Speaker 1: Hey, this is Brian Alvarez and this is today's edition
Speaker 1: of the Wrestling Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network.
Speaker 1: Read Let's get it all? How's it going to everybody?
Speaker 1: Brian Alvarez here on or Wrestling Observer Live. We are
Speaker 1: here every day Monday through Friday, New Pacific, three Eastern,
Speaker 1: Sunday three Pacific, sixth Eastern. Believe it or not, I'm
Speaker 1: not traveling today. I think four straight times I was
Speaker 1: traveling when massive news broke about Vince McMahon and and
Speaker 1: w w E. But today I am here and there's
Speaker 1: a lot to talk about if you have not heard,
Speaker 1: and that would be very difficult seeing as that was
Speaker 1: actually in the top of the hour news on Sports
Speaker 1: Byline a moment ago. Vince McMahon has at least this
Speaker 1: was the claim, voluntarily stepped down as w w EA
Speaker 1: chairman and CEO. Well, the company's Special Committee of the
Speaker 1: Board investigates a ledge had misconduct. Stephanie McMahon named interim
Speaker 1: CEO and chairwoman until the investigation concluded. So this, of
Speaker 1: course was the story that came out a while ago
Speaker 1: that he had stepped down. Now he's out. What do
Speaker 1: I mean by out? Well, if you would have gone
Speaker 1: to uh w W dot com early this morning and
Speaker 1: checked out the list of corporate members everything like that,
Speaker 1: Vince McMahon was listed. Now no longer listed. He is
Speaker 1: at this point completely out of the company officially. I
Speaker 1: suppose he might call Stephanie Triple H and go Austin
Speaker 1: in the briefcase, but he's gone. The new head of
Speaker 1: Creative is Triple H. Stephanie McMahon and Nick con are
Speaker 1: the co CEOs of the company. Vince McMahon, he's uh,
Speaker 1: he's effectively done. He's no longer on the board of directors.
Speaker 1: And there was a w w E eight K filing
Speaker 1: that came out today that had a lot of information
Speaker 1: about what's going on. Fourteen point six million dollars is
Speaker 1: what they have found at this point. That easy amount
Speaker 1: of money that has been paid out. It is possible
Speaker 1: there is more money to be paid out, and obviously
Speaker 1: we had a lot to talk about. So stick around, everybody.
Speaker 1: Back in a moment, Wrestling Observer Live, back in the show.
Speaker 1: Brian Albarez here Wrestling Observer Live, Mike Sumburviv also Wrestling
Speaker 1: Observer dot Com. I presume everybody listening to this knows
Speaker 1: the story of what happened with Vince McMahon. I don't
Speaker 1: think I need to go back at the very beginning,
Speaker 1: but we can talk about what happened today, and if
Speaker 1: we need to go back to the beginning, I guess
Speaker 1: we can. Triple H now in charge of w w
Speaker 1: E Creative Company. Saturday press release this morning formally announcing
Speaker 1: Nick Cohn and Stephane McMahon appointed by the board as
Speaker 1: co CEO SLAVEC, taking over the role previously held by
Speaker 1: Vince McMahon, who announced his retirement on Friday. My God,
Speaker 1: the Wrestling World. Paul Ecki assume all were supposed to
Speaker 1: be related to w w IS Creative In addition to
Speaker 1: his regular duties. The press release states announced on Friday
Speaker 1: he has resumed his role as e v P of
Speaker 1: Talent Relations. I presume that John lord Iitis is just
Speaker 1: quietly ridden off into the sunset. They have not officially
Speaker 1: announced he's gone, but Triple H got his job. I
Speaker 1: look forward to returning to my prior position as head
Speaker 1: of Talent Relations. I'm healthy, fired up, and ready to
Speaker 1: take charge, LEAVEC said in the release. And then there
Speaker 1: was a w w E A K that came out
Speaker 1: today and due to quote certain unrecorded expenses by Vince
Speaker 1: McMahon dating back to two thousand six, ww announced Monday
Speaker 1: via regulatory statement that they would restate several financial statements.
Speaker 1: The statements for one and the first quarter of two
Speaker 1: would be revised. Now this is the key to the
Speaker 1: whole thing. The expenses total fourteen point six million, which
Speaker 1: McMahon will pay back. McMahon is currently under investigation by
Speaker 1: a special committee of w w e's Board of directors
Speaker 1: for alleged hush money payments towards four other female former
Speaker 1: female employees totaling twelve million over the past sixteen years.
Speaker 1: The largest of these totaled seven and a half million
Speaker 1: to a single person. McMahon, who had voluntarily stepped down
Speaker 1: as chairman and CEO while the investigation was going on,
Speaker 1: retired on seating all responsibilities. By the way, it was
Speaker 1: noted in the eight K that he uh he resigned,
Speaker 1: He did not retire. Vince McMahon said that he just retired.
Speaker 1: I have somebody seven, I've done enough and etcetera, etcetera.
Speaker 1: So here's here's uh, here's what I gotta say about this.
Speaker 1: Then we'll get some thoughts from Mike. I got a
Speaker 1: few things to say, So buckle up, should I adjust
Speaker 1: my my my chair? Okay, well listen, here's the thing.
