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Motivations for Giving Rollins the Pedigree

Hi, Scott.

Assuming #1 was to potentially set up a Rollins-HHH match when Rollins turns face, was Hunter's desire to smirk at Brock being laid out (repeatedly?) by his finishing maneuver the #2 reason Rollins was given the Pedigree as his new finisher?

​Come on now, we all know Hunter is about what's best for business.  ​

Comments

  1. That's just so bizarre how up to the minute metrics affect booking decisions.

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  2. "WWE got business metrics that indicated almost immediately that people were not down with the whole 'John Cena doing clean jobs' deal."



    I really don't like this company sometimes.

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  3. Cena is driving business, or Cena's popularity is a house of cards with no real depth to it?

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  4. To me, this is an unmitigated disaster lurking beneath the surface for the company with respect to the fans. Despite the vocal opposition to John Cena being used as the central focus of the show, it's obvious that the WWE has done such a terrible job of building up a worthy successor or successors to Cena's figurative throne that the company is now stuck between a rock and a hard place. The creative rationale for Cena to go over Owens so soon was minimal, but the financial knee-jerk overrode logical booking, and the end result leaves little doubt as to the inevitable conclusion of the plan: Cena will win moving forward. Even if Owens takes the next match at Battleground, it's almost a foregone conclusion that until someone starts moving merchandise at a high-enough level, Cena will receive undue protection in his booking that will simply reinforce the status quo and stomp out any creative flair that looks to give fans something different.

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  5. Belee_Matt!_INDEED!!!June 23, 2015 at 7:11 AM

    I think the key here is: give Roman Reigns bright purple and green shield vests that say "BELEE in CANCER SURVIVAL". All the kiddies will eat them up.

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  6. A little bit of both, perhaps? He's obviously a prime mover of merchandise, but by that same token, so many people in and out of the business have confirmed that he's the only person the WWE really gets behind when it comes to marketing. 75% of everything available at live events and TV tapings relates to Cena, so it stands to reason that he'd be the merchandise juggernaut. (It doesn't help that a lot of merch for other guys, such as Roman Reigns sucks the meat missile)

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  7. Belee_Matt!_INDEED!!!June 23, 2015 at 7:12 AM

    They're a corporation, like Wal-Mart. They go by sales. Does it suck? Yes. Would I do it too if I was losing money? Yes.

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  8. As someone who went to three shows in the past year, I can confirm that Seth merch was impossible to get, and brightly coloured Cena tat was piling up everywhere

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  9. Belee_Matt!_INDEED!!!June 23, 2015 at 7:13 AM

    Both.

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  10. John Cena is the worst thing to happen to wrestling since I've been a fan (other than the various tragedies).

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  11. The correct answer is "Yes"

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  12. Belee_Matt!_INDEED!!!June 23, 2015 at 7:14 AM

    It's all about The Game.

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  13. Yeah? Well...shut up. I sure showed you.

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  14. Do we know how Cena's clean loss affected cancer survival rates or are those figures not in yet?

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  15. Reigns is realistically done as the heir apparent for now. Creative (i.e. Vince) has done so much to destroy that character—accidentally so, which makes it more funny in a sad way—that he has no real chance to ever be that guy in his present incarnation. Reigns needs a heel turn or some other shake-up before he'll ever approach any level of respectable drawing power.

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  16. Belee_Matt!_INDEED!!!June 23, 2015 at 7:15 AM

    You make me want to say no.

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  17. I'm calling bullshit on this. It's so absurd and far fetched.

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  18. Remember that time that CM Punk merch was outselling Cena and WWE turned him heel to stop it from happening? Good times.

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  19. What does your heart say? DON'T SAY "BOTH".

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  20. ... you mean exactly the kind of thing Old Senile Vince would act on, then.

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  21. The #1 reason is that when Triple H is not on screen, everyone should be asking, Where's Triple H?

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  22. And remember when HHH buried Booker T?!? That was some bullshit!

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  23. Belee_Matt!_INDEED!!!June 23, 2015 at 7:17 AM

    Those metrics have yet to chemout yet.

