WWE Officially Announces the Signing of KENTA
He will be starting out in NXT.
http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/96-wwe/37926-wwe-press-release-on-kenta-signing
WWE Wrestlers Remain Unhappy Over Money
The wrestlers remain unhappy over the fact that they are making less money off of the same house shows, video game checks, and the fact that the company is on a kick of fining wrestlers for being late and for dress code violations. Also, the WrestleMania payouts are expected to be mailed out shortly, with talent still unsure if they are only being paid on the number of PPV buys or that and a combination of network revenue.
Credit Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Big Show Update
Big Show is slated to return at the end of the month. He has been away from TV while shooting a role for the WWE Studios Film "Vendetta."
http://pwinsider.com/article/86846/another-name-set-to-return-shortly.html?p=1
He will be starting out in NXT.
http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-stories/96-wwe/37926-wwe-press-release-on-kenta-signing
WWE Wrestlers Remain Unhappy Over Money
The wrestlers remain unhappy over the fact that they are making less money off of the same house shows, video game checks, and the fact that the company is on a kick of fining wrestlers for being late and for dress code violations. Also, the WrestleMania payouts are expected to be mailed out shortly, with talent still unsure if they are only being paid on the number of PPV buys or that and a combination of network revenue.
Credit Dave Meltzer, Wrestling Observer Newsletter
Big Show Update
Big Show is slated to return at the end of the month. He has been away from TV while shooting a role for the WWE Studios Film "Vendetta."
http://pwinsider.com/article/86846/another-name-set-to-return-shortly.html?p=1
KENTA being in WWE is up there with Bryan Danielson being WWE champ. Sort of mind-blowing stuff for long-time fans. I hope he does at least as well as Tajiri did.
ReplyDeleteWell, there's the whole fact that time would fold in upon itself if you fought your future self. There's also the fact that it would be dead in the water because atrophy would make future Cena older, slower and weaker than current Cena. I know 22 year old me could probably take 30 year old me. I've got the weight advantage, but young me had nothing to lose and a really really bad attitude.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, this angle would have worked perfect in the 80's if you bring Hollywood Hogan from the future to battle 80's baby face Hogan. The promos would be amazing and the chemistry for the match would be off the charts. Triumphant baby face Hogan triumphing over his future self followed by a handshake in the ring and an extended posing sequence afterwards. That does beg the question though, if 80's Hogan sees what he becomes and defeats that iteration of himself, does he ever go on to become Hollywood Hogan? And if not how does Hollywood come from the future to battle him? A future that would not exist because present Hogan has already seen it and vowed never to let it happen.
Time is weird.
He can learn from Joey Mercury and Billy Gunn
ReplyDelete'You're ten minutes late. We're fining you'.
ReplyDelete'Take it out of my Mania check, dick. You already took plenty of that'.
"(KENTA) will be starting out in NXT."
ReplyDeleteNot only do I think WWE is deliberately trolling us, I think it's brilliant because it seems to work. (See: Bryan, Daniel)
So you're saying if they want a good Mania pay off, they should all show up late to Raw?
ReplyDelete"The only way to hit the Fameasser is if the guy hunches over for no particular reason"
ReplyDeleteI'd pay money to see KENTA roll his eyes at DeMott's bullshit down in NXT. Put that shit on PPV.
ReplyDeleteI'd really prefer it if Big Show didn't come back.
ReplyDeleteOnly way KENTA makes it is if they make it a really big deal when he debuts on Raw. If they just throw him out there like he is just another Yoshi Tatsu, he'll have a harder time.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for the release of KENTA's personalized tiny towel. I'll buy 3.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing NXT actually seems to do is slap elaborate entrances on people and get their dancing skills polished.
ReplyDeleteEveryone that's a decent worker who has come out of there was already one on the indies (Rollins, Sheamus, Del Rio, Bryan, Barrett, Cesaro, Ambrose, etc.) The exception seems to be the Rotunda kids but having been exposed to the business for 20+ years probably helped in that regard.
And here's the secret to protecting yourself from the ladder: don't do this.
ReplyDeleteI can see them fining the talent for being late, but dress code violations? GTFO.
ReplyDeleteSheamus, Del Rio and Wade Barrett were decent wrestlers on the indies? I don't recall ever hearing of them except for when they got to WWE.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I feel bad that they are getting shafted on money and are probably going to get crushed on their 'Mania payout, but it's not like they can do anything about it. In fact, unless future contracts are written to get the wrestlers Network royalties, they are all going to be a poorer.