Speaker 1: So Vince McMahon, obviously these n d A s, they
Speaker 1: are real. Whatever happened, he paid off at least that
Speaker 1: we know of, four women totaling twelve million dollars they
Speaker 1: have claimed, and he has claimed that he used his
Speaker 1: own money to pay off these women in these nd
Speaker 1: as his own money, that's what they said. Now they
Speaker 1: are reporting that their expenses totally fourteen point six million,
Speaker 1: which Vince McMahon must pay back. Now. When everybody read
Speaker 1: that this morning, the presumption was, well, he must have
Speaker 1: used company money to pay off these nd as well,
Speaker 1: they have. They have reiterated today that Vince used his
Speaker 1: own money to pay off these women. These were his
Speaker 1: personal funds, which then begs the question, well, if these
Speaker 1: were his personal funds, why does he owe the company?
Speaker 1: Why is he paying the company back? Why would you
Speaker 1: pay back fourteen point six million if you used your
Speaker 1: own money. This doesn't make any sense. So I have
Speaker 1: a theory. I have a theory. My theory is that
Speaker 1: there are two issues here. Okay, let's say let's say
Speaker 1: that I hire Mike semper Viv. All right, and I've
Speaker 1: been paying Mike semper Viv. We'll we'll just make it
Speaker 1: uh uh, I'll make all all uh you know, well,
Speaker 1: what what's the word when you you know, up or down?
Speaker 1: I'm getting old? Uh, rounded off, I'll round it off low. Okay,
Speaker 1: Let's say I'm paying Mike semper Viv round off, thank you,
Speaker 1: a hundred thousand dollars a year. Okay, I hired him,
Speaker 1: I'm paying him a hundred thousand dollars per year. So
Speaker 1: then I decided, you know this, Mike simper Viv is
Speaker 1: a good looking guy, and so I then proceed to
Speaker 1: have an affair with Mike Semperviv. Okay. Now, after doing this,
Speaker 1: I realized, yeah, I don't really want this to get out.
Speaker 1: I mean, so I decide I'm gonna I'm gonna, you know,
Speaker 1: we're gonna do an n D A and Mike, I
Speaker 1: will pay you one million dollars to keep quiet. Okay,
Speaker 1: So out of my own bank account, I pay you
Speaker 1: ten million dollars or one million dollars to just you know,
Speaker 1: get out of here. Okay, go away. Don't ever mention
Speaker 1: this again. This is our n d A. I'm giving
Speaker 1: you personally million dollars. So then you know, it kind
Speaker 1: of comes out and then Dave and Tony and everyone realized, Bro,
Speaker 1: you paid this guy a hundred thousand dollars a year
Speaker 1: for the last decade, you know, or twelve let's just
Speaker 1: let's just say so. Then maybe the idea as well,
Speaker 1: you know what, he employed that guy for twelve years
Speaker 1: and during that time that he was having an affair
Speaker 1: for him or with him. You know, we want that
Speaker 1: twelve years of payments that he paid Mike back. Maybe
Speaker 1: that's what's going on here. Maybe this twelve million dollars
Speaker 1: is well the amount of money that we as a
Speaker 1: company paid these women while Vince McMahon was having a
Speaker 1: He could pay the NBA's out of his own pocket,
Speaker 1: but we want them money back that he, you know whatever,
Speaker 1: had them paid by the company for the course that unemployment.
Speaker 1: That might be what it is, because otherwise it doesn't
Speaker 1: make any sense to say he paid these NBA's out
Speaker 1: of pocket, but he also owes us the money. It
Speaker 1: doesn't mean either he either it was company funds or
Speaker 1: this is a separate issue that he's paying them back
Speaker 1: for so I don't know what's going on. But the
Speaker 1: reason I brought all of this up is because of
Speaker 1: the fact that he must now pay the company back
Speaker 1: for whatever reason. For whatever reason it is, company funds
Speaker 1: were used as part of this scandal. Because of that,
Speaker 1: there's no coming back for Vince McMahon. There's no returning.
Speaker 1: When the heat dies, he's out, he's done. The the
Speaker 1: era of Vince McMahon has ended and uh and therefore
Speaker 1: we can now look to whatever the future brings, which
Speaker 1: we will get to in a moment. But first off, Mike,
Speaker 1: any thoughts on on all of this. It shoots off
Speaker 1: in so many different directions, and there's so many angles
Speaker 1: that we're going to end up talking about over god
Speaker 1: knows how long and all the change of years. As
Speaker 1: the changes go on. We're not done with this yet
Speaker 1: because we don't know what the board is going to
Speaker 1: report and what the whole internal audit is going to
Speaker 1: give us. One thing that is for sure is they're
Speaker 1: going to be structural changes inside the company. I cannot
Speaker 1: believe that there will not be, and how they get
Speaker 1: done I don't know. But now we have a situation
Speaker 1: because of this a k SEC filing where internal auditing
Speaker 1: by the accounting department is now, Hey, we've got to
Speaker 1: tighten this up. They're going to have to tighten up
Speaker 1: everything that happens with the culture of that workplace. The
Speaker 1: reason that John Laurenitis nothing has been announced about him yet,
Speaker 1: as I am assuming, because the board has not gotten
Speaker 1: their findings yet and are not going to break everything down.
