|
Post by Hypnosis on Mar 9, 2023 10:18:24 GMT -5
A shame that she never won a title on NXT.
Hope I still get to see her on TV again with whichever promotion it is, and gets booked better.
|
|
|
Post by MrElijah on Mar 9, 2023 10:21:36 GMT -5
Sarray being a foreign exchange student with Chase U wrote itself and they did nothing That's honestly a great idea. Chase shows her some hilarious lessons, Sarray teaches him her sick ass dropkick.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2023 10:33:50 GMT -5
It sucks she did not really get the chance to do much of anything because I remember when she was initially coming in that Regal and HHH were so high on her and expectations were huge.
Because she is immensely talented but also from the first few times watching her I was thinking she was definetly gonna be of the Joshi women in the company she was probably bound to struggle much in the same way Io did in her early NXT days and I figured if they turn her heel it may have the same effect as Io getting white hot when she made her heel turn.
But there are also other things at play like others have pointed out she came in right when Vince was starting to dismantle NXT...the NXT that was made for her talents the one with very simple straight forward stories but what got you over was what you did in the ring , and the result showed that it was no longer a show made for her talents.
If AEW is smart this is one mistake they should absouloutley capitalize on..bring her in and form a stable of Joshi to be a wild card faction in the ongoing homegrown vs outsiders feud they got going with their women right now.
|
|
Legion
Fry's dog Seymour
Amy Pond's #1 fan
Hail Hydra!
Posts: 23,410
|
Post by Legion on Mar 9, 2023 11:51:07 GMT -5
Do we know if she was happy in the US?
She posted a lot of 'I must keep smiling' and other things that would suggest she wasn't happy.
Given she wasn't being used, it may have just been that, but being alone, not being able to speak a language, possible bullying from certain areas of the crowd and the culture shock between Japan and the US, especially for younger talent, I could see her just wanting to just go home.
WWE appear to have dropped the ball creatively and potentially with general support, but some people just may not be a fit, and that's ok too. I dont think we need to jump to 'HBK is a racist' takes just yet.
|
|
Totorob101
Hank Scorpio
Glob Glob Glob
Posts: 5,816
|
Post by Totorob101 on Mar 9, 2023 12:10:42 GMT -5
Do we know if she was happy in the US? She posted a lot of 'I must keep smiling' and other things that would suggest she wasn't happy. Given she wasn't being used, it may have just been that, but being alone, not being able to speak a language, possible bullying from certain areas of the crowd and the culture shock between Japan and the US, especially for younger talent, I could see her just wanting to just go home. WWE appear to have dropped the ball creatively and potentially with general support, but some people just may not be a fit, and that's ok too. I dont think we need to jump to 'HBK is a racist' takes just yet. There was some horrible online abuse to Sarray if i remember and i certainly read some vile stuff online,Sarray comes across as a sweet gentle young lady so i cant imagine the toxic enviorment around her and the awful online abuse made her feel at all good plus the lack of any proper use in the ring,it just seems a very tough and sad situation for her. I hope she finds the joy and success she deserves back in Japan because shes a superb talent who just probably just never fit in with the lifestyle and culture there.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Mar 9, 2023 13:04:48 GMT -5
Do we know if she was happy in the US? She posted a lot of 'I must keep smiling' and other things that would suggest she wasn't happy. Given she wasn't being used, it may have just been that, but being alone, not being able to speak a language, possible bullying from certain areas of the crowd and the culture shock between Japan and the US, especially for younger talent, I could see her just wanting to just go home.
