Some Wrestling News & Rumours 2019 Thread ***NO CHAT***

ibFoxer

Lord TSC wrote: »

Shawn Michaels has apparently been given the Head of WWE Preformance Center title.

Apparently this was one of HHHs titles before now, and he will work with Bloom (Head of training) and Regal (Head of scouting and Recruitment).

I initially read that very differently.....

I was always given to understand that Michaels wasn't the greatest teacher?

Monokne

Kendrick and Danielson speak highly of him, as does their work.

savemejebus

Didn't Punk on the other hand say that Michaels took their (Danielson and Kendrick's) money and Regal did the real training?

Xenji

savemejebus wrote: »

Didn't Punk on the other hand say that Michaels took their (Danielson and Kendrick's) money and Regal did the real training?

Danielson quite possibly could only have been in TWA for little over or under a year, same with Kendrick.

leggo

All I remember hearing about Shawn's training was that he didn't like to have to explain what he meant so, even though he was supposed to be retired with a bad back, he used to end up getting in the ring and doing all of these bumps like they were nothing.

sky88

From reading Bryans book he was a good teacher but erratic. He would have been at the height of his drug problems so he will have changed a lot since then.

I think Bryan credits regal with teaching him more then Shawn did.

sky88

From reading Bryans book he was a good teacher but erratic. He would have been at the height of his drug problems so he will have changed a lot since then.

I think Bryan credits regal with teaching him more then Shawn did.

Lithium93_

WWE cutting back on PPV's next year

Due to a decline in WWE Network subscription numbers, WWE officials are looking at making another change when it comes to the pay-per-view schedule next year. Plans haven't been finalized yet but according to The Wrestling Observer Newsletter there will be a few less pay-per-view events than originally planned in 2017. After the December 18th Roadblock pay-per-view, WWE will have ran 15 pay-per-view events in 2016, plus 5 Network-exclusive events.

http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2016/1109/619204/wwe-cutting-back-on-ppv-events-in-2017/

Lord TSC

Reigns has been pulled from the rest of the European tour. Meltzer says je doesn't know exact reason but it's not an injury.

Edit. Apparently it is a family emergency.

johnnyryan89

Lithium93_ wrote: »

WWE cutting back on PPV's next year



http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2016/1109/619204/wwe-cutting-back-on-ppv-events-in-2017/

Hopefully that means they go back to one a month with the big four being multi brand and just do more network exclusive stuff like the cruiserweight classic, King of the Ring maybe and a Tag Team Tournament show.

A Rogue Hobo

They desperately need to cut back on ppvs. Similar to three hour Raws, less is more.

A Rogue Hobo

They desperately need to cut back on ppvs. Similar to three hour Raws, less is more.

leggo

I don't necessarily disagree, it can be a lot to take in from Sunday-Wednesday if you have a PPV. But the flip side is that the rosters aren't that deep and two months can be a long time to drag out feuds (that's 24 hours of Raw). It's going to lead to a lot of lacklustre TV with storylines moving at a snail's pace, and while that can be done, it has to be done as part of a concerted change of direction and not a snap decision based off figures on a page.

johnnyryan89

leggo wrote: »

I don't necessarily disagree, it can be a lot to take in from Sunday-Wednesday if you have a PPV. But the flip side is that the rosters aren't that deep and two months can be a long time to drag out feuds (that's 24 hours of Raw). It's going to lead to a lot of lacklustre TV with storylines moving at a snail's pace, and while that can be done, it has to be done as part of a concerted change of direction and not a snap decision based off figures on a page.

Instead of both shows having a ppv every month you could have a super show for whichever brand hasn't got a ppv that month. Think most feuds have went on for at least two months since the brand split and theyve had title defences on the weekly shows so could save these for a super show with a couple of gimmick matches thrown in.

leggo

Another way they could go is only having there be 5-6 PPVs and booking week-to-week as TNA and Lucha Underground have to. That means feuds can progress in their own time and come to a head at different stages, so you've got your undercard constantly building and turning over nicely with one feature match (with real stakes) each week. That way you increase the must-see factor of the TV shows too. The problem is that creates a vacuum of content with which to plug the Network and keep people subscribed, but if they're finding that more content doesn't guarantee more subscriptions then that mightn't be as big of a problem.