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  24. Oh, I can totally believe it. Remember, they are a corporation, not a wrestling company.

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  25. I mean the people not buying merch because of Cena losing a match part.

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  26. Belee_Matt!_INDEED!!!June 23, 2015 at 7:17 AM

    Neither!

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  27. That's a valid point. It's also a valid point to suggest that a failure to diversify and develop an alternative to one's core brand is a disastrous marketing decision that leads to creative stagnation and a long term drop in business.

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  28. Yes but by doing that, you end up like Atari. Eventually blown out of the water by something else when in due time, everyone is sick to death of the 2600.

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  29. Yeeeees, that'll do.

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  30. I love how on the wrestling interwebz everything remotely involving Triple H is a conspiracy.

    Why hasn't anyone brought up that Triple H is CLEARLY building up NXT to feed him a bunch of indy guys who can job to him, just as a way to flip the bird to the smarks? That's low-hanging fruit, people.

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  31. Belee_Matt!_INDEED!!!June 23, 2015 at 7:19 AM

    I didn't say it was a long-term good idea. Most companies react in a short-sighted way. Unfortunately for them.

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  32. Chickens coming home to roost.

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  33. Was Punk really turned heel to keep him from eclipsing John Cena's merchandise totals? I was under the assumption that Punk turned heel in order to drop the title to Rock, versus any other metric.

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  34. I always thought Triple H giving Seth Rollins the Pedigree was a big compliment to Rollins.

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  35. He'll be the Authority figure hovering around the new guys like a proud papa.

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  36. Oh, Heel Reigns would be awesome, he could get back with Seth!

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  37. The very fact that it sounds so stupid gives me reason to believe that it's absolutely true.

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  38. Extant1979 - Extreme SuperstarJune 23, 2015 at 7:20 AM

    Hey look! It's another "Triple H is a terrible person" email. Are the only people who send Scott emails with questions the markiest of Marky Mark? Can we get the Funky Bunch in here instead?

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  39. Yeah but if Summerslam ends with HHH winning via Pedigree, it's not much of a rub but more like, "I made you, I can break you...don't step to daddy."

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  40. Belee_Matt!_INDEED!!!June 23, 2015 at 7:20 AM

    I agree. I'm not saying it's smart overall. As a short-sighted gameplan, it's the way it's working. A better long-term strategy would certainly help them.

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  41. Eh, probably. But that was only done so that Rock could lose to Cena.


    As opposed to Punk vs Taker, Streak vs. Belt. and Rock v. Cena grudge match with no belt on the line really needed.

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  42. Meh. This blog, like the wrestling business, is cyclical.

    Next up will be questions about Luger or Montreal.

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  43. bigger question. if this is actually true... then when Cena's merchandise numbers go down:


    Does overall merchandise go down (i.e. consumers don't substitute Cena merch with something else)?
    Or does something else (e.g. Reigns or Lesnar shirts) go up instead, indicating the same people are buying another guy's merch instead? And if it's #2, then why the fuck isn't that guy getting the rocket push?

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  44. In my personal opinion, I'd amend that to 'John Cena's booking'. The performer isn't necessarily the problem, even though he can be kind of amateurish at times, it's how he's been used. Cena's current role is perfectly acceptable; he just should have been doing this for the last five-six years instead of the last five-six months.

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  45. I could totally go for a round of Q-Bert right now.

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  46. Extant1979 - Extreme SuperstarJune 23, 2015 at 7:21 AM

    There's been a cycle where people haven't confused "Triple H" the character with Paul Levesque the man? I don't remember that.

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  47. It's WWE. They only do absurd and far-fetched.

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  48. The last show I went to I saw that Goldust wore a new shirt to the ring. When I went to try and buy it, I was informed that none of the stalls had it and I would have to go to the online store.

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  49. WrestleMania 29 is one of the more depressing shows of the last while. The rise of Daniel Bryan later that year really saved the WWE from creative oblivion.

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  50. I meant in terms of the same blog topics cycling in and out. Now we're in a HHH phase and then it'll be something else.