WWE appear to have dropped the ball creatively and potentially with general support, but some people just may not be a fit, and that's ok too. I dont think we need to jump to 'HBK is a racist' takes just yet. That tends to be how it is for all the Joshi that have come into the company. When Kairi left I believe in KAIRI's goodbye video from WWE there is a moment when Asuka says she was so lonely before KAIRI came to the main roster. Xia Li talked about how lonely Io was (after Io won the NXT womens title) and that it was usually just her , Kairi when she was there and Io talking about life. Io and KAIRI both also dealt with mountains of racists while in NXT....Io famously countering one bitch after they told her to go back to China she responds with "I'm Japanese bitch and then proceeds to hit her splits right after just amazing). Some can weather that storm but perhaps it was all just too much for Sarray.
|
|
|
Post by 1 Free Moon-Down with Burger on Mar 9, 2023 13:14:00 GMT -5
As a former Impact Zone regular and Orlando wrestling fan. I can attest to the people that regularly go to every show in the area being awful people
|
|
|
Post by tuckerguy on Mar 9, 2023 13:19:18 GMT -5
Even without Vince writing the show, WWE truly cannot handle more than one or two Japanese stars at a time, huh? They can only handle one luchador at a time (Rey Mysterio)
|
|
Allie Kitsune
Crow T. Robot
Always Feelin' Foxy.
HaHa U FaLL 4 LaVa TriK
Posts: 46,854
|
Post by Allie Kitsune on Mar 9, 2023 13:23:47 GMT -5
As a former Impact Zone regular and Orlando wrestling fan. I can attest to the people that regularly go to every show in the area being awful people I'm sure. It just feels like sometimes there's a vibe of "...and if you're watching, you're condoning it and you're just as bad!" being implied.
|
|
Facetious
King Koopa
ADAM COLE BAYBAY
Posts: 12,469
|
Post by Facetious on Mar 9, 2023 14:13:02 GMT -5
From Fightful
Tokyo Sport has reported that Sarray is leaving WWE.
Fightful Select was able to confirm the report, including that Sarray has bookings elsewhere. However, WWE has yet to comment to our numerous inquiries about her in an official capacity. Since word emerged that she'd be leaving WWE imminently. We've learned more.
We're told the beginning of the end was actually early in 2022, when many of her biggest supporters were let go from NXT. Sources within the brand said that she never factored into a consistent or major creative fashion after that. We're told by the spring of 2022, that the writing was on the wall. William Regal's departure was one that many pointed to as a turning point.
Those who frequent the Performance Center said that she hadn't been around in "ages," and weren't given any answers when they'd ask about her. It was widely accepted within the company that the creative given to her was outright bad.
Those within the company said that Sarray took great pride in helping Tiffany Stratton along during their short feud, and seemed to think a lot of the up and coming talent. Though there was a language barrier, we've heard no issues in her dealing with anyone, and only heard positive things about her from others in the WWE PC.
WWE has still not confirmed things to us officially, but we're told her work with them is effectively done.
|
|
|
Post by DrBackflipsHoffman on Mar 9, 2023 14:19:09 GMT -5
sending someone to florida on purpose is just a bad idea IMO
|
|
|
Post by poodoojenkins on Mar 9, 2023 14:23:36 GMT -5
Nah. As long as WWE wants to call itself an international brand (they are doing a lot of international shows over the next few months, and they want to do more stuff internationally), refusing to use people whose first language isn't English to their fullest potential is enough to warrant calling them awful. And Sarray was absolutely not used to her fullest potential. There's no room for argument there, especially with how much HBK sabotaged her in NXT. Giving her that awful magical schoolgirl gimmick, and then when it looked like she was going to get momentum from a feud/match with Meiko, cancelling it at the last minute. And yes, I'm placing pretty much all of the blame on HBK, because he's been pretty explicit that he has full creative control in NXT and makes all of the decisions. Hell, I'll go one further. As long as HBK is in charge of talent recruitment/training, no foreign talent should even consider looking at WWE. Especially if their first language isn't English. And it's been proven you don't need to speak fluent English to get over with American audiences either. Look at Asuka right now, and Iyo while she was in NXT. And even KAIRI got over. There is so much wild speculation, so many baseless claims, and absolute radiation of a need to blame someone for her having a snakebitten run in the company in this post that I honestly can't believe someone actually posted it. Ridiculous.
