’s no use discussing further and all further points are moot, because it’s obviously not.”

You’re being as stubborn as you’re accusing others of being.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Lol, when it comes time for Vince McMahon to talk, you can hear a pin drop. Hot crowd, guys.

[Lock Jaw]

Scotty 2 Hotty outpopped The Ryback

<iframe width="1130" height="636" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AIS2opbcjoQ" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Ruien]

What are these rumors that Vince is looking to sell WWE? Wtf did I watch on Youtube? That can't be true......

[Supreme Olajuwon]

Ryback was over with me, I’ll tell you that much.

[screech]

What are these rumors that Vince is looking to sell WWE? Wtf did I watch on Youtube? That can't be true......

I've read that too. Since they're more into "content creation" than rasslin at this point, it actually wouldn't shock me if a streaming service scooped them up. I don't know if it would be Peacock, but the network being there now could be a step toward that.

[screech]

Feel like I've made that post before but it could have been a text message or a tweet. Fuck it. It's fine.

[Supreme Olajuwon]

It’s also important to remember in jobbing out Ryback, it lead to the debut of Brad Maddox and the Shield. And I think we can all agree that that was overwhelmingly successful.

[Lock Jaw]

Especially Brad Maddox

[McLegend]

I have a tough time believing that Vince would sell.

That kind of goes against everything people know about him.

[Lock Jaw]

He's a carny and carnies like money. He would sell.

[McLegend]

Yeah but he’s also a huge control freak who likes things his way.

So I don’t know.

[xrodmuc316]

Watching that video makes me angry lol

Howwwww did they mess that up!

Ryback was buried because Punk cried about how terrible he was. Timing also kind of screwed him up because they were dead set on Rock vs Cena 2, so Punk was keeping the belt to drop Rock, so he could then drop it to Cena.

They also had him job at Wrestlemania then turned him heel, neither of which made much sense.

[xrodmuc316]

Fuck what I want. I’m starting at the conclusion that that pop was massive. Which seems clear. Because I have eyes and ears. You don’t want to acknowledge even that much. So any discussion past that is pointless because I think your conclusion leaves you unable to admit the obvious. It’s probably the same reason you find yourself needing to rationalize agreeing with xrod’s terrible takes because not doing so might hamper your conclusion. You can admit xrod’s point is stupid while not conceding that AEW doesn’t suck ass. Just like you can admit a crowd reaction was huge while not conceding that he doesn’t suck ass. In fact, it ultimately helps your case.

I don’t think you’re comfortable doing either of those things anymore and it leaves you untrustworthy of honest conversation. You have sadly become CyNick-esque.

The Fuck did I do??? :rofl:

[screech]

He's a carny and carnies like money. He would sell.

Yeah but he’s also a huge control freak who likes things his way.

So I don’t know.

I agree with both of these. The reason I think he *could* sell is because he already "let go" of the network.

Of course it could all be bullshit, but it's interesting nonetheless.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Scotty 2 Hotty outpopped The Ryback

<iframe width="1130" height="636" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AIS2opbcjoQ" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Of course he did. That was an Attitude era pop.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Vince at least wants the option of a sale. Everything he’s done has been taking steps to ultimately becoming validated by it.

[Vastardikai]

Ryback was as much a victim of bad timing as anything else. Vince was dead set on giving us to Rock vs. Cena 2 for the WWE Title. And nothing was going to stop him. Not CM Punk finding his groove as the top heel in the company. Not Cena get injured. And certainly NOT some guy getting over in the midcard.

The biggest problem for Vince at that time was, there was no one else who could have stepped into the role of Cena at that point. And, as over as the Ryback was, he wasn't mentally ready for that moment. In a year's time, he may have been. But they needed an opponent for Punk, and no one else was credible at that point (I think at the time I called it 'Cena Uber Alles' booking). So, they had to take the guy gunning for the mid card belt and get him ready to face the World Champion.