Speaker 1: There is still more that's going to come from this.
Speaker 1: Vince McMahon has got eight of the voting power of
Speaker 1: that company. He can still move things. But will he
Speaker 1: have to divest some of that any of that, none
Speaker 1: of that. Will have to see what this World Report
Speaker 1: actually comes in States. But a lot of people thought
Speaker 1: this thing was done and over with and Vince was
Speaker 1: going to be able to shake it off and be
Speaker 1: done with it. That obviously proved that that was not
Speaker 1: the case. And we'll have to see what the Real
Speaker 1: Sports Report is going to be from HBO. We know
Speaker 1: the tact that Vince has taken with them in the past.
Speaker 1: It will be interesting to see how w w E
Speaker 1: is treated in this, how they treated Real Sports back.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's that's fascinating to me. And a lot
Speaker 1: of people were saying, well that nobody else's reporting on
Speaker 1: this stuff. Bottom line is Wall Street Journal was just
Speaker 1: step one. Other people wanted to do their own reporting.
Speaker 1: We seen variety kind of reach out and do little
Speaker 1: pieces of it. We'll see if this HBO one is
Speaker 1: the only one that happens, well, I will I will
Speaker 1: say that there are rumors that the Real Sports HBO
Speaker 1: Real Sports story on Vince's uh one person used the
Speaker 1: term I shouldn't even say, let's just say damning, and
Speaker 1: that there might be another Wall Street Journal article coming
Speaker 1: out this week, so they may have gotten ahead of
Speaker 1: things with his resignation on Friday. Back in the up
Speaker 1: with more Observer life bagging the show. Brian Elber is
Speaker 1: here wrestling Observer Live. Mike Zimberviv also Wrestling Observer dot Com.
Speaker 1: This person suggests perhaps he used his own money and
Speaker 1: then expensed it. Company paid him back and he got caught.
Speaker 1: Now he has to pay them back an unrecorded expense
Speaker 1: or expenses. So yeah, one way or the other. I
Speaker 1: mean this is now that this has come out, he
Speaker 1: owes the company fourteen million dollars for all of this
Speaker 1: as noted. I mean, there's no there's no Vince McMahon
Speaker 1: coming back from this one. So what does the future hold?
Speaker 1: What does the future hold for w w E. Well,
Speaker 1: you know, at least I want to make that thousand
Speaker 1: dollars on that braun Breaker breat Okay, I'm glad about
Speaker 1: that one because you know he's gonna get a big
Speaker 1: push and he's gonna headline to WrestleMania probably, uh, perhaps
Speaker 1: sooner rather than later. But hey, remember those times that
Speaker 1: I said so and so was it can't miss on
Speaker 1: the main roster. Oh, this person, you can't miss on this, Oh,
Speaker 1: you can't miss Guess what? Well? Things have changed, Things
Speaker 1: have changed. Listen, Triple H. He had his highs and
Speaker 1: lows when he was in charge of n x T.
Speaker 1: Those takeovers awesome because what he did was he would
Speaker 1: put together what would be an awesome card and then
Speaker 1: work backwards. Name the last bad takeover that was put
Speaker 1: together by Triple H. Is every w w E paper
Speaker 1: you're gonna be like a takeover? Well, of course not,
Speaker 1: because I think even you know, everybody realized, well, things
Speaker 1: are different on the main rosters compared to UH, to
Speaker 1: n x T. But it's not that different in the
Speaker 1: sense that this was a guy that was open to
Speaker 1: using anybody that was able to work and get over.
Speaker 1: I mean, as I talked about today on the Breaking
Speaker 1: News audio with Dave, look at how over Sammy Zane
Speaker 1: was when he was in n x T and compare that.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's his He does a great job with
Speaker 1: his current character today, but he isn't in the universe
Speaker 1: of his over as he was when he was in
Speaker 1: n x T. You guys, I'll talk about the women
Speaker 1: and Sasha Banks and Bailey, with the exception of when
Speaker 1: Becky just exploded on the main roster in early which
Speaker 1: I mean that was never the plan. She managed to
Speaker 1: pull at off for a lot of different reasons, but
Speaker 1: all of them, they all were at their peak when
Speaker 1: they were in an x T. Why did Adam Cole
Speaker 1: leave and go to uh go to a W Well
Speaker 1: they want him to go to the main roster and
Speaker 1: be budge and a manager on the main roster and
Speaker 1: uh what did what did Triple H do with with
Speaker 1: Adam Cole? What did you do with Johnny Gargano? What
Speaker 1: did he do with with all of the top stars
Speaker 1: that he was given? Who did he push? I mean,
Speaker 1: the fact of the matter is I am over the moon, excited,
Speaker 1: at the possibilities of Triple H. Uh w w E
Speaker 1: with Vince McMahon completely out of the picture. You ever
Speaker 1: watch those video packages? What do you like better the
Speaker 1: video package such on on those old n x T
Speaker 1: shows when Borash was in charge, or the stuff that
Speaker 1: we see we see nowadays the production. Some some well
Speaker 1: I'm sure argue the stuff on the main roster, but
Speaker 1: not me. They had some awesome austin some video packages,
Speaker 1: the crew that they had down there in n x T.
