Tucker speaks on WWE: Lied to on multiple occasions

[Fade is a CodyCryBaby]

Even before the break-up, you just knew guy was f***ed when they would (inevitably) break them up. It sucks and he sounds salty about it. Hope he shows them up if he’s still got an itch for it.

[The Dark Order Inferno]

Jun 24, 2021 13:07:10 GMT -5 Dub H said:

Jun 24, 2021 13:03:54 GMT -5 Dr. Bolty, Disaster Enby said:

The thing he says about getting frazzled and worn down into accepting what he's told sounds...well, it sounds like it fits. It fits with what some other wrestlers have said, and his perception that it stopped him from asking questions may well be the point.

Like, Vince's infamous fickleness with booking is likely very genuine, but it's hard not to wonder if the talent are given enough half-truths and evasions that "plans change" is also a way to keep the workers off balance.

Getting "beaten into submissions" to just accept what you are given definitely sounds like WWE. So much for Vince liking people to speak up,except 90% of the time where he doesn't people questioning his plans.

Vince wants people he already has plans for to speak up, if you speak up and you're not on his radar, creative will have nothing for you.

[Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-]]

I hope Tucker kills it wherever he goes. He has talent. He just NEEDS something

Impact, NWA, or MLW would find easy use for him. A dream scenario for me would be him joining Bear Country as the third Bear to chase the soon to be Trios Titles in AEW. Whatever he does he has enough talent to make something work and be useful/stand out.

[El Cokehead del Knife Fight]

Jun 24, 2021 13:26:01 GMT -5 Perd said:

They wore the poor guy down. One might could even say they… Tuckered him out. 

[Deleted]

While it sucks, while their creative team is trash and while this always happens, I'm not surprised at this. I wish him the best in where he goes next. It's just clockwork. Granted, I'll admit that he could have done much better. He could have pushed harder for himself, he could have given them more ideas, he could have done a lot.

But at the same time given all you know, what they've said, given the directions they've given you then it probably wouldn't have worked.

Basically, sucks. They wasted a talent.

[eJm]

Jun 24, 2021 18:04:44 GMT -5 @kn said:

While it sucks, while their creative team is trash and while this always happens, I'm not surprised at this. I wish him the best in where he goes next. It's just clockwork. Granted, I'll admit that he could have done much better. He could have pushed harder for himself, he could have given them more ideas, he could have done a lot.

But at the same time given all you know, what they've said, given the directions they've given you then it probably wouldn't have worked.

Basically, sucks. They wasted a talent.

Like, I’d be more accepting of the “try harder” argument if we didn’t just have several livestreams of Alistair Black going into long detail about the evolution of his character down to the gear he’d wear on certain occasions and have those end with “Well, they liked it but I heard nothing back about it”.

And I’m not saying Tucker was this unearthed talent that was going to change the industry but…did he need to be? Heavy Machinery were doing well and if you didn’t have plans for the aftermath of an event…don’t do it?

[Deleted]

Jun 24, 2021 18:11:03 GMT -5 eJm said:

Jun 24, 2021 18:04:44 GMT -5 @kn said:

While it sucks, while their creative team is trash and while this always happens, I'm not surprised at this. I wish him the best in where he goes next. It's just clockwork. Granted, I'll admit that he could have done much better. He could have pushed harder for himself, he could have given them more ideas, he could have done a lot.

But at the same time given all you know, what they've said, given the directions they've given you then it probably wouldn't have worked.

Basically, sucks. They wasted a talent.

Like, I’d be more accepting of the “try harder” argument if we didn’t just have several livestreams of Alistair Black going into long detail about the evolution of his character down to the gear he’d wear on certain occasions and have those end with “Well, they liked it but I heard nothing back about it”.

And I’m not saying Tucker was this unearthed talent that was going to change the industry but…did he need to be? Heavy Machinery we’re doing well and if you didn’t have plans for the aftermath of an event…don’t do it?

There's really no motivation to try harder when you see your more talented, higher priority, better setup peers try harder and nothing happened with them. Black is the perfect example. Ricochet is the perfect example. Like, as much as we can say "he could have done more" the question is really, could he? We saw what happened to the last guy in his position aka Big Cass and for as much as that "post Enzo team" era was it didn't really do much for him.

Besides that I don't like the idea of "trying to get pushed." Everybody should be used to their best rather than forcing them to use you. That is silly. They didn't even give Tucker the chance to fail.

