A year after this the company decided to do the Tough Enough concept contest and again ignore what everyone wanted with it too. Because they wanted that contest to push a developmental guy named Andy Levine from FCW I believe. Anyhow Levine was....well here he is and he was f'n boring as hell. Judging from heel/face reaction its clear....Luke should have won this.
Andy Levine never did anything after this. Luke was an indie worker who again the company didn't see anything from and well...blew that.
Its likely a big reason they stopped this contest because the company couldn't control the ones fans wanted to watch and get over.
"The story so far: As usual, Ginger and I are engaged in our quest to find out what the hell is going on and save humanity from my nemesis, some bastard who is presumably responsible." - Sir Digby Chicken Caesar.
“ Well hell just froze over. Because CM Punk is back in the WWE.” - Jcogginsa.
“You can take the boy outta the mom’s basement, but you can’t take the mom’s basement outta the boy!” - LA Knight.
"Revel in What You Are." Bray Wyatt.
I was and still am a big Low Ki fan, ROH made me love him (TNA did too). It took me many years of wondering why he wasn't pushed more to learn that at least part (or even a big part of it) is that Low Ki genuinely does have personality issues, he's difficult backstage. He basically burned every promotion that he worked for.
A lot of wrestlers big and small are difficult. And the employer isn't always right. But I've just constantly heard his struggle with authority has seriously hurt his career, even other wrestlers say or hint at it. The story of him wearing the Hitman suit in NJPW in that triple threat is like a microcosm of his struggles with promotions.
I think the best Low Ki match I've ever seen was against Kenta in ROH, still an ROH classic. Kenta produced a number of them in his brief ROH stint.
Last edited by JBatmanFan05; 11-20-2021 at 07:26 AM.
Things I love: Batman, Superman, AEW, old films, Lovecraft
Grant Morrison: “Adults...struggle desperately with fiction, demanding constantly that it conform to the rules of everyday life. Adults foolishly demand to know how Superman can possibly fly, or how Batman can possibly run a multibillion-dollar business empire during the day and fight crime at night, when the answer is obvious even to the smallest child: because it's not real.”
Remember guys, Gargano has a baby on the way. Refusing a big offer may not be on the cards for him
Plus, to point this out, if he has any doubts he’ll last that long on the main roster, but he’ll still get *some* paycheck before they grow bored and release him, his profile is famous enough that being on the shelf for a while afterwards won’t impact his ability to find a new one.
To me, for someone like Gargano, the only thing to be wary of is whether or not WWE might still consider someone like him a “keep from the competition with a contract” candidate, as they did Adam Cole. The vast bulk of their roster are people who, now, they don’t mind going somewhere else, and if Gargon discovers he’s regarded like one of them, then that means he might be able to get the kind of “smart for my family and not too threatening to my career” deal he might want. But if he *is* still someone they don’t want to go elsewhere, and might consider keeping on the books just to avoid a Cole/Bryan situation of immediately becoming a major asset to AEW.
It really shouldn’t be that risky now, as Vince clearly thinks he’s succeeded in making his company the kind of micro-managed, bigger-than-the-stars production he wants and shouldn’t have any desire to hoard any remaining talent… but Vince is still mercurial and still the type of want to sabotage an opponent rather than outperform them.
Like action, adventure, rogues, and outlaws? Like anti-heroes, femme fatales, mysteries and thrillers?
I wrote a book with them. Outlaw’s Shadow: A Sherwood Noir. Robin Hood’s evil counterpart, Guy of Gisbourne, is the main character. Feel free to give it a look: https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asi...E2PKBNJFH76GQP
I figure Johnny has made a good amount so far (VKM pays so well that the implicit/explicit tradeoff is that you have little/no control). But Tony Khan (and family) has a lot of money too. So, it seems like it's gonna be about: just how greedy is Johnny at this point?
All wrestlers do it for the money, so I don't want to seem like I'm judging too much or begrudging the money aspect too much. But Johnny has to know, to feel all the talent is in AEW now. And so...I don't know, I can't see how NXT"s hollowing out doesn't send some message to Johnny.
Last edited by JBatmanFan05; 11-20-2021 at 12:22 PM.
Things I love: Batman, Superman, AEW, old films, Lovecraft
Grant Morrison: “Adults...struggle desperately with fiction, demanding constantly that it conform to the rules of everyday life. Adults foolishly demand to know how Superman can possibly fly, or how Batman can possibly run a multibillion-dollar business empire during the day and fight crime at night, when the answer is obvious even to the smallest child: because it's not real.”
Yeah Low-Ki has that reputation as a guy who wants a push and then gets irked if the push starts to end at times. With this he seemed...really ready to accept whatever came his way since it was WWE. And well...the entire run was bad.
