This is one hell of a read. He doesn't sound bitter, just sad that the memory of his friend is being used.

 

https://medium.com/@JustinRoberts/believe-half-of-what-you-see-and-portions-of-what-you-hear-296f34743af4

I have no doubt there's a lot of merit to what he's saying. But no matter how the story is told now, it seems like WWE did some amazing things for Connor and his family. That's enough for me.

I don't actually think he presented the company in THAT bad a light, frankly.

I don't disagree to the extent he spoke to what they did for the family. But he seemed to portray their actions since then pushing the story and charity as self-interested.

Terrific story.

 

(charity is *always* self-interested at heart, even though it can do good things on a small scale)

It is a weird read. He's calling dibs on the story. He loved how it went, but it should have involved him more.

The thing that sort of resonated the most to me was that maybe Bryan wasn't actually that close to Connor. That was one. Another was that the facetiming every Monday was something that I think WWE could have easily added in to the story to make it even better from a corporate spin level so I don't get why they didn't. They could have said he facetimed with superstars every Monday and even left Roberts out of it if they wanted to. I don't 100% know what to make of Steph and Trips as people. I actually think Stephanie is pretty fascinating as a 2.5 dimensional person if you sort of plug in everything we've seen of her (from the 9/11 relation to Vince on basically) and plug it into a computer.

Going over the comments on reddit right now. Is 200 grand over 9 months really low for a charity they publicize?

I actually think Stephanie is pretty fascinating as a 2.5 dimensional person if you sort of plug in everything we've seen of her (from the 9/11 relation to Vince on basically) and plug it into a computer.

 

God, I remember sitting back watching her spout that nonsense at the time. Considering she was in her early 20's at the time, she came across as an utterly deluded young woman to make such a God awful, self indulgent comparison after such a horrific day in history.

I think in the case of Stephanie it's really hard to blame her 100% for her major character flaw. Growing up and going to the WWF/E shows she had to get the idea that everything she wanted, she deserved because she was Vince's daughter. I think if you spend too much time inside that bubble it becomes your reality. So if she's self-important well past the point most of us can fathom I think she's not entirely to blame. It doesn't make it any easier to deal with, but that's my take on it.

Basically, her lens of understanding life is being Vince's daughter, growing up in the business as the princess, and then, when she tries to look for some sort of theoretical framework or mdoel to overlay over those experiences, she ends up using this hollow business marketing approach that she's been trained in. That's a scary combination.

So you combine that with Triple H and you have the creative direction of the WWE for the next 50 or 60 years. Good stuff there.

I never thought then, nor do I think now, that Stephanie was comparing 9/11 to Vince's trial, at least, not directly - the message she was trying to get across was that adversity brings people closer together and that a United States would get through whatever hardship was thrown upon it; the problem was in how she worded it, starting with the trial, rather than treating it parenthetically. What makes that odd is, in watching the video, she looks like she's reading off a prompter, thus the wording issues should have been long ironed out. That said, even if we run with the idea that a spoilt, protected, rich-girl-in-a-bubble sees daddy's trial as on a par with 9/11, it's still not as bad as Bradshaw.

What jumped out to me was the mention of "his boss" using Roberts' introduction of the Connor video as an opportunity to mess with him. Even in the wacky messed up world of wrestling that stood out as especially sociopathic..

Are we to assume that's Dunn?

 

I actually think Stephanie is pretty fascinating as a 2.5 dimensional person if you sort of plug in everything we've seen of her (from the 9/11 relation to Vince on basically) and plug it into a computer.

 

God, I remember sitting back watching her spout that nonsense at the time. Considering she was in her early 20's at the time, she came across as an utterly deluded young woman to make such a God awful, self indulgent comparison after such a horrific day in history.

 

Isn't the story that she came up with the Vito LoGrasso crossdressing gimmick via inspiration from The Sopranos, which was her favorite show? So of course it's perfect that she was (...is?) a real-life Meadow Soprano.

Eh, forget the daughter thing. She's clearly Carmela. That's why we love to hate her.

. . . who hated Carm?

. . . who hated Carm?

Everyone who watched and listened to the Sopranos?

Carmella had Skyler heat? I guess that makes sense.

Hated Melfi much more, personally. Lorraine Bracco is the master of the grating Italian woman character.

Terrific story.

 

Agreed.