The General Wrestling Thread

[Warner2BruceTD]

Can you imagine what it's like to be on the main roster for Raw? So much ass-kissing and walking on egg shells and posturing and politicking. It must be exhausting. The in-ring product must be the easiest part of the job.

Shameless plug here, but when we talked to TJ Perkins we spent a lot of time talking about that topic. Little things from where to stand when watching the monitors, what chairs to sit in, whether to interrupt somebody who is on their cell phone to shake hands, etc. Don't remember if it was on the air or off, but he told a story of Justin Roberts of all people ripping him a new one for being too flashy, just crazy shit.

I don't have a timestamp, but the WWE stuff if towards the end. The whole thing is pretty interesting though.

http://www.voicesofwrestling.com/2013/05/21/tj-perkins/

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

The situations surrounding the departures of Tara and Doc were each a completely different series of circumstances, according to TNA sources.
While Tara was a release planned by TNA as a cost-cutting move, sources indicate that the company lost Doc because his contract negotiations went on too long and finally his deal expired. He had been figured into creative plans going forward with an eventual babyface turn, something that had been teased.

The blame on Doc's exit was placed on Bruce Prichard, head of Creative and Talent Relations, by some. There have been several different sources this evening that contacted PWInsider, claiming that there have been multiple examples of contract negotiations going down to the wire or resulting in talents exiting this year under Prichard's regime.

The most noteworthy of those exits were Rob Van Dam's as RVD has claimed that after coming to terms with a deal, "professionalism went out the window" as he stopped getting his calls returned by the company.

It should be noted that is it entirely possible the two sides could still come to terms of a new deal (as happened with Devon in the past), but as of now, Doc is gone and free to go anywhere he pleases.

In the case of Tara, sources claim she was far and away the highest paid female wrestler on the roster and the decision was made to shift that money elsewhere. The belief is that there could be more releases to come as well down the line.

 

[JimLeavy59]

Cutting fat in all the wrong places.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Rubix is back, for one day at least. I wonder who else is coming in for Thursday?

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Nick Jackson & Gabe Sapolsky had the most passive aggressive twitter argument ever a few hours ago regarding the fact that Young Bucks are not under DGUSA/Evolve contract, and a few minutes ago Matt Jackson did a run in with this:

I'm guessing the Bucks drop the DGUSA tag titles next weekend.

More on Buck-gate:

https://twitter.com/itswilltime/status/357315591238987776

Looks to me like Bucks had some sort of handshake/verbal agreement to not work ROH while DGUSA champs. Gabe makes a good point that he had no problems with El Generico working in both companies at the same time. The Bucks keep referencing a lack of a contract over & over, and Nick made a very condescending tweet towards Gabe earlier that said something like "Contracts are stupid unless we are talking good money", an obvious shot at their payoffs.

FedEx thinks it could be a work, that's always a possibility, maybe they figure since the ROH date is public knowledge, they could generate some interest by doing a worked deal on twitter to make it look like there will be a sure fire title change next weekend. At the very least, gabe is trying to do just that, with tweets like this:

Poor CIMA, gabe is trying to parlay this thing into a storyline to draw some money and CIMA clearly has no clue what's going on as he tries to play along:

 

[MrBill]

The situations surrounding the departures of Tara and Doc were each a completely different series of circumstances, according to TNA sources.
While Tara was a release planned by TNA as a cost-cutting move, sources indicate that the company lost Doc because his contract negotiations went on too long and finally his deal expired. He had been figured into creative plans going forward with an eventual babyface turn, something that had been teased.

The blame on Doc's exit was placed on Bruce Prichard, head of Creative and Talent Relations, by some. There have been several different sources this evening that contacted PWInsider, claiming that there have been multiple examples of contract negotiations going down to the wire or resulting in talents exiting this year under Prichard's regime.

The most noteworthy of those exits were Rob Van Dam's as RVD has claimed that after coming to terms with a deal, "professionalism went out the window" as he stopped getting his calls returned by the company.

It should be noted that is it entirely possible the two sides could still come to terms of a new deal (as happened with Devon in the past), but as of now, Doc is gone and free to go anywhere he pleases.