ReplyDeleteIf you can't see a massive difference between those guys indie work and their WWE work you're watching wrestling wrong.
ReplyDeleteI think he's saying this probably isn't the best time to start invoking fines.
ReplyDeleteDel Rio was a huge star in Mexico before coming to WWE. The other 2 never did any indy work that I know of.
ReplyDeleteRollins especially. He at least now knows how to play to the crowd and his mic work is actually tolerable now
ReplyDeleteWell, there was a time when Ted DiBiase brought back the Undertaker from the past to battle the current Undertaker...
ReplyDeleteI know. What a strange concept, being required to show up for work on time.
ReplyDeleteDon't no if it's been mentioned...does kenta know English...or this another sin cara situation
ReplyDeleteSo, what are the chances of a full scale mutiny after the Mania checks come out?
ReplyDeleteWell, the dress code violations I can understand, but yeah, boo fucking hoo for being required to show up on time.
ReplyDeleteAnd if he's English isn't all that great, he's the perfect Heyman guy. Another silent killer (ala Brock).
ReplyDeleteSlim to none.
ReplyDeleteIf that's the case, sounds like they are pressing down on them in order to produce revenue for the company or something, not unlike a police department trying to nab as many speeders in speed traps and issuing as many tickets as possible. Not saying this is the case, but it sure sounds like it.
ReplyDeleteThe Rock showed up late to every TV show from 99-02!
ReplyDelete- Daniel Bryan and CM Punk have been two of the most celebrated WWE Champions of recent memory.
ReplyDelete- Hulk Hogan held a press conference to announce the WWE signing of KENTA.
- A major post-Mania Raw angle required Hulk Hogan to be essentially shoved out of the way to put focus on Claudio Castagnoli.
Join us next week for another installment of "Things That Would Have the 2005 Wrestling Fan Going, WTF?"
Man, Chyna was so awkward in the ring, but this match with Jericho at Armageddon '99 is actually pretty decent.
ReplyDeleteId go as far as have him challenge Rusev and demolish him. Rusev gets fired, cause he blows, and his hot ass valet gets a new talent who she can be the mouthpiece for, literally and in managerial sense. She of course starts wearing a kimono as well, because WWE, and of course all Japanese women wear kimonos all of the time.
ReplyDeleteI 100% serious about all of this too
The talent agreed to get paid based on PPV buys not network subs, so they will get what they deserve there.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how you fine someone that doesn't actually work for you though.
Before we all get ahead of ourselves wondering how they'll book KENTA, it's very unlikely we see him on the main roster before Survivor Series at the very earliest. They might even hold off & debut him at the Rumble. The matches with Zayn & Neville ought to be pretty sweet though
ReplyDeleteDoes he then go on to assume control of the whole company by raping HHH until he cries and admit's he's KENTA's bitch boy
ReplyDeleteI don't know what the fuck you're talking about, Rusev is great. He is Umaga 2.0
ReplyDeleteThen the Network is taking money out of their pockets.
ReplyDeleteNah, I know, just being an ass that they're hurting so bad for money that they've resorted to fining people to boost their coffers
ReplyDeleteI would think that conditions for fines have to be spelled out in the contracts, unless there is some clause that says that any pay above the downside guarantee is completely at the whim of WWE. If the contract says that they have to dress a certain way and show up on time or else they get fined, then dress a certain way and show up on time.
ReplyDeleteAnd doesn't WWE have an HR or payroll department that can field questions about how people are being paid? Why do we get news stories about talent being unsure about the pay structure in this day and age? Just call the freakin' people in payroll and ask them instead of whining to Meltzer about it.
If memory serves, the problem in the past is they only enforce it when they get a bug up their ass and it was random at that. Kinda like the 3 strikes policy that molds itself around rated RK(10 strikes but we'll knock a bunch of them off so we don't have to fire you)
ReplyDeleteYour point? This is still what they agreed to. If they are unhappy they can renegotiate when their contract is up.
ReplyDeleteHe's not at all. I have zero hope for the guy
ReplyDeleteWell that would just be silly and unimaginable
ReplyDeleteMy point is that it is fucked up and they have every right to be upset. It's also reason number one why they need a union.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair the WWE lost a lot of revenue with the video game royalties when THQ went belly up and they had to sign with Take-Two Interactive.
ReplyDeleteThe PPV buyrate question remains a wholly legitimate gripe though, that will be interesting to watch unfold.