[polarbearpete]

Jun 24, 2021 17:02:37 GMT -5 Xxcjb01xX [PIECE OF: SH-] said:

Kind of an aside but stuff like this makes Aleister Black look even more like a dingus when he was trying to bash dirtsheets by simply saying "Plans Change" for certain wrestlers or storylines.

When your own fellow employees are going on record in saying shit changes with their storylines and direction by the half hour... plans in fact do change dude, and you can't just dog a dirtsheet and say it doesn't.

That misses the point of what Black was saying. He wasn’t saying that plans don’t change. He was saying that he knew examples of things that were blatantly false that were reported and then when they didn’t happen, the sheets would say that plans changed. In other words, because plans do often change, it’s kind of a get out of jail free card when reporting things that aren’t true too.

[eJm]

Jun 24, 2021 18:21:53 GMT -5 @kn said:

Besides that I don't like the idea of "trying to get pushed." Everybody should be used to their best rather than forcing them to use you. That is silly. They didn't even give Tucker the chance to fail.

That's a big thing for me too. They're on your roster for a reason, if you're not going to do something with them...change their brand, send them to NXT, let them do something on YouTube with the people you have left to try and get some personality going that people might like, just...something. Like, the Tucker betrayal should have been teased and figured out and his new character could have been developed so he wasn't floundering the next week on your C show after an angle you did on your PPV. And again, if you don't see much of him in the process of breaking him up from a successful tag team...don't break up the successful tag team. It's not rocket science.

[Deleted]

Jun 24, 2021 18:42:16 GMT -5 eJm said:

Jun 24, 2021 18:21:53 GMT -5 @kn said:

Besides that I don't like the idea of "trying to get pushed." Everybody should be used to their best rather than forcing them to use you. That is silly. They didn't even give Tucker the chance to fail.

That's a big thing for me too. They're on your roster for a reason, if you're not going to do something with them...change their brand, send them to NXT, let them do something on YouTube with the people you have left to try and get some personality going that people might like, just...something. Like, the Tucker betrayal should have been teased and figured out and his new character could have been developed so he wasn't floundering the next week on your C show after an angle you did on your PPV. And again, if you don't see much of him in the process of breaking him up from a successful tag team...don't break up the successful tag team. It's not rocket science.

I also don't wanna compare companies but AEW, really now, how many of these lame bust stories have they had where we were sour on them but they said "nah, let's keep going" and then it turned around? Britt Baker and her sad start, Dark Order, like we've had a few and while I hated it and thought it was lame they didn't just throw it out a moving car like they threw David Ruffin out in that Temptations movie. They let the people involved mess around a bit some and then reworked it. Miro too for a bit. In their position they're giving their people bigger chances to fail which is a plus to me. It's a chance. That chance worked in their favor most cases.

The whole idea about "hey lemme keep knocking on this door till I'm heard and and I'm chosen" is horrible. It's a bad comparison but treat em like decks in I don't know a trading card game. Each card has some sort of use. Don't throw a random card in there just hoping something works with it. You don't do that. You look over the card, see how it can be used and then add it to theme of your deck. That's how wrestlers should be used at all times. When you see someone is floundering then make your long term plan with them, give them some side stuff to do like you said through YouTube, I mean they've got so much material and so many avenues. Just put in the effort before you say no to them.

That's my biggest issue being a WWE fan. We see so much talent with so much potential and how they can maximize everything and yet they don't do it. It's sad for everyone involved especially the wrestlers.

And speaking on the knocking on the door thing, hell they made that part of Kofi's Wrestlemania storyline. He was literally knocking on Vince's door for a shot.

[eJm]

Jun 24, 2021 19:16:47 GMT -5 @kn said:

Jun 24, 2021 18:42:16 GMT -5 eJm said:

That's a big thing for me too. They're on your roster for a reason, if you're not going to do something with them...change their brand, send them to NXT, let them do something on YouTube with the people you have left to try and get some personality going that people might like, just...something. Like, the Tucker betrayal should have been teased and figured out and his new character could have been developed so he wasn't floundering the next week on your C show after an angle you did on your PPV. And again, if you don't see much of him in the process of breaking him up from a successful tag team...don't break up the successful tag team. It's not rocket science.

