<!--quoteo--><div class='quotetop'>CITATION</div><div class='quotemain'><!--quotec-->Says that a written policy (the Wellness Policy) may look fine to an unknowing public, but the real policy is the hiring policy, and for all the appearances the Wellness Policy made the last few weeks, WWE showed its real policy this past week.
While drug testing can, if applied fairly, be part of he solution, ultimately it’s the company that chooses the type of people they hire.
With significant pain a fact of life in wrestling, and with promoters and fans wanting muscular bodies because they are more marketable, you are going to get significant drug issues. When people like Chris Masters and Bobby Lashley are rushed onto the main roster before everyone else, what message does that send? It’s a broken record, though, because promoters want physiques because of the feeling they make them money. A lot of big names wouldn’t have been in there positions without their physiques. The double standard is glaringly obvious, but it’s accepted in wrestling because it makes money and in wrestling it’s all about making money.
Nobody wants recreational drug problems, because of the numerous problems associated with it, ie; missing shows, turning up loaded etc, however, few actually want to do something about it.
Jeff Hardy’s hiring by WWE was expected for some time, and it’s represents something bad. Jeff’s drug history was well known within wrestling during his last stay with WWE, and after eventually being tested, which he felt insulted by and claimed to be clean, he failed and was fired for refusing to go to rehab. TNA had no problem hiring him with such a history, as they also did with people like Scott Hall, Crash Holly and BG James, all of whom had well known problems with drugs. Some nights Hardy was on, sometimes he wasn’t. At one PPV, he was expressly told by TNA not to do a stunt where he risked killing himself, but he went out and did the stunt anyway. Even with a very light schedule, Hardy missed dates, even missing a PPV, and was such a mess that Jeff Jarrett, who was the one keeping him in, gave up on him in the end.
While everyone deserves a second, or sometimes third chance, if they prove themselves, Jeff didn’t. Bringing up names like Eddie Guerrero, William Regal or Shane Douglas to defend hiring Jeff misses a key point, because they did end up going to rehab. And while Guerrero got fired after messing up his first rehab, he wound up working Indy’s and Internationally, and made such a great impression in and out of the ring, by always working hard and never missing dates, that he had proven something, and he had to do that for months before being rehired. Hardy did the exact opposite, even with a much lighter schedule. And while Hardy has apparently worked hard to clean himself up, TNA was considering hiring him back not that long ago and the fact they didn’t is telling.
While TNA were bad to hire him when they did, WWE proved to be as bad, maybe even worse, when they brought him back. TNA could rationalize hiring him because of the idea the easier schedule would be something Jeff could cope with, but when that blew up in their faces, to the point that Jeff Jarrett gave up defending him, they couldn’t rationalize anymore.
If Hardy had done what Guerrero did, and worked all over with great reports of his in-ring and out of the ring performances, it would be one thing, but Jeff was even worse after WWE then he was when got fired.
There is no rationale to bring him back. WWE don’t push tag teams, and while his return will get a big pop for week or maybe a month and he’ll be a favorite, after a month or so that and $3 will get out a coffee at Starbucks. He has a bad track record as it is, and his strengths involve a style WWE has moved away from, while his weaknesses are something now emphasized.
Other news:
With Hogan injured, Dave thinks it could be better for Hogan to lose to Orton, as someone hurt can get over better, if he does it right, by fighting against the odds and coming close to winning before losing. However, it’s all down to Hogan, as he has creative control.
Hogan has always historically been more of a PPV draw than TV ratings draw, especially in WCW, where he was never one of their top five ratings movers, but was a legit PPV draw until 1999 when the company fell apart.
Pat Patterson underwent surgery in 8/6 to remove a cyst from his main artery.
Shawn Michaels has signed a five-year contract from $1.5M a year. Michaels was shocked by this and while he was going to reduce his schedule, this has changed his mind.
The odds are currently against an ECW-only taping. Heyman is pushing for it but Kevin Dunn is strongly against it.
The reaction the Hammerstein Ballroom crowd was mixed. Heyman was thrilled, believing the undercard to be great and the reaction to the main event more entertaining than it could have been. Others were unhappy with the swearing, as mentioned before. Kevin Dunn was on vacation at the time of the show, but people in the studio were giving him more negative responses than positive.