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  51. "I can and I will" could be such a great catchphrase in the feud against cancer.

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  52. I think this officially means "going public" was the dumbest thing Vince has ever done.

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  53. Most guys aren't allowed to touch other guy's finishing moves. Triple H allowing Rollins to use the move and use it as a finisher must be some for of compliment.

    You don't see guys doing tombstones or Rock Bottoms.

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  54. Just give Cena the fuckin' title and be done with it.

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  55. It's hard to substitute another superstar's merch for Cena's when said merch doesn't exist.

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  56. I didn't get to watch last night so I could very well have missed something... but in what universe will Seth be hitting multiple pedigrees on Brock?

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  57. So would any sensible person.

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  58. ?? You don't see it because it would make people think of the Undertaker or the Rock. Rollins doing the pedigree doesn't get Rollins over, it gets Triple H over.

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  59. And you'd be hard pressed to enjoy the 2600 version.

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  60. To have ran his competition out of business and created a virtual monopoly on wrestling in the United States, Vince sure does make some stupid fucking business decisions. To be a publicly traded company, he goes about running said company in a shit way.

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  61. Sane people act if merch sales plummet dramatically. Whether this is true or not is up for debate, but if this is Vince's reaction to an economic reality, than calling the reaction "senile" is amazingly ignorant.

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  62. Remember who we speak of here. Kids. The ULTIMATE "frontrunners".

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  63. Anthrax? HHH. Global Warming? HHH. You have no idea how deep the rabbit hole goes.

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  64. The goal right now is to get Seth Rollins over a main eventer for life. He needs his own finishing move. Using Triple H's finishing move is for an angle with Triple H.


    Name me one other main eventer in the WWF/E history that swiped another wrestler's finishing move.

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  65. Brock isn't a mark. If HHH wanted to hit ten Pedigrees on Brock himself Brock would take them and the mark money that goes along. It's just an angle.

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  66. Agreed. Two weeks of data isn't enough to build a real model around.

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  67. That only exasperates the problem by kicking it down the road. The better plan is to use Cena to elevate lower stations on their programming, so that when Cena drops the U.S. Title this summer (hopefully to Owens), the title's value remains as high as it is now with the next group of people to hold it.

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  68. It's only a "reality" in the self-inflicted sense. Many of us here have mentioned the HORRIFIC merch selection at various shows, from little house shows to Wrestlemania. 90+% Cena, and a few little things for the rest.


    Cena's "dominance" is real, but forced.

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  69. I don't think the physical reaction to the merchandise sales drop is the problem; it's the fact that it is a crisis of Vince's own making. His refusal to commit to a star without either sabotaging them directly or indirectly has created the 'Only Cena!' paradigm that is one blown knee away from ruin.

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  70. Anthrax is clearly Scott Ian. COME ON.

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  71. Adam "Colorado" CurryJune 23, 2015 at 7:28 AM

    The way Seth did it last night was an insult to HHH.

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  72. Belee_Matt!_INDEED!!!June 23, 2015 at 7:29 AM

    Luckily for Vince, even dumber guys were running the other companies.

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  73. I don't think it matters, really. If Cena's numbers go down (or if Vince half-assedly reads a report and thinks his numbers went down), that's it. That's where Vince's analysis of the situation starts and ends and then he acts accordingly.

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  74. Well, he already hit one after an Authority beatdown last night.

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  75. Maybe he gets too much credit for that. It's like how I thought Tim Burton was a good filmmaker. Because I really loved Nightmare Before Christmas. But then it turned out that he had very little part in the things that I liked, and every one of his other movies sucked.

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  76. I always thought it was Tyson Tomko.

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  77. I see. Like I said I didn't see it. That sounds like it doesn't make a hell of a lot of sense.

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  78. Also, luckily for him, Linda was running his.

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  79. I don't buy that part, either, but I can totally buy that Vince got some rough-around-the-edges sales estimates on Tuesday afternoon that he read as showing Cena's sales dipping, tied it in his head to Cena losing to Hunter's Fat Friend and spazzing over it.