Chain Smoker

A Rogue Hobo wrote: »

They desperately need to cut back on ppvs. Similar to three hour Raws, less is more.

Yep. the Brand split absolutely didn't call for monthly PPVs, on Smackdown's side at least (six or eight weeks of a two hour show building to a PPV seems like plenty).

Lithium93_

Seems Linda may become, KEYWORD: MAY a member of Trump's cabinet

Per The Daily Star

Linda McMahon may be a Candidate to join Donald Trump's Cabinet in the Commerce Department
As noted the McMahon Family donated $7 Million to Trump's Campaign

Monokne

leggo wrote: »

Another way they could go is only having there be 5-6 PPVs and booking week-to-week as TNA and Lucha Underground have to. That means feuds can progress in their own time and come to a head at different stages, so you've got your undercard constantly building and turning over nicely with one feature match (with real stakes) each week. That way you increase the must-see factor of the TV shows too. The problem is that creates a vacuum of content with which to plug the Network and keep people subscribed, but if they're finding that more content doesn't guarantee more subscriptions then that mightn't be as big of a problem.

Not a hope they'll go to less than 12 PPV's though. So long as there's one a month, that 1.1 million or so that subscribes steadily and doesn't dip in and out will hang about, but at the point that there isn't one destination show a month, I can see that eroding the core.

leggo

Monokne wrote: »

Not a hope they'll go to less than 12 PPV's though. So long as there's one a month, that 1.1 million or so that subscribes steadily and doesn't dip in and out will hang about, but at the point that there isn't one destination show a month, I can see that eroding the core.

The key thing to learn here is that they're seeing that giving people more options actually dilutes the options you're offering them. So, yes, they'll always need new original, monthly content to ensure people are motivated to keep their subs, but they may have to get smart about what that content is exactly. Cus right now 'Hell In A Cell + No Mercy' in one month isn't working, so it's unlikely that just selling one or the other would work any better.

I'd love to see the detailed breakdowns of subscribers to see what PPVs, TV shows, ad campaigns, announcements etc caused them to spike/drop. And they have to figure all of this out while not diluting their TV shows either. It's tricky.

A Rogue Hobo

leggo wrote:

The key thing to learn here is that they're seeing that giving people more options actually dilutes the options you're offering them. So, yes, they'll always need new original, monthly content to ensure people are motivated to keep their subs, but they may have to get smart about what that content is exactly. Cus right now 'Hell In A Cell + No Mercy' in one month isn't working, so it's unlikely that just selling one or the other would work any better.


I'd love to see the detailed breakdowns of subscribers to see what PPVs, TV shows, ad campaigns, announcements etc caused them to spike/drop. And they have to figure all of this out while not diluting their TV shows either. It's tricky.

I'm guessing it is over-saturation. I could be wrong but isn't the NFL going through a similar issue at the moment? I am no expert on NFL by any means whatsoever but as far as I know: they have added a Thursday night game, along with a Sunday and Monday game every week and I believe Tuesday games some weeks.

Leading to some people feeling it's become over saturated as they have to watch 3 or sometimes 4 days out of a 7 day week, combined with the presidential election has lead to the worst ratings they've had in years.

Similarly, WWE is producing like 30 hours of nationally televised main brand content a month? That's not including anything network related exclusive content such as NXT. It's a big ask to get people to tune in to that much, much less keep the shows fresh enough to warrant people being engaged with it. I'm saying this based on my own experience too. Since the first month of the brand split I've only actually sat down and watched two shows in full (Summerslam and Hell in a Cell). I keep up through boards and I'll watch occasional highlight clips on YouTube but that's it. I find the sheer volume of content way too intimidating to set aside all that time to watch it anymore.