Speaker 1: The idea of seeing some of that old school n
Speaker 1: x T stuff being brought to the main roster. It's
Speaker 1: not gonna be totally the same, but we're gonna see
Speaker 1: a lot of those things that Triple H did right.
Speaker 1: Here's the key. We're gonna see a lot of those
Speaker 1: things that Triple H did right and all those things
Speaker 1: that Vince did wrong. He's gone. So yes, I'm excited.
Speaker 1: He's a pro wrestler. What about you, Mike. There's a
Speaker 1: big delay there. Apparently he's a pro wrestler. And even
Speaker 1: if you wanted to say he's a sports entertainer, fine
Speaker 1: bottom line is is he's worked in the ring. He
Speaker 1: knows how to bring people up and down. Vince. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he did it to a certain degree, but he was
Speaker 1: Vince and he had his certain vision. I think when
Speaker 1: you put a professional wrestler in there, they're going to
Speaker 1: look at things differently and some maybe wins and losses
Speaker 1: are actually going to matter more. Maybe not every physical
Speaker 1: body type is going to matter as much as how
Speaker 1: you can make people react. Maybe because the scripts are
Speaker 1: still going to be there for lots of guys, maybe
Speaker 1: guys who don't need those, maybe we see less of
Speaker 1: that and more talking points given to people like, oh,
Speaker 1: I don't know who would be a good triple h
Speaker 1: one who is going to have a long life there?
Speaker 1: Kevin Owens, who's going to have a long life anyway?
Speaker 1: But you know what does Kevin Owens? Does Kevin Owens
Speaker 1: need anything other than some talking points to go out
Speaker 1: there and do anything. Of course he doesn't, you know.
Speaker 1: So hopefully we see a little of that loosened up.
Speaker 1: Hopefully we see a lot of the terminology that Vince
Speaker 1: absolutely loved, pronounced pal, all that sort of stuff. The universe,
Speaker 1: the belts not being said, well let me jump off,
Speaker 1: let me jump in. I already saw it on SmackDown.
Speaker 1: Now SmackDown was not a night and day show. But
Speaker 1: absolutely Michael Cole. Listen. I have not been the biggest
Speaker 1: Michael Cole fan over the years, but he was miles
Speaker 1: better on SmackDown. He didn't have some dude screaming in
Speaker 1: his ear the entire time. At one point he actually
Speaker 1: said the w w E fans. I almost I almost
Speaker 1: fell out of my chair when he called him fans.
Speaker 1: He didn't call him the w w E universe. They're
Speaker 1: still going to They're still going to brand things. And
Speaker 1: as I mentioned on the show a couple of days,
Speaker 1: I'll listen. If you want to brand WrestleMania stupendous and
Speaker 1: you want to have everybody say stupendous on every show, whatever,
Speaker 1: I don't care. But that was by the way of
Speaker 1: Vince Thing, and he even admitted an interview, I like
Speaker 1: courtyards like stupendous, But listen if you want to do
Speaker 1: that now, and that's fine. But let's loosen up a
Speaker 1: little bit. Let's say fans, let's say belts, Let's let
Speaker 1: New Day, which they did, by the way, come on
Speaker 1: TV and talk about the Viking Raiders, which by the way,
Speaker 1: they didn't change that one, and they're now still the
Speaker 1: new Vicious Viking Raiders, which we can drop that one
Speaker 1: as soon as it's possible, if if if, I mean,
Speaker 1: if I had my way. But anyway, uh, you know,
Speaker 1: he's out there going. These guys have they've they've been
Speaker 1: killers everywhere they've gone. Ring of Honor, he says. He
Speaker 1: starts to talk about the i w g P Tag
Speaker 1: Team Championships, and then of course they moved on from that.
Speaker 1: But you know what I want is a show where
Speaker 1: everybody is a little more real, a little more organic,
Speaker 1: a little more loose. And you know what, we saw
Speaker 1: that to a degree already on SmackDown. Talk to your
Speaker 1: fans like they're fans, not like they're just little chips
Speaker 1: to market too, and little wallets to try to extract
Speaker 1: money out of. Talk to them like that every once
Speaker 1: in a while. Yes, we know that's what you're doing,
Speaker 1: your big business. That this is America capitalism. We know
Speaker 1: how this works. No matter what anybody says about Stephanie
Speaker 1: and the charity being the marketing thing, we all knew
Speaker 1: that to be true. She just happened to say it,
Speaker 1: which made her actually, you know, get the slings and arrows.
Speaker 1: That's how they think we know what this is, but
Speaker 1: every once in a while, can you just remember that
Speaker 1: this thing is pro wrestling. It's still in a ring.
Speaker 1: If you want to do what luch Underground was going
Speaker 1: to do and have wrestling be the background for your
Speaker 1: sports entertainment, fine, if that's what you're gonna do, But
Speaker 1: you know, w w E is still wrestling, and there's
Speaker 1: little adjustments that they can make that is not going
Speaker 1: to change their philosophy and how they do things and
Speaker 1: make them any smaller and can make the product that
Speaker 1: much better. And one of the ways you can do
Speaker 1: that is some of the verbiage that you present on
Speaker 1: that show. There are many other things that I hope
Speaker 1: and wish will change as time goes on, but that's
Speaker 1: definitely something that really talk like normal human beings. Every
Speaker 1: once in a while. You know what I want tonight,
Speaker 1: se I want to see Matt Riddle Austin theory. I
Speaker 1: want to see I don't really need to see Austin Theory.
