How come the roster doesn't stand up as a group to WWE?

[Gravedigger's Biscuits]

Because the top guys i.e. the only ones important to WWE, have nothing to complain about.

That's why you get things like John Cena telling the roster to step up instead of telling Vince McMahon where to stick it.

[Reflecto]

Dec 16, 2014 18:58:51 GMT -5 RIHT said:

With a lot of roster problems, it seems either one guy complains (if you even want to call it that) in an interview and is punished (see Cesaro), the roster reportedly phones it in "in protest", stays silent, or only one guy finally stands up to the system... and quits (CM Punk). I get WWE is bad, but if these guys really have a problem with the system, why not all stand up to it? Is WWE seriously going to bury everybody if they do? I mean, it sounds like there are some dicks on the roster than just want the money if the locker room is so jaded and distanced from within. Does anybody give a damn back there? Kofi apparently fought Vince, but that probably meant nothing.

Jeez, it's hard to talk about it being on the outside, but why don't they even try or something? There is something seriously wrong with how the place is being run, and it's bizarre how the developmental territory far exceeds the main product. WWE needs a reset button or something. They're losing money, fans, support, stars, etc. Someone has to see this awful path and eventually have the courage to say something, right?.....right?

Yeah, Rollins and Ambrose are being pushed, but honestly, I think they're kind of liked by Triple H, so that helped them, whereas guys like Cesaro or Ziggler have no friends in the office at all. Anyways, it's a shit situation damaging the product and change is needed. What do you think?

Quite frankly, everything is clear right now that the main roster's problems are not the developmental territory's talent, or even the developmental territory's booking [the NXT bookers and Smackdown booking team flipflopped a couple times this year, with no noticeable change in Smackdown's quality)... mostly because Raw and Smackdown get rewritten on the fly by Vince McMahon and him alone.

The roster can't openly say it, or even imply it to the dirt sheets more than "they want Hunter to take control"- but it's all pretty clear: The exact problem right now all stems from Vince McMahon, the roster knows it.

And right there is the problem, because quite frankly: Vince McMahon CAN and WILL seriously fire everybody on the WWE and NXT roster and replace them with 100 new people off the street if he had to, just to keep control. (It's related to why there's no wrestler's union- even if one formed, Vince McMahon would do like Wal-Mart did and "happen" to fire every wrestler in the union and be able to find 100 people- even if he had to go right to backyards- who'd be non-union.)

[The Dark Order Inferno]

The only guys that they can't fire and replace with people from NXT are guys who have absolutely no reason to be unhappy with status quo, guys like Cena who's raking it in and has never known a serious depush, and Orton who has been pushed far beyond the level he would have reached in any other era of wrestling.

[mrbananagrabber]

They've tried, but every time someone says "do it for the union", they say they're not gonna do it for the Union.

[Red Impact]

Dec 16, 2014 19:22:44 GMT -5 The Dark Order Inferno said:

The only guys that they can't fire and replace with people from NXT are guys who have absolutely no reason to be unhappy with status quo, guys like Cena who's raking it in and has never known a serious depush, and Orton who has been pushed far beyond the level he would have reached in any other era of wrestling.

Exactly this.

The fact is that wrestlers are extremely replacable, and a union won't last on the Indy circut. You'd need people at the highest levels to stand up with them, and kings don't complain that the paupers are sleeping on straw.

[Tony Schiavontay]

Dec 16, 2014 19:37:36 GMT -5 mrbananagrabber said:

They've tried, but every time someone says "do it for the union", they say they're not gonna do it for the Union.

Well, if they're suggesting something as stupid as bringing back a faction as shitty, forgettable as The Union was, I don't think they deserve to be in the business.

[xxshoyuweeniexx]

Unless John Cena complains about it, and maybe to a way lesser extent Randy Orton does the same, then there's gonna be no change until Vince steps down/passes. The top guys aren't gonna rock the boat because they're getting assloads of money, and none of them sound like "rah rah" cheerleader types who can rally then entire locker room. Just like it'd take Punk using his highly paid lawyers to fight and drag out WWE over his contract, it's gonna take a lot more than Zack Ryder making a passive aggresive tweet to change anything.

[Reflecto]

Dec 16, 2014 20:09:11 GMT -5 Red Impact said:

Exactly this.

The fact is that wrestlers are extremely replacable, and a union won't last on the Indy circut. You'd need people at the highest levels to stand up with them, and kings don't complain that the paupers are sleeping on straw.

It's not even just that- because even "the kings" know what we all kind of know too: the people at the highest levels are as replaceable as the lowest person on the totem pole. It's not that people like John Cena/Randy Orton...or even Triple H...wouldn't join these ranks because they're in power now and don't care about people like JTG or Yoshi Tatsu...it's that at the end of the day: Vince McMahon holds ALL the cards and if John Cena or Randy Orton joined with these unions- shit, even if Triple H and Stephanie McMahon joined the queue against him, Vince McMahon would happily fire them and replace them just as easily as he fired JTG or Yoshi Tatsu.

At the end of the day, Vince McMahon IS the problem- but WWE is his plaything, he runs the show, and any and everyone in the WWE going against Vince McMahon would be as determined as a Vampire: The Masquerade player going against Kaine: YOU LOSE.

[Deleted]

Dec 17, 2014 1:52:25 GMT -5 xxshoyuweeniexx said:

Unless John Cena complains about it, and maybe to a way lesser extent Randy Orton does the same, then there's gonna be no change until Vince steps down/passes. The top guys aren't gonna rock the boat because they're getting assloads of money, and none of them sound like "rah rah" cheerleader types who can rally then entire locker room. Just like it'd take Punk using his highly paid lawyers to fight and drag out WWE over his contract, it's gonna take a lot more than Zack Ryder making a passive aggresive tweet to change anything.

