Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Guycott
Here's the thing about that: the primary problem comes from using the excuse about budgetary cuts like your're hemorrhaging money, but then coming out with major profits when the financials come out. At the very least, it's a bad look when you cry poor, and wipe away the tears with way more cash than you made last year.
The optics of that are one of two things: you're either doing something unsustainable while trying to continue the illusion that you make record profits, or you just don't give a fuck about your EMPLOYEES* at all.
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No one is crying poor. Having $200 million in spare cash doesn’t mean your budget is $200 million. Just because you are rolling in dough doesn’t mean streamlining your talent roster is inherently counterintuitive.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tom Guycott
The bigger issue here, though, is that they (WWE) have gotten to the point that they have deluded themselves into wanting instant gratification and THINK they can generate that themselves.
Let's not even specify anyone, let's make up a hypothetical amalgamation. Imagine Wrestler X has made a name for himself on the indys. And I don't mean as Flippy McKickpads, I mean a solid guy who can go bell to bell. This ficticious person looks like Ultimate Warrior in his prime, wrestles similar to Mr. Perfect, and has the gift of gab to rival Paul E line for line. They spend two years in NXT, and has a natural progression from nobody to NXT Champion. Has a following, and some catchphrase or some shit that nets him a unique marketable chant. These are all things you'd think would add up to an impossible to fuck up main roster talent that they can pad their ranks with.
Then he gets called up to RAW, and he suddenly wears coveralls to hide the physique. He gets the Sin Cara mood lighting. He gets no promo time. He jobs every other week in squash matches. Fans barely get a chance to do the chant. Complete 180 from what fans were witnessing for two years. Finally, Vince goes "nah, I don't see it", and this guy is out on his ass.
This isn't specifically about or limited to Kross and Keith, or anyone on this current slate of releases... but since they're here:
I've said from day one that *I* personally don't see the attraction with Keith Lee. I could never divorce him from being Shane Taylor's tag team partner in RoH. They were both generic big guys to me. However, I could clearly see Keith Lee was getting traction in NXT. Also, matches with Randy Orton shouldn't exactly be a barometer of success in WWE, since he does have a record of derailing pushes if *he* didn't like the match no matter what came before or after. They kepts trying to fuck with his gear, his gimmick, and his NAME instead of just letting him be.
As stated earlier, Kross and Scarlett were a package already. He wasn't the absolute best on the stick, but it wasn't like he was absolute ass, either. But the whole "If it ain't broke... let's break it" company mentality still won out, even though it wasn't the way most of us predicted (face it, most of you were like me and figured they would push Scarlett beyond Mars and Karrion Kross would get the Marc Mero treatment unless she got pregnant like Maria Kanellis did).
It makes no sense to try to "create new stars", while either simultaneously rejecting or actively fucking with all these supposed new stars. They start latching onto the barest handful of moneymakers and humping them dry for about a decade and then calling back people who have moved on to try to trade on the nostalgia that they themselves don't even actively educate their fans on. There's going to come a day where nobody knows who Stone Cold Steve Austin is.
It's easy to say about anyone who gets released everytime releases happen things like there was "nothing special about them" or "nothing of value was lost", but there is something of value lost. These people aren't supposed to be interchangable actors that can be plugged in anywhere and replaced like a car part. Hell, actors aren't even often interchangeable actors. Fans usually have shitfits if a show is recast or hilarity ensues with a big-budget film getting direct to video sequels with a very different person playing the lead role of who is supposedly the same guy.
WWE has very greatly distanced themselves from what they actually are so much over the last couple of decades. You have all the Vince-isms of "don't call it a belt" and a bunch of shit worded in ways that people don't actually speak. You have a maniac in the truck in love with sickening camerawork and a new toy in the last couple of years in the whole AR floating entrance shit. You have a bunch of people in suits who aren't even fans of the business they're in telling people who are supposed to be the product that they aren't suited to be the product because reasons. Or that someone who is so green that they could literally kill someone/themselves in the ring that they're good to go because they "look good on camera", or tell a top draw their voice is terrible, or a littany of other things. It's an unweildy corporate entity that seems to be actively trying to somehow simultaneously sustain their viewership, grow their profits, yet drive fans away by making them not care or invest in anyone because nobody will be invested into long enough for anyone to actively care about.
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I hate being pushed into the position where I am defending this company, but who is that perfect wrestler? I’m not saying the WWE doesn’t miss the boat on talent. They obviously do. But not everyone they miss is this giant missed opportunity either. I used to think that way, but it’s just so wrong.
Most of the people being released do kind of fit that Flippy McKickpads description. Or they’re just the shits in the ring.
There are people who do, somehow, get over in this environment. Drew McIntyre, the Street Profits, Bianca Belair. I would love for the WWE to be calibrated to my tastes as a fan. I’d love for it to lose the forced promos, terrible tropes and be booked like proper pro-wrestling. God knows I’m hungry for it. But people act as if it’s impossible to be good at your job in this environment.