A Rogue Hobo

leggo wrote:

The key thing to learn here is that they're seeing that giving people more options actually dilutes the options you're offering them. So, yes, they'll always need new original, monthly content to ensure people are motivated to keep their subs, but they may have to get smart about what that content is exactly. Cus right now 'Hell In A Cell + No Mercy' in one month isn't working, so it's unlikely that just selling one or the other would work any better.


I'd love to see the detailed breakdowns of subscribers to see what PPVs, TV shows, ad campaigns, announcements etc caused them to spike/drop. And they have to figure all of this out while not diluting their TV shows either. It's tricky.

I'm guessing it is over-saturation. I could be wrong but isn't the NFL going through a similar issue at the moment? I am no expert on NFL by any means whatsoever but as far as I know: they have added a Thursday night game, along with a Sunday and Monday game every week and I believe Tuesday games some weeks.

Leading to some people feeling it's become over saturated as they have to watch 3 or sometimes 4 days out of a 7 day week, combined with the presidential election has lead to the worst ratings they've had in years.

Similarly, WWE is producing like 30 hours of nationally televised main brand content a month? That's not including anything network related exclusive content such as NXT. It's a big ask to get people to tune in to that much, much less keep the shows fresh enough to warrant people being engaged with it. I'm saying this based on my own experience too. Since the first month of the brand split I've only actually sat down and watched two shows in full (Summerslam and Hell in a Cell). I keep up through boards and I'll watch occasional highlight clips on YouTube but that's it. I find the sheer volume of content way too intimidating to set aside all that time to watch it anymore.

raze_them_all_

A Rogue Hobo wrote: »

I'm guessing it is over-saturation. I could be wrong but isn't the NFL going through a similar issue at the moment? I am no expert on NFL by any means whatsoever but as far as I know: they have added a Thursday night game, along with a Sunday and Monday game every week and I believe Tuesday games some weeks.

Leading to some people feeling it's become over saturated as they have to watch 3 or sometimes 4 days out of a 7 day week, combined with the presidential election has lead to the worst ratings they've had in years.

Similarly, WWE is producing like 30 hours of nationally televised main brand content a month? That's not including anything network related exclusive content such as NXT. It's a big ask to get people to tune in to that much, much less keep the shows fresh enough to warrant people being engaged with it. I'm saying this based on my own experience too. Since the first month of the brand split I've only actually sat down and watched two shows in full (Summerslam and Hell in a Cell). I keep up through boards and I'll watch occasional highlight clips on YouTube but that's it. I find the sheer volume of content way too intimidating to set aside all that time to watch it anymore.

Thursday night football has been around a while the issue is the league itself, its called the no fun league for a reason and the over abundance of ad breaks

Lithium93_

raze_them_all_ wrote: »

Thursday night football has been around a while the issue is the league itself, its called the no fun league for a reason and the over abundance of ad breaks

I tried watching an NFL game, and everytime they reset for another play, guess what, an AD-BREAK, it's kinda infuriating going to break while the game is on going.

A Rogue Hobo

raze_them_all_ wrote:

Thursday night football has been around a while the issue is the league itself, its called the no fun league for a reason and the over abundance of ad breaks

As I said, by no means an expert on the topic haha. The amount of commercials on American tv is crazy in general (like ads after/before credit sequences in sitcoms is crazy!) but for NFL it's particularly bad. I'm guessing too with the rise of stuff like Netflix people are wanting less ads than ever before.

A Rogue Hobo

raze_them_all_ wrote:

Thursday night football has been around a while the issue is the league itself, its called the no fun league for a reason and the over abundance of ad breaks

As I said, by no means an expert on the topic haha. The amount of commercials on American tv is crazy in general (like ads after/before credit sequences in sitcoms is crazy!) but for NFL it's particularly bad. I'm guessing too with the rise of stuff like Netflix people are wanting less ads than ever before.

leggo

A Rogue Hobo wrote: »

I'm guessing it is over-saturation. I could be wrong but isn't the NFL going through a similar issue at the moment? I am no expert on NFL by any means whatsoever but as far as I know: they have added a Thursday night game, along with a Sunday and Monday game every week and I believe Tuesday games some weeks.