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  80. The real solution here would be to build up a "kid friendly" heir apparent. We all love Owens, but he's going to be a "guy who works with the guy who draws." Ambrose style anti-heroes aren't the cash cow answer anymore either. The smartest thing they ever did with Bryan was start marketing the fake beards. THAT helped make him a kid favorite in addition to an Internet favorite. What we need is a new guy with a fun catchphrase, a likable demeanor and colorful outfits that lend themselves to merchandise.

    We need The Ryback.

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  81. It would have made more sense for them if they didn't plan on running the company themselves forever. If Vince was going to cash out and retire a billionaire, then I would understand it more.

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  82. So far, WWE's been lucky in that Cena's hurts have mostly fallen under the "Montgomery Scott Timing Rule". Say four months, back in four weeks. What happens when Cena suffers an injury that refuses to heal in that way?


    Do the stockholders panic and sell everything off for pennies, crashing WWE's financials? Does USA get truly "hands-on" (if they're not already), further turning WWE into just another prime-time show?

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  83. If Vince McMahon and Jim Crockett's roles were reversed in terms of who owned which territory, it's highly likely that you'd see a different landscape today. By controlling New York, Vince not only had the most lucrative markets and the biggest paydays to offer, but he also had an in with the wrestling media in the '80s at a time when it was most critical. All the wrestling magazines were based in the northeast, so the WWE got plenty of coverage at the exact moment they were going national. When you combine their financial power thanks to the aforementioned NE markets, no one had a chance against them.

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  84. (I doubt either of those actually happens. Although the second would be hilarious in real time, seeing others' reactions.)

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  85. I've said repeatedly that I would be all in on a pairing of "The Ryback, with his inspirational manager, Dan." Then the two of them can spin-off into a Network show where they get into wacky backstage adventures.

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  86. They have a couple of options in NXT. Finn Bálor is the most obvious choice, because the marketing potential for that character is through the fucking roof. At the same time, Sami Zayn could easily ply the Daniel Bryan underdog dynamic that draws in sympathy from the fans, and his merchandise has a neat vibe to it thus far.

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  87. For what it's worth, they just dumped 5 new Ambrose shirts on WWE Shop yesterday. They all suck, but 5 new shirts at once is practically unheard of, so Ambrose merch must be selling like a motherfucker.

    Now, does this mean the company is ready to get behind him as a main event player? Who knows?

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  88. Cena does a springboard Stunner. (variant of Austin's finisher)
    Reigns does a Spear. (Edge's finisher, Goldberg's lead-in move)
    Orton does the RKO (Diamond Cutter variant)
    Diesel used the powerbomb. (Sid did it before)

    Evan Bourne doing the SSP (Kidman did it before)
    Angle/Swagger both did Anklelocks (Shamrock did it first)

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  89. Hold on, why do we need a gimmick match in this series?

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  90. Belee_Matt!_INDEED!!!June 23, 2015 at 7:36 AM

    I hate Triple H so much, I stopped feeding my dog pedigree!


    FUCK PEDIGREE!!


    *tosses bag off a bridge*

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  91. There were reports that the company was about to go all-in on Ambrose thanks to his work the past two months. He doesn't have as good a look as Roman does, but right now I think he's the better choice because he's made an authentic connection with the fans, something Roman has yet to do.

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  92. Finn has merchandising options but anything Demon related seems like it would do better with adults than kids.

    Sami's in the same place Bryan was in circa 12, where he has the sympathy but how exactly do you mass market that?

    We need pure candy-coated kid crack.

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  93. And yet Cena got laid out at the end of the second match and was off TV for a week. I don't buy it.

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  94. Part and parcel of being a publicly traded company.

    If you're an investor but not a fan (I have to assume that these people do exist somehow), then you care about numbers, not the booking.

    If you're an investor and a fan, you're constantly doing battle in your own head between what you want to see and what's, ahem, best for business.

    This company should never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever have gone public.

