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How do you feel about people online knocking you for saying WWE releases were done in the wake of Cameron Grimes being released?
I don't care. What I wrote was true at the time. It's not like I wrote that WWE releases were done FOREVER. The company is always in flux and decisions are made every day. It was correct when I wrote it. I was told by multiple sources that the releases that had happened on Friday were done and there were not any additional happening. Four days later is not Friday.
It sucks Grimes was released. I don't see any valid reason for him to have been released, but let's be honest, most people complaining on social media and twisting words are usually obsessed with hearing themselves be right in their head, with zero concern about the context or nuance of who or what they are writing about. We are talking about a genre where live TV is produced all the time and decisions are made on the fly about strategy, talents, wins and losses and creative direction. I write what we can confirm to the best of our ability in the moment where we publish. WWE or AEW or whoever can change plans on a dime if they want, but that doesn't mean something previously reported was false. Von Wagner went from booked for Smackdown one day and gone the next. The sad nature of the beast.
A lot of this is why I don't care about social media. We are talking about a place that took me writing about WWE expectations about Jacob Fatu's potential debut and turned it into "FATU IS 100% DEBUTING ON THIS DATE." There's no context, understanding or nuance. It's a lot of people believing something that was miscontrued, as opposed to the actual statement or comment. All of that is beyond my sphere of influence and I certainly am not to blame when someone incorrectly spins or assumes something and then passes it on to others, especially when the vast majority of those commenting aren't seeking to support what we do here - or even care what was actually written in the past place.
Why is WWE not wishing anyone well publicly?
I have no idea and whether anyone thinks it was a shallow move or not, it at least gave the audience some closure towards knowing where talents went and advertised they were soon to be free agents. Not sure why WWE ended the practice and when I asked, no response.
What was so different about how they released talent?
Again, something that was taken out context with no nuace elsewhere. The company has a pretty crappy reputation about how curtly talents were released and treated. Anyone remember Mickie James with the trash bag? Untold stories of how talents were let go, sometimes even with a broken neck? (Andrew Martin, anyone?) - what I wrote about was true. The company tried to approach talents in a far more respectful way. One person described it as apologetic.
This is not the old WWE run by Vince McMahon. It's a legitimate corporation overseen by Endeavor now. 90%, if not more, of the old guard who were working in the Tower behind the scenes are gone. It's a new, different company, good or bad. I wrote that was what was going to happen before the sale was announced Wrestlemania 39 week and that's what happened. There has been a lot more of a corporate structure than even WWE as a public company ever had instituted into the company now. It's not a company full of people scared to cross paths with the T-Rex that was their boss anymore.
If anyone thinks I was defending the company for firing talents, they would be absolute fools if they derived that from my writing. I would never champion talents who weren't being used for no fault of their own being cut. That said, there were lot of talents in the past who were basically treated like trash when they were let go via the phone. WWE tried to treat the talents far differently this time around - and this was something I heard directly from talents, not WWE itself. That place isn't perfect and it never will be, but there was a reason they made vast, sweeping changes in Talent Relations in recent weeks.
Higher ups knew that that end of the company needed to be addressed, especially with so many top-flight stars and veterans who had deals expiring in recent weeks and months that had not been addressed and taken care of.1
Endeavor has only been in charge of WWE for 6-7 months. There will be lot more changes in the months and years to come. How talents are treated will be one of them and how they tried to be more respectful towards the departing names was part of that. If people don't want to believe that or want to twist those comments into something else, that's not on me. If they don't want to believe a Hollywood entity owning the company means WWE isn't going to be managed and run the same as it was in the past, they can believe what they want, but they will be proven wrong in the long run.
Why was there so much less pyro at Wrestlemania this year?
Cutbacks under Endeavor. We had actually heard there was talk of doing even far less pyro at Mania actually!
I have a lot of Hulk Hogan questions for you!
OK!
1 -Why did we never get John Cena vs. Hulk Hogan?
The match was originally earmarked for Wrestlemania 25 in Houston but Hogan injured his back and the plans went out the window.
2 - Is it true Arnold Scharzeneger was going to be the referee for Hulk Hogan vs. Andre the Giant at Wrestlemania III?
WWF officials approached Arnold while he was filming Predator about being involved but the deal was never worked out. I don't know if he would have been the referee for Hogan vs. Andre and I've never heard that as fact.
3 -Hulk Hogan lost a lot of his luster after the Gawker suit and all the racist statements he was heard recording on that sex tape. Do you think it's justified? Was there anything he could have done to fix this?
I think if you heard Hogan make those statements, you'd feel pretty damn justified in being upset at him. I don't know that Hogan could fix his status with those he offended, but perhaps had he publicly announced when he got his Gawker settlement that he was going to make a big donation to the NAACP or another charity that could have helped others - AND came off truly apologetic about the situation by saying he was in a bad place in his personal life and lashed out and was truly remorseful (as opposed to how he came across in the media interviews he did at the time), but it still was no excuse for his behavior and he was sorry and wanted something positive to come out of this, it might have helped, but that didn't happen and it is what it is now. There are people who grew up on Hogan who have since dismissed him and that's not likely to change, although in time, nostalgia does come back around. I just don't believe it will ever come back around to where he will be back at the level of adulation he once enjoyed across the board with wrestling fans and that's of his own doing.
4 -How come in Dark Side of the Ring's Brutus Beefcake episode, they never explained why he and Hogan no longer talk?
They pretty much made it clear Hogan didn't like Beefcake's wife and that was the cause of the split. I don't think we are going to get more detail than that.
5 - Would we ever have had Hulkamania if he wasn't hired for Rocky III?
I would argue he would have been a star in pro wrestling but not a national celebrity at the level he became. Hogan owes a lot to Sylvester Stallone and I hope he realizes that.
6 - Do we ever see Hogan drop the legdrop again?
Absolutely not.
7 - Would you interview Hulk Hogan?
No. I'd love to interview a forthcoming Terry Bollea though. I think it would be facinating to walk through his perspective of AWA and WWF, as long as he didn't go into the big stinky Giant was 45 feet BROTHER type of stories. I hold no hope that could ever happen. I don't believe he knows the truth of the day to day vs. the fantasy version he conjures in his public appearances and statements when the "camera is on", so to speak.
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