Speaker 1: But my point is I'm ready for names to come back.
Speaker 1: I'm ready for people to be allowed to have a
Speaker 1: first and the last name. Listen if you if you
Speaker 1: have decided, I don't want anyone going I don't want
Speaker 1: Pete done going a WS Pete done because he used
Speaker 1: the name before w w E. Fine, you want to
Speaker 1: call him whatever, that's fine. But the Vince's weird quirks
Speaker 1: that he had where you know, I don't want this
Speaker 1: guy to have the first name Austin. I want him
Speaker 1: to be just be Theory. And you know why, It's
Speaker 1: because I think is is what's Austin Theory's real name.
Speaker 1: Vince's decree was basically like if if if you use
Speaker 1: the name on the indies, then you can't be that
Speaker 1: name in Valter for example. Okay, but also if if
Speaker 1: part of your name was part of your real name,
Speaker 1: not even the whole thing. So like John Cena, his
Speaker 1: real name is John's Sina Okay. If John Cena had
Speaker 1: gone to Ohio Valley Wrestling as uh, Johnny rocket Ship, okay,
Speaker 1: when he went to the main roster Vince, even though
Speaker 1: Johnny Rocketship is not his real name. With Vince's new decree,
Speaker 1: he couldn't be Johnny rocket Ship because his real first
Speaker 1: name is John. Therefore, he would have to just be
Speaker 1: rocket Ship, or he could be Frank rocket Ship or whatever.
Speaker 1: This is stupid, Okay, just give people names like why
Speaker 1: is this guy named Theory? Okay, it's not even like
Speaker 1: so I would like to see that. I would like
Speaker 1: to see a loosening up of promos. I would like
Speaker 1: to see more than the same eight people on the
Speaker 1: show every single week. I would like more people to
Speaker 1: get opportunities. I would like to stop hearing the word opportunity.
Speaker 1: I would like to be able to hear the word
Speaker 1: title shot and championship match. You know. And they're not
Speaker 1: gonna be as as I think we talked about on
Speaker 1: other shows. There's not gonna be massive changes right out
Speaker 1: of the gate. It's not like all of a sudden
Speaker 1: Nigel Mcginnesn's is gonna do commentary. They're gonna get ridden.
Speaker 1: They don't want to make massive changes where it feels
Speaker 1: like the boat is being rocked. Okay, but you can
Speaker 1: make small changes. You can call the guy met Riddle again.
Speaker 1: You can call the guy Austin Theory again. You can
Speaker 1: you can slowly bring some of this stuff back. Instead
Speaker 1: of cutting the camera one hundred times during a punch sequence,
Speaker 1: you can only do fifty times. Let's ease our way
Speaker 1: into some of these changes and make for a better
Speaker 1: show and have better, more cohesive planning. Because he was
Speaker 1: Austin Theory on the indie scene long before you signed him.
Speaker 1: It was a pretty cool name at fifty is fine
Speaker 1: because he's Austin White and because he used the name
Speaker 1: Austin Theory on the India. I mean, plan this stuff
Speaker 1: out better, and I hope that there's better with Triple
Speaker 1: H overseeing everything. Make sure that n x D you
Speaker 1: have something set there so we don't have these changes
Speaker 1: like Butch and these sudden changes like Rodriguez when we
Speaker 1: get up to the main roster, because it's heyst when
Speaker 1: we come back from this break, I'm going to tell
Speaker 1: you something that's one hundred percent changed for the better.
Speaker 1: Back in the moment of is Ever Life Day back
Speaker 1: in the show, Brian Albarez here Wrestling Observer Live. Mike
Speaker 1: simber Bby, also Wrestling ob You wanna one something today
Speaker 1: that's changed for the better? What's that? Vince is not
Speaker 1: shown up and torn up? The script never will again.
Speaker 1: So by phone pal, whatever whatever they have planned this week,
Speaker 1: they're gonna do it. You know. I make fun of Gorilla,
Speaker 1: I'll be there. I make fun of these writers a lot,
Speaker 1: which probably is not fair. But I also read some
Speaker 1: of the promos they write, and it is fair. But
Speaker 1: you know, you got a writing team of forty blokes,
Speaker 1: which you don't need. But that's that's Stephanie's idea of
Speaker 1: dating back like fifteen twenty years, and so they're gonna
Speaker 1: keep doing it. But you know, if you have let's
Speaker 1: say you have a really great let's say you actually
Speaker 1: have a competent, great writing team of of you know,
Speaker 1: they all have experience in wrestling and blah blah blah. Well,
Speaker 1: if you put a show together, if he's been a
Speaker 1: week putting a show together and some madman comes in
Speaker 1: and tears it up on Monday and you gotta rewrite
Speaker 1: the thing in an hour, well don't matter how good
Speaker 1: you are, it's probably gonna be a pretty crappy script
Speaker 1: and it's not gonna make sense. It's not gonna you know,
Speaker 1: it's gonna be it's gonna be raw that we've seen
Speaker 1: over the last couple of decades here. Well, if you've
Speaker 1: got a competent writing crew and they have a week
Speaker 1: to put their show together and that dude done come
Speaker 1: in and tear that thing up on Monday, I guess
Speaker 1: we're gonna see. I guess we're gonna see pretty quickly
Speaker 1: how much better continuity and such will be when you
Speaker 1: don't have a guy tearing up the script every Monday
Speaker 1: and Friday. So have I mentioned I'm bullish. Now I
Speaker 1: will say one thing. We'll say one thing, Mike, so
Speaker 1: people know you're still there. Yeah. Talked a little bit
Speaker 1: today about what does this mean for a W. What
Speaker 1: does it mean? Well, we don't know, because that would
Speaker 1: be trying to predict the future. But I can tell
Speaker 1: you one thing. What this means for a W A
Speaker 1: lot is gonna have to do with their next television deal.