Yeah I said this for years on guys who pick the best money offer for themselves (back when TNA was paying great money by Dixie) ...you pick the best $$. People would demand Joe leave and go work the indies because of how he was booked. I was like...maybe Joe wants to get paid and this is his best money.
"The story so far: As usual, Ginger and I are engaged in our quest to find out what the hell is going on and save humanity from my nemesis, some bastard who is presumably responsible." - Sir Digby Chicken Caesar.
“ Well hell just froze over. Because CM Punk is back in the WWE.” - Jcogginsa.
“You can take the boy outta the mom’s basement, but you can’t take the mom’s basement outta the boy!” - LA Knight.
"Revel in What You Are." Bray Wyatt.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minoru_Suzuki
ive been enjoying tour of america
RIP MARVEL HEROES 04.06.2013 - 27.11.2017
Transformers TCG player
I've said it before and I'll say it again. While it might suck for the individuals who were released, the vast majority of them were just people taking up spots on a roster, no one was ever paying money to watch them and they werent drawing money. WWE had, and probably still has, a bloated roster, so getting rid of them is just business. And business is not warm and cuddly and "lets keep him/her and pay them a wage because they're nice people", it's harsh and all about the bottom line.
Which is why it’s also about keeping what goodwill you can with your customers, and avoiding having your company’s reputation become a liability when it can be avoided.
That’s part of the bottom-line too, and just another part of why WWE’s inability to conduct its roster management in a professional manner is a liability that helps other companies gather greater support and market share. Firing people, releasing them, etc., is a natural part of business and an inevitable consequence of WWE’s decision-making process and inability to manage the multi-show roster it wants, but how you handle that is still it’s own aspect of the industry.
Business decisions *can* be ruthless, crude, and and blunt, but if the only business decisions made are always ruthless, crude, and blunt, and build into a liability, than it ain’t a decision made for business reasons but because of incompetence.
Like action, adventure, rogues, and outlaws? Like anti-heroes, femme fatales, mysteries and thrillers?
I wrote a book with them. Outlaw’s Shadow: A Sherwood Noir. Robin Hood’s evil counterpart, Guy of Gisbourne, is the main character. Feel free to give it a look: https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asi...E2PKBNJFH76GQP
that was enlightening, thanks. now if you could xplain to us what's the point of moving people to the main roster and throwing them on tv before firing them??
i really don't think vince wants another brianson.
did anybody watch impact?? couple of random thoughts
bert macklin is pretty good as the 3rd man in these x-division 3 ways. very happy to see jonah rock/bronson reed show up and start a program with josh alexander. too bad it's not for the title. really didn't care about the main event. does anybody miss the good brothers in aew?? i don't, at all.
speaking of aew i'd love to see a killer elite squad reunion in aew, though a name change might be necessary. archer doesn't see to be doing much anyways.
Last edited by BigLbo; 11-21-2021 at 04:43 AM.
Jim Ross back so many years ago detailed that a roster needs refreshed at least once a decade. That the WWF had done this at least 3 times in his time there as they built upon new stars and phased older ones out. Then the company wasn't as big as it is now. The company right now has the roster of 3x/4x of what it once was and were seeing it on a more major scale.
"The story so far: As usual, Ginger and I are engaged in our quest to find out what the hell is going on and save humanity from my nemesis, some bastard who is presumably responsible." - Sir Digby Chicken Caesar.
“ Well hell just froze over. Because CM Punk is back in the WWE.” - Jcogginsa.
“You can take the boy outta the mom’s basement, but you can’t take the mom’s basement outta the boy!” - LA Knight.
"Revel in What You Are." Bray Wyatt.
Plus, Vince grew the roster not *just* to horde talent, but because he was trying to do multiple shows with distinct rosters… which, while clearly more difficult than Vince wants to admit to himself each time he does it, is also something that could genuinely have been done and done well if he stopped micromanaging everything himself.
HHH *was* thinking ahead in a way Vince wasn’t because HHH was thinking of trying to basically absorb the “minor leagues” around the world… but maintain their fanbases and grow WWE’s international market share. The massive roster made perfect sense with that.
But Vince would much rather have everyone tell him he’s a creative genius who’s decades ahead of the competition through his micromanaging, and is able to hide reality from himself by leaning into how being a content creator with a stable fanbase let’s him argue the money he receives “proves” a greater “quality” to his creative product, when really it’s a separate proof of his immense business acumen.
Like action, adventure, rogues, and outlaws? Like anti-heroes, femme fatales, mysteries and thrillers?
I wrote a book with them. Outlaw’s Shadow: A Sherwood Noir. Robin Hood’s evil counterpart, Guy of Gisbourne, is the main character. Feel free to give it a look: https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asi...E2PKBNJFH76GQP