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About Hulk Hogan returning WWE said, "At this time, WWE remains committed to its decision." Obviously, they are referring to the racist and homophobic comments that he made. What do you think of their decision?
I think their position is more about how Hogan reacted to the fallout of his comments than the comments himself. Instead of taking ownership to what he said, he instead acted like everyone in 1950s Florida dropped N bombs when he was growing up, which is a patently ridiculous statement, not to mention untrue. He didn’t appreciate the problem with what he said and didn’t take ownership. I think part of WWE's trepidation in dealing with Hogan comes from the fact that he didn't own up to what he said in a manner that they felt was reasonable and were they to bring him back, they would open themselves up to scrutiny since they market to kids.
What do you think changed in Vince McMahon head with regards to how he books WWE. I get that WWE is a kids tv show and us as adults love it too much to let it go. I get that the Attitude Era was a freak. But if you look back at the 80’s, Hogan was the guy, under him was always a strong talent pool who could be inserted into the Main Event at any stage and below that an very talented mid card. The 90’s despite all the crappy gimmicks, had strong talented wrestlers like the Hitman, HBK, Diesel (I liked him) Razor etc. The Ruthless Aggression era had amazing stars. It just seems now that something changed in Vince’s mind and has decided to put all his eggs in one basket, namely Roman Reigns. I don’t like RR, but Im not one of these smarks who threaten to never watch WWE again if RR wins and still tune the following week. I just think like to boo him. I was at the Raw after Wrestlemania and his promo was the best live experience i’ve had. Anyway I just don’t see why Vince thinks he’s the guy and nobody else can be booked as an equal. It’s strange Vince wants to make millions off 1 guy instead of billions of several.
A lot of it started after Brock Lesnar’s first run. He made Brock a big star and then Brock bolted for the NFL and took his goodwill with him. At that time, Vince decided to make the brand the star and looked for talents he could trust on top, hence the decade of John Cena. Now, he sees Reigns as the next guy and to his target audience, he’s right. I get why some of you hated Reigns when the company foolishly had Daniel Bryan do the return promo a few years ago and then Reigns won the Rumble, but I don’t get it now. The guy works hard and has very good to great matches. I enjoy his work.
Do WWE performers have non-disparagement clauses in their contracts were they to quit or be released? I know that some ex-WWE folks (Punk, Ryback, et al) have been vocal about their displeasure with their time in the company, but I'm kind of surprised there haven't been a ton more in regards to work conditions, management issues, etc.
Well, if someone is telling the truth, it’s not disparagement. If someone isn’t telling the truth, they can be sued. I don’t ever recall hearing of a clause like that in the contracts. For the most part, I think people don’t bury the company after they leave because in many cases, they don’t want to burn the bridge.
Aside from Vince Russo and David Arquette, who do you think had the biggest farce of a world title reign in any major wrestling promotion?
Those are two really big aside from examples! Both of those shouldn’t have held the belt, but Russo is far worse because he chose to put the Title on himself. There have been a lot of unworthy champions over the years, in many cases due to nepotism and/or cronyism, but I would rather not get into slinging mud.
Is James Storm able to go right to a WWE ring or is he destined for an NXT start and is that necessarily a bad thing?
He could do either if WWE chooses to sign him. They haven’t done so yet, which would concern me if I were him.
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