A Forbes contributor blog is not the same thing as Forbes.

A Forbes contributor blog is not the same thing as Forbes.

 

It's still better than JoeSixPackRasslinYeeHaw.com. This story is only building momentum and getting bigger.

Mainstream picks up shit all the time. Wrestling doesn't matter. It's issues don't matter, much like the issues in porn don't matter. The most that could possibly happen here is JBL is quietly let go and WWE puts out a BA* statement on their corporate page.

Mainstream picks up shit all the time. Wrestling doesn't matter. It's issues don't matter, much like the issues in porn don't matter. The most that could possibly happen here is JBL is quietly let go and WWE puts out a BA* statement on their corporate page.

 

There's no way to "quietly" let him go though. He's one of the lead commentators on Smackdown. His absence would be noticeable. If that's all that happens, it's better than nothing and a step in the right direction. I'll take Mauro and his commentating idiosyncrasies over what JBL has turned into (and the sad part is, he used to be a decent commentator).

I'd still say the chances of this story blowing up are low. But it could have some legs given that Mauro has at least some profile outside of WWE and that our culture is much more sensitive to issues of bullying/mental illness than it was even 10 years ago.

It might be sad but anyone that finds it surprising is extremely naive.

Which is why I said sad, not surprising.

 

The only way anybody will ever do anything about this is if it comes from attention from outside the industry, of course. If Vince gets even a tiny bit of bad press that might cause WWE stock to go down, I have no doubt that he'll drop JBL like a hot rock. But as you guys have all pointed out, no reputable media outlet gives a crap about WWE, which is why they got away with doing stuff like posting a glowing tribute to a murderer just a couple of months ago.

 

I hope and pray this story gets mainstream attention, but I have no faith that it will.

 

Mainstream picks up shit all the time. Wrestling doesn't matter. It's issues don't matter, much like the issues in porn don't matter. The most that could possibly happen here is JBL is quietly let go and WWE puts out a BA* statement on their corporate page.

 

There's no way to "quietly" let him go though. He's one of the lead commentators on Smackdown. His absence would be noticeable. If that's all that happens, it's better than nothing and a step in the right direction. I'll take Mauro and his commentating idiosyncrasies over what JBL has turned into (and the sad part is, he used to be a decent commentator).

 

 

Hundreds of dudes have just vanished off TV on WWE with no mention over the years. It's super easy. You just don't mention them the next week when they're not there. That's kind of how "quietly" works.

I wouldn't be surprised if they give him a couple month suspension. Hopefully that will let him know he needs to ease off the hazing and, though I think he deserves more of a punishment, I can see it also being looked at internally as an opportunity to test some of the newer commentators on a main brand, silver lining on a grey cloud that happened at the right time - post Mania is always a time when the WWE seems to be willing to try new characters and performers, so, a 6-week vacation for JBL that the WWE paints as a suspension wouldn't shock me at all (it also helps that if they do it soon, they can claim they handled it "swiftly" before any major outlets were to break the story - even if we all know this has been documented for over a decade now).

They can rocket JBL into space never to be seen from again, but the people who foster the bullying culture will still be in place and just create another triggerman when the heat dies down.

Dave is just torching Coachman on Twitter. That's amusing at least.

Also Coach announced that after "much soul searching" he wouldn't have WWE guests on his shows anymore.

He actually said "much sole searching"

I wouldn't be surprised if they give him a couple month suspension. Hopefully that will let him know he needs to ease off the hazing and, though I think he deserves more of a punishment, I can see it also being looked at internally as an opportunity to test some of the newer commentators on a main brand, silver lining on a grey cloud that happened at the right time - post Mania is always a time when the WWE seems to be willing to try new characters and performers, so, a 6-week vacation for JBL that the WWE paints as a suspension wouldn't shock me at all (it also helps that if they do it soon, they can claim they handled it "swiftly" before any major outlets were to break the story - even if we all know this has been documented for over a decade now).

The only issue here is that I truly believe all JBL hazing is at the behest of Vince. If Vince wanted someone left alone, he would be left alone. If JBL gets fired, it's an empty gesture, and another person will just step up to fill the role.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if they give him a couple month suspension. Hopefully that will let him know he needs to ease off the hazing and, though I think he deserves more of a punishment, I can see it also being looked at internally as an opportunity to test some of the newer commentators on a main brand, silver lining on a grey cloud that happened at the right time - post Mania is always a time when the WWE seems to be willing to try new characters and performers, so, a 6-week vacation for JBL that the WWE paints as a suspension wouldn't shock me at all (it also helps that if they do it soon, they can claim they handled it "swiftly" before any major outlets were to break the story - even if we all know this has been documented for over a decade now).