Then, they had to do this in a themed pay per view, which required it to be in a Hell in a Cell match. So, they had to show him lose, but in a way that didn't make him look weak. That leads to the next month, and with Cena thrown in the mix, as well. This is where the really bad timing REALLY comes into effect. They need a reason to make him lose in a ladder match and not look weak again. This time, they debut 3 guys to cost him the match. Those 3 guys just so happened to all be guys you could build a company around. So they have to look credible. How do you make them look credible? They have to beat people. Who did they beat more than anyone else? Ryback. What do you call a big world beater who can't beat the world? A loser. They would have been better off not putting him in that spot at al.

What messed Ryback up the most happened before even Hell in a Cell. They needed a big powerful man doing big powerful things. Ryback was the big powerful man. But he couldn't lift up Tensai. And that kind of made him look bad. Oddly enough, a not so big powerful man (which is a crazy way to describe a man who is 6'5" and 232 lbs.) did a big powerful thing that same night. One of them is getting trolled to retire endlessly. The other has been a mainstay in the company since then, he's not a top guy, either. However, Cesaro can and has been used in several roles and made them work.

[GD]

Especially Brad Maddox

Yes, we're all aware of your fascination with the leaked videos.

[Rammsteinmad]

Ryback jobbing to Henry at 29 (and clean, no less, if I recall), was absolutely retarded. BUT, damn that next night when he came out and attacked Cena, the crowd were hot for that! I remember not knowing if it was a heel turn or just a "he's had enough and he's gunning for the champ" kinda thing, but it was awesome!

Of course... that was as good as it got for Ryback.

[Rammsteinmad]

That Vince/Creative didn’t “get” Aleister Black and couldn’t find something decent for him to do is insane. A dude that looks like that, who walks to the ring and kicks people’s faces off. You don’t even really need to try. There’s an almost never-ending list of guys that could be/could have been more than they were in WWE. They look back and laugh at WCW for letting go a “Stunning” Steve Austin. You think he even gets the chance to become “Stone Cold” in this era?

Probably doesn't give any new talent much hope that they're gonna be used properly.

[#1-norm-fan]

Ryback jobbing to Henry at 29 (and clean, no less, if I recall), was absolutely retarded. BUT, damn that next night when he came out and attacked Cena, the crowd were hot for that! I remember not knowing if it was a heel turn or just a "he's had enough and he's gunning for the champ" kinda thing, but it was awesome!

Of course... that was as good as it got for Ryback.

I’d say that Punk feud before he jobbed in the cell was as good as it got for him but going out of their way to bury him so much then jobbing him clean to Mark Henry at WrestleMania only to move him into a feud with Cena for the title the very next night might be the peak of WWE having no fucking idea what they’re doing.

[#1-norm-fan]

The Fuck did I do??? :rofl:

If it makes you feel better, I think your Ryback take was spot-on for the most part.

[Jordan]

Nobody wants to sign Ryback. He's insane. I never cared for.him outside of the few 6 man tags he was apart of at one time with the likes of Braun, Punk, and The Sheild.

[Lock Jaw]

I know he was a huge muscle-bound dude but.... I always found him too short/small to be taken seriously as a "monster". Plus all that stuff with not being able to lift some of the bigger dudes

[Bad News Gertner]

It only happened to Tensai. Tensai didn't exactly help Ryback getting up there.

He later did the Shellshock to Khali and the Big Show

[screech]

As long as Ryback doesn't have to cut any long promos, I'd be fine seeing him rassle again.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Ryback was as much a victim of bad timing as anything else. Vince was dead set on giving us to Rock vs. Cena 2 for the WWE Title. And nothing was going to stop him. Not CM Punk finding his groove as the top heel in the company. Not Cena get injured. And certainly NOT some guy getting over in the midcard.

The biggest problem for Vince at that time was, there was no one else who could have stepped into the role of Cena at that point. And, as over as the Ryback was, he wasn't mentally ready for that moment. In a year's time, he may have been. But they needed an opponent for Punk, and no one else was credible at that point (I think at the time I called it 'Cena Uber Alles' booking). So, they had to take the guy gunning for the mid card belt and get him ready to face the World Champion.