Vince’s reaction was unknown because he gave no reaction either way, but he did lose his temper with Shannon Moore. He felt Moore cracked from the bad reaction from the crowd; Moore wound up grabbing the mic and saying, “I’m not here to impress the internet.” Moore was originally meant to beat Christopher W. Anderson in their dark match, but Vince changed the finish during the match to Anderson winning and also told them to switch roles with Anderson being the babyface. After all the vignettes with him, there was nothing on him at all on the 8/8 show, and it’s felt that he’s screwed himself up.
Batista got negative feedback from his reaction to the Hammerstein Crowd, a lot of which was because he was apparently told ahead of time by Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis exactly what was very likely going to happen, and still wound up losing his cool within seconds of going out. In the international versions of the show, during Batista’s entrance, they edited in fans cheering for him and holding up positive signs, while the negative chants were overdubbed with one long continuous “ECW” chant. Also, the commentary that called attention to the chanting was edited out.
Lita may be around until November, as he contract is either up in September or November.
As things stand, Trish’s blow-off will be the Unforgiven PPV.
The Unforgiven main event will be John Cena vs. Edge in a TLC match, and the storyline would appear to be Cena winning the title in his hometown, and Edge getting a rematch in his specialty.
Batista vs. Booker T headlines house shows after Summerslam.
Ashley broke her hand on 7/31 during the tag match on Smackdown. She suffered a broken knuckle, and was close to needing surgery.
Developmental changes will see Mike Bucci replace Tommy Dreamer as the director of the developmental system. The feeling is that Dreamer being on the road with ECW has allowed his work here to lag. The changes were talked about for a while, but where instigated after Vince watched tapes of OVW and Deep South and was unhappy with what he saw.
Dreamer is now working solely as a wrestler, with no office or creative role.
The Raw crew were drug tested on 8/7 in Memphis. It was meant to be confidential, but word got out about it at least a day ahead of the test. A lot of people were said to be very nervous backstage.
Chris Benoit is expected back on Smackdown in about a month.
With the Chavo-Mysterio deal, idea of the heel Chavo’s claims of Mysterio using Eddie’s name are to justify the company being babyfaces since they’ve been doing it for almost eight months now.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
While drug testing can, if applied fairly, be part of he solution, ultimately it’s the company that chooses the type of people they hire.
With significant pain a fact of life in wrestling, and with promoters and fans wanting muscular bodies because they are more marketable, you are going to get significant drug issues. When people like Chris Masters and Bobby Lashley are rushed onto the main roster before everyone else, what message does that send? It’s a broken record, though, because promoters want physiques because of the feeling they make them money. A lot of big names wouldn’t have been in there positions without their physiques. The double standard is glaringly obvious, but it’s accepted in wrestling because it makes money and in wrestling it’s all about making money.
Nobody wants recreational drug problems, because of the numerous problems associated with it, ie; missing shows, turning up loaded etc, however, few actually want to do something about it.
Jeff Hardy’s hiring by WWE was expected for some time, and it’s represents something bad. Jeff’s drug history was well known within wrestling during his last stay with WWE, and after eventually being tested, which he felt insulted by and claimed to be clean, he failed and was fired for refusing to go to rehab. TNA had no problem hiring him with such a history, as they also did with people like Scott Hall, Crash Holly and BG James, all of whom had well known problems with drugs. Some nights Hardy was on, sometimes he wasn’t. At one PPV, he was expressly told by TNA not to do a stunt where he risked killing himself, but he went out and did the stunt anyway. Even with a very light schedule, Hardy missed dates, even missing a PPV, and was such a mess that Jeff Jarrett, who was the one keeping him in, gave up on him in the end.
While everyone deserves a second, or sometimes third chance, if they prove themselves, Jeff didn’t. Bringing up names like Eddie Guerrero, William Regal or Shane Douglas to defend hiring Jeff misses a key point, because they did end up going to rehab. And while Guerrero got fired after messing up his first rehab, he wound up working Indy’s and Internationally, and made such a great impression in and out of the ring, by always working hard and never missing dates, that he had proven something, and he had to do that for months before being rehired. Hardy did the exact opposite, even with a much lighter schedule. And while Hardy has apparently worked hard to clean himself up, TNA was considering hiring him back not that long ago and the fact they didn’t is telling.