|
|
|
Post by mistery on Mar 9, 2023 14:30:48 GMT -5
Nah. As long as WWE wants to call itself an international brand (they are doing a lot of international shows over the next few months, and they want to do more stuff internationally), refusing to use people whose first language isn't English to their fullest potential is enough to warrant calling them awful. And Sarray was absolutely not used to her fullest potential. There's no room for argument there, especially with how much HBK sabotaged her in NXT. Giving her that awful magical schoolgirl gimmick, and then when it looked like she was going to get momentum from a feud/match with Meiko, cancelling it at the last minute. And yes, I'm placing pretty much all of the blame on HBK, because he's been pretty explicit that he has full creative control in NXT and makes all of the decisions. Hell, I'll go one further. As long as HBK is in charge of talent recruitment/training, no foreign talent should even consider looking at WWE. Especially if their first language isn't English. And it's been proven you don't need to speak fluent English to get over with American audiences either. Look at Asuka right now, and Iyo while she was in NXT. And even KAIRI got over. There is so much wild speculation, so many baseless claims, and absolute radiation of a need to blame someone for her having a snakebitten run in the company in this post that I honestly can't believe someone actually posted it. Ridiculous. See the post above yours from Fightful. The common consensus is that HBK is 100% at fault for mishandling her. And he absolutely did it intentionally by giving her bad creative. He's also been vocal about how he has the final say on everything and everything goes through him. I don't think its a coincidence that Jiro Ikeman has disappeared off of TV as well, and most ESL speakers are now gone from NXT or off of TV entirely.
|
|
|
Post by polarbearpete on Mar 9, 2023 15:16:10 GMT -5
There is so much wild speculation, so many baseless claims, and absolute radiation of a need to blame someone for her having a snakebitten run in the company in this post that I honestly can't believe someone actually posted it. Ridiculous. See the post above yours from Fightful. The common consensus is that HBK is 100% at fault for mishandling her. And he absolutely did it intentionally by giving her bad creative. He's also been vocal about how he has the final say on everything and everything goes through him. I don't think its a coincidence that Jiro Ikeman has disappeared off of TV as well, and most ESL speakers are now gone from NXT or off of TV entirely. It’s just baseless speculation on your part. No need for it.
|
|
|
Post by "Evil Brood" Jackson Vanik on Mar 9, 2023 15:17:49 GMT -5
Still annoyed this never happened:
|
|
|
Post by DrBackflipsHoffman on Mar 9, 2023 15:20:01 GMT -5
there was an NXT UK?
|
|
|
Post by poodoojenkins on Mar 9, 2023 15:28:03 GMT -5
There is so much wild speculation, so many baseless claims, and absolute radiation of a need to blame someone for her having a snakebitten run in the company in this post that I honestly can't believe someone actually posted it. Ridiculous. See the post above yours from Fightful. The common consensus is that HBK is 100% at fault for mishandling her. And he absolutely did it intentionally by giving her bad creative. He's also been vocal about how he has the final say on everything and everything goes through him. I don't think its a coincidence that Jiro Ikeman has disappeared off of TV as well, and most ESL speakers are now gone from NXT or off of TV entirely. There is a massive difference between people agreeing that Shawn (or whoever) dropped the ball on a talent, and the kind of stuff you're saying. You're making giant leaps with your accusations and heavily implying that this all comes down to racism, which is completely ridiculous. Shawn has been around NXT a long time now, and there has never once been any implications from any talent or from a booking standpoint to back up the nonsense you're spewing. Hell, has anyone ever accused Shawn of being racist? Like, this is a dude who has a very shitty history behind him, and claims of all kinds against him, but I don't ever recall racism being one of them. In fact, by Googling the phrase "Shawn Michaels racism", all I can find is a report from 3 years ago where he got into an argument with another producer over BLM, which Shawn was on the pro side of. This company, and even Shawn-lead NXT, have dropped the ball on countless talents over the years of every gender, race, religion, whatever. This is just one of those times, paired with a TON of bad luck. It sucks, sorry you didn't get what you wanted from someone you're obviously a fan of, but your anger is seriously misplaced.