Speaker 1: If they get a great television deal, then I'm gonna
Speaker 1: be even more bullish than ever. If they get a
Speaker 1: a poor television deal, meaning roughly what they're making right now,
Speaker 1: they're going to be in for some some rough rough
Speaker 1: waves change. Well, because here's the thing. Here's the thing, Mike. Listen. Okay,
Speaker 1: I mean I'm no, I mean, I'm not busting yours,
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna tell you why that's the case. Okay,
Speaker 1: all right, do you remember when Chris Jericho left W
Speaker 1: W E and he went to a W. Remember that, Remember,
Speaker 1: like a whole bunch of people left w w E
Speaker 1: and they went to a W. Yes, do you remember
Speaker 1: when when Cody left a W and went to w
Speaker 1: w E. Remember all that? Okay, Well, all those things
Speaker 1: happened for the same reason. Even though I hate this
Speaker 1: word and I and if I were Vincent mcmaan, I
Speaker 1: banish it from w w E television, it happened because
Speaker 1: of opportunity. So there's a lot of people. And I
Speaker 1: remember when a W started. I heard from a lot
Speaker 1: of people that went to a W and you know,
Speaker 1: they were happy with with a W and everything, but
Speaker 1: they were mostly happy that they weren't in w w E.
Speaker 1: And I heard from many people, I will never I
Speaker 1: will never go back to w w E. I hated
Speaker 1: that place. And they would go on and on and
Speaker 1: on everything we talked about on this show, and that
Speaker 1: you hear whenever people leave w w E. Well, Vince
Speaker 1: is gone. And the number one name that I mentioned
Speaker 1: so many times is Darby Allen because I interviewed Darby
Speaker 1: Allen on the Jericho Cruz and he said in the
Speaker 1: room with me and Dave on the record, never, I
Speaker 1: will never go to w w E. I will never
Speaker 1: go to n x T. I will never go because
Speaker 1: he knew that he was going to have much better
Speaker 1: opportunities in a W. Well, Vince is now gone and
Speaker 1: Triple H has shown that if you have the ability
Speaker 1: to get over, he will push you all the way.
Speaker 1: So a lot of those guys, I'm not gonna mention
Speaker 1: any other names, but Darby did say things on record,
Speaker 1: and I don't know what Darby's sinking right now. Maybe
Speaker 1: he still thinks I'll never go there. But there are
Speaker 1: people that last week would still be on the I
Speaker 1: will never go to w w E train, who I
Speaker 1: don't think are on that train anymore. I think that
Speaker 1: they will now consider it. They may strongly consider it.
Speaker 1: I would not be the least bit surprised if Sasha
Speaker 1: and Naomi are already trying to negotiate to go back
Speaker 1: to w W E. I would not be surprised. I
Speaker 1: don't know that, so don't report it. But a lot
Speaker 1: changed Friday. Now here's the thing. You watch a W lately.
Speaker 1: You look at the a W roster. Dude, they got
Speaker 1: a lot of people on that roster, and there are
Speaker 1: a lot of people that are not being utilized. Okay,
Speaker 1: if some of those people who are are not being
Speaker 1: utilized great because they have so many people on the roster.
Speaker 1: If those people are open to going back to w
Speaker 1: w E, they may be going back to w w E.
Speaker 1: Now if it turns out that things are different and
Speaker 1: better and a lot of people are interested in going
Speaker 1: there because they can get more money and get an opportunity,
Speaker 1: well that would be bad. That would be bad for
Speaker 1: a W. But if a W is able to get
Speaker 1: a good television deal, a strong television deal, and they
Speaker 1: can pay good money for people, then ultimately the same
Speaker 1: thing is gonna happen in w w E. Where even
Speaker 1: if w w E is better post events, which I
Speaker 1: think it will be, at some point you're gonna have
Speaker 1: too many people and too few spots, and you know
Speaker 1: what's gonna happen. People are gonna go, oh my god,
Speaker 1: I could go over there for a better opportunity and
Speaker 1: still make a lot of money. So I do believe
Speaker 1: that if a W gets a strong television deal, then
Speaker 1: we're talking to three, four or five years down the road.
