Another round of talent cuts today.

Since WWE has hired Nick Khan (no relation), there have been massive cuts of talent and behind-the-scenes personnel. He was allegedly the mastermind of the $1B Peacock deal. He is now on the WWE board, along with two new media-types.

Big rumors online that this is all prepping for a possible sale to Comcast/NBC.

Never would have thought that the company would not be under McMahon family control for decades to come, but I suppose everyone has a price…

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Not a mult.

If they sell to a media company, this will be nothing but WCW 2.0

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Hard to fathom the family would agree to sell. But crazy things happen, especially in todays world. I was really surprised to see Braun Strowman released.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

No, Shane McMahon is taking over.

I always figured they would not sell until Vince is dead.

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75 with history of roid abuse (and whatever else…); may be happening sooner than later. Maybe his mind is going; recent reports have him not nearly as present as he used to be, and this Nick Khan is slowly becoming the (legit) corporate face of the company.

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Not a mult.

Probably not selling for a while; they have a ton of talent in NXT/Performance Center so they might just be opening up slots. They also could be looking at combining the brands; less money for one show/roster to travel to cities than two. Also is a sign that they don't perceive AEW as a threat anymore.

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Sherman remarked, "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" Grant looked up. "Yes," he replied, followed by a puff. "Yes. Lick 'em tomorrow, though."

how the hell is a wasted roster slot like Bray Wyatt still around, but a versatile big man that can be inserted or used from Mid level to Top card matches like Braun released? Makes no sense. Alestair Black never fit beyond NXT.

Speaking of NXT, get Finn Balor the fuck out of that brand and back on Raw or Smackdown. Hes wasted in NXT

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'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.

Yeah in the last couple of months they have had Jericho on the Steve Austin show and they did a Jake Roberts episode last night.

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I don't see combining brands, due to TV contracts, money, etc. I know they're supposedly not doing house shows anymore, as those began losing money in 2019, so the travel schedule should be lighter.

You're right on AEW. They have a hard time pulling in a million viewers w/o competition & their booking isn't that much better than Vince's. They were supposed to blow us all away by presenting things like a "real sport" & giving new guys a chance, but instead they do the same goofy storylines & they lean heavy on old WWE guys. HHH probably watched it & was like, "How is this different?"

A tough spot to be in because you have a Paul Wight that is available and not under contract -- people instantly know who he is (at least when they see him, for the most casual of fans) -- and there's all of this history to build story lines around, but that's just a temporary crutch because these athletes are aging out of the sport, and certainly aren't capable physically of the acts that the younger ones can do. But the younger ones have no story -- you have to build it all. There's time that needs to be invested in getting these guys to be stars. Yet you still have bills to pay... and an instantly recognizable Mickie James is available for you to grab. It seems like it would be just too tempting to be a farm for old wrestlers. You need to grow your youth and grow your brand to a point where you can pay comparable amounts when the youth hits the big time and they don't dart to WWE for twice the cash (and triple the fame?)... It's just a tough thing to do.

They may have gotten away from the “real sport” aspect that they talked about at the beginning somewhat, but their TV is light-years better than Raw and a bit better than Smackdown.

Which old WWE guys are they leaning on? You mean the ones who basically had no previous large-promotion options before AEW started? The ones that were so popular before that are as popular, or more popular in AEW? Or the ones they are using to give the rub to the newer talent?
The company is not even two years old, and the only ex-WWE wrestler that currently has a title is Miro. They have built a lot of young stars (two of whom either currently hold or have recently held titles), and have a bunch more in the pipeline.

The best “pure wrestling” show on TV right now is NXT, and their viewership and rating is typically not even close to AEW, and since they moved to Tuesdays, their ratings have been trending downward. It’s a shame, but it is what it is.

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Not a mult.

I was listening to EB and Conrad tonight. They mentioned WWE has close to 300 wrestlers under some type of contract right now across all divisions of the company. 78 have been used in the last month.

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Disagree about Smackdown; their show is still better. Reigns is the biggest star in wrestling right now.

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Sherman remarked, "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" Grant looked up. "Yes," he replied, followed by a puff. "Yes. Lick 'em tomorrow, though."