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  95. They have no plans to move away from Cena, so just stop pretending and make him champ since he's the focal point anyway

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  96. Belee_Matt!_INDEED!!!June 23, 2015 at 7:37 AM

    We don't.

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  97. "WWE got business metrics that indicated almost immediately that people were not down with the whole "John Cena doing clean jobs" deal and they made sure to put him over in match #2."


    Kind of a knee jerk reaction, no?

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  98. He was winning the second match anyway. If they were that concerned about the kids not buying his t-shirts why keep him off TV for a week selling an injury?

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  99. What is the correct amount of time to sell an injury when you have a PPV in a few weeks you have to build to?

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  100. Is there really a need for Rollins-HHH? Heels Rollins was perfect. Relationships, alliances, and friendships in WWE are shorter than Sheamus-Bryan at Wrestlemania.

    They take perfectly good dynamics they spend months establishing and then ruin it. See: The Shield, Wyatts, Rusev/Lana....etc..etc..

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  101. For Cena? A couple hours should suffice.

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  102. Adam "Colorado" CurryJune 23, 2015 at 7:40 AM

    Atari didn't get blown away by something else, they tanked the entire industry.

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  103. The Demon Balor looks, literally, like a comic book character come to life. I know in 2015, you think comic books and you think Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons before you think kids, but you don't think kids will eat as much Balor as the WWE gives them?

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  104. Honestly, it's the same marketing principle that made the nWo so hot in the mid-1990s. You have to give the fans, a hook, something to engage them. Sami has something already built in from his ROH days: "Olé!" Simple, effective, fun to chant; add some sort of mannerism or gesture to it and you've hooked the fans again. If you hook them deep enough, he gets more over, and you can market him 'til the cows come home.

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  105. Only until daylight when he can get some yellow sun!

    Seriously though he sat out a week which is huge for him. With 4 weeks builds that is more than enough to tell the story IMO.

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  106. I would argue that Bálor's appeal is going to go pretty wide: the adults who think he looks badass, the women who think he's hot as Hell, and the kids who think his facepaint is cool.

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  107. I still maintain that there's a reason Court Bauer thinks HHH and Steph are gonna cash out after Vince dies and call it a career. It's such an off-the-wall theory to throw out there knowing what we know about them.

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  108. And if Cena goes down with a serious injury, the promotion is fucked.

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  109. I'm waiting for the "will Bryan retire" email

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  110. Cena will just engage his Wolverine-esque healing powers.

    Broken spine? Pfft, 3 weeks and some calcium supplements and he'll be AAing Kevin Owens off an ambulance.

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  111. WWE always blows through major feuds in a couple of months. The company is incapable of doing slow burn angles anymore - we know this! Just because they've stumbled into a great Owens/Cena feud doesn't mean they're going to change their month-to-month booking style.

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  112. Gotta love smarks talking about business when they don't have a clue about what is actually happening in the business.

    Stick to fantasy booking in your fantasy perfect world where everything bends to your whims.

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  113. I thought he already had the fuckin' title?

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  114. Douche Alert
    You have been fined one credit for violating the Verbal Morality Code.

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  115. "Gotta love smarks talking about business when they don't have a clue about what is actually happening in the business."


    Neither do you. We are just going off of the reports that we read.

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  116. So people really freaked out over Cena losing one match to the point where they either refused to buy merch out of protest, or they were so emotionally devastated that no amount of merchandise could console them?


    The average wrestling fan really is the worst.

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  117. The past 10 years have been a blur to me because I just can't enjoy CenaMania on any level.

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  118. Did witw write this one?

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  119. Is this a call for the abolishment of the BoD?

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  120. Maybe they concocted the merchandise drop numbers because Vince's CenaBoner started to go limp, and he didn't want to stop jerking it.

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  121. Note that I'm not talking about the business.

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  122. "average WWE fan" would be more accurate, I think.

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  123. We'll know if ten more similar emails saying the same thing also get posted

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  124. That's less than a minute's worth of interest from all the credit I got in the bank.

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  125. Adam "Colorado" CurryJune 23, 2015 at 7:47 AM

    There's a real simple solution here, just let him go back to the curb stomp.

