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PARTNERS MAY BE THE KEY TO WHETHER VINCE MCMAHON STAYS IN WWE, WHERE’S MJF, BODY SIZE IN WRESTLING AND MORE

By Dave Scherer on 2022-07-13 10:00:00

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You said and I agree that Stephanie can't just fire Vince during the investigation.  Why not a suspension pending the outcome?  That is what should and need to happen, correct?

Well, they did that from the CEO aspect but remember, Vince controls the voting stock, which means in theory he could get rid of anyone on the Board who voted to suspend him if he wanted to take on that fight.

Do you feel that sponsors, NBC Universal and Fox as well as other partners may influence the decision by the board on whether or not Vince stays as Chairman and CEO of WWE regardless of the outcome of the ongoing scandal?

It should, for sure.  If those companies say that they won’t talk extension on their rights deals as long as Vince is around, it could take down the company since the vast majority of their revenue comes from those deals.  I think it will also take Vince being wise enough to realize that if it happens.

The other week I started wondering if WWE was working with Flair and Conrad Thompson on the Last Match due to one of their retro logo's being on some of the official merchandise.  Now the 1st episode of the Legacy of Ric Flair is released and it's chock full of WWE owned footage.  Could this all be tied into his return to the WWE opening?

I don’t think WWE wants anything to do with Flair’s last match, and I don’t blame them.  Flair, at his age and health, is really tempting fate here.  I don’t think WWE wants anything to do with that.

So what’s the deal with MJF situation?  No mention of him on AEW programming, he’s been radio silent, and the whole thing is looking like more of a shoot with each passing day!  If it’s still a work it’s hard to see how they bring him back in from a storytelling standpoint.  Maybe they’re waiting on Punk’s return? Long term storytelling is great and all, but this feels like they’ve waited way too long.

No matter what the situation is, AEW has totally dropped the ball here.  MJF was white hot two months ago.  Now?  No one is even talking about him.  If it ends up it was a shoot, Tony Khan is a dimwit for letting MJF have a mic on Dynamite.  There is no positive to it.  If it’s a work, it’s gone on too long and lost momentum.  At this point, the best case scenario is that they did because MJF needed surgery and recovery has taken longer than expected, which kept him out.  When that is the best case, they have really screwed the pooch.  That isn’t to say an MJF return wouldn’t get pops and all but they have lost so much momentum, both AEW and MJF himself.

I’ve been seeing a lot of online discourse with fans effectively body-shaming wrestlers for either being “too small” or not looking like chiseled marble. What’s worse is that old school industry guys like Jim Cornette encourage this reductive line of thinking by bad mouthing truly talented workers for not having a body like Ultimate Warrior or Lex Luger. What’s your take on this? I think it’s absolutely lousy that in 2022, some so-called fans are still being disrespectful towards some otherwise great wrestlers for not conforming to largely unrealistic body standards.

I can only talk about what I have heard and that is Jim Cornette talking about Adam Cole.  What I heard him say is that Cole has everything and if he put on some more muscle, it would make him look like more of a star to the people who care about more than work rate in a wrestler.  Obviously to you that is not the case.  But that doesn’t mean that to other people they can’t take someone seriously as a faux fighter when they are small.  I understand that.  I am someone who can appreciate someone’s  working ability but I also find it hard to believe when little guys beat up big guys.  For someone like me, who watches wrestling for the storylines and “faux fight” aspect, if I saw, say, Matt Jackson beating up Wardlow, I would laugh at it.  Is Matt a great worker?  He sure can be.  But if you want me to invest in him as a faux fighter, don’t have him go toe to toe with Wardlow because it’s totally unrealistic to me.  As for the comment about the body, again it depends on who you are as a fan.  If all you care about is whether someone is a great worker that gives you great performances, that’s cool.  I think what the people you reference are saying is that when you combine a great worker with a great look, they have a chance of being a megastar as they will appeal to people who put stock in a wrestler’s look.

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