Then, they had to do this in a themed pay per view, which required it to be in a Hell in a Cell match. So, they had to show him lose, but in a way that didn't make him look weak. That leads to the next month, and with Cena thrown in the mix, as well. This is where the really bad timing REALLY comes into effect. They need a reason to make him lose in a ladder match and not look weak again. This time, they debut 3 guys to cost him the match. Those 3 guys just so happened to all be guys you could build a company around. So they have to look credible. How do you make them look credible? They have to beat people. Who did they beat more than anyone else? Ryback. What do you call a big world beater who can't beat the world? A loser. They would have been better off not putting him in that spot at al.

What messed Ryback up the most happened before even Hell in a Cell. They needed a big powerful man doing big powerful things. Ryback was the big powerful man. But he couldn't lift up Tensai. And that kind of made him look bad. Oddly enough, a not so big powerful man (which is a crazy way to describe a man who is 6'5" and 232 lbs.) did a big powerful thing that same night. One of them is getting trolled to retire endlessly. The other has been a mainstay in the company since then, he's not a top guy, either. However, Cesaro can and has been used in several roles and made them work.

There’s not much I disagree with in here. The WWE did fuck him up. He could have been used in a way better role within a certain context — but that context wasn’t “The Guy.” He just wasn’t that good and didn’t have the right...much of anything. He was a fun throwback to big dudes having squash matches. He was a facsimile of what people missed about their childhoods in wrestling, missing that true authenticity and true ability to connect.


I know he was a huge muscle-bound dude but.... I always found him too short/small to be taken seriously as a "monster". Plus all that stuff with not being able to lift some of the bigger dudes

There’s that too. For all the good there was to his look, he didn’t have anywhere near the presence of, say, a Goldberg. In people’s head canon he was there, and there’s something to be said for a guy getting that far. But he wasn’t actually there. If he was, you better believe Vince would have put the strap on him.

[xrodmuc316]

Nobody wants to sign Ryback. He's insane. I never cared for.him outside of the few 6 man tags he was apart of at one time with the likes of Braun, Punk, and The Sheild.

He is, but he also still has that mystique because he never went anywhere else.

I don't think at this stage he would be much of a difference maker long term, but he would "pop the terrority" for a short while, certainly bigger than Christian, Mark Henry, or Big Show.

[Jordan]

Dude, Paul Wight is the BIGGEST signing in AEW history and Mark Henry is the STRONGEST signing they could make.

[Jordan]

I would say that Ryback is STARVED to get back in the ring though.

[Supreme Olajuwon]

Next wave coming today ALLEGEDLY

[Supreme Olajuwon]

Fandango and Tony Nese just posted their goodbyes

[slik]

Ariya Daivari

NXT tag team Ever-Rise

[RP]

Cesaro has been released.

[#1-norm-fan]

Fandango’s about to be 40. I don’t give a fuck though. If AEW doesn’t snatch him up and make him the face of the company after WWE wasted the prime of the next Hulk Hogan, WWE wins. This is your chance, Tony Khan.

[Bad News Gertner]

Cesaro has been released.

lol no he hasn't

[slik]

It wouldn't shock me if they parted ways with Keith Lee since something seems amiss there

[RP]

I am so drunk and horny

[#1-norm-fan]

RP’s cock has been released

[erickman]

Fandango’s about to be 40. I don’t give a fuck though. If AEW doesn’t snatch him up and make him the face of the company after WWE wasted the prime of the next Hulk Hogan, WWE wins. This is your chance, Tony Khan.

never got his tag match with r truth for the tag titles

[erickman]

they fired the writter who did not know the name of the raw champ.

