The Official WWE / NXT Discussion Thread *May Contain Spoilers*

[Jaysin]

http://www.prowrestling.net/artman/publish/WWE/article10026731.shtml

 

AW has been fired

[djthefunkchris]

You're insane. Heath sells well, his mic skills are just offensive enough to make people want to see him get smashed, AND most of all, he has absolutely zero potential. He's the perfect jobber. And that's ok, not everybody can hold the strap.

Which is why I said perfect "Heel" champion, to make others look good. I think he has amazing potential, so we will agree to disagree?

http://www.prowrestling.net/artman/publish/WWE/article10026731.shtml

 

AW has been fired

I read your link, and I agree with him on so many levels that I just don't know what to say really. I've always like A.W., for a good while. They need guys like A.W. to bring back some PG strong points. IF he got fired for just saying something he shouldn't, that is just ridiculous. Here's hoping that it's just for show and that they will re-hire him at a later point like they did Daniel Bryan.

[eayragt]

 

I read your link, and I agree with him on so many levels that I just don't know what to say really. I've always like A.W., for a good while. They need guys like A.W. to bring back some PG strong points. IF he got fired for just saying something he shouldn't, that is just ridiculous. Here's hoping that it's just for show and that they will re-hire him at a later point like they did Daniel Bryan.

 

AW didn't get fired for one thing he said, he got fired for more stuff he said after he had been warned. I don't know what he said, as it looks like it was both at a live show and on twitter. But once you've been warned and presumably given boundaries, if you don't stick to them you're making trouble for yourself.

 

Anyway, why can't Linda quit politics? That's the main cause of this. Don't get me wrong, it's the McMahon's company and they can set whatever rules they want, but if Linda wasn't in politics it would increase the chances of the rules being a little more lax.

[djthefunkchris]

She's going for a pretty important seat though, and has a plan. That's my serious answer... Now for the one I wanted to say: She has to win the election so she can create jobs so people can buy more WWE merchandise!

[BHK1978]

It sucks to see AW go, but I guess he should have just kept his mouth shut. I thought he might be the guy that could usher managers back into the WWE. I guess that is just not going to be the case now. Things are pretty bad when Vicki is the best manager in recent years.

 

I guess the days of the Evil Trinity (Freddie Blassie, Lou Albano, and The Grand Wizard) and Bobby Heenan are long gone.

[TakerNGN74]

AW didn't get fired for one thing he said, he got fired for more stuff he said after he had been warned. I don't know what he said, as it looks like it was both at a live show and on twitter. But once you've been warned and presumably given boundaries, if you don't stick to them you're making trouble for yourself.

 

I think the main reason he got fired was because of a Kobe Bryant Comment he made on Raw a week or so ago when comparing Titus O'Neal to Kobe Bryant. It was a stupid comment that he probably shouldn't have said but he made it and he was warned about it afterwords. After being warned you think he would have just said Okay and left it alone however he took it to twitter and I think that is the main reason he got himself fired.

 

I could totally be wrong on this but that's the way I see it anyways.

 

On a side note I think its weird because I just started following him on Twitter a week or so ago and then he gets fired.

[lazorbeak]

http://www.prowrestling.net/artman/publish/WWE/article10026711.shtml

 

Nash discusses the interview everyone is talking about

 

Other than the dumb "Punk should go to the gym more," I don't disagree with Nash for much. Short of radically changing his diet or taking something, Punk is not going to get any bigger. He's talked about it a million times how even when he does put all his effort into looking like his video game self for Wrestlemania, he doesn't look that much better.

 

But one of the things I miss about pro wrestling from 15 years ago and beyond is the dudes who would never be world champions but were legit bad-asses in the Mark Henry vein. Jim Neidhart, Haku/Meng, LOD, Rick Steiner, Scott Norton, etc. None of these guys were ever going to be singles champions because they didn't have abs and couldn't cut a promo (or sell anything), but all of them looked like they could wreck somebody. I think the problem has less to do with size and more to do with everybody having the same body type. Guys with great physiques would stand out even more if WWE had a few workers that didn't have great abs for them to match up with, but at the moment the only guys who can get away with that are guys that weigh over 350 pounds. Where are those crossover athletes with thighs like tree-trunks?

