Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr. Nerfect
Nice job putting words into my mouth. I’ve always said that talent should be able to leave the WWE if they want. I’m just able to see their perspective too, given that WWE offers a global platform to allow people to market themselves. Bo competes definitely make sense. As does not rewarding an idiot for going public saying that he wants to break his contract like that is a key. Brian Kendrick has already been released from his deal. Bad-mouthing the company, whether you agree with their hiring/firing policies or not is a stupid motherfucking way to go about achieving your goal, if your goal is actually to get out.
Jeff Hardy didn’t ask for his release from the company. Do you know how I know this? Because they didn’t fucking fire him when they were looking to unload people.
They recently sent Mustafa Ali over to Saudi Arabia. That’s one of their highest paying gigs of the year. And they have been firing people who don’t want to be there to save money. That’s why Lucha House Party went. Mustafa Ali probably would have gone if he didn’t make such an unprofessional stink.
By the way, Tony Khan is apparently pretty hell-bent on getting people to honor their contracts too. We’ll see if he’s got the guts, but let’s not pretend it’s just Evil Vince.
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One, way to complain about somebody putting words in your mouth, but then proceeded to do the same to me. Pot/kettle. But, I said that with an eyeroll, and it wasn't supposed to be a focal point of the issue, so fair, I'll take that one.
Two, not releasing Jeff isn't necessarily "evidence" he never asked - or more importantly what I actually said of *wanted* to ask - for a release. There may even be other oeople who are/have been quiet about wanting to leave and being kept in the background while silently hoping to get dismissed early. We don't know that either, though, because if they exist, they're quiet. If Mustafa Ali didn't take to social media, there's still no guarantee he would've been granted his release just because he was publicly quiet. He might have been just as mad, and just as beholden to his contract, but nobody would have known. Jeff might have even asked and also told no. They probably wanted him to ride out his time as well. We really don't know that, because the only speculation at the time was about a potential wellness policy violation vs his history of them.
Three, you would think that "badmouthing the company" would be a fast track out the door, not a reason the place keeps you around. It is a perverse sort of "punishment"and once again, a strange business strategy. If I publicly told my boss in so many words to go fuck himself, I'm 99% certain (margin of error and all) he wouldn't keep me around just to prevent me from potentially working for a competitor. There is no "their side to see" here, and it goes back to the hyperbole I used about being "held hostage". He can't leave, without some sort of contractual detriment, and they won't let him just because he wants it? That is a petty point for a publically traded company. Seeing the company ceasing to employ someone as a "reward" that they are unwilling to give is ass backwards. "He should be thankful he gets to be on TV" doesn't work when he isn't on TV, yet still is expected to travel like he is. It is also ironically making people figure this is some sort of work that is going to be the start of some SCSA type push or the thing when Austin Aries walked out of Impact how he did.
Four, everything is NOT a Vince vs Tony argument. Who gives a shit about TK holding people to their contracts? Good for him. Not the same thing, though. He's been holding on to talent and just letting contracts lapse instead of cutting them in a manner of "post wrestlemania housecleaning". He isn't in a situation like this, though. If, say, Darby Allin wanted out and Tony said "no", then kept him off TV but made him show up for all the tapings anyway, we could make some sort of apples to apples comparison. And AEW would indeed be just as shitty as WWE. It isn't championing for AEW. It is barely even involving them outside of the natural speculation (but not guarantee) that it is the most likely place he'd show up and he'd likely be expected (but again not guaranteed) to thrive. But you could substitute any fed there, including New Japan. For the argument itself, AEW is a non-factor.
The only thing that even *makes* this an "evil WWE" issue is the long history of this type of thing being an "evil WWE" issue.
To pull a completely different example, I will mention Gallows & Anderson. No matter what anyone thinks about "Medium Show and Small Show", they made BIG NOISE in New Japan. Enough to warrant the attention of WWE- a company with deeo pockets, but notoriously wishy-washy about how they present and book and push tag teams... especially ones they didn't create. It wasn't super long until they went from Bullet Club buzz to just another couple of guys on the roster. Eventually, they would have been split up, repackaged, or shitcanned (or all three) if the formation of AEW wasn't happening. Now, suddenly, they had value to WWE again if only in denying somebody else - especially an organization made up of their well-publicized friends - access to them. They sign them to these big contracts to keep them off the table, then decide like five months in that they didn't want to pay the Good Brothers anymore. How shitty or not that was doesn't hinge on which side balked. If G&A weren't happy and walked out, there would have been a lot of hay made about them being "unprofessional", but because WWE changed their minds on the boatload of cash and multiyear deal they just signed, somehow "that's just business"?
I mentioned before they've kept people under contract or even extended their contract time just to fuck with them. Publicly calling bullshit on that shouldn't make the talent the villain.