[erickman]

there goes tyler breze

[slik]

August Grey of NXT/205 Live


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">*BREAKING NEWS*<br><br>Tonight’s <a href="https://twitter.com/WWE205Live?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WWE205Live</a> Main Event has just been turned into a LOSER LEAVES TOWN MATCH!<br><br>Don’t miss it!!! <a href="https://t.co/SmApTs3ugu">pic.twitter.com/SmApTs3ugu</a></p>&mdash; August Grey (@AugustGreyWWE) <a href="https://twitter.com/AugustGreyWWE/status/1408517123475976199?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 25, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[erickman]

let's see if he shoots tonight

[slik]

I have no idea what Sean means by this

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I think that today's releases will have ramifications for WWE in about six months.</p>&mdash; Sean Ross Sapp of Voice Over Work (@SeanRossSapp) <a href="https://twitter.com/SeanRossSapp/status/1408517862122213386?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 25, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[slik]

The Singh Brothers have been hindered from their contracts

[slik]

Arturo Ruas
Marina Shafir
Curt Stallion

[erickman]

Arturo Ruas
Marina Shafir
Curt Stallion

are those 3 205 guys

[Supreme Olajuwon]

I have no idea what Sean means by this

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">I think that today's releases will have ramifications for WWE in about six months.</p>&mdash; Sean Ross Sapp of Voice Over Work (@SeanRossSapp) <a href="https://twitter.com/SeanRossSapp/status/1408517862122213386?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 25, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Six months from today is Christmas!

[slik]

are those 3 205 guys

Marina is one of Ronda/Shayna's best friends and Roderick Strong's wife

[slik]

Killian Dane released

[slik]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">205 dead</p>&mdash; Andy (@AndyNemmity) <a href="https://twitter.com/AndyNemmity/status/1408530100828590085?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 25, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[erickman]

Killian Dane released

guess rockstar spud will follow

[xrodmuc316]

Weird when they release one married couple and keep the other.

Dain out, Nikki still in
Shafif out, Strong still in

Always makes me wonder if the other is next

[#1-norm-fan]

Let’s all take this time to remember the microcosm of WWE’s wildly out of touch ways that occurred when Fandango’s theme song started to go viral and WWE tried to take control of it by sending Jerry Lawler out to basically be like “This groovy tune is sweeping the nation, huh youngsters?!”, immediately sucking any joy out of it.

[erickman]

cross is the only one from sanity left.

[erickman]

tonight would be a good night to end 205 live

[xrodmuc316]

Let’s all take this time to remember the microcosm of WWE’s wildly out of touch ways that occurred when Fandango’s theme song started to go viral and WWE tried to take control of it by sending Jerry Lawler out to basically be like “This groovy tune is sweeping the nation, huh youngsters?!”, immediately sucking any joy out of it.

Remember when Eva Marie lied about being a trained dancer to get in TV as Fandango's dance partner? LOL

[Bad News Gertner]

And thank God she did

Best heel in the company

[RP]

Nikki Cross has been released.

[Fignuts]

Killian Dain is awesome. Such a waste.

[Evil Vito]

Xavier Woods’ YouTube channel takes a big time hit with Breeze’s release

[Helmsphere]

If Tyler Breeze isnt impact world champion by the end of 2021 then there is no joy in anything.

[erickman]

If Tyler Breeze isnt impact world champion by the end of 2021 then there is no joy in anything.

he can do funny segments an impact likes to do jokes.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Fandango’s about to be 40. I don’t give a fuck though. If AEW doesn’t snatch him up and make him the face of the company after WWE wasted the prime of the next Hulk Hogan, WWE wins. This is your chance, Tony Khan.

He’s probably the only guy they won’t sign.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Jericho seems to have a chapped ass about putting him over at Mania. Arturo Ruas will probably disappear from wrestling, unless he really wants to keep going. I see Marina Shafir stepping aside too. But I think everyone else at least has a cup of coffee in AEW, regardless of value to the product.

It’ll just be Fandango in TNA.

[Mr. Nerfect]

I’m honestly surprised Shelton has survived these cuts.

[Mr. Nerfect]

Dana Brooke too.