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  126. This was only 1 paragraph so I doubt it.

    Not as dumb as HHH burying Rollins by passing the pedigree on to him though.

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  127. DOUCHE ALERT
    You have been fined one credit for violating the Verbal Morality Code.

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  128. He has his wife and kids call him "Hunter" - obviously the man himself has some issues separating it.

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  129. Belee_Matt!_INDEED!!!June 23, 2015 at 7:49 AM

    We just talkin', honky.


    Stick to keeping your penis lodged nicely in your mouth, sir.

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  130. DOUCHE ALERT
    You have been fined one credit for repetition.

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  131. NOW WHO'S TALKING ABOUT BUSINESS STUFF! HUH? HUGH?

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  132. Nope. Buried.

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  133. Anything he writes is only one paragraph. He doesn't know how to start a new one.

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  134. D-O-U-C-H-E A-L-E-R-T
    I'm laughing too hard to come up with something witty here.

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  135. He used caps on the second alert, no repetition. That should be three credits.

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  136. Extant1979 - Extreme SuperstarJune 23, 2015 at 7:51 AM

    Sigh... No good vibrations here. FEEL IT FEEL IT!

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  137. DEUTSCHE ALERT
    Die Leistung eines douche Unterschätzen Sie nicht.

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  138. http://troll.me/images/asdasdasdasdasdasd/oh-shit-son-it-just-got-real-up-in-here.jpg

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  139. You also need something harmless enough for the average parent to think is okay for their kid.

    The Demon with no context? Probably not.

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  140. Yes, right now, this is an angle with Triple H. If you're trying to get a guy over for life, one of the ways you help achieve that goal is to have them do angles with the biggest names you have.

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  141. His kids call him by his wrestling stage name and not Dad?

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  142. You'd think that WCW would have gotten more than one main event out of The Kiss Demon.

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  143. DUSCHE ALERT
    Ich trage dieses abzeichen mit stolz, kumpel.

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  144. Yeah, that Triple H. Finally, after all these years, he's figured out how to get himself over.

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  145. But WHERE ARE YOUR METRICS?!

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  146. We're not talking theory or getting attention here though. We're talking "what do you actually produce" in regards to Sami products.

    You need something with distinct visual motifs, which Sami doesn't have yet.

    You'd do better with Finn in that regard, but a lot of parents aren't going to buy their kids demon merchandise.

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  147. Also, the character motivations for the The Authority looks like it is written by a 3rd grader on a napkin.

    HHH/Steph loved Rollins because he is their chosen one. They push him for months, give him favored status and he wins the title finally. He then proves his talents and beats Ambrose in the ladder match himself, tired of having the flunkies help him. This annoys HHH/Steph because apparently a talented wrestler can't win a match on his own and requires the assistance of authority figures in order to be champion (because wrestlers like Hogan actually needed Jack Tunney to do run-ins in his matches and could never win on his own). They are irritated now because of this and bring back a guy who trashed their RAW set, F5'd an announcer, and then was suspended by Stephanie. Now all is forgiven for Brock because their chosen favored champion won a match on his own and decided to brag about it. So they bring him back, but yet it still appears they want Rollins to win, but want him to apologize to the Authority stooges to get their help again. Because WWE Champions need to be turned into little babies who need to apologize to big bad HHH/Stephanie. I remember all the times when The Rock had to get on his knees and say he was sorry to HHH/Stephanie and it made him such a bigger star. Bret Hart did it too back in 1997 to Vince McMahon, apologizing for getting angry on TV and asking for forgiveness. It made him a HUGE HEEL.

    Now of course, this sounds like eventually they will turn on Rollins, but again, we heard for almost a year how Rollins if the future of the business..blah blah blah blah, and he wins a match by himself and now he is a jerk.

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  148. Bret hart (sharpshooter). Nash (powerbomb). Rock (dropping a basic elbow). Kane (all UTs moves, but that was a unique circumstance).

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  149. If this was true, I can list off countless video games, comic books, musical artists, etc. that would have died on the vine.