Leading to some people feeling it's become over saturated as they have to watch 3 or sometimes 4 days out of a 7 day week, combined with the presidential election has lead to the worst ratings they've had in years.

Similarly, WWE is producing like 30 hours of nationally televised main brand content a month? That's not including anything network related exclusive content such as NXT. It's a big ask to get people to tune in to that much, much less keep the shows fresh enough to warrant people being engaged with it. I'm saying this based on my own experience too. Since the first month of the brand split I've only actually sat down and watched two shows in full (Summerslam and Hell in a Cell). I keep up through boards and I'll watch occasional highlight clips on YouTube but that's it. I find the sheer volume of content way too intimidating to set aside all that time to watch it anymore.

The NFL's ratings 'problems' (if you even wanna call it that, they still destroy everyone else) come from odd TV contracts meaning they have to pick all of the Monday and Thursday Night games, for example, at the start of the season. And the league can vary so much that what might look like a blockbuster game in August might be a dud between two terrible teams by October. This season they've had no luck with that. Plus there's been a few negative high profile stories I'm sure you've heard about yourself that have kind of soured the whole thing for some.

In short they have certain issues but nothing that really corresponds with WWE.

Lithium93_

Former WWE Diva Ashley Massaro claims she was sexually assaulted at military base during WWE trip.

http://www.prowrestlingsheet.com/ashley-massaro-wwe-lawsuit-sexual-assault/#.WCe74vmLTIU

jaykhunter

Lithium93_ wrote: »

Former WWE Diva Ashley Massaro claims she was sexually assaulted at military base during WWE trip.

That's absolutely horrendous. There's no more details about it, just that she's joined the CTE lawsuit. The article focuses on WWE's attempt to cover it up, which is even more horrible.

Itssoeasy

jaykhunter wrote: »

That's absolutely horrendous. There's no more details about it, just that she's joined the CTE lawsuit. The article focuses on WWE's attempt to cover it up, which is even more horrible.

Well she claims that she was sexual assaulted on a tour in 2006. That's a fairly serious claim to make.

Mr.Nice Guy

Joey Styles got himself fired tonight - on Twitter - by Gabe Sapolsky because he was in the ring with (I think) Joanna Rose and said, "“Joanna, you look great tonight. And if our next President were here tonight he’d want to grab you by the —“

That led to this...

https://twitter.com/BookItGabe/status/797610704861822976

https://twitter.com/BookItGabe/status/797618340252487680

He comes across like a bit of a creep away from wrestling.

Chain Smoker

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

He comes across like a bit of a creep away from wrestling.

And in wrestling

leggo

I think creepy is a little far, it just seems to be an ill-advised comment. Like he's trying to shoehorn a pop culture reference in to seem edgy. That kinda stuff would've killed in ECW's heyday, but you can't say it in 2016 (and rightfully so).

jaykhunter

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

Joey Styles“Joanna, you look great tonight. And if our next President were here tonight he’d want to grab you by the —“

This would've gotten crazy over in 1996 ECW. Wildly inappropriate in 2016

Edit: just saw your post Leggo, ha ha great minds!

Riddle101

Seeing the reaction that Donald Trump and Joey Styles got for their comments about touching women by the P*ssy makes me wonder how Tommy Dreamer got away with actually doing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiWt72CWoBk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Is-zBuS_lMo

Angron

I still feel a bit uncomfortable when I watch the first One Night Stand and he says during the Awesome-Tanaka match that it's a shame Awesome didn't kill himself after he does a suicide dive. There's no way he could have known what would happen with Awesome, but that's an utterly scummy thing to say regardless, and it made me think a lot less of Styles.

SarahVOW

I was watching Evolve live last night on Floslam

What happened with the context below.