 

Wolverine is 5'3"

 

I guess Stan Lee didn't like tall lumbering talentless....superheroes

 

Wolverine debuted as an Incredible Hulk villain in the mid-70's and was created by Len Wein, and since Nash is talking about movies, Hugh Jackman is 6'1"-6'2" and ripped. Maybe not the best example?

 

Pretty sure a guy built like Chris Hemsworth could find work in WWE pretty easily, too. But movies also have the ability to make a guy seem bigger through camera angles and casting. I mean Arnold claimed to be 6'2" for nearly all of his acting career. After it became obvious he was shorter than guys who were 6'1" during his political career, he now only claims to be 6'. But the perception his movies created was that he was 6'3" or bigger, because he's a massive dude compared to pretty much any actor he was working with. WWE can certainly control perception in the same way by surrounding wrestlers with small refs, interviewers, etc.

[soxfan93]

Nobody mentioned this, so:

 

This week, WWE reached a settlement with the World Wildlife Fund. Use of the WWF logo and acronym is now allowed legally. No word on how much Vince paid and what else was included.

[Teh_Showtime]

Yeah they don't need to blur the scratch logo in archive footage anymore

[soxfan93]

Yes, but the new news is that they can use the WWF acronym now, not just the logo.

[TakerNGN74]

Thats great news, watching DVDs with blurred logos gets really annoying after a while. So I am glad to hear that when new releases come out they wont have to do that anymore.

 

I cant believe it took them this long to do this because WWE changed its name from WWF way back in 2002. So thats ten years that it took them to be able to use the acronym and name without having to censor or blur it.

[Teh_Showtime]

Yes, but the new news is that they can use the WWF acronym now, not just the logo.

 

That's not nearly as important

 

watching a PPV with the old MSG setup with the entrance directly across from the hard camera, and all the logos and jazz

 

that is really annoying

[shawn michaels]

I would bet a lot of money in this: The joke was scripted. It bombed. AW takes the blame. I wouldn't be surprised and by the way he tweeted about it, it may very well be the case.

[cappyboy]

Yes, but the new news is that they can use the WWF acronym now, not just the logo.

 

Good. I'm always tripping up and opening World Wildlife Fund crap I couldn't care less about every time I see the WWF acronym in newsfeeds. The World Wildlife Fund may have had it first and may have physical ownership. But they need to just accept they were never go to have mental ownership of it. People were always going to hear WWF and think first of the McMahons.

[Teh_Showtime]

I would bet a lot of money in this: The joke was scripted. It bombed. AW takes the blame. I wouldn't be surprised and by the way he tweeted about it, it may very well be the case.

 

This is the most idiotic statement I've heard in a while

 

Considering he tweeted himself that he was the sole reason for the joke

 

Now he shouldn't have been released, but he did do it himself

 

[Blake Trask]

Double standards or not, rape is not a joking matter, and if that came direct from him (which I think it's highly likely it did), then he deserved to get fired for it. National TV, not cool.

[milamber]

SD Highlights:

 

Jinder Mahal's double camel clutch. Y2J having fun with Vickie. Cesaro vs Christian. AW helping PTP get a tag title shot (sadly for the last time).

[lazorbeak]

Double standards or not, rape is not a joking matter, and if that came direct from him (which I think it's highly likely it did), then he deserved to get fired for it. National TV, not cool.

 

Except the joke is more about celebrity culture that completely forgives bad behavior than excusing, apologizing, or encouraging bad behavior. I think it's ridiculous to be fired over it in any era.

[BurningHamster]

Does anyone remember way back when Cena used to rap/when the Kobe Bryant rape allegations were still somewhat fresh him and Big Show having an exchange in which Show rhymed "Giant" with a line about Cena being a white girl and him being Kobe Bryant?

 

Seriously the WWE gives really mixed signals about a lot of things, I'm sure nobody is looking to them for moral guidance, but it would be nice if they had some consistency in what they present. Similarly the whole "Hey kids don't be a bully, unless it's against a heel like Heath Slater or Paul Heyman then everyone can take a shot at them" booking style seems to really contradict what they are doing with B A Star etc.

 

On an unrelated note, Damien Sandow is my new hero. Heels in WWE are so much more likable than babyfaces most of the time.