Even when Vince is gone I really don't see anything changing. About the only thing that could make WWE change is either business getting bad enough or a hot enough competitor stepping up that there's a serious danger of a mass of people leaving all at once just because it's not worth it anymore, making them have to start making concessions to make it more worth people's while.

Honestly, given how much public info's available on all the twisted shit that goes on in WWE, it's pretty bizarre that no government board or something has done any sort of investigation into their practices but then that'd involve treating wrestling like a legitimate business which no one in it or outside of it wants to do. On a certain level the business needs another Benoit-level scandal just to try and force people to really pay attention to all of the inherent problems in it.

[Martin: #TeamBella Treasurer]

The WWE locker room seems to sadly have this culture of fear within it, which is not a nice atmosphere wherever you work. People are worried about their jobs, especially with higher ups who may not think twice about cutting someone over the littlest thing, and as people have said already will just put someone else in your spot and the engine keeps turning. You are more likely to be remembered for one small 'negative' thing against you than a hundred 'positive' things.

[Capt Lunatic]

I'd love to weigh in Roll-dow...but I have no idea how or where to leave my opinion.

[Deleted]

Dec 17, 2014 2:35:33 GMT -5 Capt Lunatic said:

I'd love to weigh in Roll-dow...but I have no idea how or where to leave my opinion.

Here's a helpful guide.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

A union might make for better working conditions for the average wrestler, but I doubt it's going to help the storylines be any better. As unanimous the sentiment seems to be, that's still all completely subjective.

(Although it'd be hilarious to see every wrestler get at least one WrestleMania main event over the course of their career as mandated by the union... F***ing 100 man Rumble every year all up in here)

[Mozenrath]

It's a fixed sport, but it's not a charity. It's still fiercely competitive. You can try standing up, but you're going to be fired real quick when suddenly everyone around you sits right back down.

[Juice]

Even Punk waited years, after saving up his money before he quit.

[Sparkybob]

Wrestlers don't trust each other. There is no guarantee if a mid carder stands up and demands a union, the other wrestlers will join with you and risk their jobs. Quite frankly the wrestlers probably hate the direction of the WWE, but they still keep collecting them checks so it's hard for them to channel their anger into a union.

[Allie Kitsune]

Dec 17, 2014 2:00:44 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

Dec 17, 2014 1:52:25 GMT -5 xxshoyuweeniexx said:

Unless John Cena complains about it, and maybe to a way lesser extent Randy Orton does the same, then there's gonna be no change until Vince steps down/passes. The top guys aren't gonna rock the boat because they're getting assloads of money, and none of them sound like "rah rah" cheerleader types who can rally then entire locker room. Just like it'd take Punk using his highly paid lawyers to fight and drag out WWE over his contract, it's gonna take a lot more than Zack Ryder making a passive aggresive tweet to change anything.

Even when Vince is gone I really don't see anything changing. About the only thing that could make WWE change is either business getting bad enough or a hot enough competitor stepping up that there's a serious danger of a mass of people leaving all at once just because it's not worth it anymore, making them have to start making concessions to make it more worth people's while.

Honestly, given how much public info's available on all the twisted shit that goes on in WWE, it's pretty bizarre that no government board or something has done any sort of investigation into their practices but then that'd involve treating wrestling like a legitimate business which no one in it or outside of it wants to do. On a certain level the business needs another Benoit-level scandal just to try and force people to really pay attention to all of the inherent problems in it.

As someone else has said before, when one steps back away from it and looks at it, "Professional Wrestling" is basically "The Thing that Should Not Exist". And if the Federal Government decided they wanted to get involved, they would certainly outlaw it entirely.

It's not about unions. The NFL has the NFLPA and there are people in the government who want to ban football anyway due to the concussion issue and such.

[Sparkybob]

Dec 17, 2014 2:00:44 GMT -5 Lizuka #BLM said:

Dec 17, 2014 1:52:25 GMT -5 xxshoyuweeniexx said:

Unless John Cena complains about it, and maybe to a way lesser extent Randy Orton does the same, then there's gonna be no change until Vince steps down/passes. The top guys aren't gonna rock the boat because they're getting assloads of money, and none of them sound like "rah rah" cheerleader types who can rally then entire locker room. Just like it'd take Punk using his highly paid lawyers to fight and drag out WWE over his contract, it's gonna take a lot more than Zack Ryder making a passive aggresive tweet to change anything.

Even when Vince is gone I really don't see anything changing. About the only thing that could make WWE change is either business getting bad enough or a hot enough competitor stepping up that there's a serious danger of a mass of people leaving all at once just because it's not worth it anymore, making them have to start making concessions to make it more worth people's while.

Honestly, given how much public info's available on all the twisted shit that goes on in WWE, it's pretty bizarre that no government board or something has done any sort of investigation into their practices but then that'd involve treating wrestling like a legitimate business which no one in it or outside of it wants to do. On a certain level the business needs another Benoit-level scandal just to try and force people to really pay attention to all of the inherent problems in it.

The government does not have the time,resource or public support to scale an expensive drawn out investigation into the WWE's practices. The reason probably being these wrestlers knowingly gave consent to these rough workering conditions so lees sympy from them.

[SCCB Was Told To Do Steroids]

If anything, it would function more like the MLBPA. There would be mandatory health care and uniform drug tests, but Cena, Orton, et al. who would still make mega-contracts. The biggest reason why there will never be a union is health-care is too high.

[Deleted]

Same reason why many other non unionized jobs don't stand up against their employer. Fear of losing their job and having a bad reputation when looking for a new job