Half of the threads here are “wrestler frustrated/leaving”

[mrbananagrabber]

That’s got to mean something.

This isn’t “so and so was fired” it’s “so and so is ASKING to leave. From Mike Kanellis to Hideo to Ambrose all wanting out. Rusev clearly burned out, pissed off and de-motivated. Buddy Murphy having nothing to do for a year despite constant requests to change. Ziggler’s never ending “maybe I’ll leave” Tweets.

What is going on?

Have we reached a saturation point where there’s just too much talent for the roster to handle so guys potentials are being squandered? Has the ridiculous money being thrown at WWE just making them not give a shit about the product, so the wrestlers are getting itchy feet and wanting to prove themselves elsewhere? Is Cody’s new company the Not TNA opportunity people have been waiting for?

What’s happening here?

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

It's a big f***ing roster, not everyone is going to be happy so yeah this isn't unexpected

Some people are cool with collecting a paycheck while others want to do more, the best thing is there are options.

For a guy like Ambrose he could just simply retire and heal his body while others like Hideo or The Kanellisis could potentially offer more elsewhere.

Ziggler is not doing shit

[Totorob101]

The booking is so terrible, creative suck and the constant misuse of talent is clearly starting to get to the roster.
Rusev for example,hugely talented, likeable and over, for no reason at all keeps getting shafted when he could so clearly be a fresh main eventer.

[Allie Kitsune]

They never do Spring Cleaning anymore, so the roster is massively bloated.

That means people aren't going to get used much.

[Final Countdown Jones]

WWE has been hiring too many people and treating them all like geeks for too long, this is a natural extension of the issue. Whether because it's become too much for someone to handle or they think they have a chance making good money somewhere else, a lot of people are going to start getting to that point of "Eh f*** it I'm out". It's about to become the norm for a good while, and probably fall off once something changes or all the people drift off.

[MrElijah]

Basically people are sick of the WWE's MO and feel they can do better. Sure it's a dream job to many but it is what it is.

Hopefully we get a few '91-94 WCW Rick Rude-esque runs out of this.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

They got like 90 people under contract, about half is frustrated, then out of those 45 wrestlers, one third is upset about their money. It’s just too many people.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Feb 4, 2019 15:04:58 GMT -5 MrElijah said:

Basically people are sick of the WWE's MO and feel they can do better. Sure it's a dream job to many but it is what it is.

Hopefully we get a few '91-94 WCW Rick Rude-esque runs out of this.

I hope we get a 97 Rick Rude-esque moment of someone appearing on both raw and AEW in the same week.

[The Heartbreak TWERK]

This whole "Everyone is a loser but Roman and Brock" thing really paid off.

[Fade]

Add to that the outside wrestling world isn’t so bleak anymore. The indies, new japan, aew..it’s a brave new world out there.

[Final Countdown Jones]

Feb 4, 2019 15:07:33 GMT -5 The Heartbreak TWERK said:

This whole "Everyone is a loser but Roman and Brock" thing really paid off.

How can these guys be unhappy? WWE made them stars! They looked so good in defeat!

["Gizzark" Mike Wronglevenay]

I honestly think the company could do with a cull of mid carders who can go and main event the indies, become shit hot and come back in a few years when they need new guys.

But they don't want any actual competition. They want all the toys.

[ben:friendship frog]

Dirt sheets jumping on the AEW thing mainly. Anyone who supports a football team in Europe knows how stupid the media gets during the transfer window. This is similar.

Ambrose and Itami are going but no one the dirt sheets speculated on have yet.

[arrogantmodel]

Feb 4, 2019 15:06:20 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

Feb 4, 2019 15:04:58 GMT -5 MrElijah said:

Basically people are sick of the WWE's MO and feel they can do better. Sure it's a dream job to many but it is what it is.

Hopefully we get a few '91-94 WCW Rick Rude-esque runs out of this.

I hope we get a 97 Rick Rude-esque moment of someone appearing on both raw and AEW in the same week.

I always love the Rick Rude thing. I texted my buddy a while back about "Will Smith is pulling a Rick Rude" when he was on Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon at the same time one night.

[HMARK Center]

Yeah, a few of you nailed it, I think:

-The bloated roster is a big problem at this point. WWE wants to be the only game in town, so they're not only getting as many people for Raw and SD as possible, but as many for NXT, 205 Live, NXT UK, etc. A lot of people sign with WWE in the hopes of getting on the biggest possible stage, but WWE is now structured in such a way that it's harder and harder to do that even if you're signed full time. They sign everybody, then have no idea what they even want to do with them. The money might still be solid for a lot of the talent, but it's certainly not great for the NXT wrestlers, and 205 only pays so much, plus you're missing out on a lot if you're not regularly featured on TV.

-Creative is also to blame. The brand split was supposed to give more people a chance to shine, but as per usual it's the normal scenario of "Raw is the A show, and the same few people are on both shows every week with little to no variation."
Plus, yeah, I don't get how WWE so consistently screws up the "having a top guy" process. Almost every good promotion in history, WWF included in its better years, have had clear top performers/draws on their roster, yet still managed to make what most of the rest of the card does feel important, anyway, even if those midcarders don't ever wind up holding a world title at any point. Meantime in WWE it's world title or bust, but unless you're the chosen top name or two of management then it's made clear that you're not that special, and the audience shouldn't react to you like you are. Rusev gets himself over all the time and then gets shuffled around for no reason. Daniel Bryan got himself over, then fans had to basically threaten to ruin Wrestlemania to get WWE to get WWE to do anything interesting with him. Even midcard acts that get over in WWE are told to stay in their lane; we talk about it all the time here, but as lame as some people feel Ryder is, the guy still got himself over only to be shot down.

In the old days the smaller roster with more turnover meant more opportunities for some guys to break through to the top. Even when creative was weak, which it feels like it's been for over 15 years now, that chance of breaking through could keep the wrestlers hanging on and saying "it's not great now, but the window will open if I keep at it long enough." Now, that's not the case anymore.

I mean, consider this: Roman Reigns was the guy WWE sank everything into, and now he's gone, and they have no plan to replace him. Roman's absence, sad as it is, should have presented a golden opportunity for multiple people on the roster to move up, yet outside of Rollins getting the title match at WM it really hasn't changed anything, because they don't book people to be stars anymore, whatever their position is on the card.

[OVO 40 hunched over like he 80]

Feb 4, 2019 22:00:22 GMT -5 arrogantmodel said:

Feb 4, 2019 15:06:20 GMT -5 OVO 40 hunched over like he 80 said:

I hope we get a 97 Rick Rude-esque moment of someone appearing on both raw and AEW in the same week.

I always love the Rick Rude thing. I texted my buddy a while back about "Will Smith is pulling a Rick Rude" when he was on Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon at the same time one night.

Prichard tells a hilarious story in his podcast that he got yelled at by Vince once they saw Rude on Nitro like if it was his fault. They never signed Rude to a contract and only paid him by appearance.