The end of a Big Show vacation is a lot like the end of Summer vacation.
ReplyDeleteWWE should build a huge international stable. Rusev, KENTA, Cesaro, Bad News Barrett.
ReplyDeleteyeah, because no one has thought about calling HR. (insert eyeroll). Even before the network and since Vince Jr. took over, payouts for house shows and ppvs have been at his whim. Read JJ Dillon's book for a great look at the innner workings, but as Jericho and Bret both mention in their books, Vince and his inner circle make arbitrary decisions on who drew the house, how important the wrestler was to the card, and honesty fudge numbers for how much revenue they make. When their is no written formula for how much you get, how the heck is HR supposed to give you an answer? That is why WCW contracts were so much better for wrestlers. You agreed to a price and number of dates. Work more dates and a bonus is spelled out. Bonuses for ppvs were spelled out. Beats the heck out of Vince's "I'll give you this minimum but you will make more. I can't tell you how much more or how you'll get paid, but don't piss me off or key locker room guys and I might give you a big payout."
ReplyDeleteladies and gentleman corporate America appreciates your blind support. Mr. worker, you will take it and like it. Don't like it, find another job. Oh and tell the 1890s hello
ReplyDeleteumm because the independent contractor thing is a joke. Not only do they create rules for their "contractors" but they set when and how they can perform and don't even spell out payments in the contract (as in we arbitrarily pay ou what Vince feels like that day for the ppv you did 3 months ago).
ReplyDeleteand go where? Jarrett? TNA? Japan? Unfortunately this isn't like an engineer who can find a different engineering job when he doesn't like the terms as a (legit unlike WWE) independent contractor.
ReplyDeleteand you can bet it's arbitrary just like everything else Vince does. Big enough name, don't worry about it. I'm sure Cena can wear his stupid outfit because it is central to his character but god forbid a mid-carder wear the same outfit. UT was always exempt from dress code too back in the middle of the last decade.
ReplyDeleteLooking around for a video of that interview you mentioned but having no luck. Anyone?
ReplyDeletehe's generic 80s heel 95.0. He's cannon fodder for Cena or Sheamus or some other smiling babyface for a couple ppvs and then it is Kozlov time.
ReplyDeleteThey are stuck.
ReplyDeleteSheamus was just as generic as Rusev is now.
ReplyDeleteIts not how it should be but it is how it is. Being "upset" won't change it.
ReplyDeleteAgreed... maybe they should focus on unionizing instead of "being upset"
ReplyDeleteTheir contracts read "We arbitrarily pay out what Vince feels like that day for the PPV you did 3 months ago."?
ReplyDeletewell when Rusev starts working out with HHH, then we'll talk. Otherwise he's a Hogan style foreign heel. Built up, then jobbed out and put out to pasture.
ReplyDeleteThat is their prerogative
ReplyDeletePretty much.
ReplyDeletethey should since that is what they do. i'm sure in legalese it sounds better but ultimately that is what occurs and apparently is acceptable based on the contract.
ReplyDeleteBeing pissed off and forming a union go hand in hand.
ReplyDeleteThis isn't the 80s. If he passes the Cena test, he'll stick around in a pretty good spot.
ReplyDeleteCan I please see a copy of the contract you are reading?
ReplyDeleteThey haven't done it, so clearly they aren't mad enough to change what is happening.
ReplyDeletePrazak: "It's KENTA in DEVELOPMENTA!"
ReplyDeleteare you honestly trying to tell me that Vince doesn't pay whatever the hell he wants above the downswide guarantee? It's been documented by numerous folks. Guys getting 1/20th of their opponent at a big show. Guys getting big checks for crowds less than other shows they got smaller checks. Their is no formula that exists. JJ Dillon was the guy in the 90s who suggested payouts, but Vince approved and adjusted all of them. They looked at the revenue and the place a guy was on the card and made a payout. No percentages, no hard and fast rules about match order, nothing. If Vince decided HHH "drew" 95% of the crowd, then he got 95% of the money and Jericho got 5%. If Vince was pissed at you, then you got screwed and their is not a damn thing you can do about it other than bitch at Vince (which both Jericho and Bret did and talked about in their books).
ReplyDeleteher version of Naomi's "Rear View" could be fatal
ReplyDeleteOk so what are they going to do about it? If the answer is nothing then all they are going to do is walk around pissed off.
ReplyDeleteExactly. Vince pays guys like a $1000 a year "salary" and then the rest is in bonuses. Gives him all the leeway in the world to make arbitrary and vindictive decisions about pay.
