WWE - uncharted territory / the future (random speculation thread).

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You are 100% right with this. You may have ultimate say, and you can’t be a pushover, but a good boss listens to its staff, and a good boss surrounds themselves with a good staff.

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This is the best news I have heard all day. The one thing we know about Triple H, is guys like Ciampa, Finn, ricochet etc will not be treated like crap. He is not Vince.

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I hope you’re right.
But, to act like Triple H hasn’t been one of Vince’s right hand men for the last two decades, and he has a radically different vision for the company’s main output going forward feels a little disingenuous.

I don’t see WWE main roster spontaneously turning into NXT 2016-2018. They’ve publicly trashed that direction. (Although they also publicly dumped on Steph, and look where she is now).

I don’t think it would take much to see an immediate improvement in the creative process. All they need to do is plan out a few months in advance and not follow the whims of a 77 year sex pest.
So while I don’t think there will be anything revolutionary about Triple H overseeing 7 hours of TV a week, I am sure there will be some improvements based around logic.

Not something I see on CNBC dot com every day:

I’d be incredibly curious by those who read this article what their takeaways are.

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“The company said it expects to conclude that its “internal control over financial reporting was not effective as a result of one or more material weaknesses.” WWE said it would reflect the unrecorded expenses in updated reports for 2019, 2020 and 2021, as well as this year’s first quarter, when it reports second quarter earnings. The company was set to report Aug. 9, but the revisions could delay that, WWE said.”

So… Vince embezzled LOTS of money to pay these women. The entire corporate structure and players need to be investigated closely.

I can’t imagine a WWE in one year from now that looks ANYTHING like it does today or has in the past. If you’re a McMahon or close to their family, you probably have a skeleton in the closet or two in regards to what was going on.

@MJfromNJ - am I reading this correctly, that they basically said records were hidden / destroyed, and that they couldn’t get a true picture? Legally… this is really bad for a publicly traded company, no?

John just posted this, which outlines some of the nearly 15M “unrecorded” expenses…

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Embezzled is a really strong word and can’t be used related to what is being reported right now. What it is saying is due to company failures their reporting was shit. Basically, they ran a sloppy shop, except this time it impacted financial reporting. Pretty not good. Determines the extent and where auditors would want to go but usually if there is smoke, there is fire. I continue to be in disbelief that Vince did certain other things, which will start to be head scratching when the story settles down.

Okay - legally speaking - you can’t say embezzled 15M dollars. BUT…reports of nearly that amount in payouts to women he had inappropriate relationships with, and that those numbers are reasonably close unreported amounts - feels like that one could draw a certain conclusion.

Anyway… yeah. This is a mess, and it’s going to continue to have a massive impact on the future of this company, and the sale.

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I’m not saying main roster turns into NXT, but I also don’t hold the booking of Vince on the people underneath him.

I’ve worked in a place with a boss who was like vince, and I know what’s it’s like to be frustrated with the be all end all decision maker when they make bad decision after bad decision. Sometimes you have to play the role that they want you to play, so while Hunter could be a part of the problem, my money is against it.

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The company’s only vision is to make money for shareholders so that will continue. I don’t see much changing. The company will be sold in a years time

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Tony Khan should be thankful that none of their shows run head-to-head, Stephanie & HHH as the main creatives know long-term booking and over time it may really help renew viewer interest.

The biggest concern for AEW now should be retaining high-value talent. HHH has a really good reputation and is so well respected that it could lure a lot of AEW’s young talent to WWE. Especially an MJF, Wardlaw, or former NXT and WWE talent back to the product.

I do have to say, with Stephanie and HHH running the shows, I’m much more curious about what the main roster products will be like going forward. I hope Brian James, Shawn Michaels, and other former key NXT creatives are brought back in to help right the main roster ship.

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There’s still too many Vince cronies left to make me think we’ll see any significant changes.