Joanna is the ring announcer and a pretty good one. She was the only woman on the show. She deosnt have a character as such and is not involved in storeylines, her job is the ring announcer.  Before the main event began Joey styles came down from the commentary booth to just outside the ring with a mic. He said he was asked by Gabe not to make political comments but he was going to anyway. He singled out Joanna to say “Joanna, you look great tonight. And if our next President were here tonight he’d want to grab you by the —“ and then started his promo on the champions manger Stokely Hathaway.

Before this happened lots of people who were watching live were complaining about his commentary being bad on Twitter. He hasn't commentated much Evolve before (may have been his first full show) its usually just 1 man commentating Lenny Leonard who I think is really good solo and seems to be universally loved by Evolve fans. Many felt Joey was a negative on the commentary even before he made that horrible joke. He kept mentioning Gabe which is not something that is normally done in Evolve along with other stuff that made people sigh.

I'm a big Evolve fan I've been to many of there live shows, have purchased most of there Ippvs in the last few years and had just signed up for a year of floslam for €138. Myself and every single person I know who watched the show last night think Gabe did the right thing parting ways with him.

Anybody I've seen defend him did not see the show and he did aplogies himself. I.pretty sure he knows he did bad.


Floslam and the rest of the show was pretty good though

Monokne

I'd imagine it was more than just that comment that did it. In a vacuum, it's really not that bad.

SarahVOW

Monokne wrote: »

I'd imagine it was more than just that comment that did it. In a vacuum, it's really not that bad.

It was that comment that did it. Gabe immediately tweeted that he was furious. He then tweeted straight after the show that they parted ways. Gabe is a good man and I am happy to see that he won't put up with sexual assult jokes on his product. Flosports also spoke out against Joey's comments it was their first wrestling IPPV for their new service Floslam.

He was specifically told not to make a political jokes or comments and even lead his joke by telling the crowd this.
If he didn't make that comment the Evolve fanbase still would have said he was a negative rather than a positive addition but he'd still be on tonight's PPV for sure.

More people who didn't watch the show or follow Evolve arguing both side online today with no clue than the actual paying fans, that is why I explained the situation.

beakerjoe

SarahVOW wrote: »

It was that comment that did it. Gabe immediately tweeted that he was furious. He then tweeted straight after the show that they parted ways. Gabe is a good man and I am happy to see that he won't put up with sexual assult jokes on his product. Flosports also spoke out against Joey's comments it was their first wrestling IPPV for their new service Floslam.

He was specifically told not to make a political jokes or comments and even lead his joke by telling the crowd this.
If he didn't make that comment the Evolve fanbase still would have said he was a negative rather than a positive addition but he'd still be on tonight's PPV for sure.

More people who didn't watch the show or follow Evolve arguing both side online today with no clue than the actual paying fans, that is why I explained the situation.

Now did he get fired for lame joke or did he get canned for going against Gabe.

He can have no complaints either way. He should know better.

SarahVOW

beakerjoe wrote: »

Now did he get fired for lame joke or did he get canned for going against Gabe.

He can have no complaints either way. He should know better.

Both I'd imagion and telling eveybody he was purposely going against what Gabe had asked before he said it.

He wasn't a good fit for Evolve and probably would have been let go anyways eventually.

beakerjoe

SarahVOW wrote: »

Both I'd imagion and telling eveybody he was purposely going against what Gabe had asked before he said it.

He wasn't a good fit for Evolve and probably would have been let go anyways eventually.

On a side note, what are you getting for you 138 bucks with Floslam. Seems a little steep but even though Im aware of Floslam, Im unaware of exactly what it offers.

Ive been toying with the idea of subbing up to Progress of Evolve the last six months but never took the leap.

Agent Coulson

Styles issued an open letter to PWInsider

Friday night, I panicked on camera during the live broadcast of Evolve 72 on FloSlam when I realized that heel manager, Stokely Hathaway and I would be doing our promo at ringside and not in the ring with ring announcer, Joanna Rose as I had anticipated.

I told Joanna before the show that during my promo with her and Stokely in the ring, I was going to ask her about English tailoring so we could compare my suit with Stokely Hathaway's suit.

