Do guys like PWInsider, Dave and SRS pay for their scoops?

[The Rick Jericho]

I've always wondered this. For the scoops they all get. Are they paying their sources to leak information? And if they are, wouldn't this confidential info if found out lead to that person's termination of employment at their company?

Or do these guys just feed the sheets free information. Because if that's the case, what's in it for them? I feel there is no gain for an employee of a said company to just leak news to the sheets for free.

[thegatewaydrug]

I'm pretty sure Jericho's been a Meltzer source since his WCW days.

Assume wrestlers earn favorable marks, or at least more ground swell coverage, by being accessible to the 'media'. Hence their names get out more.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

At one point in time they probably had to but now they have personal connections from people in companies so they don't really need to

The people who drop the leaks be people in high power positions themselves or as seen bad info will be dropped from time to time and they run with it

I doubt they are finding Joe in Custodial Services and dropping him 5k for some info and to take pics with a tiny camera. If it isn't wrestlers themselves giving the info, it is those in high enough positions that you wouldn't expect

[Mozenrath]

I couldn't tell you if they get paid, but I think a lot of them share things they think ought to be known or they'd like to be known. Sometimes, that is for self-serving reasons, like "uhh, so-and-so is difficult to work with" when a company is trying to shit on a guy on their way out to mitigate damage.

[Mozenrath]

Jun 7, 2022 18:39:34 GMT -5 Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) said:

At one point in time they probably had to but now they have personal connections from people in companies so they don't really need to

The people who drop the leaks be people in high power positions themselves or as seen bad info will be dropped from time to time and they run with it

I thought they are finding Joe in Custodial Services and dropping him 5k for some info and to take pics with a tiny camera. If it isn't wrestlers themselves giving the info, it is those in high enough positions that you wouldn't expect

Lagana dumbing himself out of a job is probably the most infamous example, but didn't even Bill Watts send Meltzer information at various points? I do know Watts paid close attention to the sheets and would pivot booking at times when it was getting badmouthed.

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

Jun 7, 2022 18:41:11 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Jun 7, 2022 18:39:34 GMT -5 Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) said:

At one point in time they probably had to but now they have personal connections from people in companies so they don't really need to

The people who drop the leaks be people in high power positions themselves or as seen bad info will be dropped from time to time and they run with it

I thought they are finding Joe in Custodial Services and dropping him 5k for some info and to take pics with a tiny camera. If it isn't wrestlers themselves giving the info, it is those in high enough positions that you wouldn't expect

Lagana dumbing himself out of a job is probably the most infamous example, but didn't even Bill Watts send Meltzer information at various points? I do know Watts paid close attention to the sheets and would pivot booking at times when it was getting badmouthed.

Wasn't Vince himself feeding him info when they were on friendly terms way back? I want to sat Watts was giving him info. They sort of had an understanding even if he didn't always agree with Meltzer. 

And then in terms of high profile wrestlers and personalities there has always been rumors of Danielson, Jericho, and even I think Flair at one point in time 

[Deleted]

All I am going to say is that due to the toxic nature of Twitter the more active Twitter journalists all come off as extremely biased one way or another...It's almost insulting. I have most of the news contributors blocked just because it feels like propaganda anymore on both sides.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Jun 7, 2022 18:37:40 GMT -5 thegatewaydrug said:

I'm pretty sure Jericho's been a Meltzer source since his WCW days.

Assume wrestlers earn favorable marks, or at least more ground swell coverage, by being accessible to the 'media'. Hence their names get out more.

I believe JR and Bret Hart are also well known Meltzer sources. I

[Mozenrath]

Jun 7, 2022 18:51:27 GMT -5 Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) said:

Jun 7, 2022 18:41:11 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Lagana dumbing himself out of a job is probably the most infamous example, but didn't even Bill Watts send Meltzer information at various points? I do know Watts paid close attention to the sheets and would pivot booking at times when it was getting badmouthed.

Wasn't Vince himself feeding him info when they were on friendly terms way back? I want to sat Watts was giving him info. They sort of had an understanding even if he didn't always agree with Meltzer. 

And then in terms of high profile wrestlers and personalities there has always been rumors of Danielson, Jericho, and even I think Flair at one point in time 

I can believe it. It reminds me of Foley being awestruck when he finally met Meltzer because he was this figure of infamy, and that some of the same people who would loudly say in locker rooms they'd like to wring Meltzer's neck would also have copies of the Observer. I forget who it was, but I remember some wrestler or promoter having a subscription sent to his mother in law's house to try to hide that he read it.

Mick didn't have any issues with Meltzer and in fact credited him with his career advancing when he was finally taking off after Meltzer called him the best-kept secret in wrestling. Suddenly, promoters took notice.

[EvenBaldobombHasAJob]

Doubtful. That would be a massive breach of journalistic ethics.

[Mozenrath]

Jun 7, 2022 19:24:49 GMT -5 EvenBaldobombHasAJob said:

Doubtful. That would be a massive breach of journalistic ethics.

I also kind of doubt that it'd be worth it because A. it would cut into their profit margin, obviously, and B. it'd then bring a lot of doubt to the quality of the information if they're having to sift through people making shit up for money, something they already probably have to do to for people lying for free.