In the case of Tara, sources claim she was far and away the highest paid female wrestler on the roster and the decision was made to shift that money elsewhere. The belief is that there could be more releases to come as well down the line.

Tara was far and away the most talented female wrestler on the roster and probably the most under utilized. I'm guessing for reasons that we have discussed prior about the shift in the way wrestling is marketed on that side of the ticket. I don't think Tara had any idea that this was coming since an hour or so prior to the announcement from TNA, she was tweeting her Knockouts site on TNA and about the latest TNA podcast. The Tara section of the Knockouts page has been cleared away like she never even existed in their promotion.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

Oh lawd.

It sounds like the Cena-Bryan feud is going to involve the Bellas and the Total Divas show.

:dead:

 

[ThomasTomasz]

Court Bauer says Vince blew a gasket when The Shield was brought up in a booking meeting, because they are on the shit list.

There is a rumor Rollins forgot to shake Vince's hand, and then also Reigns confronted Randy Orton about a blown spot on a house show, leading perceived attitude issues.

So that's why Reigns was said to be in the doghouse. You know, in any other company or business, most people would applaud Reigns for confronting someone more experienced about an issue. Not here.

D-Lo Brown has been let go by TNA.

Bruce Pritchard was asked to restructure his contract, refused, and is said to be on his way out.

Funny, because the road agents were going to be paid on a per-night basis, D-Lo agreed and then they let him go.

As for Pritchard, I'm not sure who takes that spot. I don't know how involved he is right now, but wouldn't that go to Bischoff? Especially if they want to keep it in-house and on the cheaper side?

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

So that's why Reigns was said to be in the doghouse. You know, in any other company or business, most people would applaud Reigns for confronting someone more experienced about an issue. Not here.

The WWE is bizarro world. Real world application doesn't apply.

Funny, because the road agents were going to be paid on a per-night basis, D-Lo agreed and then they let him go.

As for Pritchard, I'm not sure who takes that spot. I don't know how involved he is right now, but wouldn't that go to Bischoff? Especially if they want to keep it in-house and on the cheaper side?

TNA is undergoing exactly what happens in the corporate/office world when someone that they didn't want to look at the books...looked at the books and then asked "why are we spending so much money here, there, and there?" ... and the cutting of staff, especially at the bottom, is always what happens in that scenario.

A lot of talent was making good money being "retained" by TNA without doing a whole lot. A cushy gig, for sure. Those are just the first to go when someone looks at the books.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

ACH won the fan vote and is the final entrant in the ROH tournament. He faces Karl Anderson in what I believe is a first time matchup. Nice job by ROH, but ACH shouldn't have been in the goofy fan vote with the likes of QT Marshall to begin with.

 

[EmpireWF]

TNA is undergoing exactly what happens in the corporate/office world when someone that they didn't want to look at the books...looked at the books and then asked "why are we spending so much money here, there, and there?" ... and the cutting of staff, especially at the bottom, is always what happens in that scenario.

A lot of talent was making good money being "retained" by TNA without doing a whole lot. A cushy gig, for sure. Those are just the first to go when someone looks at the books.

Daddy Warbucks says get your shit in order.

 

[SuperKevin]

ACH won the fan vote and is the final entrant in the ROH tournament. He faces Karl Anderson in what I believe is a first time matchup. Nice job by ROH, but ACH shouldn't have been in the goofy fan vote with the likes of QT Marshall to begin with.

What I didn't like was how Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards claimed to deny being in the tournament to focus on the tag title picture yet they then decided to throw in the guys from Adrenaline Rush and C&C Wrestle Factory. Looks like they aren't going to be important in the tag title picture for a bit.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

What I didn't like was how Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards claimed to deny being in the tournament to focus on the tag title picture yet they then decided to throw in the guys from Adrenaline Rush and C&C Wrestle Factory. Looks like they aren't going to be important in the tag title picture for a bit.

To be fair, there is one really good wrestler between those two teams...

its ACH.

 

[SuperKevin]

Kind of shocked Matt Hardy didn't get into the tournament seeing how the tapings left off with him stealing the belt. Do all the SCUM guys no longer have jobs?