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Not to turn this into an AEW thing…

AEW ran against a Triple H booked show head to head for nearly two years and handily defeated them in every metric. And that’s an AEW wihout tons of big named talent that has been added over time.

Triple H’s NXT, frankly, failed. Within the company he was demoted.

NXT was successful at entertaining a fanbase that was disenchanted by main roster WWE. So, they wisely, created their own alternative. When that was no longer needed and AEW took off - they quickly abandoned it.

Look… I hope he improves the show, but Triple H isn’t some untapped resource. He has been involved with booking for the last twenty years to one degree or another. I don’t believe for a second that WWE suddenly switches gears to a tremendous degree.

WWE is invested in being WWE. The NIL Program. Gable Stevenson. The Paul Bother they signed and I can’t name. Celebrity.

No doubt they will target some of AEW’s bigger names. And vice versa. That’s why competition is healthy. But I cannot see a world on which there is a massive shift in WWE programming.

I do believe there will be an improvement, that said.

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This

I guess it’s possible HHH has some revolutionary booking ideas and Vince held him back but I’m not counting on it.

They’ve made a shit ton of money doing things the same way for the last 20-25 years. It’s gonna take a while and some new blood to make any big changes.

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Did you watch NXT? NXT was a great, great product, especially if we are talking pre USA. Once NXT went to USA and Vince and co. began to be involved, it was never the same as it was when it aired for 1 hour on the network.

I dont really care if AEW beats WWE or WWE beats AEW, doesnt effect me how much money they get in advertising dollars which is what the ratings are all about anyways. All I want is two good products and with Hunter running the show creatively, I can say with 99.9% confidence that the main roster product will be better. No more Vince coming in on a Monday afternoon and randomly cutting the knees off of an angle because he and he alone lost interest. No more presenting guys like Ciampa like they dont matter because they are “too small”. Maybe Raw/SD won’t be as good as AEW moving forward, but it will be better.

“Cronies” only matter if they are on top, if they are underneath and don’t play ball, they wont last long. With Hunter in charge of creative and Steph the co-CEO, what the hell are guys like Pritchard or Dunn going to do.

I get the skepticism, but finally we are probably going to see change.

I frequently watched it when it was a Network only show, and eventually dropped off when it became the two hour show.

I’ve never stated once Triple H won’t be an improvement.
I’m just saying he’s been a part of this corporation for nearly 30 years. He’s working with a lot of the same players that have been in the same system for varying degrees of time.

I just don’t agree that Raw and Smackdown suddenly becomes NXT of old. That’s my main argument. They aren’t in the business of making that type of product.

What makes anybody believe that Stephanie has a grand vision that is different than her father’s? What makes anybody think Nick Khan has a different vision?

Aside from being more media friendly, I don’t see them as a big difference.

I don’t think Raw/SD become the new NXT either for the record.

I am saying that I think there will be major improvements creatively. I don’t think WWE being a corporation and having corporate goals and having poor creative are mutually exclusive. Poor creative was a Vince issue, and as far as the same people being involved, so? AEW uses mostly people that were involved in WWE as well, at the end of the day when the head of the snake has shitty ideas, it doesn’t matter who’s underneath.

Now could I see a power struggle initially between Hunter and Vince’s right hand men, sure. But unless Vince comes back, I dont see that being an issue long term because they will be fired.

Look at Marvel, would anyone ever say “Well Marvel/Disney isn’t in the business of making a good product, they are in the business of making money”. Of course not, many entertainment properties are ran by corporations. As long the person in charge is good at what they do, they will be fine. Cant be worse then what it is now.

As far as them being involved with things like NIL, they should be. The issue isn’t using Indy wrestlers or using collage athletes, the issue is when you don’t have an open mind and blindly stick to one philosophy which is the epidemy of the way Vince would book.

I don’t think Steph is any better. Bruce and Dunn getting canned would sway my opinion a bit but the company is full of Vince yes men.