Speaker 1: I don't I don't know if I go as far
Speaker 1: at say we could have a boom period, because I
Speaker 1: don't know if we'll ever have one again, like the
Speaker 1: nineties for a lot of reasons. But things could be
Speaker 1: so much better for everybody four to five years down
Speaker 1: the road in terms of making money having top spots
Speaker 1: on national television. It could be a bumpy road short
Speaker 1: term for a w but I do think that long
Speaker 1: term this could be better for both companies and all
Speaker 1: of the wrestlers. Good competition is good competition. It helps everybody,
Speaker 1: especially helps fans because people are on their games more,
Speaker 1: you know, people are more willing and open to go
Speaker 1: back and forth between places, and companies are more apt
Speaker 1: to take people going back and forth, even if they
Speaker 1: said they never worked with them again, or even if
Speaker 1: there's hard feelings or something like that. So yeah, that
Speaker 1: is going to be a benefit for everybody. One would
Speaker 1: hope it's interesting, and it's too bad that guys like
Speaker 1: Samoa Joe were released and had to go from n
Speaker 1: x D and from w w E and they were
Speaker 1: floated out there to other places. It will be interesting
Speaker 1: to see if anybody comes back your Gabe sapul skis
Speaker 1: your people like that. I wonder if Alice in danger
Speaker 1: this situration with her would have happened and under uh
Speaker 1: you know again, if Vince was gone and things have
Speaker 1: shaken up, and again those types of people i'd like
Speaker 1: to see comeback. I'd like to see get an opportunity
Speaker 1: again inside that company. Jeremy Borash being bumped up to
Speaker 1: the main roster to do some of the things that
Speaker 1: he's doing in an extine, the crew that he works with,
Speaker 1: not just him, but everybody involved in that. You know,
Speaker 1: definitely what is needed is fresh eyes for production on
Speaker 1: the main roster. Doesn't mean you have to kill Kevin dunnoff,
Speaker 1: but at some point, if you're gonna make wholesale changes,
Speaker 1: he's probably gonna want to step out of the way,
Speaker 1: So better to get him out. I know everybody is
Speaker 1: rushing to get Bruce Pritchard out, But what did Bruce
Speaker 1: Pritchard do when he got fired the first time around?
Speaker 1: He went to Global because he knew pro wrestling and
Speaker 1: he wanted to stay in the pro wrestling business and
Speaker 1: he liked it. And his main job is serving Vince
Speaker 1: and trying to take Vince's thoughts and ideas and have
Speaker 1: them come out on the screen. And he's been amazing
Speaker 1: at doing that. He's been an amazing yes man for Vince.
Speaker 1: Who's to say that he can't be in an amazing
Speaker 1: yes man for what Triple Ages vision is. Because it's
Speaker 1: not like Bruce Pritchard forgot about all of those years
Speaker 1: of Houston Wrestling, you know what I'm saying. So like,
Speaker 1: if whatever Triple Aged wants Bruce Pritcher may actually be
Speaker 1: a benefit for him at Kosky Fighters all that sort
Speaker 1: of stuff, that stuff with Stephanie. We're gonna have to
Speaker 1: see if that changes. There's no reason to believe that
Speaker 1: it will. My hope is, like I said before, we
Speaker 1: give talking points more to the people that have earned
Speaker 1: talking points, and we let things flow, as you said,
Speaker 1: a lot more organically on these shows. It'll make it
Speaker 1: for a better production because look, slip ups by announcers,
Speaker 1: slip ups by guys in the ring, things like that.
Speaker 1: You don't want Botch of Mania moments, but you do
Speaker 1: have moments that you can feel real because they actually happen. Hey, guys,
Speaker 1: I got I got talking points for you. Got three
Speaker 1: of them that I've seen. You got chat Remember one,
Speaker 1: this guy goes, Triple h is not the second Coming
Speaker 1: of Christ. Well you're correct, he's not the second Coming
Speaker 1: of Christ. But this guy goes he's being overhyped. Okay, listen,
Speaker 1: I'm not saying the Triple Age is the greatest of
Speaker 1: all time a genius. I'm not saying any of that.
Speaker 1: And here's the key, everybody. We don't need a gene
Speaker 1: I mean, it would be great if we had a genius,
Speaker 1: but we don't need a genius. You know, we need
Speaker 1: another hero, somebody better than Vince bro If you call
Speaker 1: let's say, let's say that you think that Bruce Pritchard
Speaker 1: as a booker, Let's say that you think that he sucks. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's say you think that he sucks. Right, Well, if
Speaker 1: whoever is brought in to do this job sucks less
Speaker 1: than Vince, then it's a positive. Do you understand? So
Speaker 1: if that triple Ah doesn't have to be Sam Mushnick
Speaker 1: or whoever ghetto it is, it is Pete bill Was.
Speaker 1: All he has to do is if the other guy
Speaker 1: did a poor job, which I would argue, particularly since
Speaker 1: two thousand eighteen, that he did, if this guy can
Speaker 1: do a less poor job, a moderately competent job, then
Speaker 1: Bro were there's a good reason to be bullish here.