 

[s@ppisgod]

So if my math is correct, TNA is down to 30 active male wrestlers (not including Sting's part time, rumored to be leaving soon status or King Mo/Rampage for obvious reasons.) And 5 female wrestlers (not including Tessmacher, who is off doing something else.) The PR director is gone, Pritchard is gone, D'Lo is gone, Al Snow could well be next. That's not so much streamlining as it is barely fielding enough talent to call yourself a national promotion.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

So if my math is correct, TNA is down to 30 active male wrestlers (not including Sting's part time, rumored to be leaving soon status or King Mo/Rampage for obvious reasons.) And 5 female wrestlers (not including Tessmacher, who is off doing something else.) The PR director is gone, Pritchard is gone, D'Lo is gone, Al Snow could well be next. That's not so much streamlining as it is barely fielding enough talent to call yourself a national promotion.

And, of those 30, how many are truly full time?

I'm looking at the roster now.

34 Active Males on the roster.

4 - Sting, King Mo, Rampage, and Eric Young are very much part timers.
6 - Zema Ion, Rockstar Spud, Sam Shaw, Rob Terry, Godderz, Jay Bradley that are part-time or injured, but also work OVW. Basically, guys you'll see maybe once a month.

Now we're down to a 24 Truly Active Male Roster.

Now, you also have part-timers in disguise...bottom feeders that don't work a whole bunch.

Chavo, Garrett Bischoff, Knux, Wes Brisco, Robbie E, TJP, even Devon, Gunner, and Kenny King fill this same mold. That's 9 guys. Some of these guys they've been using more the past few weeks (like Gunner, Robbie E and TJP). Some rotate in when they work.

Now we're down a real active roster of 15 males. And, lets be honest...they have 4 active females.

Brutal.

 

[SuperKevin]

Honestly TNA is down to simply the guys in the BFG series

 

[EmpireWF]

What kind of wrestling (if any) is down in Cuba? I wonder because Cespedes had no clue what the hell he was given with the WWE title. Obviously, I imagine if anything, it's nothing but small local groups but even then, I've never heard Meltzer or read anything about Cuban wrestling.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

Great stuff from Davey Boy Smith Jr here:

Harry Smith was on WrestleTalk in the U.K., noting how much more he enjoyed wrestling with New Japan than WWE, citing more time allowed for tag team title matches and big matches, plus less limiting rules. One thing he said is that in WWE, in a tag team match, you are only allowed one save per team during a match. He said he liked the idea of near falls and saves in matches, and even more, if they are going to do a one save per match rule, why not at least announce it ahead of time so it can put more emphasis on that save and on kicking out of near falls later. He also noted that WWE emphasizes the five second double-team rule and wrestlers have been told the ref will change the finish to call a shoot DQ if the guys are in for longer, which limits double-team spots that he and his partner can do in Japan. He also noted all the moves that are banned. He noted he wasn’t allowed to do power bombs in WWE or any kind of a bridging suplex, for fear of neck damage. He noted that Japanese wrestlers have been bridging suplexes for decades. He said that they were on him about doing Saito suplexes when he was in WWE and it was one of his signature moves, and he noted that he never hurt anyone with the move. His success in Japan that he didn’t have in WWE is for a number of reasons. One is, he got more confidence and improved a lot, not that he wasn’t technically good in WWE, but he didn’t have the aggressiveness. That’s a huge deal because I’ve seen so many guys go from being great main eventers, to suffering as performers simply because they aren’t used well. Also, the style of wrestling he grew up on is very close to New Japan style, and not very close to WWE style, and he’s been wrestling since something like nine years old, if not earlier. But more than anything, a guy of his size can be a big powerhouse and work that rule in New Japan because he and Lance Archer are the two big guys in the promotion. In WWE, while he’s bigger than average, on the screen, you never thought of him as a big guy because when you’ve got guys like Kane, Show, Henry and Khali, and entire concept of “big powerhouse” is very different from anywhere else.

Some guys are made for Japan, and he's one of them. So is Archer.

Lance Hoyt was pretty lame in TNA. He was good in WWE as Vance Archer but buried on Superstars and given a bad haircut.

DH Smith never seemed comfortable in the WWE, and reading that story really puts in to perspective why. They really can cut your balls off in that company, particularly if you work a style they don't like.

Both guys are killing it in New Japan.