July 23, 20223 yr comment_5986419 3 hours ago, C.S. said: Max Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Priiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii was apparently Bray Wyatted, with Maxxine Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu Priiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii (Sooooooooooooooooooo Fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiia Cromwell) becoming the Alexa Bliss to his act and replacing him entirely. https://www.f4wonline.com/news/wwe/report-max-dupri-done-with-wwes-maximum-male-models-faction More Sofia Cromwell is always good.
July 23, 20223 yr comment_5986420 Finding out that Maximum Male Models was a complete Vince idea he was interested in to the point he was in the ring producing segments is the least surprising Vince News of the week so far. Also puzzled that he had a specific idea in mind for how the Max Dupri character should be played, and that seems to be another piece of evidence he still doesn't watch NXT since Eli Drake/LA Knight/Max Dupri only has one style he can do.
July 23, 20223 yr comment_5986421 I hope we find out what put this into motion. Pending WSJ, Real Sports or other pieces? Fox/NBC putting in the call? Its notable that both of WWE's broadcast partners remained silent on this news. Supposed I'm cautiously optimistic on the impact this'll have on the product, but not holding my breath. It sounds like Kevin Dunn should be next out the door and hopefully that means production is steered away from his/Vince's seizure-inviting style. As noted elsewhere here, Steph is born, raised and fed on Vince's creative philosophy so I'm not sure we should expect any dramatic changes to the product. Maybe the women's division returning to the Divas era doesn't happen? Maybe some smaller wrestlers are given a realistic chance on the main roster line with Levesque's work in NXT? Maybe not. But having a glimmer of hope that something will change for the better is better than not.
July 23, 20223 yr comment_5986424 Rumors are that when Real Sports interviewed Vince for whatever their story will be, the questions he was asked showed HBO knew way more about everything than WWE/Vince realized and that's what prompted him to bail. We won't see huge changes overnight, but things that were 100% Vince quirks like strange verbiage and yelling in the announcers' headsets will be things that will no longer be happening. Dave pretty much outright said last night the announcing in WWE is going to improve immensely now that they will be able to talk like normal humans and not have to worry about getting screamed at all night. I also think Steph shouldn't necessarily be painted with the same brush as Vince, at least not yet. Yes that was what she was raised on, but since we've never seen WWE without Vince having final creative say, we really can't just assume she's going to just be Vince 2.0 only (hopefully) less horny.
July 24, 20223 yr comment_5986465 Isn’t Stephanie at least partly responsible for much of the structural problems with the product? I seem to recall that the shift toward writers was a Stephanie thing.
July 24, 20223 yr comment_5986480 5 hours ago, Embrodak said: Isn’t Stephanie at least partly responsible for much of the structural problems with the product? I seem to recall that the shift toward writers was a Stephanie thing. Isn't she the person in all the world least likely to think there are any structural problems in the first place?
July 25, 20223 yr Author comment_5986537 On 7/23/2022 at 10:06 AM, JerryvonKramer said: I actually think Vince is done here. Also surely this story is worth its own thread? Meltzer called it the biggest wrestling story since the death of WCW. I started this thread in complete anticipation of this moment
July 25, 20223 yr comment_5986539 Really glad this has happened, just so fans who acted like Vince was the only issue and Hunter would save them all and usher in another wrestling boom can once again get a massive shock as creative still sucks and things don't get better Rea
July 25, 20223 yr comment_5986541 Trip not having followed pro-wrestling for one year be like : call Adam Cole, he's getting up to the main roster ! What ? WHAT ?
July 25, 20223 yr comment_5986542 The key to turning things around creatively is more skulls and ladder matches.
July 25, 20223 yr comment_5986543 While I’m not confident Trips taking over creative is going to make things significantly better, I don’t think it’s going to make it any worse either. At worst there will be no noticeable difference. Once again, this is all operating under the assumption that Vince is not secretly pulling the strings behind the scenes. Having said that, there was a very brief period of time when NXT was putting out a damn good product, and Triple H was in charge then. It is actually conceivable that this could be a good thing. I am choosing to remain open minded and wait to see what he does. I also know it’s not like the changes are going to be happening overnight. My question is, what exactly is Bruce Pritchard‘s job now? He is no longer in charge of talent relations, and now he is no longer in charge of creative either. Is he going over to Vince’s house to wash his car or something?
July 25, 20223 yr comment_5986548 Vince and Dunn both being out is huge. WWE could very well be unrecognizable several months from now.
July 25, 20223 yr comment_5986549 Holy fuck ! I'm so having a drink over that one ! Maybe I'll be able to watch WWE again without getting a migraine. Bye Kevin Dunn, you were the fucking worst and apparently a poor excuse for a human being too.
July 25, 20223 yr comment_5986551 I have seen rumours on Twitter that if Dunn is out, Jeremy Borash would be the one to take his place? I don’t know if I put any stock in Twitter rumours, but that would certainly be something if true. As I said earlier, if Dunn and Pritchard actually go, I am prepared to believe they actually are making real changes and Vince is really gone.
July 25, 20223 yr comment_5986553 1 hour ago, El-P said: Trip not having followed pro-wrestling for one year be like : call Adam Cole, he's getting up to the main roster ! What ? WHAT ? His next step will be to call Regal to ask what's going on with NXT.
July 25, 20223 yr comment_5986554 If getting rid of Dunn means they can transition back to a watchable visual style without the rapid cuts, then that's a big step in the right directiom straight away
July 25, 20223 yr comment_5986555 Just now, Robert S said: His next step will be to call Regal to ask what's going on with NXT. Maybe he watched that ROH PPV and thought Vince had bought the thing and just gave a new name to Cesaro and the Revival.
July 25, 20223 yr comment_5986556 With Trips and Steph having this kind of power now, I wonder if Tony Khan would throw a feeler to Paul Heyman to see how much it's left in his contract. There's a lot Heyman could add to AEW but my main thing would be the possible fuckery of Paul getting in the ear of Roman or Brock for big paychecks and little dates from whatever networks gives AEW it's new TV deal.
July 25, 20223 yr comment_5986557 Even wilder. We know TK is willing to work with anyone. With new people in charge (and I mean actual new people, not the quick "change but not really" stuff we're seeing right now), would WWE be willing to actually work with AEW eventually ?
July 25, 20223 yr comment_5986558 If we're fantasy booking a call to Paul Heyman, I'd actually be offering him full control for Ring of Honor, but that's beside the point. And yeah, setting aside that the entire company is so thoroughly rotten at this point that I can't wait to shovel dirt on it, there is certainly a (nostalgic?) part of me that recognizes that Dunn possibly leaving along with Vince opens up a whole new possibility space where WWE could actually be watchable as a television product again. Just amazing potential for wholesale addition by subtraction here.
July 25, 20223 yr comment_5986561 JB as head of production would be fucking brill though. He’s brilliant
July 25, 20223 yr comment_5986562 I don’t think any of this will matter because with stock prices going up, a sale is more than likely imminent. Which means basically nobody is safe. It’s not rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, but everything right now should have an “interim” title.
July 25, 20223 yr comment_5986563 With Triple H seemingly now in firm control of Creative, do we see any people getting better pushes in the future? Conversely, do we saw any people getting phased out and put on the sidelines? Really curious to see if that's going to be the case.
July 25, 20223 yr comment_5986564 Just now, SirEdger said: With Triple H seemingly now in firm control of Creative, do we see any people getting better pushes in the future? Conversely, do we saw any people getting phased out and put on the sidelines? Really curious to see if that's going to be the case. Ciampa is gonna get a push and Adam Cole is getting a call
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