Hot Rod shoots off on Linda

[Deezy]

Is it?

Or is it her using her husband's money?

OR is it her using her husband's money that wrestlers put in his pockets?


Taking a strictly legal perspective on the issue is shortsighted. The McMahons don't give these guys pension simply because they choose not to, and that's only because those wrestlers can't draw anymore. "Can't make us more rich, gtfo." That's the image the Democrats painted of her in the election and it was very accurate. No one wants a person like that in charge of anything. And you bring up a good point with the rehab, something WWE pays for only because those junkies are still capable if making money for WWE. Do you really think Vince does that because he gives a shit about the well-being of those guys? PFFFFFFFFFT please lol. He only drug tests in the first place to keep Congress off his ass.

Do you get nosebleeds from that high horse?

And the Democrats are accurate? Hardy dee fucking har. She wasn't practicing anything that was illegal and to act like she is evil because she makes money off the sweat of people who could do other things or work other places agreed to.

 

[Troy]

You're missing the point entirely. You're right, maybe Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan, and Bruno should have all said "fuck it" and taken their business elsewhere. Then not only would they make considerably less money no matter what else they did, but then the McMahons wouldn't have all that money they throw away on things that benefit no one, including themselves.

Fact is, there isn't another employer in those wrestlers' line of work that is even capable of offering what WWE does and is capable of. It's not a line of work where you can fall back on free agency and snag a better deal elsewhere. But for many older wrestlers like Piper, it DID used to be that way, but Vince bought out all those options. He's changed the business completely more times than one, and although his competitors lost their business, the long-term ramifications have ultimately hurt the wrestlers much more, even the ones that helped Vince drive their options out of existence. So yeah, Vince is a pretty huge fuckhead for offering them squat past their athletically-capable years.

It is like all professional sporting organisations. These athletes only have a short period of time in which to make good money, much much higher than the average wage. After that window closes they need to do what all other athletes do and move into a different field of work. Yes they don't get a pension or health insurance (although they do get all their injuries paid for which is an incredible bonus) but to compensate for that they get a much higher wage. If they were given a pension and health insurance than the average wage would drop from $250k to probably $50k and then people would bitch about how much money they make.

WWE aren't doing anything illegal or anything morally wrong. The wrestlers aren't forced into the industry, nothing is stopping them going to school or learning a trade, they chose this line of work and this is how they get paid as independent contractors.

 

[Cena's Jeans Shorts]

I can see the boys being wary when they see the WWE try another WBF or XFL experiment. If it becomes a money pit where the gamble doesn't pay off, I think they'd all naturally worry if that means the belt tightens and pay offs are smaller even if revenue from rasslin' itself stays the same. There's not much they can really do because Vince is always going to do what Vince is going to do. It's just another case of "not this shit again".

Now that the WWE is a publicly traded company, it operates by different rules. It's not like they can use WWE assets to directly finance Linda's campaigns. Actually< i guess new campaign laws in the US make it possible. But it ends up looking shady if the WWE itself takes a 90 million dollar financial hit for contributing to a PAC that sponsors Linda's campaign ads rather than the McMahons doing so with their own money.

I think it's a bunch of bullshit to play this card of Vince merely rolling around in money that the wrestlers did all the work earning. Oversimplifying the situation and the way wrestling operates, especially on the WWE's scale. Chauvanist bullshit to spout that Linda's spending Vince's money.

It's not like Linda wasn't working as part of the WWF / WWE. She did for many years. The WWE is Vince, there's no question about it. He's the guy setting the business and creative direction of the promotion. He's the guy that decided to break the tradition of the territories and go national. He probably got scoffed at over his style of sports entertainment way back in the beginning. But the guy had a vision for when he took over his old man's promotion, risked some money to get there. Everyone that works in the promotion, from wrestlers, ring crew, tech guys doing the TV stuff, producers, writers, etc. they are all part of what this machine work. Vince doesn't work 18 hour days just jacking off. He's a part of what made this a monster promotion with an international presence, merchandising deals with just about every medium, in every store, etc. Did Linda put in the same insane hours as Vince? Probably not. But she was a part of it as an executive. It was her future and her joint assets at stake too when Vince would take financial gambles on ventures like early PPV.

This neanderthal notion that she's some feeble woman mindlessly spending her owner's... sorry husband's money is laughable.

Could Vince do more to take care of these guys financially? On average, probably so. But I think it's guys with dreams of one day earning bigger pay days when they get established who are willing to take that risk early getting paid little for a lot of work. There are enough old wrestlers out there that talk about the idea that wrestlers are seen as commodities that a promoter will use until theyre of no use anymore, then discarded in favor of the next big thing. I think if anyone were to take their WWE contract to an attorney, they'd probably have the same result Lance Storm did when he signed with his first real big promotion, where the lawyer basically said you don't need to pay me to tell you that the promoter has a very lopsided agreement where were they're way ahead in the deal.

Ultimate Warrior once wrote of his first meeting with Vince McMahon, who basically told him outright he intends to do big things with him, that he's going to squeeze every bit he can out of, then squeeze even more. If that doesn't plainly tell a guy about to sign a contract that you better watch your ass because it's not in this guy's interest to watch out for yours, I don't know what will.

As people have said over and over, people can plainly see what the deal is. Yeah, there aren't many choices, but if you want that dream of being a big money superstar like John Cena, you have a choice to make.

Life is an incredible gift. Most people have bodies and minds capable of amazing things. To fool yourself into thinking you are only ever capable of doing one thing with your life is sad. Nobody has to wrestle. Life has options. It is our own minds that fool us into thinking we don't have choices or aren't capable of more.