I had no idea what to say when Stokely Hathaway and I were at ringside about to trade promos and I didn't have Joanna with us to ask about English tailoring.

I panicked and I did exactly what Gabe Sapolsky told me not to do earlier in the week and made a political joke. The joke included a partial quote from the President-Elect that was meant to mock him and then, in-turn, my scripted nemesis, Stokely Hathaway.

I started the joke and stopped quoting the President-Elect without using the offensive word.

Again, I did not utter the offensive word.

I then turned to Stokely Hathaway and said "the word that I will not use, brings me to you."

As the veteran, I should have walked through the promo segment with Stokely Hathaway and Joanna Rose before the event so that there was no possibility of me putting myself in that position.

Gabe was justifiably furious at me and thought that I had endangered his relationship with FloSports.

After the event, I looked Gabe in the eye, apologized to him, and as not as to put him in the awkward position of having to fire someone he has known for 20 years, told him to fire me publicly and then shook his hand.

I apologized to Joanna who said she said she wasn't upset because she knew it was a joke about the President-Elect. It didn't matter if she was upset or not, therefore I apologized to her again, repeatedly.

I apologized to Jeremy Botter, the representative from FloSlam who was at the event, and he wasn't upset. It didn't matter if he was upset or not, therefore I apologized to him again, repeatedly. I also told him that Gabe and EVOLVE had no knowledge of what I was going to say and my actions should not be held against EVOLVE.

I apologized to the locker room and the wrestlers weren't upset. It didn't matter if they were upset, therefore I apologized to the wrestlers again, repeatedly.

While apologizing to the wrestlers, I saw that Timothy Thatcher obviously had a very serious concussion.

Timothy Thatcher's main event opponent, Drew Gulak also recognized that it was a very serious concussion and said that Timothy needed to go to the hospital.

I went to the hospital with Timothy and Larry Dallas. Gabe arrived at the hospital shorty after we did. We were cordial to each other, because I had already apologized to him and he had already fired me publicly. All that we were rightly concerned about by that point was Timothy Thatcher's condition.

Larry and I stayed at the hospital with Timothy until he was released at 1:30 AM into Larry's care to recover at Larry's home in NY until he is well enough to fly home to California.

While at the hospital watching Timothy struggle to regain his memory of what happened and even remember my name, I made the decision to stay quiet about EVOLVE 72 until today so as not to take attention away from EVOLVE on FloSlam on Sunday night.

In summary, I panicked on a live broadcast, ad-libbed by telling bad joke, apologized to Gabe, told him to publicly fire me to protect himself and then apologized sincerely and repeatedly to everybody involved including Joanna Rose, Jeremy Botter from FloSlam and the wrestlers in the EVOLVE locker room.

In conclusion, I'd like to thank FloSlam for editing out the segment from the EVOLVE 72 replay on FloSlam so fans can enjoy the historic event forever without it being marred.

Joey Styles

http://www.pwinsider.com/article/105971/joey-styles-issues-open-letter-regarding-evolve-departure.html?p=1

SarahVOW

beakerjoe wrote: »

On a side note, what are you getting for you 138 bucks with Floslam. Seems a little steep but even though Im aware of Floslam, Im unaware of exactly what it offers.

Ive been toying with the idea of subbing up to Progress of Evolve the last six months but never took the leap.

It's $20 a month or $150 for a year. I jumped in the deep end.

It will have all of WWN (EVOLVE, SHINE, Full Impact Pro, and WWN Supershow ) Ppvs live and available to stream afterwards along with some smaller Independants I'm not to familiar with like PXW and Beyond. They are in the progress of adding the Evolve and Dragon Gate USA back catalogues for VOD streaming also.

More companys will be added soon and I'm hoping they're good ones.

WWN didn't have a VOD library before it was priced at $10- $20 per show depending on if you just wanted live or the VOD to keep afterwards and if you preordered or not.

I'd highly reccomend giving Progress on Demand or wXw now a go. It's only like. €10 a month for huge catalogs of great wrestling and you can cancel/switch between services on a monthly basis.