ReplyDeleteSay what you will about WCW, but it's no wonder Vince lost so many guys in the MNW era -- if I was a young, risk aversive wrestler or an older wrestler one bad injury away from my career ending, I'd want to go where all that stuff is spelled out for me too.
There's almost as many great matches KENTA can have in NXT than on the main roster- Neville, Kidd, Gabriel, Zayn, Kalisto, Breeze....no problems with him starting down there at all.
ReplyDeleteWell, they did work in the UK, for what that is worth.
ReplyDeleteIt's kind of sad that despite how big the WWE is and how rich McMahon is, the WWE still makes payouts like a 2nd-rate backwoods carny federation. Seriously, this is a publicly traded company and they can't provide payment details to their talent?
ReplyDeleteJust as long as he gets recognized at the airport, he'll do just fine.
ReplyDeleteThere have been several Japanese talent defections that resulted in new promotions. I know NOAH was one and I think Mutoh has another. If the pay and conditions in WWE is such bullshit, why can't the same chain of events happen here in the States?
ReplyDeleteYes, it is.
ReplyDelete(We're stating the obvious here, right?)
A few of those U.K. promotions are all right. Check out 1PW if you got some free time.
ReplyDeleteand ironically, for all the talk of WCW backstage politics, it is the WWE system that encourages conflict and backbiting amongst talent. When your spot on the card can be the difference between Vince deciding to drop a 500k check on you or a 5000k check on you for WM, their is certainly incentive to cling to your spot, sell your felllow wrestlers out if you think it will benefit you, and generally be distrustful of the locke room. In essence just how Vince likes it. If you can't trust your fellow wrestlers and are aways in direct conflict with them for paydays, how will you ever trust them enough to broach the subject of organizing a union or even simply fighting arbitrary dress codes and fines?
ReplyDeleteYup. Every company I've ever worked for has only ever randomly enforced certain rules, although it's usually when people stopped subtly bending them and started outright ignoring them.
ReplyDeleteHow many people have passed the Cena test to stay in a pretty good spot? Punk? Is there anyone else on that list?
ReplyDeleteUnionizing isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world, though. It might be easier now than it was in the 1980s in terms of getting the structure together, but unlike the 80s, when Ventura tried it, there's nowhere else for these guys to go if there's some sort of backlash.
ReplyDeleteThe environment is way different in the States.
ReplyDeleteSheamus, Umaga, Edge, off the top of my head. Tensai would be a guy in the fail column.
ReplyDeletewhat's all this talk about "checks being mailed"?
ReplyDeletehey wwe, there is such a thing called "direct deposit." big companies have started to use it
for KENTA's name, they should keep the japanese presentation but give him an whitebread american name
ReplyDelete"making his debut, LOUIE!"
it is actually harder now to unionize because protections for workers who organize are rarely enforced. There are technically rules about retaliation, rules about how a company has to allow the campaign and vote but as the country has become more anti-union and the Republican Party has become downright hostile to unions, those protections are rarely enforced, even by a labor relations board that leans Democrat with Obama appointments. You could google for hours some horror stories about companies harassing organizers, firing people, threatening to close the store or factory, etc. Recently in Tennessee a Republican legislature made preemptive threats that if VW unionized it's factories they might pull tax incentives so that VW would leave. Patently illegal behavior, but sadly it was successful as workers feared jobs leaving, despite VW SUPPORTING the union and being pissed off at the GOP sticking their nose in it.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you define as talent when it comes to wrestling?
ReplyDeleteBret was an artist? How so? He did the same match almost every time. If you had seen 3 Bret matches you've seen them all. He's like John Cena, but with better selling.
ReplyDeleteKinda like CM Punk?
ReplyDeleteYeah. And I don't have the specific numbers regarding how many kids bought King Kong Bundy masks.
ReplyDelete...what a depressing thought.
ReplyDeleteTo some it does. I don't care for the smaller guys. They seem silly to me and I tend to tune out when they wrestle. I like to watch wrestling for the same reason I like Silver Surfer comics. Big, larger than life guys duking it out. I wanna see Galactus take on The Stranger! Not Batman and Catwoman dancing.
ReplyDeleteYou are free to have your personal preferences. What I don't like is trying to project that onto everyone else. 70,000 people were in the Superdome doing the "YES" chant this past April. Bundy really doesn't have an argument.
ReplyDeleteThanks I'll go back and look for it! :)
ReplyDelete