Del Rio is booked for a show in Lancaster (PA) in August, so he's back on the wrestling radar.

I don't think even WWE would dare to work with Del Rio at this point. Dude ain't even controlling his narrative.

20 minutes ago, El-P said:

I wonder if AEW would go after Paige. She wants to work again and considering all those people who could "never work again" and actually do, she could be a rather big deal if played right.

Tony can't help himself with ex-WWE talent, so I wouldn't be surprised. Personally, I hope Paige stays as far away from AEW as possible considering she's one bump away from being crippled and the AEW women's division is not exactly known for the quality of its workers.

So, is the consensus that Vince is just shifting positions to avoid the heat like the steroid trial?

Surely if Vince is on Smackdown they should put the belt on Riddle. Never a better opportunity to try and make someone given the amount of people that will watch this now

3 minutes ago, Dooley said:

So, is the consensus that Vince is just shifting positions to avoid the heat like the steroid trial?

That's my feeling on it at least. He made Linda the interim CEO or chairperson or whatever when the roid trial threatened to take him down, as long-time fans would know, while still retaining creative control, stiffing Bill Watts in the process and keeping a Jarrett in the wings, like he has right now. The only difference I guess is that he did not appear live on Raw in character as Memphis McMahon to address the allegations against him back then

6 minutes ago, MoS said:

That's my feeling on it at least. He made Linda the interim CEO or chairperson or whatever when the roid trial threatened to take him down, as long-time fans would know, while still retaining creative control, stiffing Bill Watts in the process and keeping a Jarrett in the wings, like he has right now. The only difference I guess is that he did not appear live on Raw in character as Memphis McMahon to address the allegations against him back then

Timeline seems a bit off there, but I get your point.

Also, do check out the Vince tirade against the charges and Phil Mushnick on superstars if you haven't already. 

But it's a new face on the same old machine, if I understand it correctly. 

The unironic "Thank You Vince" chant while he struts around the ring smirking is going to be something else.

My friends made a great point with regard to people like C.S. assuming this wouldn't become a big story:

Most of the awful stuff WWE has done over the years just affects people, basically.  This one actually affects business as well, which is what it takes to reach the mainstream under capitalism.

5 minutes ago, funkdoc said:

My friends made a great point with regard to people like C.S. assuming this wouldn't become a big story:

Most of the awful stuff WWE has done over the years just affects people, basically.  This one actually affects business as well, which is what it takes to reach the mainstream under capitalism.

To be fair, I never said it wouldn't become a big story - I just said it won't actually have a major effect long-term, and I still believe that.

Yeah, Vince is stepping down temporarily. Okay, but this is not even the first time he's done that.

If I'm wrong I'm wrong, but I expect WWE to be back to the status quo by next year - not counting any unforeseen circumstances like ill-health, death, a sale. etc.

Someone at Fox has to be screaming into their phone at this point to stop Vince from appearing on TV, because the idea of "angry, threatened, backed in a corner" Vince with a live mic is pants-on-head crazy at this point. 

I'm seeing lots of R. Bud Dwyer memes about this appearance tonight. Sick, but hilarious.

16 minutes ago, sek69 said:

Someone at Fox has to be screaming into their phone at this point to stop Vince from appearing on TV, because the idea of "angry, threatened, backed in a corner" Vince with a live mic is pants-on-head crazy at this point. 

And motivated by thousands of fans bowing and chanting his name for 5 straight minutes. It's gonna be a wild sight, for sure

10 minutes ago, Jmare007 said:

And motivated by thousands of fans bowing and chanting his name for 5 straight minutes.

This is gonna be the worst part in a way. Embarrassed for these people already. Like, really. 

Maybe he can go in a blaze of infamy by detailing all the vile shit he did during all those years and end with 

 

Hoping for Vince in his bed in Xanadu dropping a snow globe and uttering his mysterious last words "Crushed leaves" but I'll settle for the Vince McMahon "Tell Me A Lie" music video.

The thing is we’ve seen Vince this year, and he looks and sounds terrible on camera these days. He simply can’t do some fiery Mr. McMahon worked shoot thing at anything like the level that that image evokes in one’s head anymore. Anything more than a somber pre-tape where he says he’s cooperating fully with the investigation and wishes Steph well in doing his job is a disaster waiting to happen - legal, fiduciary, and creative.