While TNA were bad to hire him when they did, WWE proved to be as bad, maybe even worse, when they brought him back. TNA could rationalize hiring him because of the idea the easier schedule would be something Jeff could cope with, but when that blew up in their faces, to the point that Jeff Jarrett gave up defending him, they couldn’t rationalize anymore.
If Hardy had done what Guerrero did, and worked all over with great reports of his in-ring and out of the ring performances, it would be one thing, but Jeff was even worse after WWE then he was when got fired.
There is no rationale to bring him back. WWE don’t push tag teams, and while his return will get a big pop for week or maybe a month and he’ll be a favorite, after a month or so that and $3 will get out a coffee at Starbucks. He has a bad track record as it is, and his strengths involve a style WWE has moved away from, while his weaknesses are something now emphasized.
Other news:
With Hogan injured, Dave thinks it could be better for Hogan to lose to Orton, as someone hurt can get over better, if he does it right, by fighting against the odds and coming close to winning before losing. However, it’s all down to Hogan, as he has creative control.
Hogan has always historically been more of a PPV draw than TV ratings draw, especially in WCW, where he was never one of their top five ratings movers, but was a legit PPV draw until 1999 when the company fell apart.
Pat Patterson underwent surgery in 8/6 to remove a cyst from his main artery.
Shawn Michaels has signed a five-year contract from $1.5M a year. Michaels was shocked by this and while he was going to reduce his schedule, this has changed his mind.
The odds are currently against an ECW-only taping. Heyman is pushing for it but Kevin Dunn is strongly against it.
The reaction the Hammerstein Ballroom crowd was mixed. Heyman was thrilled, believing the undercard to be great and the reaction to the main event more entertaining than it could have been. Others were unhappy with the swearing, as mentioned before. Kevin Dunn was on vacation at the time of the show, but people in the studio were giving him more negative responses than positive.
Vince’s reaction was unknown because he gave no reaction either way, but he did lose his temper with Shannon Moore. He felt Moore cracked from the bad reaction from the crowd; Moore wound up grabbing the mic and saying, “I’m not here to impress the internet.” Moore was originally meant to beat Christopher W. Anderson in their dark match, but Vince changed the finish during the match to Anderson winning and also told them to switch roles with Anderson being the babyface. After all the vignettes with him, there was nothing on him at all on the 8/8 show, and it’s felt that he’s screwed himself up.
Batista got negative feedback from his reaction to the Hammerstein Crowd, a lot of which was because he was apparently told ahead of time by Vince McMahon and John Laurinaitis exactly what was very likely going to happen, and still wound up losing his cool within seconds of going out. In the international versions of the show, during Batista’s entrance, they edited in fans cheering for him and holding up positive signs, while the negative chants were overdubbed with one long continuous “ECW” chant. Also, the commentary that called attention to the chanting was edited out.
Lita may be around until November, as he contract is either up in September or November.
As things stand, Trish’s blow-off will be the Unforgiven PPV.
The Unforgiven main event will be John Cena vs. Edge in a TLC match, and the storyline would appear to be Cena winning the title in his hometown, and Edge getting a rematch in his specialty.
Batista vs. Booker T headlines house shows after Summerslam.
Ashley broke her hand on 7/31 during the tag match on Smackdown. She suffered a broken knuckle, and was close to needing surgery.
Developmental changes will see Mike Bucci replace Tommy Dreamer as the director of the developmental system. The feeling is that Dreamer being on the road with ECW has allowed his work here to lag. The changes were talked about for a while, but where instigated after Vince watched tapes of OVW and Deep South and was unhappy with what he saw.
Dreamer is now working solely as a wrestler, with no office or creative role.
The Raw crew were drug tested on 8/7 in Memphis. It was meant to be confidential, but word got out about it at least a day ahead of the test. A lot of people were said to be very nervous backstage.
Chris Benoit is expected back on Smackdown in about a month.
With the Chavo-Mysterio deal, idea of the heel Chavo’s claims of Mysterio using Eddie’s name are to justify the company being babyfaces since they’ve been doing it for almost eight months now.<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->
