The General Wrestling Thread

[Guest]

I was talking to a guy on Twitter who promoted the TNA house shows in Tennessee/Arkansas with Randy Hales last month, and he said TNA told them straight up to avoid towns that they'd been to before, and even avoid towns that were close to places they'd been to before.

Here is the conversation: https://twitter.com/kingofkingsport/...23528230170624

TNA = the worst.

So lets just avoid population centers, no wonder their attendance is almost nonexistent. What a dumb company.

[Warner2BruceTD]

What percentage of this comes off insincere? 20? 40? 80?

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

LOLOL @ the look Zack Ryder gives him after the WOO WOO WOO.

Oh, and easily 84.75% insincere. Cena is in it, and you know he isn't a big bag of dicks. The winner though is at the very beginning when Triple H was totally going to ignore him until Miz forced the issue.

[Warner2BruceTD]

In this month's edition, FSM has feature-length articles on:
- Bray Wyatt, as he looks set to have a huge role at WrestleMania
- The Pay-Per-View business, and how it may be a thing of the past in the wake of the WWE Network
- UFC executive Garry Cook, who talks to FSM about the company's own streaming station, Fight Pass, and his plans to expand the UFC in Europe and beyond
- The late Mae Young, and the long-forgotten early career of one of the sport's most fascinating performers
- ECW's The Night The Line Was Crossed, which began a craze for the company that took over dedicated fans in both the US and the UK
- Ricky Knight, the father of NXT's Paige, who had a storied career in his own right, beginning at a major turning point in the UK wrestling landscape

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All of this, plus our usual news, PPV and TV reports, and DVD and book reviews. This month's issue also includes two special Guest Columns. The first, by Chris Jericho, considers WWE's current direction and the curious case of Daniel Bryan, while the second, by Kurt Angle, goes into detail about his depression, substance abuse, and how his stint in rehab changed him. In his monthly column, Jim Cornette explains how pro wrestling's main revenue streams have changed down the years, and what the WWE Network means for the old stalwart, pay-per-view.

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I'm plugging this for no particular reason at all. I'll just say you should probably subscribe if you want some cool New Japan reviews from a real jam up guy & serious professional.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Hall of Famer El Hijo del Santo announced earlier today he was retiring from pro wrestling. He said that tests that he took in Houston last month were very discouraging, including finding a spinal lesion. His wife Gabriela Obregon said that he may be able to do one or two retirement matches but indicated he may not be able to do any. He will still use the name in outside ventures. Not sure yet what that means for his Todos x Todos promotion.

[Warner2BruceTD]

Taker looking awful.

[Kuzzy Powers]

Holy crap he looks like he aged 10 years since last Wrestlemania.

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

The Undertaker looks more and more like Mike Ehrmantraut every day.

[dave]

Taker looking awful.

WM30 should be his last Wrestlemania. Great career, no doubt, but it's time. One more win and go to the WWE HOF next year. I get that he needs to do WM30, but anything beyond it is just pushing their luck. If they need him to main/co-main event WM31, they are clearly not doing things right.

[Warner2BruceTD]

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Gotta love the unnecessary chinky translation by Machine Gun. Definitely needs to be in the Wrestling Racism thread.

[Warner2BruceTD]

This via Chris "mookie" Harrington, from the latest talent agreement contract:

7.5 No Royalties Paid to WRESTLER. Except as specifically set forth in Section 7.1 through 7.3 above, WRESTLER shall not be eligible for any payment or royalties with respect to any other goods, services or otherwise including without limitation to the following: television license fees; television subscription fees; internet subscription fees; subscription video on demand fees; magazine subscription fees and/or advertising; and/or distribution fees of any kind paid to PROMOTER by any entity in connection with the exploitation of the Intellectual Property.

WWE being publicly traded gives us access to such things: https://sites.google.com/site/chrish.../wwe_contracts

Pretty clearly stated - talent is receiving ZERO royalties from the network.

More from Mookie:

It’s extremely unclear how WWE Wrestlers are going to be paid for appearing on the events that we formally called ”Pay-Per-Views”. Presumably, they will continue to receive a portion of the fees generated from traditional PPV distribution through a cable operator or satellite provider, but what about WWE Network subscriptions? It seems quite clear that wrestlers will not be receiving a portion of those fees.
This is not a minor point. The uncertainty financial future for wrestlers related to “PPV” and the WWE Network were chief among CM Punk’s alleged gripes. Those concerns led to him walking out on the WWE in January 2014. That sort of dissension from a top performer may be just the tip of the iceberg. For a group of wrestlers that are used to being compensated when their likeness appears on DVD releases or television broadcasts, will this lack of compensation become a real sticking point among the superstars? Not to mention this opaque accounting is going to be apply to be current and retired wrestlers.
In the past it’s taken quite a while before wrestlers may see the payout for PPVs due to delays in final reconciliation of pay-per-view buys. We may see the true revolt many months following the Network launch, when wrestlers realize their Wrestlemania pay is far less than they expected.

Wrestlers getting fucked. This is presumably part of the reason Punk walked.

[s@ppisgod]

So they used to get royalties from the DVDs which sold very well generally, and a payday from PPVs some of which did unbelievably well. The company completely cannibalizes both and leaves them with nothing. That's fucked. But it may very well seed out the yearly WM hangers-on, like Jericho.

[Warner2BruceTD]

So they used to get royalties from the DVDs which sold very well generally, and a payday from PPVs some of which did unbelievably well. The company completely cannibalizes both and leaves them with nothing. That's fucked. But it may very well seed out the yearly WM hangers-on, like Jericho.

Which to me is a good thing. RVD was sniffing around last week, too. And The Rock (who is never leaving again, remember?) will stay away for sure.

And really its a blessing in disguise if these guys stay away. It will force them to push new faces.

[FedEx227]

It will be an adjustment period is all. I'm assuming that money will be made up someway whether downsides go up, or wrestlers get a flat cut of the TV rights deal or something. I doubt these guys will simply be making $100k less and have to just suck it up and like it.