The only issue here is that I truly believe all JBL hazing is at the behest of Vince. If Vince wanted someone left alone, he would be left alone. If JBL gets fired, it's an empty gesture, and another person will just step up to fill the role.

Has HHH any reputation for this sort of thing?

 

 

I wouldn't be surprised if they give him a couple month suspension. Hopefully that will let him know he needs to ease off the hazing and, though I think he deserves more of a punishment, I can see it also being looked at internally as an opportunity to test some of the newer commentators on a main brand, silver lining on a grey cloud that happened at the right time - post Mania is always a time when the WWE seems to be willing to try new characters and performers, so, a 6-week vacation for JBL that the WWE paints as a suspension wouldn't shock me at all (it also helps that if they do it soon, they can claim they handled it "swiftly" before any major outlets were to break the story - even if we all know this has been documented for over a decade now).

The only issue here is that I truly believe all JBL hazing is at the behest of Vince. If Vince wanted someone left alone, he would be left alone. If JBL gets fired, it's an empty gesture, and another person will just step up to fill the role.

Has HHH any reputation for this sort of thing?

 

Wasn't there some sort of incident with JR where he potatoed him (or otherwise deliberately injured him) as payback? Other than that, most of his negative reputation comes from backstage politicking and burying others.

Yes, the story there was that years earlier, Vince told Jim Ross to play hardball on a pay-per-view payoff with HHH. HHH wasn't happy with it and contested it, and JR stood firm. Then HHH went to Vince about it, and Vince said, "Of course you can have a higher payoff, you should have come to me!" HHH never knew that part and decided the Jim Ross match was his chance to get even.

 

HHH has the Del Rio thing. There was talk that DeMott was following orders from HHH in NXT. Not really a ribber and definitely not Vince, but no saint either.

There was also that thing with Chris Masters where Chris was in rehab and when he got back on Raw HHH shit on him for having lost a bunch of weight

 

According to Justin Roberts' book "HHH had a thing about trying to pull down Justin's pants."

According to Justin Roberts' book "HHH had a thing about trying to pull down Justin's pants."

I talked to Justin about that a little but didn't use it for now because the Morrison interview took the article in the obvious direction it ended up in. One thing I thought was particularly interesting was that the HHH hazing was more of the "I didn't realize that bothered you" variety. While JBL is outwardly malevolent, HHH put on the "I figured you'd find it funny" kind of veneer.

I'm so tired of this story. Not because JBL doesn't deserve to be exposed and punished/fired, but because he's BEEN exposed for 20 years. It's been known since the Justin Hawk days that he was a piece of shit. Now people are suddenly acting like they give a shit and trying to find every story they possibly can when they've been out there forever and no one cared before.

The praise for Dave is pretty weird, since he said he was going to sit on the story and didn't want to report on it for the same reasons that people in WWE don't do anything about it and the same reasons that Coach won't cover wrestling anymore just to avoid this story. This is despite Maruo being a personal friend of his. He changed his mind because of an incident that happened in 5th grade 40 some years ago. He could have put together this story and got it out there anytime in the past 20 years.

Is it really a bad thing if something terrible has been known for years but its only being picked up on/cared about now? Differences in viewers' mindsets or the topic being "out of sight, out of mind" could be factors as to why its only gaining steam now. Your post seems to indicate that you believe people are feigning sympathy to a cause solely as a means of looking cool and not because they're genuinely disgusted by it. I'm largely pessimistic about the outcome of these "revelations" but I don't think that's all too fair a summation. Fans do care and, at the least, people's stories are finally being told. Even if this doesn't lead to an internal change within WWE, it's letting people feel the support and compassion of others after scenarios that deeply hurt them. Something that is deeply incongruent to what those who are bullied feel.

 

 

Better late than never, but never late is better.

I do think some are exaggerating due to Mauro having mental health issues, certainly. I just feel like the praise for Dave running this story is weird considering he could have done it at any time and openly said he didn't want to/wasn't going to, and managed to subtly throw Mauro under the bus a couple of times while talking about the whole thing yesterday. He also doesn't even seem to blame JBL much, certainly doesn't want him to be fired, instead blaming the culture of the company and Vince in particular.

How did he throw Mauro under the bus? Can you elaborate for those of us without WON subscriptions and/or time to listen to audio? Thanks.

He did not really delve into specifics on that front but used variations of the phrase "Mauro is not a saint in this" which I believe was in reference to Mauro citing the Observer Award results that he won. The implication seemed to be that a WWE personality should know that mentioning the Observer, at least positively, would cause some problems for them in the company. Dave was clear to note that WWE is the only wrestling company that operates that way though.

That and making multiple comments about his personality, seemingly alluding to him being a bit of a grating person to be around at times, which might make him a target for bullying behavior.