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Post by eJm on Apr 25, 2024 16:27:33 GMT -5
I mean, more importantly, were they nicer on the call 5 days later?
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Post by eJm on Apr 25, 2024 16:20:26 GMT -5
Saw the promo coming back expecting Shelly or Sabin and getting Zack Gibson made me literally shout “Let’s go!”
Heck of a way to start a tag team rebuild.
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Post by eJm on Apr 25, 2024 8:05:39 GMT -5
Not sure if mentioned, but it still sort of blew my mind that whilst the FOX war room were actors, the USA war room had the actual NBC/USA executives involved including the CMO of Entertainment and Sports.
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Post by eJm on Apr 25, 2024 6:53:45 GMT -5
I didn't see the match but people found it weird how little heat it had considering the stuff that happened before and it's one of the thing that is the double edged sword of some of the stuff they did. You can do a moment but it wasn't exactly capitalized off to make people invested, especially considering the reaction they got at the Rumble which was non-existent because people don't care. It not having a stip, maybe even moving it to night 1 and making a Bloodline rules match to build to the match for Night 2, would have at least made it interesting. They just didn't do ANY work in building up Jimmy for this feud/match. Hell, they weren't really doing that much with Jey, but at least he'd be in PPV matches, getting title shots and doing not-Bloodline stuff. Jimmy was basically just a disposable opponent for whoever was fighting Reigns next time he showed up. Which feels wild after the big betrayal (for as backwards that seemed and the logic basically being so full of holes, it barely exists) and everyone expecting it to conclude at 'Mania as soon as it happened. Especially when you had The Rock involved with the Bloodline, you would have thought they'd have done something more than just remembering it when the IC title match happened on Raw.
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Post by eJm on Apr 25, 2024 6:26:15 GMT -5
I didn't see the match but people found it weird how little heat it had considering the stuff that happened before and it's one of the thing that is the double edged sword of some of the stuff they did. You can do a moment but it wasn't exactly capitalized off to make people invested, especially considering the reaction they got at the Rumble which was non-existent because people don't care.
It not having a stip, maybe even moving it to night 1 and making a Bloodline rules match to build to the match for Night 2, would have at least made it interesting.
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Post by eJm on Apr 25, 2024 6:05:23 GMT -5
It's nice that people remined Adult Swim about how they royally f***ed over C. Martin Croker and Andy Merrill. Carey Mewes too, even though it wasn't the same show but it's true. Just glad he's able to get his flowers and some royalties now.
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Post by eJm on Apr 25, 2024 3:18:31 GMT -5
Someone who knows more about the case might be able to answer this: How likely is it that there will be criminal charges against McMahon? For this case? Not likely since it's not a criminal case. The DOJ one? I mean, we're well far away from finding out but it'll probably end with a large fine and a house arrest at best.
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Post by eJm on Apr 22, 2024 12:33:59 GMT -5
Like, that absolutely felt like something Vince would have booked in 1985 for a Hogan feud. Heck, the entire basis for Hogan/Savage (besides Hogan's lust in his eyes for Liz) was literally that sort of stuff. Savage being ungrateful and feeling Hogan helping him was taking the spotlight from him. And it was the same guy that did that. I mean Hogan also pulled Heel moves all the time... just it was against heels so the Face announcer would play up that turnabout is fair play while the heel announcer would harp on it... The likelihood is that, at some point in the match, a heel would do something to him and whilst not justified, it would be that sort of thing that would get a reaction because the heel would get his. Not helping a guy, being called out about it and then running in to not help a guy further only makes everything the heel said completely true and justified and from a story context, that’s a terrible look for the good guy.
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Post by eJm on Apr 22, 2024 6:08:51 GMT -5
I think probably the most, "Vince does not understand his own main character," moment I can think of with Cena was during the Ryback feud, entirely motivated by Ryback being bitter over Cena continually leaving him to get his ass kicked by the Shield, Cena came out to save him from them just to instead turn and walk away leaving him to it. Like... A major problem plaguing that whole stupid feud was that Ryback was clearly the hero in it (also he totally won the Last Man Standing match but they just pretended it was a draw for no reason) and you could have entirely fixed that by having Cena instead opt to save him after all and then Ryback be completely ungrateful and attack Cena afterward. Like... It's so easy to make that story work and instead they just made the bad guy correct. Like, that absolutely felt like something Vince would have booked in 1985 for a Hogan feud. Heck, the entire basis for Hogan/Savage (besides Hogan's lust in his eyes for Liz) was literally that sort of stuff. Savage being ungrateful and feeling Hogan helping him was taking the spotlight from him. And it was the same guy that did that.
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Post by eJm on Apr 22, 2024 5:35:13 GMT -5
There isn’t anything inherently bad about pushing someone as a white meat babyface. Problem is that Vince would push someone as such even though that’s not how someone got over in the first place. The thing as well is that he wasn't able to be consistent with having a babyface be a babyface. Even John Cena, the closest he's come in years to having a Hogan type, would be a dick for no actual good reason. The Eve Torres segment was the first one in ages that a segment aged rapidly and badly in real time and the only reason it happened was that the other option was the top babyface kissing someone's love interest. Whether that's because he can't trust himself or his audience, who knows? But it's another one of those things Vince wrote the book on (outside of Sting in WCW) and then somehow forgot all of it.
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Post by eJm on Apr 21, 2024 17:43:23 GMT -5
I didn’t realize how bad it was with Johnny and Dan Ryckert giving him MacGruber DVDs until now. Just watch the movie, Johnny! Dan will be relentless with it for life!
