I think this is entirely company dependent, with our views obviously slanted to the wrestling industry. But let’s go to a non-wrestling example: Amazon hires more people at a time of incredible unemployment and is widely shit on. ESPN cut like half their talent over a few years and now look at Disney and Disney+ surely they could have kept everyone because they make billions of dollars in perpetuity. Specifically NBA has teams benching star players and or players themselves opting out of games and it gets celebrated as “player empowerment” So I’m not sure any of this can be easily put into a bucket. If AEW did a big release like this the opinions would differ from when WWE does it.
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I think you hit the nail on the head. I was just reading the “outrage” over these releases on twitter, and to be honest, I don’t believe it. I would bet my life that 90% of the people outraged are people who had a bias towards the company. With that said, I dont blame them for having a bias, I 100% get it, but their response is more so do to past issues than this specific thing in a bubble. This is not the same as a year ago.
Sadly in wrestling you need to constantly create new spots for new up an coming talent, the unfortunate sad and shitty reality of that, is to open up a new spot, you need to take someone spot. I truly feel bad for the performers that were released, that sucks, I will never cheer or be happy that someone lost their job, but its just one of those sad realities in this business. AEW doesnt have a roster the size of WWE, and have only been around for a short period of time, but make no mistake about it, one day they will have to release talent as well.
In the summer actually, AEW did release 3 people at once. If I remember correctly, nobody even batted an eye. Again, not even saying people should have been pissed, just adding to my point that WWE gets the reaction it does because of past behavior (ie. third party deals, saudi shows etc.).
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Maybe it’s me just trying to be optimistic, but I think the Australian ladies will be just fine. Peyton Royce is going to end up with her husband in AEW and BK will probably end up there as well if not impact. They can go back to having YouTube channels in twitch streams and probably make more money and have more exposure than they did in WWE. It’s puzzling they couldn’t find anything to do with Peyton Royce, but that’s the current WWE product. BK needs to go back to flight back to school and start training some Wrestling because that shit at me and he was unacceptable. Even have to say it. I think they will both be fine though.
I think with a lot of things, AEW definitely has more goodwill going for them than WWE does (and have earned that).
I do believe that the optics are also against WWE. Claiming cost cutting when literally having the most profitable year ever. Beyond that, it’s the nature of the mass layoffs, with several predominantly featured talents beig among them. If it was a release or two every week for the next two months, many people wouldn’t have batted an eye. Instead, it’s major news when ten people at once are cut.
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Just excited for the Cody Rhodes Nepotism-y Hire Tree to get to a 4th generation with one of its branches: Cody → Spears → Royce → Kay.
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At some point we really need some wrestling reporter to do a study so we can have some sort of data on exposure and monies earned from Youtube/Twitch whatever so we can actually have an idea of whether or not this thing is making up any sort of distance on those fronts that we are generally assuming is coming. I know Miro was making some money on Twitch, but I can’t imagine his exposure “grew” because of it. Also wonder how many wrestlers can put in that equal time and/or are that invested in second careers. But either way, having some sort of meter for it would probably be beneficial for discussion and for the wrestlers themselves when evaluating their career paths.
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That’s why I don’t necessarily have an issue with WWE signing so many people. Wrestling doesn’t seem like a sure thing to make a living off of so if they can get a contract with the WWE, good for them while it lasts.
People criticising wrestlers for signing a contract with WWE are being super harsh and out of touch with reality in my opinion. That’s why I’m not too fond of people when they make fun of Ricochet for saying that he made it just by signing for WWE. These people also seem to be living in a world where they think wrestlers should have this “wrestling war” in mind when making decisions with their careers. Making a living is more important than having good creative that impresses fans. Unfortunately fans of anything will always think it all revolves around them.
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Totally agree. It’s one thing for someone like Jericho to take a chance because he wants artistic freedom when he’s financially set.
For the rest of us mere mortals having a stable high paying job in a large company isn’t something to throw away lightly without any guarantees. These are real people with bills and families.
Look at your own job. Are you completely satisfied? Should you thus just walk away without any guarantees of finding something better?
Some will because they really hate it that much, don’t have the same financial obligations (ie kids) or are risk takers. Great for them. But don’t condemn people who don’t. They have their reasons as well.
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100% it is also important to note that there is only so much room to be in the top in wrestling. This idea that these wrestlers should leave to go be on top somewhere is silly. At what level is being on top not as good as being a jobber in WWE? I mean if you are too in AEW or NJPW sure, but if you are Impact or ROH champion is that better than being Midcard WWE? What about GCW? From a fan standpoint I get wanting guys to go elsewhere to succeed but if WWE cut every guy fans don’t think are being used well how many do you really think would end up better off?
If I have creative control in a bingo hall is that better than having $100k in the bank at WWE.