;

No argument about Reigns. What they do with the rest of the talent, though, is hit and miss.

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Not a mult.

I don't like the "head of the table" shit, but...

Them divesting themselves of costly roster talent (Braun... Even when he was just competing for a title...), and then this popped up this morning...

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/why- ... 34608.html

They feel that they worth as much now as they feel the company ever will be especially after signing the distribution agreement (Peacock), and potentially more along with reducing debt (the salaries of some of the cuts), signals other intentions??

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Certified Dirty Old Man

AEW could use a monster heel like Strowman, give him a manager, don't let him talk much, let the AEW's roster of 5'7" gymnast babyfaces to take the big man bumps from him. They seem to know they need to rely on these older WWE castoffs until they can actually build interest in a few of their homegrown guys. It has a lot to do with the poor booking and even poorer production in AEW, but they can hopefully learn and maybe hire some better booking talent.

Biggest problem with the WWE is that the big guys Vince has traditionally liked used to have limited runs and then go off to another territory. These guys are usually pretty limited and can work an angle or two before they need to move along, but with nowhere else to go they have to keep trotting them out there in the same tired feuds.

And I will add the predictability...

You know on Monday Night Raw, it's 9:37 and they're just kicking off the main event of the night, that the match will last 24 minutes (I add the slight bleed over for the top of the hour), And at 9:58, the third link in whatever feud taking place will come out and interrupt the match, causing the a DQ in the main match, which then sets a match for the following week and/or adding more fuel to the next PPV event.

It's just so friggen formulaic.

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Certified Dirty Old Man

It would be an epic fuck you to HHH if he does sell. All the dirty underhanded shit he done and maneuvering to get his hands on the company for Vince to just up and sell it from under him.

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"

I watched it last night. It would have been better if it had played out this way.

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I was just gonna come in here and post last nights "finale" was fucking terrible...

This whole Alexa Bliss psycho shit is dumb to begin with, but then the fake acting when the fire things go off on the ramp, then Shayna cowering and running through the backstage area (where there just happens to be a camera man following), and whacky produced shit happening, and her locking herself in the room with the doll appearing, disappearing, reappearing...

Even my wife was like... WTF! Then we see the credits only to realize it's 10pm and there was no main event... Their last match was Riddle losing to Kofi... WTF...

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Certified Dirty Old Man

your hate for HHH always makes me laugh.

What dirty handed shit has he done? Marrying into the family was not underhanded. He has always been a guy with a mind for the business. In some ways Vince should be thankful he has him as a son n law, he has helped their company in big ways.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Chas is upset he didn't job faster to the Ultimate Warrior at Wrestlemania.

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seeing that footage in the Warriors recent documentary made me laugh. Talk about a piece of shit, the Ultimate Warrior is the epitome of that.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Very much so. I have the distinct impression that Dana is as big a piece of shit as he is...especially based on the interviews with his ex wife.

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Agree completely

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

Last night's Raw ended pretty decent.

Around 9:15 when they trotted out Drew and AJ Styles, I was wondering WTH a main event would be. But then bringing out Lashley and MVP with the honey's to watch up at the top of the ramp, then the Viking Raiders come out out, eventually making it a 6 man tag team. That ended well. Lashley got a big Claymore to wrap things up.

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Certified Dirty Old Man

Raw was decent; the Alexa Bliss/doll storyline is pretty stupid. Eva Marie debuted and it looks like its going to be a mean girls angle with Pipen Niven.

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Sherman remarked, "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" Grant looked up. "Yes," he replied, followed by a puff. "Yes. Lick 'em tomorrow, though."

was watching Simon Miller's Ups and Downs for raw and he mentioned that Bliss "getting rid" of the doll might be due to them returning to live shows and they wont be able to pull off the mystical shit theyve been doing with prefilmed segments.

I'm all for it. The Fiend/Possessed Bliss stuff has run its course

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'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.

They are Trying to keep Bliss, from what I have read they know she is going to Hollywood sooner or later and are gonna try and make as much money with her as they can

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When I am stuck and need to figure something out I always remember the Immortal words of Socrates when he said:"I just drank what?"