Does WWE have sinister motives behind signing talent?

[Abdullah]

During an appearance on the Wrestling Mayhem Show, Lucha Underground co-executive claimed that WWE attempted to sign the entire Lucha Underground roster.

“They (WWE) basically tried to sign our entire roster, and pretty much tried to shut us down.”

He continued, “I think that’s what they (WWE) want to do – just take everybody, sign them into NXT and then wipe out companies. I know they tried to do it with TNA, and I’m sure Ring Of Honor too. It makes sense. They pay someone $750/week, put them into developmental and in the meantime, they try to take away a company’s roster. And they can just leave those guys down in NXT.”

www.ringsidenews.com/misc-news/lucha-underground-executive-claims-wwe-tried-to-steal-all-their-talent/

This claim set off a ton of anger among 'Lucha' fans and the accusation boils down to: 'WWE won't book these guys well. They'll just sit on them so that other companies can't benefit from their talent.' With the fury of acquisitions recently, and more to come, and knowing that WWE has approached Angelico, Jack Evans and Ricochet, it's an interesting question. Does Triple H really want to assemble the best roster in history or is that merely a stated goal where the actual aim is to crush competition?

Look, I don't think WWE are going to sit on any of the big names they've signed. Owens is doing really well. Neville and Kalisto are doing okay. They've done less than Owens but they're both less than a year into their run. There is actually more of a case to be made that WWE can't make their own male stars. They need guys with indie hype, they need guys with a built-in loyal fanbase that will keep cheering when their favorites lose and cheer even harder when their favorites start getting a push. It would be more true to say that WWE is now accepting talent that are already stars so that they don't have to book them from scratch.

They let Doc Gallows go but he's now more valuable to them because another company had the time to book him well. They lowballed AJ numerous times until his work in another companies made his star power undeniable. These are just a few examples.

WWE's motives for bringing big name talent is that they're smart and lazy in equal measure. But I'm curious to hear what FAN has to say about this producer's claims.

[Session Moth is over]

Fan's logic:

1. WWE does not sign indy talent:

"WWE has no respect for the indys. They refuse to sign amazing indy talent because they would overshadow WWE homegrown stars. Why won't WWE give the top jobs to the talent that deserve it?"

2. WWE sign loads of big indy talent over a few years. These guys win World titles and play a big part in WWE storylines:

"Look at the evil WWE, how dare they sign all the best indy talent, trying to put all these great small companies out of business"

[Bungle]

WWE wants the best roster and talent possible

Is that simple.

[Goon]

1) Sounds like a LU executive trying to pander to the parts of the IWC that eat up everything anti-WWE.

2) I actually believe HHH, that he wants to assemble the best roster, keeping competition small is a nice side-effect. I doubt he wants to actually destroy competition, though, he needs them as farm leagues / unofficial pre-developmental after all.

[Ruthless Pessimism]

Assemble a solid roster...or crush the competition?

Why not both?

[anglarite]

Neither, they just need talented wrestlers who they can use then to make their hand-picked main eventers make look good.

[gr1990]

They have no competition, and the NXT pay isn't good enough that everyone will desert the indies if they know that WWE are just stockpiling talent and they'll never get on TV, or they'll sign in the hope of being one of the few that make it, get bored when WWE does nothing with them, ask to leave and return to whence they came. WWE controlling all of wrestling and having every top wrestler in the world under their umbrella is a financial and logistical impossibility at this point in time. It also seems jarring while Vince is still on top and would still rather push homegrown hosses as top guys.

But it is crazy how only five years ago they were pretending they had nothing to do with the other wrestling that goes on in the world, because they're A. sports-entertainment and B. bigger than everyone else and therefore all that matters. If you'd told fans in 2011 when Bryan and Kaval for going through the wringer that WWE would be signing people who have become stars in ROH, TNA and New Japan and treating them like royalty rather than jobbing them out for their first few months to remind them they're 'just another rookie' and what they did in the bush leagues doesn't matter, they wouldn't have believed you. It actually makes the indies seem more prestigious and makes them more visible to the casual fan, so far I'd say NXT has only benefited smaller companies.