Speaker 1: That's number one. Number two people talking about well, you
Speaker 1: know it could there there may be a sale and
Speaker 1: we don't know what's gonna happen, then you're absolutely right,
Speaker 1: we don't know what's gonna happen. But a sale a
Speaker 1: company that buys w w E. Let's say that they
Speaker 1: pay ten billion dollars for w w E, which is
Speaker 1: probably more than they would pay, but probably more than
Speaker 1: four billion, because that's what you have c god. Let's
Speaker 1: say they pay six billion, they buy UFC NBCUniversal. NBC
Speaker 1: Universal is not paying six billion dollars to w w
Speaker 1: E for them to fail and or go out of business. Okay,
Speaker 1: So I don't know what's gonna happen if a sale occurs,
Speaker 1: but I do not believe that if a sale occurred
Speaker 1: to NBC Universal tomorrow, we would see more severely massive
Speaker 1: changes then we're seeing now with Vince McMahon merely being gone.
Speaker 1: If Vince McMahon, if this had not happened with Vince McMahon, okay,
Speaker 1: but instead on Friday they sold an NBC Universal and
Speaker 1: buying w w said, we have purchased company. Vince McMahon
Speaker 1: will still be in charge of Creative. I honestly think
Speaker 1: we would have seen less changes with a sale and
Speaker 1: Vince McMahon in charge. Then the number of changes we're
Speaker 1: gonna see now without a sale and with Vince McMahon out.
Speaker 1: So whatever you see here now that Vince is gone,
Speaker 1: I think that it will largely carry on the same
Speaker 1: once the company is sold, which it almost assuredly will
Speaker 1: be at some point in the next five ten years.
Speaker 1: So we'll we'll see what the future roles. But I
Speaker 1: I people that are like, oh my god, I hope
Speaker 1: we don't have a sale. But the sale that you
Speaker 1: should not be worried about a sale of w w E.
Speaker 1: The biggest bottleneck in future enjoyment and success of w
Speaker 1: w E is not who owns it, it's who runs it.
Speaker 1: And Vince's gone. And finally, I do want to mention
Speaker 1: Samoa Joe because Samoa Joe was like everything you ever
Speaker 1: needed to know about this Vince Triple H relationship. Samo
Speaker 1: Joe went to an XT, got a huge push. They
Speaker 1: pushed him like a big star. He was over, people
Speaker 1: loved him, got pulled up to the main roster. Vince
Speaker 1: had no idea to do this guy not no clue,
Speaker 1: floundered and eventually was fired. Hunter then re hired him
Speaker 1: in a different role in n X t and managed
Speaker 1: to get him wrestling again. And then, of course Hunter
Speaker 1: was relieved of his duties and Triple H is fired again.
Speaker 1: Those are the differences between Vince and Triple H in
Speaker 1: the story of one Guy back in the moment, it
Speaker 1: was ever life. Back of the show. Brian Albarez here
Speaker 1: Wrestling Observer Live. Mike sumbur Vi also Wrestling Observer dot Com.
Speaker 1: Who's excited for Raw tonight? Uh? Nobody? I am, I am,
Speaker 1: I'm interesting. Well, I'm interested to see what's gonna happen tonight.
Speaker 1: The Garden. It is the Garden. You should be exciting
Speaker 1: about that. Well, I don't really care about Mecca, care
Speaker 1: about if the shows and he could or not. I
Speaker 1: don't care where the show takes place. I'm not one
Speaker 1: of those gloakes. Come hey, but we have we have
Speaker 1: no time to talk about this, really because we spent
Speaker 1: so much time talking about the Vince story, which in
Speaker 1: fact is the biggest story in all of wrestling. But
Speaker 1: we do have a Dynamite Wednesday with the return of Daniel.
Speaker 1: Bryan has been cleared Brian Danielson, so he will be
Speaker 1: into the ring on the show Wednesday versus Daniel Garcia.
Speaker 1: We Swirth, Strickland versus Tony Niece and Smart Mark Sterling.
Speaker 1: Ricky starts against Dan Housing for the ft W title.
Speaker 1: Thunder Rosa versus mu Yamashida ya Yamashta times canna miss
Speaker 1: that one up? And John Moxley defends the interim a
Speaker 1: W title against uh Real quick too. Because I talked
Speaker 1: about you know not you know, giving talking points to pros.
Speaker 1: One thing with the writers. Do they have a lot
Speaker 1: of pros there like Billy Kidman, Jamie Noble, you know,
Speaker 1: Steve Karino, guys who have been there for a long
Speaker 1: Let's also maybe put like the experience of Adam Pierce
Speaker 1: and Chris Park and some of those guys, let's put
Speaker 1: it back in their hands a little bit too. Again.
Speaker 1: People are still gonna need to be written for. They're
Speaker 1: still gonna rush up people in this day and age.
Speaker 1: But give some of this power back to the workers.
Speaker 1: That's what I really hope Triple h you can do.
Speaker 1: Wait back tomorrow, everybody. Hey, if you want more on
Speaker 1: all of these stories, you should be subscribing and Wrestling
Speaker 1: Observer dot com. We've done tons of shows talking about
Speaker 1: all of this. This coming weekend and more to come
Speaker 1: Filthy Tom Tonight, five Pacific, eight Eastern head dead with
Speaker 1: raw unfortunate timing. We'll do that back here tomorrow with more.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, everybody, We'll talk to you next time
Speaker 1: Wrestling Observer Live. You have been listening to the Wrestling
Speaker 1: Observer Daily podcast on the eight Side Network.