1 hour ago, Embrodak said:

Anything more than a somber pre-tape where he says he’s cooperating fully with the investigation and wishes Steph well in doing his job is a disaster waiting to happen - legal, fiduciary, and creative.

That's what any normal (for a billionaire CEO) would do, but.........

49 minutes ago, sek69 said:

That's what any normal (for a billionaire CEO) would do, but.........

We are talking about the Genetic Jackhammer!

Can we just skip ahead to the part where there's an outcome here that preserves all archival footage on Peacock?  Bring the reckoning for these awful people.  Or not, based on everything else in this country's recent history.  Just don't make me get another external drive just to lock down all that footage.  

On 6/17/2022 at 11:20 AM, Coffey said:

Of all the things to complain about... Christ.

I’ll chime in on this and say I understand the complaint, and I’ve never liked the ‘Stephy’ stuff, either, and for the same reason. (I do feel a little self-conscious that I only ever post on here about this kind of thing, but whatever.)

I don’t think ‘intent’ matters, because calling Abdullah the Butcher ‘Abby’ or Goldberg ‘Goldy’ is not the same, no matter how much you want it to be (though, to be honest, I have always understood the ‘Brucie’ stuff to be intended to feminize him, anyway). Saying that stuff to a guy can easily be taken as just a familiar, colloquial way of addressing them, but addressing a woman (that you don’t know and are usually criticizing, bt-dubs) with that kind infantilizing name can’t help but carry strong misogynistic baggage. We don’t just get to be above it because we want to be. 

 (And claiming that being called out on this stuff is ‘virtue signaling’? Really now… ) 

1 minute ago, delacroix said:

I have always understood the ‘Brucie’ stuff to be intended to feminize him, anyway

What? 

1 hour ago, C.S. said:

What? 

Indeed. All of this is beyond idiotic, as the above, completely out-there remark shows. Like, WTF ? I call him Brucie because whatever. Sound kinda cool. Like Stephy actually, maybe because I used to be a fan of Steffi Graff way back then. Wanna call any Stephanie Stephy rather than Steph (which works in French as a diminutive for both genders). All this to say : WHAT THE FUCK ARE PEOPLE SMOKING EXACTLY ?

1 hour ago, delacroix said:

Saying that stuff to a guy can easily be taken as just a familiar, colloquial way of addressing them, but addressing a woman (that you don’t know and are usually criticizing, bt-dubs) with that kind infantilizing name can’t help but carry strong misogynistic baggage.

No. Because there's nothing infantilizing about it. It's just a thing I do with random names, whether I like the people or not (I love Chiggy, I don't care much for Goldy, I dislike Stephy etc...) I also don't actually speak to them, nor even address them on their social media by tagging them and using that formulation. I use it on a freaking pro-wrestling board. Close-circuit. 

And well, no. Because since there's nothing infantilizing about it, there's nothing misogynistic about it.

Also, denying intent in language is understanding jackshit about how it works, sorry to say. And I have a masters degree in research in langage science, so there, I don't deal in "I don't think that" opinions on the matter. Especially when the point comes from an obvious troll to begin with (which is where the "fake-ass virtue signaling" line comes from BTW). Choosing to chime in only for this is indeed a choice. Interesting hill to die on... Especially in the middle of the current context.

For fuck"s sake. 

(oh, and yes, Stephanie McMahon-Lesveque is a shameless human being, like her father. Ya know, Vinnie. Fuck both of them, to get back on tracks)

53 minutes ago, Cien Caras said:

Ignorant racists in the UK will say “if people shorten British to Brits and Australians to Aussies then why can’t I call Pakistanis pakis?”

Biiiiiiig stretch to go from this to decrying the usage of Stephy, Brucie, etc. though.

Context matters.

1 hour ago, El-P said:

All of this is beyond idiotic

[…]

All this to say : WHAT THE FUCK ARE PEOPLE SMOKING EXACTLY ?
[…]

No. 
[…]

And well, no.
[…]

Also, denying intent in language is understanding jackshit about how it works, sorry to say.

I guess I can’t argue with this

 

The thing I find hilarious about this whole discussion, is that from what I gather from reading other posts they have made, I think it is a pretty safe bet that both @C.S. and @El-P are pretty far to the left on the political spectrum. Never thought I’d see the day that I would see somebody accuse Jerome of misogyny.

Terrible taste in wrestling sure, but never this.