I know that plenty of people would scoff on here that SRS or Meltzer or Alvarez would care about integrity and ethics, but there's a reason people don't tend to talk about any of them in the same breath as a Daniel Pena. They do have standards, even if people have issues with them, and Meltzer especially has been doing this shit long enough that a quick buck for made-up shit is never going to be worth it versus maintaining a certain level of credibility.

[Jindrak Mark]

Jun 7, 2022 18:56:53 GMT -5 @slickrickstyles said:

All I am going to say is that due to the toxic nature of Twitter the more active Twitter journalists all come off as extremely biased one way or another...It's almost insulting. I have most of the news contributors blocked just because it feels like propaganda anymore on both sides.

SRS is the worst on Twitter. I ended up having to unfollow him and just stick to the Fightful account because it seemed like every time I opened Twitter he was arguing with random fans who have less than a dozen followers. He obviously vanity searches himself too because half of the time he wasn't tagged in the tweets before he started the fights.

[This Player Hating Mothman]

There's lots of gain from it. Sometimes you get somebody unhappy who's telling the sheets what happened that made them unhappy. Sometimes you get people leaking out their side of a story to defend themselves. Hell, WWE itself has leaked stuff out, both actual things they want reported on, and complete fabrications and bait meant to stir up shit, and they use the sheets too. But for some people honestly I think it's just a matter of being the one to do it. There's something psychologically pleasing about pulling up the veil or exposing something, and being the one to blab on secrets.

[Mozenrath]

Jun 7, 2022 19:51:53 GMT -5 Jindrak Mark said:

Jun 7, 2022 18:56:53 GMT -5 @slickrickstyles said:

All I am going to say is that due to the toxic nature of Twitter the more active Twitter journalists all come off as extremely biased one way or another...It's almost insulting. I have most of the news contributors blocked just because it feels like propaganda anymore on both sides.

SRS is the worst on Twitter. I ended up having to unfollow him and just stick to the Fightful account because it seemed like every time I opened Twitter he was arguing with random fans who have less than a dozen followers. He obviously vanity searches himself too because half of the time he wasn't tagged in the tweets before he started the fights.

Meltzer spends too much time giving no-names the time of day sometimes, too, but that's at least people in his replies.

Bryan usually just blows these people off entirely.

[flowercity]

It should be noted the exchange of information between wrestlers and journalists is a two way street. The reporters know a lot of goings and figures of others that can be valuable.

[Mayonnaise]

The PWInsider guys got their start working for ECW and then helping promoters after the company's end so they had backstage knowledge and connections from the start. Plus they were known from just being at nearly every NY/NJ/PA show.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Jun 7, 2022 19:22:54 GMT -5 Mozenrath said:

Jun 7, 2022 18:51:27 GMT -5 Captain Stud Muffin (BLM) said:

Wasn't Vince himself feeding him info when they were on friendly terms way back? I want to sat Watts was giving him info. They sort of had an understanding even if he didn't always agree with Meltzer. 

And then in terms of high profile wrestlers and personalities there has always been rumors of Danielson, Jericho, and even I think Flair at one point in time 

I can believe it. It reminds me of Foley being awestruck when he finally met Meltzer because he was this figure of infamy, and that some of the same people who would loudly say in locker rooms they'd like to wring Meltzer's neck would also have copies of the Observer. I forget who it was, but I remember some wrestler or promoter having a subscription sent to his mother in law's house to try to hide that he read it.

Mick didn't have any issues with Meltzer and in fact credited him with his career advancing when he was finally taking off after Meltzer called him the best-kept secret in wrestling. Suddenly, promoters took notice.

It may have been both or maybe I'm just making it up, but I believe Lawler and Stu Hart were subscribers. They knew guys were leaking info and it was the best way for them to know what was going on in their own company.

["Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik]

I highly doubt it. For all the shit they get, guys like Meltzer and Keller are respected by folks in the wrestling industry and are able to get sources in a lot of places. Vince himself used to talk to Dave every now and then. I'm sure newer guys like SRS and Zarian just found some connections in WWE and go from there. Plus a company the size of WWE is going to have plenty of people willing to talk. Whoever gives SRS his lineups for RAW/SmackDown is probably just some lower level person who sees the match lineup an hour before showtime and sends it to him. People often do things for plenty of reasons other than money.

[El Pollo Guerrera]

Jun 7, 2022 19:19:41 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

Jun 7, 2022 18:37:40 GMT -5 thegatewaydrug said:

I'm pretty sure Jericho's been a Meltzer source since his WCW days.

Assume wrestlers earn favorable marks, or at least more ground swell coverage, by being accessible to the 'media'. Hence their names get out more.

I believe JR and Bret Hart are also well known Meltzer sources. I

News flash! Cranjis McBasketball stiffled mid-sentence by Dave Meltzer as he tried to reveal the names of Meltzer's sources! Film at 11!

Jun 7, 2022 19:24:49 GMT -5 EvenBaldobombHasAJob said:

Doubtful. That would be a massive breach of journalistic ethics.

Agreed.

Link to Wikipedia article about "Chequbook journalism"

[nihilismizhawt]

If Meltzer or SRS paid people, then the people they paid would be all over social media talking about how they got paid to tell a story. In every single shoot interview "Yeah, Meltzer paid me."