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Post by eJm on Apr 21, 2024 16:17:48 GMT -5
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Post by eJm on Apr 21, 2024 2:12:11 GMT -5
It doesn't help taht one of the things they mentioned bringing back was basically a show from their time at Buzzfeed which seemed like an excuse to spend buzzfeed's money on extravagant food... But that was spending Buzzfeed's money to mess around instead of "your" money. Yeah, especially when you’re banking on people to give you that money at a time when it’s harder to convince people to part with it. Dropout and Nebula give you a lot more bang for your buck which has helped in their rise of popularity but even looking at their page, there are other channels that are doing the same sort of thing but also don’t expect you to pay $60 a year for the privilege. EDIT: Also to mention, Dropout talent have other sources of income like acting work or side gigs. Nebula have people doing essays but they write books or perform or edit for other creators. If Watcher doesn’t work out, what’s their backup?
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Post by eJm on Apr 21, 2024 0:26:38 GMT -5
They can still be booked during the 90 days of their release so it’s not unprecedented, it just never happened that often. Both Maverick and Slater were during the pandemic releases but I also think they were the only ones before Xia? It was taped before RAW, so she’d have not been officially cut at that point. That’s fair. In that context, I’m literally sure that sort of thing’s happened plenty of times before.
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Post by eJm on Apr 21, 2024 0:18:42 GMT -5
I've seen people compare it to Dropout... but like Drop out allows the monthly/yearly subs... while also allowing people to subscribe to their youtube channel to get the content for the same price (and YT you can use local currency so it's cheaper) and they also release stuff on their Youtube about a season later. The other thing to remember is that Dropout has expanded so much it’s able to have a revolving set of shows happen, at the very least, every week day. The stuff that airs now was recorded several months ago and the stuff that was recorded as recently as two weeks ago won’t be seen for another few months because of the backlog of stuff. There are shows that haven’t been formerly announced yet that have either been recorded or are in the production process in some way or fashion as we speak and that’s before we get into the live shows going on right now that’ll be going up as extra videos (I’m going to a D20 show next Tuesday, for example. Very excited!) Nebula almost has the same model and it’s one I’m not as familiar with but it also relies on people creating videos that aren’t seen anywhere else and allows for more defined works that won’t run the risk of them being taken down after a few hours and are going into other stuff like recordings of plays and stuff. From what I hear about Watcher they have, what, one video a week at best? With podcasts on a Patreon? And they expect a whole service from that? Like, if they were to create an alternative to Nebula with more comedic creators and such (again, not familiar with their stuff so can’t say if that makes sense), I’d get it and you’d be able to have potentially more stuff going but it’s already a struggle for a lot of creators out there as is. Putting that pressure on them without a solid financial ground isn’t very sound and I hope the backlash they’ve been getting makes them very much reconsider.
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Post by eJm on Apr 20, 2024 23:56:53 GMT -5
I was a bit surprised that Xia was on Main Event in a match with Nattie considering the release. They can still be booked during the 90 days of their release so it’s not unprecedented, it just never happened that often. Both Maverick and Slater were during the pandemic releases but I also think they were the only ones before Xia?
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Post by eJm on Apr 20, 2024 14:50:42 GMT -5
The three hour combo shows feel better paced than the average Raw when I was still watching those full-time. But there's a big difference between "three hour show once in awhile" and "weekly three hour show." I dunno if I'd do it. It'd also depend on if that's what TBS/TNT want to happen. After Dynamite is usually NHL coverage when that's on and with how their sports stuff works, merging the two other shows doesn't mean that it won't be put to another day because of NBA, March Madness or the NHL (since they've decided they don't want original scripted programming for the time being) so it would just add more complications to the schedule. USA got three hour Raws because USA, at the time, had nothing else to put there besides Law and Order re-runs. The fact they're now trying to get back into scripted programming in a time other networks aren't is likely one of the reasons they're happy to trade Raw for Smackdown in the first place.
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Post by eJm on Apr 20, 2024 13:00:10 GMT -5
Cageside Seats writing that story saying the releases were “respectful” basically tells me the big video game companies need to get WWE’s PR team on the phone. The backlash against the firings the last couple of years would be dampened by having companies be able to call them “respectful”.
Like, bro, if you fire me after one of, if not the, most successful WrestleManias of all time and during Smackdown being aired, you fired me after one of, if not the, most successful WrestleManias of all time and during Smackdown being aired. You can apologize all you want or give me a pat on the back on my way out, I’m still f***ing losing my job.
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Post by eJm on Apr 20, 2024 9:05:25 GMT -5
They uh... they really released three desi men in one go and didnt worry about the optics huh? OK. I mean, this is a company that’s blown away the optics of an impending lawsuit against the company and their former owner and a lawsuit against a whole state for potentially releasing public information concerning the Royal Rumble. They likely don’t care about the optics.
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Post by eJm on Apr 20, 2024 8:51:58 GMT -5
I wonder if that includes the library for ROH as well. I think, and this might be ignorance on my end, it probably wouldn’t because technically TK owns ROH and it’s not the case of AEW owning it. So if you sign a joined AEW/ROH contract, you’re working for Tony Khan and not either company specifically. Also, these things have always been rough estimates. There’s no real possible way to say how much a company is worth because they’re all just elements of guesswork. WWE could put themselves in the market worth $10 and a subscription to Entertainment Weekly and it might be dramatically undervaluing their assets but it’d be as accurate. It’s always about what makes the most sense with the assets in front of the people doing the worth.
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