Floslam seems good too but I need to play around with it more only signed up late Saturday and watched the 2 live Evolve shows and some pre show interviews.

cian68

I've bought Rev Pro shows in the past for 15 quid, just signed up for their on demand for 8 quid. Looking forward to watching last weeks global wars show tonight.

SarahVOW

Jeremy Botter tweeted "For the record: Joey Styles' claim that I wasn't upset is false and a mischaracterization of what actually happened. I was upset."

The other 2 wrestling companys Joey Styles had bookings with Chikara and Beyond won't be using him.

Beyond "Joey Styles will no longer be appearing at Sunday's live event in Worcester or any future Beyond Wrestling live events. Thank you."

CHIKARA "The events of the last few days have been just cause to take a look at the state of professional wrestling. The art form that I love, and have dedicated my entire adult life to, is embarrassingly behind the times. It is beholden to outdated tenets that threaten to render it...obsolete at worst, and a punchline at best.

I know there are others, influential and celebrated, that imagine pro-wrestling to be a bubble in which the social norms from a bygone era are still relevant and valid. At CHIKARA, we rail against them, and those ideals, with everything we make. It is one thing to speak, to voice an opinion. It is one thing to call for change, to wish for change, to imagine how that change might come about. It is another thing to make it. At CHIKARA, we make it happen. It doesn’t matter to us in the least how many people show up to see it, or how many people recognize it for what it is. Our mantra is not about critical acclaim or pats on the back: “We believe pro-wrestling should be fun. That’s why we make it for everyone.”

Effective today, we are terminating our relationship with Joey Styles. Effective today, we are instituting a zero tolerance policy for misogynistic, racist, and/or homophobic speech, written or verbal, whether it’s directed toward our cast, our crew, or our patrons. This is the shape of CHIKARA.

To all that craft and shape pro-wrestling, we must fully understand this: the patrons of our art form demand more of us. It is to them - those that empower us to create the larger-than-life spectacle of professional wrestling - that we are beholden. Not to an archaic sub-culture made up of turn-of-the-last-century carny values.

The time for us to do away with antiquated and insulting vocabulary, like the term “mark,” is right now.

The time for us to relinquish any last vestige of power we’ve given to outmoded wrestling rhetoric is right now.

The time for us to draw a line in the sand, and to say this is where we stand on equality and integration in our art form, is right now.

The patrons of our amazing art form deserve not just our respect, but our thoughtful presence of mind in 2016 and beyond. We owe nothing to “the business.” The people our antecedents called “marks” are not handing us their dollars because they fail to understand what it is we truly make - they support us in spite of it. They come because they know our kind of live entertainment is a viable art form, not some midway hustle. They come for an inclusive experience where they can be bolstered by a passionate community of like-minded fans.

At CHIKARA, we love pro-wrestling every bit as much as our fans do. We love it so much, we want it to change. Let’s take a step toward a world where we need not be subject to any type of hate speech, and that the only violence we witness is of the neatly choreographed variety.

-MQ"

leggo

How ridiculously dramatic this entire story has become. People in wrestling like nothing more than a drama to rail around and one of their peers to blacklist at the drop of a hat...

PTH2009

http://www.ewrestlingnews.com/news/triple-h-confirms-wwe-is-interested-in-conor-mcgregor

Good shout out for a mania apperence In the future.

Knowing WWE they win mess it up and do something like Mcgergor vs Braun Strowman or Kane

Monokne

Conor won't allow that. He calls his own shots in UFC and he's earning many multiples there what WWE can afford to pay him. Not a chance he agrees to something that doesn't completely suit him.

J. Marston

Monokne wrote: »

Conor won't allow that. He calls his own shots in UFC and he's earning many multiples there what WWE can afford to pay him. Not a chance he agrees to something that doesn't completely suit him.

He is, for rigorous training and fights.

I'd say he'd be interested in a couple of Raw promos and a Wrestlemania appearance for a few million.

JP Liz V1

The Rock is People Magazine's Sexiest Man Alive for 2016 and he wouldn't rule out running for US president either