    A lot of parents don't give a fuck at all, but even among those who do, a wrestler who paints himself like a demon isn't gonna raise eyebrows, man.

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  150. We're also talking a problem of degrees. I'm talking about hooking six to ten year olds. Finn seems like his merch would skew towards teens and older.

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  151. This seems to be a bit of an over reaction... is that your thing? Overreacting to stuff?

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  152. The 2600 sucked in 1987 when we had limited options. Now that thing would look like something from the stone ages

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  153. Belee_Matt!_INDEED!!!June 23, 2015 at 8:05 AM

    Could be.

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  154. Yokozuna.
    Ric Flair.
    Shawn Michaels.
    Kane.
    Sid.
    That's off the top of my head in 45 seconds.

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  155. Yes, I'm sure that's the reason. As opposed to a reason that's not profoundly retarded. It's always the "Triple H is evil" answer.

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  156. Why, based on a John Cena push? They went public like 15 years ago and that influx of capital helped them out a lot. While it limits their freedom to do a lot, I wouldn't say they shouldn't have based on any recent events. Having said all of that though, the onerous regulations of being a public company absolutely suck, so from that standpoint who knows if it's worth from that standpoint any longer, but I would assume it is or else they would've gone private by now.

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  157. In this analogy, "something else" doesn't have to be another video game system.

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  158. Most of these emails suck, but I AM still bitter about that.

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  159. They can't go private again. They don't have the expendable cash to buy back all the stock. That horse left the barn long ago.

    As far as the influx of capital, yeah, it's a nice short-term windfall, but the company didn't NEED it. They went public because it gave Vince a boner to be an owner of a publicly traded company. That's the only reason and I think that saying it "limits their freedom" is dramatically downplaying the reality. They have no freedom. Every decision they make has to be filtered and discussed for maximum positive optics in the eyes of investors, which means that you can't take short-term losses in search of long-term gains.

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  160. Belee_Matt!_INDEED!!!June 23, 2015 at 8:13 AM

    I've been told Triple H hates you.


    And yet, you still defend him.


    You're a forgiving guy, and I like you.

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  161. Okay, serious question, because I'm not a businessman:

    So Cena loses a match, his merch sales drop immediately, and the whole company panics and puts him back over so as not to lose that revenue. If this is in fact the case, how does the WWE try to work around it? I mean, what if Cena suffers an injury tomorrow that keeps him out of action for the next year? They have no one else to drive sales. Brock isn't around enough and everyone else gets their balls cut off by the 50-50 booking.

    So, if we're talking about what's best for business, doesn't it make sense to turn Cena heel in the most violent, spectacular fashion possible? I'm not talking about turning him into an Authority stooge a la Rollins; I mean he goes ballistic, destroys everyone from Brock to Reigns to Rollins to HHH, etc., declares himself his own man, grows an evil goatee, wins the title and gets some sycophants, like a new nWo, then spends the next several months building to WrestleMania. Now, everyone who despises Cena is (theoretically) going to love the new evil Cena and buy evil Cena merchandise (shirt idea: "Give up NOW...before I KILL you"). Then, you can start building up a couple of babyfaces to create revenue streams, if not equal to, close to that Cena generates. That way, if one guy goes down, the whole company isn't suddenly losing a ton of revenue.

    Or am I just stupid?

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  162. I don't buy that Cena's merch numbers dropped just because he did a clean job for someone. What a ridiculous proposition. It's not even the first time Cena has done a clean job for someone.

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  163. Did you see the suit HHH was wearing on Raw? You can't tell me that isn't to show how much better dressed he is than the rest of the roster.

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  164. Well Rollins is due for a face turn, it feels like it's been a year since he's been a face!


    Plus the faster you turn him face the faster you can turn him back heel.

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  165. So Cena is the Toronto Blue Jays? If he's not winning nobody cares?

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  166. They can easily go public again, they just need a partner to do so. They'd have to work with a private equity firm to do so, but it could be done.

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  167. And that, in a nutshell, is what's wrong with publicly traded companies. So much attention is given to the short term gains and losses that things that are good for the long-term are ignored.