I also don't wanna compare companies but AEW, really now, how many of these lame bust stories have they don't where we were sour on them but they said "nah, let's keep going" and then it turned around? Britt Baker and her sad start, Dark Order, like we've had a few and while I hated it and thought it was lame they didn't just throw it out a moving car like they threw David Ruffin out in that Temptations movie. They let the people involved mess around a bit some and then reworked it. Miro too for a bit. In their posion they're giving their people bigger chances to fail which is a plus to me. It's a chance. That chance worked in their favor most cases.

The whole idea about "hey lemme keep knocking on this door till I'm heard and and I'm chosen" is horrible. It's a bad comparison but treat em like decks in I don't know a trading card game. Each card has some sort of use. Don't throw a random card in there just hoping something works with it. You don't do that. You look over the card, see how it can be used and then add it to theme of your deck. That's how wrestlers should be used at all times. When you see someone is floundering then make your long term plan with them, give them some side stuff to do like you said through YouTube, I mean they've got so much material and so many avenues. Just put in the effort before you say no to them.

That's my biggest issue being a WWE fan. We see so much talent with so much potential and how they can maximize everything and yet they don't do it. It's sad for everyone involved especially the wrestlers.

And speaking on the knocking on the door thing, hell they made that part of Kofi's Wrestlemania storyline. He was literally knocking on Vince's door for a shot.

I had this much longer post originally written where I talk about how much The JBL and Cole Show and Southpaw Regional Wrestling did for people like Daniel Bryan, Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, Rusev, Aksana (a week before she was fired, she had a character that stalked Cody and reminded potential allies of how much of a dick he was to them and it had so much potential), Heath Slater, Damien Sandow, Rhyno, Jason Jordan etc but…the thing is, that stuff didn’t matter if the people at top aren’t exactly living up to those strengths being shown. Like, The JBL and Cole Show was weekly viewing for me at a time when the product wasn’t as fun because it didn’t have those same pressures and standards.

Far be it for me to want all of the product to be that way because that’s easier said then done but, like you said, there’s just this lack of wanting to capitalize and fit people into boxes that sort of makes things less fun and more open to just paying more attention to the behind the scenes stuff than what’s on TV because that seems to be the more “compelling” narrative. And it shouldn’t be. Your roster can tell a story in the ring but if there isn’t an effort to make the story or go full on with one people like, why does that matter?

That’s not to say there aren’t good aspects, people like the Roman stuff and The Way are over in NXT and there’s a lot of potential but potential only gets you so far when you’ve eroded goodwill for years on end. I don’t want to be doom and gloom but there’s a lot of damage that needs to be undone in terms of perception that hasn’t been started yet. Especially after The Authority basically ran roughshot, said the fans sucked for watching and ended with a whimper when fans said “Ok, cool, we won’t watch”.

And I’ll gladly say there isn’t simple answers for any of this but back to the main topic, Tucker isn’t the first person to say these things. He isn’t even the first person to say that this month never mind this year, Mark Henry and Mickie James said the same things not that long ago. If the response from a lot of talent leaving your company is “Well, there are a lot of nice people but it’s so hard to get your head above water”, that just doesn’t make sense. One or two, yeah, you could say they’re bitter but we passed that point years ago.

tl;dr: There needs to be a restructuring. If many of your talents’ exit interviews involve how much you have to “eat shit and like it” and then many of them shine when they don’t have to…seems about time to change the menu.

[lildude8218]

Tucker: I feel like I was lied to multiple times.

Reporter: Okay, when.

Tucker: Like...multiple times.

Reporter: *nods*

"WWE Lied to Tucker multiple times"

[Wieners=$$$]

Jun 24, 2021 15:51:41 GMT -5 The Ichi said:

Jun 24, 2021 13:16:35 GMT -5 Wieners=$$$ said:

I'm going to be frank, for as long as Vince has been messing with people's careers, I am amazed how few times he's been punched by talent and employees.

Probably because there's always someone who would have Vince's back for their own gain. Even Bret potentially would have had to fight the Haris Twins when he decked Vince.

Of course he has people watching his back, it's just in a business full of, let's say eccentrics, it just seems like something that would've happened to a guy like Vince McMahon, like a lot.

Anyways, I forgot about this GIF I made of Kharma punching Vince in the face over and over. I'd be lying if I said this GIF doesn't bring a smile to my face.

