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Reports are saying the agents being let go are just being furloughed, which is just being fired with the promise of being brought back when things get back to normal. Can any of them really trust that will happen though? Also didn't Gallows and Anderson just sign "please don't go to AEW" contracts not too long ago? I wonder if they got any buyout for that (who am I kidding, WWE contracts are so stupidly one sided it probably cost them money)?

He wants to run a show on May 9, so probably.

It's almost like hoarding people just to hoard them ends up being a bad idea when you have financials coming up, and you have to try to maintain your pre-COVID profit goals. That's the rub, WWE doesn't have to release anyone right now. UFC is up to its eyeballs in leveraged debt, and Dana's promised not to cut anyone while this is going on. When Affliction Lex Luthor has the moral high ground, you know you done fucked up.

Thing is, as long as WWE is getting TV money they're still getting the vast majority of the income they would be getting if things were going as normal. Losing the Mania gate sucks, but it's honestly the financial equivalent of stubbing your toe when you're still getting those fat Fox checks.

Funny how Vince can budget the XFL for up to three years of $150 million+ losses, but the 'rona shuts things down for over a month and he starts putting WWE folks in the catapult.

The Jimmy Snuka episode was something. The Chief of Police came out looking like a complete dipshit getting confronted with all the evidence that Snuka killed her, and all he could do is just shrug and say he did the best they could. Really makes the tribute video they did for Snuka when he died look even more fucked up in retrospect.

You would think AEW would have more pull considering their owner also has an NFL team, so them not trying to run a show would speak volumes at how flagrant it is that WWE is allowed to. One of the reporters indicated that this ruling means the Orlando Magic could run scrimmages now and they aren't either.

Seems like a lot of the local news outlets are asking why WWE was deemed essential, and so far all they've got in response is a lot of shrugs in response. I saw one station even asking questions about political favors being cashed in, so perhaps they aren't going to get out of this totally scot free.

As Bix pointed out on Twitter, it should always be remembered that when Jerry wrote a letter about his accuser when he was messing with young girls he stated she shouldn't be believed because she had sex with a black man. So him being a racist fuck is par for the course.

Raw should just be Asuka dancing to other peoples' music and cutting promos for 3 hours.

That tweet was stupid either way you look at it, last thing she needs is to come off as Ronda's social media bodyguard and latch herself to someone making herself look bad on a regular basis even if they are IRL friends.

it makes no sense that Bryan is putting his and potentially his family's health at risk, for what? He's famously frugal with his money so it can't be that. He's not going to be positioned as a top guy so it wouldn't be some misplaced desire to not let the company down. Is he that invested in the angle with Drew Gulak? He doesn't seem like a guy who's going to be brainwashed by some corporate BS, plus as stated he's told the company no before. I wonder if he somehow feels he "owes" this to them somehow? It just doesn't add up that a guy who's universally known as one of the smartest folks in the business would make a choice like this.

Finally got to watch Smackdown, and realizing at some point Dana Brooke ended up with permanent duck face. Also I know they are working for a limited roster now, but her and Carmella 1. suddenly being a tag team and 2. expecting a title match instantly was a head scratcher.

They were used awesomely in NXT, when the tag division was a featured part of the show. I don't understand the argument that they weren't poorly used on the main roster unless we're lowering the bar to the point where not being completely buried and humiliated is being "not used terribly". There was the point where they were scooting around like a dog with worms when the Usos put icy hot in their gear so I'm not even sure you can make that argument.

Cash Wheeler definitely sounds like the name of a guy who knows where the best meth is, I'll say that. I suppose if the idea is to be maximum 80s then mission accomplished.

The thing about it is there had been tons of rumor/innuendo/insinuations that Kevin hit her often, not that it makes it true of course but there's a lot of "where there's smoke there's fire" there. Personally, I tend to believe he did hit her. There's a possibility Sandra has a worse idea of than it really was, but then she was obviously only getting one side of the story. Nancy by all accounts was a take-no-shit kind of person so I don't doubt she gave some whippings back to Kevin as well....but it's hardly an equal exchange . I get why he didn't want to talk to the crew though, he would have ended up painted as the villain (well after Benoit himself obviously) and anyone who was around the internet when everything happened remembered how "Kevin did the murders" was the hot conspiracy theory.

Bean hit like a semi, and the extra weight was part of that. Bart's only hope was to last long enough to gas him out, and there was no way he was going to be skilled enough to do that. Another point that I always wondered, is how was WWE able to do legit fights without any regulation? Also to my knowledge no one ever seemed to ask how a guy with one eye got the OK to compete in all that lunacy.

That makes me wonder if it was the reason Russo went so hard on that very point when he'd do all those shooty shoot angles in WCW.

I can 100% believe JBL, even then, was a bully to people lower on the card and/or in no position to retaliate considering it's what he's done his whole career. He didn't wake up one day in the mid 2000s and decide to start being an asshole. That kind of thing has been his MO forever. Plus dude's no dummy, no way he'd try to talk shit to any of the folks that had legit backgrounds. That's not usually how bullies work.

I don't see Vince selling the company without giving up control, and I don't see anyone who would have the resources to do that want to spend billions and still have to put up with Vince doing Vince things in their ear. It would either be the buyer demanding a percentage ensuring they had control, or worse putting Vince in a figurehead position where he thinks he has control but they don't pay any attention to him which is something I don't think would end well for a ton of reasons.

By the way, I noticed Smackdown didn't record for me last night since it was listed as a repeat on my channel guide. The repeat airing on FS1 is showing new so I'll get it then, but considering ratings now take DVR into account I wonder how that will affect things.

Butterbean was 100% brought in to fuck Bart up. He even says so in he doc when he says he told Vince "you know I'm going to knock this guy out, right?" and Vince just smiles. Dude was a legit trained boxer who got famous winning Toughman fights, being put in a shoot environment with a dude he outweighed by about 100 pounds is going to end with the same result 99 times out of 100. As far as Russo taking the blame for not using Bart, I get the impression even if he had come up with ideas it wouldn't have gone anywhere since Vince was pissed some jobber won the tournament set up to be the next program for Austin. Plus it's hard to argue that JR wasn't mad his boy lost when he's clearly still salty about it 20+ years later.

Florida's the same state where the Governor had to be basically forced into closing down the beaches because spring breakers wouldn't stop gathering in groups, so I don't think Vince had to dig deep into his bag of tricks for this one. Dude didn't think the virus killed anyone under 25 and as generally shown himself to be a massive dumbass (even by politician standards) every time he's opened his mouth.

WWE confirmed a "non talent on air personality" tested positive and recovered from Covid-19. Seems like a weirdly worded way to say either a ref, commentator, or backstage interviewer had it. WWE is actively putting people's lives at risk at this point. Between older people like Jerry Lawler being flown in, and compromised people like Bryan still working, Once again they are lucky to be who they are and not a sport or business people pay attention to or they'd get ripped to shreds over this.

People who follow the business know that, but other companies who only deal with them on a B2B level just know Vince is the Wrestling Guy. I would wager folks at USA like Bonnie Hammer probably understand Vince better than that because they've worked with him so long and so closely they've had to have picked up on the Full Vince Experience by now.