    People panic when merch sales drop, but they'll run around like chickens with their heads cut if/when the day comes that Cena can't wrestle anymore.

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  168. I thought it was a pretty good segment.

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  169. That and meme !!!

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  170. Depends if you are allowed to use ice packs or not.

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  171. "amazingly ignorant." That's kind of his speciality

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  172. Which makes them beholden financially to another party, so what's the difference?

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  173. They're not public any longer, less onerous regulations, and they'd be force to trim the fat and operate leaner. Not saying it would help with any fantasy booking or anything, but it is different than being private for a lot of reason. Much different in fact

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  174. I guess the idea is that Hunter/Stephanie are control freaks and don't like the idea of their favored pet champion getting too big for his britches, because they need to feel wanted and needed. This could be an interesting storyline if there was any chance whatsoever of Hunter/Steph eventually getting their commuppance, but since that never happens, it just becomes a sad, depressing case of art imitating life, because Hunter and Stephanie ARE really that insecure in real life that they need to constantly be booked above everybody on TV.

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  175. I mean, I guess it makes sense that fans who support, for lack of a better expression, Owens in this feud (most of the IWC and other "smart" fans) aren't buying Cena merch anyway. I think the rest of this whole sales drop thing is a stretch.

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  176. So Cena loses once and they immediately see merch sales plummet? Seems a bit strange

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  177. This is mind-boggling to me. So all the 10-year-old kids suddenly stop buying John Cena wristbands because he lost a match? Their parents lost faith in Cena and cancelled their order for a "Never Give Up" rally towel?


    Jesus Christ. You'd think fighting from underneath would be more inspirational to these bleating sheep. Daniel Bryan created an entire movement by being the underdog, but God forbid Cena show weakness for 30 seconds or his fans will throw in the towel -- literally.


    That makes me wonder what kind of wrestling fans Cena fans really are. Even as a 10-year-old, I got the concept of my heroes losing and coming back to get vengeance (see Steamboat, Ricky).

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  178. I honestly believe that some people are trying to find a way to tie Hunter to 9/11. Did you know that his old man was the third gunman on the grassy knoll? Did you also know that Triple H is the world's single biggest cause of ozone layer depletion?

    Jesus Christ, we get it. You think HHH is the worst thing to happen to the planet Earth.

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  179. This is like that time somebody suggested that HHH only put Bryan over because he wanted one last WrestleMania classic and wrestling him was the best bet...as if he couldn't have possibly accomplished that while still beating Bryan.

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  180. Exactly. Look at the buy rate for WM13 when they were still building up new stars, then look a year later at the buy rate for WM14 and how much better business was doing because they invested so much into those new stars.

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  181. Yeah, I don't even think the demonic makeup is going to be an issue. Maybe in the 80s or 90s, but parents aren't really scared by the Satanic stuff anymore like they were in the 80s and 90s. Now they're scared of terrorists and social change.
    Besides, it's not like they can't change what makeup he uses. In fact, they WILL, because there's a new color of Cena gear about every eight months or so, right?

    I'm sure Sami's gonna stay hugely over, but he's a very grounded personality, and those are harder to obviously market. They could probably get some mileage out of a ska-style checkerboard pattern on stuff, since his main shirt right now is already pointing that way.

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  182. AverageJoeEverymanJune 23, 2015 at 9:07 AM

    He's correct the figures have not metastasized as of yet.

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  183. "But it's a golden age for the repo business, one that shall never end."

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  184. Is it necessarily merchandise? Maybe it was a ratings thing? That would make more sense in terms of the immediate response.

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  185. Heel Reigns saving Seth's title against Brock would be great. Even better - a Brock/Ambrose vs. Rollins/Reigns tag at Summerslam.

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  186. AverageJoeEverymanJune 23, 2015 at 9:13 AM

    Dont forget the gay dudes.

    ReplyDelete
  187. i wrote a college paper on racism in wrestling, that storyline featured prominently in it. fuck, that, shit.

    ReplyDelete

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