[adamclark52]

I think he overestimates his value just a little

[Rave]

Jun 24, 2021 15:32:48 GMT -5 eJm said:

Just to add to the whole "The system of creative is kind of a failure" thing I said...

EDIT: Also, has to be said, she's doing a good job of wanting to get fired from the job she just got.

I don't have much of a problem with people coming in with zero knowledge, but if I were her, I'd be giving myself a crash course on the basics instead of looking stupid on a podcast. WWE doesn't change much weekly, so it wouldn't be too hard at all to learn what they focus on the most: who's champion, who's important, and who's featured regularly. It'd certainly be enough to get her by 'til the next creative upheaval.

[Sparvid]

I know "Vince ripping up the script ten minutes before Raw starts" isn't anything new, but still this just sounds so stupid from WWE. Okay, let's say you want to break up Heavy Machinery for no good reason. Why not tell Tucker and Otis about it a month or so in advance so that they can start working towards that? You know, just make some hints, an annoyed glance from Tucker here or there, or something. How does it make the end product better for the viewers if the performers themselves don't know where things are heading?

[Chiral]

[eJm]

Jun 25, 2021 0:41:12 GMT -5 Rave said:

I don't have much of a problem with people coming in with zero knowledge, but if I were her, I'd be giving myself a crash course on the basics instead of looking stupid on a podcast. WWE doesn't change much weekly, so it wouldn't be too hard at all to learn what they focus on the most: who's champion, who's important, and who's featured regularly. It'd certainly be enough to get her by 'til the next creative upheaval.

Sleeping on this more, I sort of feel I might have been too harsh on the writer. At the end of the day, they hired her for the gig and with her contract, she's more protected than the wrestlers in some regards (not by much but still) so yeah, going on a podcast and saying how you feel seems to be accepted for some reason. But as Legion said earlier, and others did too to their credit, this is the mentality the company breeds. They just want people to come in and fill holes rather than really bring anything because that's not what they want considering the people around them who really make the decisions. If you don't know who people are...well, whatever, you're only going to be there for 5 minutes and the next writer who replaces you after Vince takes the life from you will have the same expertise on the subject. In a way, it's no different from the shitty retail jobs people do where if your manager doesn't care about good store maintenance or good customer service, nobody else is either. And yeah, I've done a couple of those here and there and no matter how good you are, do the wrong thing once and you might as well not exist anymore.

There's been a story going around about Leslye Headland not wanting to hire just Star Wars fans for the show she's show running partially because it's one based right before the original trilogy so those risks can be taken but also because she didn't just want a room full of people who agreed with her and sort of wanted to get an outsider perspective of Star Wars as a whole, as hard as that would be to do in 2021 and honestly, it's not the worst idea. With something as much of a monolith as Star Wars, it's easy if you're there already to have your view because you've seen a lot of it, or even all of it. Getting a new voice brings a new perspective and maybe something those fans on the writing team might not have thought about before. Whether it pays off or not, whose to say with the show only being in pre-production right now but it's worth reading the interview.

It's funny that this, the Tucker interview, and the quotes have come out in the same week because the mentality seems wildly different. Like, I'm not expecting a weekly TV show to be easy to produce and cast for but it feels like there's a real lack of care to how stories go or how ideas get processed, especially when there are people who genuinely want to go out there and do stuff because being paid to do nothing sucks. An outsider perspective helps a lot in getting a fresh perspective on the stuff you do and there have been people in the writer's room who have done that but those same people have said how grueling the thing is and how you do the wrong thing, it'll get percieved as such easily (said Emmy winner who wrote the Otis/Mandy storyline got heat for bringing the award in when...I mean, people are going to want to see it so of course she'd bring it, why wouldn't you if asked?). So in a way, I sort of respect her for not giving a shit because, well, if they're not going to encourage that, why would you?

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

Jun 25, 2021 0:22:17 GMT -5 adamclark52 said:

I think he overestimates his value just a little

Does he really?

It's not like he's asking to be in the main event, multiple titles, dude just wanted to be TV after being part of an over act for a while.

Considering they're still trying with Jaxson Ryker, who's never been part of anything even close to Heavy Machinery which isn't the highest bar to clear, I'd say he has a decent idea of his value. Just wanted that chance.

[DoubleDare]

When Tucker turned on Otis most people say the writing on the wall for Tucker and knew he wouldn't be used at all and just released in a few months.

Shame Tucker still had hope after that.