|
|
|
Post by Rudy Gobert Weather Machine on Mar 9, 2023 15:36:20 GMT -5
there was an NXT UK? PROGRESS Jim: should I be worried about getting my assets out of NXT UK in terms of liquidity WWE: NO NO NO NO NXT UK IS FINE DO NOT TAKE YOUR MONEY DO NOT TAKE YOUR MONEY OUT IF THERE'S ONE TAKEAWAY NXT UK IS NOT IN TROUBLE IF ANYTHING I THINK THEY'RE LIKELY TO BE TAKEN OVER DON'T MOVE YOUR MONEY FROM NXT UK THAT'S JUST BEING SILLY
|
|
|
Post by mistery on Mar 9, 2023 15:47:49 GMT -5
See the post above yours from Fightful. The common consensus is that HBK is 100% at fault for mishandling her. And he absolutely did it intentionally by giving her bad creative. He's also been vocal about how he has the final say on everything and everything goes through him. I don't think its a coincidence that Jiro Ikeman has disappeared off of TV as well, and most ESL speakers are now gone from NXT or off of TV entirely. There is a massive difference between people agreeing that Shawn (or whoever) dropped the ball on a talent, and the kind of stuff you're saying. You're making giant leaps with your accusations and heavily implying that this all comes down to racism, which is completely ridiculous. Shawn has been around NXT a long time now, and there has never once been any implications from any talent or from a booking standpoint to back up the nonsense you're spewing. Hell, has anyone ever accused Shawn of being racist? Like, this is a dude who has a very shitty history behind him, and claims of all kinds against him, but I don't ever recall racism being one of them. In fact, by Googling the phrase "Shawn Michaels racism", all I can find is a report from 3 years ago where he got into an argument with another producer over BLM, which Shawn was on the pro side of. This company, and even Shawn-lead NXT, have dropped the ball on countless talents over the years of every gender, race, religion, whatever. This is just one of those times, paired with a TON of bad luck. It sucks, sorry you didn't get what you wanted from someone you're obviously a fan of, but your anger is seriously misplaced. Sorry, but I'm not giving the benefit of the doubt to a man who booked Io and Zoey in a sushi segment, put Kushida and Jiro together in a tag team meant to make fun of Japanese tropes, and made Sarray into a magical schoolgirl. Once might be an accident or insensitive. Multiple times is a problem. And I don't think its a coincidence that the vast majority of Japanese stars in NXT started being treated like jokes (or taken off of TV entirely) once he took control of creative. I'll even go one further. No Japanese wrestler should sign with WWE as long as HBK is in charge of NXT creative.
|
|
|
Post by darbus alan on Mar 9, 2023 15:49:49 GMT -5
Hearing Shawn Michaels acknowledged the existence of systemic racism and prejudice and even got into a heated argument with another WWE producer going to bat for it is actually pleasantly surprising. Good for him, seriously. That said, there's nothing saying that just because you're good with Black people that you're cool with every racial/ethnic group. And just being white in America means you probably have some racial biases you might not be consciously aware of even if you're the most progressive person around (and that's the systemic part of things and what makes it so much more insidious than the blatant bigots of the world who show their ass off for all to see). But I'm going to assume that Shawn Michaels isn't a blatant racist against East Asian people. Another thing to keep in mind is that a lot of non-native English speakers do pick up enough English to work matches with English-speaking talent like calling spots. That's almost always been the case. Cases like Mistico/Sin Cara I who just outright refuse to learn anything outside their native language are few and far in between. Language barrier may be a thing, but it's not an impenetrable one.
Sarray just really got f***ed over by the pandemic and the NXT she signed on to not being the NXT she was able to get to. More a combination of shitty circumstances and office politics than anything overtly bigoted IMO.
|
|