But not everyone wants to go to japan or europe. Walter doesn’t get much grief over wanting to stay in Germany.
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I will say I don’t think it’s a given that if you leave, succeed elsewhere, and come back to WWE that there’s any guarantee you succeed.
EC3 may be the most glaring example. John Morrison went and did well and he’s slotted in a certain role. Shelton Benjamin, etc etc. You may get more money in your next offer, but I honestly think Jinder’s push came from getting jacked. And Drew was always someone they liked, but he needed to prove himself.
Point being that isn’t really the answer to all of this for these guys.
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EC3 actually did more on the main roster in this run than his first run in WWE (which is sad). Morrison is also in a much better spot than he was when he left.
It’s almost impossible for Vince to change his mind on guys, which is why leaving and coming back is far more successful than just being stuck in the same spot forever like the guys I mentioned.
For every success story, there is countless failures…where’s Gangrel? Kenny Dykstra? Kurgan? Why give up a well paying job, being on weekly tv; just to prove your street cred?
Gangrel basically retired and moved on to training guys, Dykstra also quit wrestling for a while, Kurrgan transitioned into acting. And none of those guys were in the same spot for a decade.
Again, guys who are talented will find a way.
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The risk is you go get injured and never make it back. You never answered my question. Is Ziggler on a level with Kenny Omega? If not he is taking a massive pay cut. To what to prove himself so he can get back in the main event scene he has already been a part of.
As to treatment Mahal has not been treated better than Dolph. He had one title run, Dolph has as well, and has been a nothing since then. Dolph has repeatedly been used in main event programs. There is also no comparison Dolph has been treated way better overall. The guy was Word champ twice, US champ once, IC champ 6 times, and tag champ 3 times, as well as being Mr. Money in the bank. His career is ways better than Mahal.
Say what you will about lower titles but but let’s compare Mahal with Cesaro. Mahal has one US title run, one WWE championship run, and 2 24/7 runs. Cesaro has 1 US title run, and 7 tag title runs.
Do what is better use overall one championship run that was terrible and only for trying to get the India deal, or more time with titles overall and generally better position on the card.
Leaving and coming back means nothing. Look at Lashley, is he in a better spot now than before? Morrison is in a better spot now than when he left? How? He got murdered by Braun, and is a comedy team the Miz.
Also let’s look at Money. Dolph makes 3 times what Drew makes from reports I have seen. Good thing Drew left and came back. Now if things go well for Drew and he can cash in on a great title run, cool. If he fizzles out that doesn’t look so great. Mahal is also lower than Ziggler by around $600k.
Your logic seems to be that the main event is everything, and that money doesn’t matter.
I happen to disagree, if you can make
Great money doing what you love good for you, and you should feel like you need to take a giant pay cut to earn your spot.
You also talk about guys like Drew and Mahal as if they all just decided to leave and did not just get cut. Then earn their way back.
Personally I don’t begrudge either attitude. You want to stay somewhere that you are making bank, cool. You want to go be a star somewhere else cool. The best situation is where other places can offer to pay what WWE pays so that guys can leave for more money or comparable money. But that hasn’t really been the case for many years. Probably since WCW.
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I’d say in Dolph in 2013/14 was pretty close to Omega.
Mahal, since he returned, has been treated much better than Ziggler - which was my point. He’s been above Ziggler since he returned. Ziggler just loses all the time.
Mahal has also been slotted higher than Cesaro since he came back. The WWE tag division is a joke and that’s all Cesaro is now. Midcard tag guy who never speaks.
Morrison was never given the spotlight before like he has now. That’s because he left and did things elsewhere. Vince forgot he allowed other guys to fool around with Melina or whatever got him depushed before. Lashley same deal.
I just believe Dolph could have went somewhere else, did solid work and asked for even more. If he can get that much doing nothing then imagine how much they would give him if they were worried he would sign somewhere else.
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Come on, man. Nobody can defend the EC3 run. Frankly, his run on NXT Redemption during his first tenure was better than his main roster stuff. Morrison isn’t in a better spot either. Last time he was in, he was a pretty consistent upper mid carder. Multiple time IC/US title picture. He’s sort of Miz’ sidekick.
Leaving works for some guys. Drew it worked because they liked him to begin with and he proved himself. But sometimes it just doesn’t work either way - so why leave the good money
As has been proven in this thread, the level of entitlement some fans have over the lives of wrestlers is insane.
Also, someone being a good worker doesn’t mean they’d be a big star and doesn’t mean they’d be a champion. Cesaro is a great in ring wrestler but he doesn’t have enough outside of it to make people care about anything he does. If you can’t build up hype then you can’t expect to be a top guy.
Just based on salary it was better. And he had an ok run in NXT and some appearances on the main roster so I’d say it was definitely better
I also did not know that they were married. It makes sense that they would usually be booked together on the same card here in ontario. When I would attend UWA I assumed that Chris Hero, Cesaro, Sara Del Ray, and Bryce Remsburg travelled together. They usually appeared on the same shows.
Dude you have some rose colored glasses/selective memory to justify your points. Mahal’s run at the top ended 3 years ago. He has had 2 midcard title shots since which happened almost 2 years ago, and was last seen chasing the 24/7 title and is now on Main Event. How is he in a better spot than Ziggler? Or Cesaro right now?
Morrison is basically in the same spot he was before not better. He had midcard singles gold and tag teams gold in his prior run. Since his return he has had tag teams gold and nothing more.
Lashley as well had spotlight before, heck he was in a program with Donald Trump and Vince. Pretty sure that is higher up the card than anything he has done recently.
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Mahal was injured for a year and was about to be slotted with McIntyre before he got hurt again recently. He will be pushed more seriously than Dolph or Cesaro, he has been since he’s been back because Vince likes his body.
Morrison got paid to come back to WWE, so if nothing else, leaving helped him out in that way. He never got this amount of mic time before either. He had to leave and have Vince forget about everything that happened with Melina that buried him before.
Lashley had to do stuff elsewhere before being taken seriously, just like Morrison. Compare those guys with Ryder, Ziggler and Cesaro and it makes sense to leave.
Ziggler is in a higher spot than Mahal and that is not debatable. As for the injury to Mahal like I said he was in the 24/7 title picture that is low on the card and is now on Main event. Dolph just had a PPV title match.
Lashley is in the exact same spot he was before. Same with Morrison.
As for money it might help but again Dolph our earns all these guys except Lashley. But is that due to TNA or doing MMA. Vince clearly pays for MMA backgrounds. Dolph’s pay is more than Morrison’s net worth. We don’t know what Morrison got paid just that it was more than he was offered elsewhere.
I just don’t see all those gains
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And the people being paid more is a result of AEW. They have drove the price of contracts up in the past few years. That influenced more of an increase in pay than anything they did in other promotions.
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I think this is generally true but the WWE has fucked up with some guys who could have been much bigger. Taz is the first one I think of. They had a small window where he was still healthy and in his prime but hey squandered it.
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