[soxfan93]

Does anyone remember way back when Cena used to rap/when the Kobe Bryant rape allegations were still somewhat fresh him and Big Show having an exchange in which Show rhymed "Giant" with a line about Cena being a white girl and him being Kobe Bryant?

 

Link

 

#Hypocrisy

[Moe Hunter]

Wolverine debuted as an Incredible Hulk villain in the mid-70's and was created by Len Wein, and since Nash is talking about movies, Hugh Jackman is 6'1"-6'2" and ripped. Maybe not the best example?

 

If Nash is talking about movies, then why would he say "Stan Lee" and "started Marvel"? If you discount Wolverine for being not created by Stan Lee, you can't use the movie version of Wolverine to further your point.

 

Well before the movies, Wolverine was easily by leaps and bounds the most poprular X-Man, to a sickening degree. I say him being a 5'3" undeniable badass, hugely popular and "believable" (within context) is a fine dismantling of Nash's point.

 

How tall is Thomas Jane? I seem to recall him beating Kevin Nash in a little movie called The Punisher.

 

Also, Nash mentioned "guys the same height as the refs"... No one seems to have a problem with that in the UFC, where real people really fight each other. Could Nash beat Herb Dean or John McCarthy?

[BHK1978]

As eayragt said, I wonder if this whole A.W. thing would have been a non-issue if Linda was not running for public office. She can't afford any bad press right now.

[eayragt]

Link

 

#Hypocrisy

 

No, it's not. That's years ago, before Linda went into politics. Since then the rules have changed (due to Linda being in politics)

 

However, that's a good defense for not being fired, if the rules haven't been made clear to you. But given that TMZ quote a WWE source saying "Unfortunately, Brian Jossie, playing the character of A.W. was terminated because he continued to exhibit poor judgment by making offensive and inappropriate comments on live television and on social media" and the fact he was still given a live mic after the comments, it looks like AW was fired for comments made after the Bryant comments. So he was warned, set boundaries, and broke them.

 

I hope someone warned Vince after his JRimpression in June...

 

And no-one here yet has (thankfully) mentioned Tensai's comments to Sakamoto. These were clearly scripted, as the whole point of the Tout video was to get to these comments. WWE are quite entitled to script offensive comments that they can vet as part of a storyline - it doesn't give others free reign to make offensive comments if they've been warned not to.

[Makhai]

No, it's not. That's years ago, before Linda went into politics. Since then the rules have changed (due to Linda being in politics)

 

However, that's a good defense for not being fired, if the rules haven't been made clear to you. But given that TMZ quote a WWE source saying "Unfortunately, Brian Jossie, playing the character of A.W. was terminated because he continued to exhibit poor judgment by making offensive and inappropriate comments on live television and on social media" and the fact he was still given a live mic after the comments, it looks like AW was fired for comments made after the Bryant comments. So he was warned, set boundaries, and broke them.

 

I hope someone warned Vince after his JRimpression in June...

 

And no-one here yet has (thankfully) mentioned Tensai's comments to Sakamoto. These were clearly scripted, as the whole point of the Tout video was to get to these comments. WWE are quite entitled to script offensive comments that they can vet as part of a storyline - it doesn't give others free reign to make offensive comments if they've been warned not to.

 

She's going to lose anyway. Vince is just flushing his money down the toilet.

[bigtplaystew]

Double standards or not, rape is not a joking matter, and if that came direct from him (which I think it's highly likely it did), then he deserved to get fired for it. National TV, not cool.

 

As far as subject matter goes, it's not for you or me to say what's funny or isn't. People make controversial jokes all the time. Sometimes they're funny. I don't understand why people get offended and immediately want someone fired. That part makes no sense. Sorry your feelings got hurt about the rape joke I guess but get over it and move on.

 

Just looking at this at the surface, was anyone really going to stop watching WWE because of one stinking rape joke? Really?? Someone needed to get fired over that? So stupid.

 

His joke shouldn't have gotten him fired. But it was probably the straw that broke the camel's back. He was absolutely TERRIBLE in my opinion. He was a manager that couldn't talk. He was awkward. And the only thing he ever did with that "live mic at ringside" that was remotely entertaining was a bad rape joke that wasn't well constructed or well delivered. Something tells me if the dude had this irresistible talent he'd still have a job there.