[Mid-Carder]

WWE really can't win. This is what people wanted for years.

[ritt works hard fo da chickens]

You cannot buy up all the talent. You can buy all the ready talent. However, that actually helps because it forces turnover and stagnation is what kills promotions. It hurts short term, but in the long run it will separate the actual good promotions and trainers from those who are propped up by conveniently having a couple good talents.

[Burst]

Jan 30, 2016 6:38:53 GMT -5 gr1990 said:

But it is crazy how only five years ago they were pretending they had nothing to do with the other wrestling that goes on in the world, because they're A. sports-entertainment and B. bigger than everyone else and therefore all that matters. If you'd told fans in 2011 when Bryan and Kaval for going through the wringer that WWE would be signing people who have become stars in ROH, TNA and New Japan and treating them like royalty rather than jobbing them out for their first few months to remind them they're 'just another rookie' and what they did in the bush leagues doesn't matter, they wouldn't have believed you.

Tell that to Lawler; I get that he's supposed to be a heel commentator now, but it was cringeworthy hearing him flat out more or less say "It doesn't matter what you did before the WWE, you have to start from nothing here" during Styles vs. Axel. Granted, a lot of that was because the other commentators did nothing to counter him like a JR or Gorilla Monsoon would have, but still.

[Push R Truth]

Stupid question: When did giving people good enough deals to leave their current job become "sinister"?

I thought it was just good business.

[Zombie Mod]

I always thought their overwhelming desire to make money was a bit sinister

[Deleted]

No.

[________ has left the building]

WWE cannot sign all of the talent that is out there. And people seem to forget that the talent pool keeps replenishing and revitalizing itself. The curtain jerker in some small indy in a couple of years will be the biggest indy person like numerous others. Cederick Alexander could wind up being the next top prospect. Or it could be Donovan Dijak. I don't doubt WWE is not looking to have most of the top talents under their house. But in a lot of those cases, they are calling WWE like Nakamura did. The only things that changed is how WWE does its hiring and booking. Small standouts are no longer locked out. Big in Japan is no longer the Too Asian.

In LU's case, most of their roster is getting their big break to a wider audience with the show. Folks already knew about Jack Evans but Angelico is totally new to those who don't follow lucha libre. Same for Pentagon Jr. King Cuerno actually was on WWE's radar years ago round by the same time they were scouting Alberto Del Rio. CMLL though kept him locked in his contract and booked him like crap to make him unappealing to WWE. It's the ECW effect. People who were unknkown or casted off looking like superstars with good booking and strong matches. Which leads to other companies looking to hire them and the company that made those folks look good having to fight to keep them. Nature of the beast.

[aka Cthulhu]

When it said sinister motives, I was expecting stuff like sacrificing wrestlers to some sort of alien elder god.

[EoE: Well There's Your Problem]

Jan 30, 2016 8:44:16 GMT -5 aka Cthulhu said:

When it said sinister motives, I was expecting stuff like sacrificing wrestlers to some sort of alien elder god.

Well, Triple H IS in his mid 40s now...

[01010010 01101001 01100011]

Jan 30, 2016 6:06:37 GMT -5 Ruthless Pessimism said:

Assemble a solid roster...or crush the competition?

Why not both?

Exactly. If I can strengthen my brand and weaken yours in one move, what is the downside to me?

[saintpat]

I thought LU had talent signed to 7-year rollover deals that kept them under contract as long as the show wasn't cancelled.

[JCBaggee]

Wait, what? You mean WWE is a business, operating in practices to guarantee it's long term survival? I was positive Vince was just running a charity pony show every week.

[Dub H]

i'm sure entire roster is an overreaction,which brings the question of who they tried to sign

Besides Ol' Berto.