dang.

you know aedub will at least try to pickup strowman and black off of that release. can you even imagine a proper strowman/archer/rusev title match? holy shit that would burn the house down will a full crowd back.

 

Strowman?! What the FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!!

 

Black, Murphy and Riott would be my picks from that list for AEW. All 3 are great wrestlers and Riott in particular would help bolster the women's division.

Strowman would probably be good for Impact or maybe a stint in NJPW. I can't see AEW grabbing him as he's only ever trained/worked WWE and they honestly don't need another big man they won't pull the trigger on. The only reason he might have a shot at going to AEW is he's a Mark Henry guy and they just hired him.

I can't really see AEW hiring Lana. Miro doesn't need to be paired with her at this point, and I don't see the value she'd bring if she's not with Miro. Maybe a short stint when Kip is back from injury so they can do Miro/Lana vs Kip/Penelope.

I know nothing of Santana Garrett.

Random comments:
Black is a weird as hell cut. They were just bringing him back and there were reports of Zelina being back at the PC recently with indications of a return. Either she's not back, Vince and co are petty as hell, or the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing.
Riott confuses me. Why cut her yet still keep Liv? I like Liv but Ruby is easily the better of the two. Saw the odd vague comment about heat with Nikki Bella and thus also Laurinitus, so maybe its that. Or cause she has indy cred, she was on a bigger deal than Liv so cutting her saves more money. I don't know.
Strowman is odd as he very much fits the look Vince is usually after, was a world champ a year ago and had a Mania match with Shane 2 months ago. That's not the kind of person they cut. Either there's something behind the scenes we don't know about, or he got such a ridiculous deal last time he signed that they can't justify the costs.

Between these random cuts, the last batch of cuts, the reports of them consolidating some departments within the company, and basically selling the Network to NBC Universal, this really feels like the sort of cost cutting/value pumping a company does before selling. Can't say that's something I would have expected.

I wonder if we'll get more names later in the day.

 

Just woke up and saw the Twitter pings about this. WHAT THE FUCK VINCE?!?

I always thought Vince was gonna rule pro wrestling at some point. Now with all these releases I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the company does go under or gets close to it to the point he’s forced to sell it. Either way, I think Tony Khan is more than likely becoming the new king of pro wrestling and it only took 2 YEARS to do so

 

This is a great time for TNA, AEW, RoH, and NJPW.

There is now a large pool of talented workers with name recognition. Samoa Joe, Daniel Bryan, Andrade, Aleister Black, Buddy Murphy, Velveteen Dream (He’s a horrible human being, but is a good promo and wrestler… which can also describe many of wrestling’s “legends.” The industry is full of bad people. Always been that way.). Nevermind how CM Punk is becoming more open every year to offers, the fact that Brock isn’t under a contract, although he demands a lot.

You could literally build a company with those first six as your main even scene and the other two as attractions. There’s so many options now to enrich promotions in need of top tier talent/attention.

I don’t think AEW gets a lot of these guys. I think this is where NJPW or TNA finds a way to become more competitive again

 

Apparently Braun had negotiated himself a huge contract, over 1 000 000 per year. That explains why he was cut i guess

 

Sheamas makes over a million per year. Braun deserves it more than that guy

 

Ha. I remember when all the marks thought Black was the next Undertaker.

 

The skill, presence, and all that - he still does.

WWE has to actually do something with you for that to happen, though. The company has been really shitty about that for a lot of people

****I find it so strange when one nobody internet fan calls another a “mark.” You’re not exactly tearing it up on TV for one of the feds, man. “Mark” usually meaning nothing beyond that person having a different view… as the people saying that tend to be “marks” for something or someone else in the industry****

 

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I'm genuinely shocked by Strowman's release. This is a top guy who can slot into main events, a former champion they've invested so much time in building up. He won't be short of offers from other promotions.

 

Bad move, Vinnie Mac,. Bad move.

Dumbass.

 

And keep in mind Eva Marie is employed and given a push.

 

Re-employed. They brought her back despite firing other people as a reportedly cost cutting measure. That's some crap

 

Roddy Piper also did some stand up comedy and then he died.

 

Well, he chose to do those sick things. I'm sure all those chair shots to the head from the Rock he took in that one match alone gave him CTE. It's sad if anything happens to him but he'll get no sympathy from me since he chose to live his life this way. Just being honest.

 

The rumor is that NBC wants to buy WWE for $2 to $4 billion.

 

I just got done with DSOTR and man this was a tough episode to watch. I feel so bad for all of Jake's siblings. I've known of Jakes up bringing from beyond the mat but hearing all the accounts from his siblings just made me sick to my stomach.

 

That’s the general idea I got from watching it too (needless to say there was a LOT of onion-cutting), and next week’s episode (Dynamite Kid) doesn’t lift the mood any better apparently

 

Dark Side of the Ring lived up to its name tonight. Geez that was depressing.

 

Rumors are that WWE still isn’t done with releases. They’re supposedly looking into releasing some NXT UK talent, although they’re fairly low on the pay scale so it wouldn’t save WWE much money.

And supposedly all the releases are to cut payroll to make the company look even more profitable for the sale to NBC.

If it does end up sold, I have mixed feelings. Being owned by a major network could homogenize the content even further, but it could only help being away from Vinnie “rewrite RAW while it’s airing every week” Mac.