ASK TITO: Sasha/Bayley, Jey Uso, More Submitted by Mr. Tito on 09/05/2020 at 12:24 AM
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Happy Weekend everyone and for various people out there, happy extended weekend thanks to Labor Day as a holiday. You know, it's funny about that holiday, as it's a celebration of the worker and their rights to having 8 hour workday, overtime, benefits, etc. In other words, everything that a Pro Wrestler CAN'T HAVE thanks to them allowing wrestling promotions designating them as "independent contractors". Yet, based on the wording of their contracts, they are actually full time WWE employees but without Payroll Taxes (or qualifying for Social Security, Medicare, Unemployment benefits), Pensions, or Health Insurance.
Shocking to me, wrestlers haven't protested their contractual status with promotions... They just see the $250,000 hard salary and think that they've made it. Meanwhile, they don't realize the long hours that is required of a wrestler, the little % cuts received for merchandise, and how much they pay out of pocket for traveling costs.
Meanwhile, wrestlers are shockingly quiet about political views... Yeah, I know that a few are saying things here and there on their Social Media accounts and I know that Big E recently was outspoken to the Miz about Kofi's 2019 use... But there is NO WAY that wrestlers would go against management and break character to perform something political. Meanwhile, they would NEVER boycott their own promotions. Vince McMahon wouldn't allow it, as anyone who upsets him will get depushed or marginalized on television immediately.
Wrestlers need to think about their actual VALUE to their promotions... The talent pool to become potential superstars is much thinner during 2020 than it was 20 years ago for 2000. Fewer people want to become pro wrestlers and that also means fewer skilled persons to do wrestling well. Thus, the ability for WWE and AEW to quickly replenish their roster difficult.
On top of that, wrestling's popularity was declining through late 2019, let alone 2020 with COVID-19 scaring people to attend mass gatherings and AWFUL BOOKING between March through July not taking advantage of the sports content monopoly that both WWE and AEW had. Both AEW and WWE do not need any bad news, such as wrestlers revolting, to cause further declines in pro wrestling as a whole.
Onto your questions...
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ASK MR. TITO - Your Questions, My Answers
Should the WWE disallow its wrestlers to promote themselves freely on Third Party media services?
The WWE wrestlers need to read the fine print of those "Independent Contractor" contracts that they signed. If you are a WWE wrestler, WWE essentially OWNS YOU for the length of that contract within the public. All media appearances should be cleared by WWE... Your likeness, not just the name but your look, is owned by the WWE and they can control when and where you should appear for the term of the contract.
The more difficult one is Cameo appearances, as many wrestlers are using their WWE trademarked names for personal benefit. Majority of the WWE talent have a stage name that is 100% owned by the WWE. If you appear anywhere as your stage name, WWE should not only approve that ahead of time, but they would receive the majority of the financial benefit. I know that times are tough during COVID, but again, read the fine print of the WWE contract.
But I'll agree with the WWE banning wrestlers from Twitch, where they'd live stream video games. Come on, man... For one, they are not in character and several wrestlers have not only played against opposite heels/faces, but competed in a video game against someone that they were directly feuding with during RAW or Smackdown.
The REAL PROBLEM is that Pro Wrestlers are breaking character and speaking openly about how staged or scripted the wrestling business is during their Twitch sessions, Podcasts, or other Social Media related activities. Wrestlers need to work harder to protect the business and work on appearing "Larger than Life" to their wrestling fans. I'm not suggesting that wrestlers should avoid playing video games, but don't let the fans know that they play them... They should boast doing "Larger than Life" things... Do you think that Ric Flair would ever stream playing video games if he could? No... He was working hard to make the "stylin' and profilin'" mystique remain strong for theh perception of his character to his fans.
I agree with the WWE on this stance and in fact encourage them to go further to once again protect Kayfabe. Wrestlers and promotions need to work harder to protect their "Magic Tricks" from being known by fans.
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Does Jey Uso have any potential as a WWE Main Eventer?
Is the WWE roster really this thin to allow a mostly Tag Wrestler to receive a Pay Per View World Title match? This is sad, folks... Happy for Jey to get the opportunity, but he hasn't been on a singles wrestler trajectory to get him to this point. It's the SAME THING that happened with Roman Reigns during 2014 when they broke him out of Shield tag team wrestling and rushed him to 2 back-to-back Pay Per View World Title shots. It's like rushing Kofi to the World Title during 2019...
Both Braun Strowman and the Fiend have rightful claims to Pay Per View rematches and both would be better match-ups for Reigns instead of a former tag wrestler.
Just bad, bad decision making by the WWE and it will harm any future opportunities for Jey Uso by pushing him too fast. He'll be back into the tag ranks in no time.
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What are your thoughts on the Bayley and Sasha Banks break-up?
I would think more of it if I didn't just recently see the WWE Network special on Bayley and Sasha which clearly presented them as BEST FRIENDS in REAL LIFE. Thus, how am I to believe in Bayley's turn on Sasha Banks? We just went through this recently with Mandy and Sonya when they were advertised as best friends in real life, though not directly by WWE.
That said, if I were booking the WWE, I'd use this opportunity to push Sasha Banks HARD as the top babyface. Fans really like her and have since the day she started in the WWE. She's got it all... Beauty, swagger, good mic skills, psychology, and the relation to Snoop Dogg doesn't hurt. I'd probably the Blue Hair in favor of something more natural looking or go back to the pink/purple color. I would definitely push her beauty as an asset and then her in-ring talent shine inside the ring more than ever. Let her accumulate many wins on her way to seeking revenge over Bayley.
WWE's Women's roster is THIN right now without Charlotte and Becky to carry the usual load and Alexa Bliss not being the same since receiving many injuries. When the WWE is getting serious about pushing Peyton Royce within the division, look out... Many wrestlers are going to be forced to sell that spin kick of hers...
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What are your AEW predictions for the All Out Pay Per View?
i have to be honest, AEW is difficult to predict. What kind of makes them a good asset for wrestling is that they are difficult to call ahead of time. They have that chaos of the WCW Nitro era but without the depth of Roster.
FTR defeats Kenny Omega/Adam Page (Omega and Page break-up)
Britt Baker defeats Big Swole
Chris Jericho defeats Orange Cassidy
Thunder Rosa defeats Hikaru Shida (AEW wants to do more business with Thunder)
21 Wrestler Casino Royale Battle Royal = Lance Archer wins the Title Shot.
Matt Hardy defeats Sammy Guevara (payback for Sammy's actions busting Hardy open)
Young Bucks defeat Jurassic Express
Dark Order defeats Natural Nightmares
MJF defeats Jon Moxley (time is now for MJF)
But what I'll really predict is that diehard AEW fans will LOVE the show and casual fans giving All Out a try will hate it.
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Do you agree with the WWE releasing the Authors of Pain?
They really didn't show me much and had injury problems...
Many of you got on me for my Maybe the WWE has a Triple H Problem column but the truth is that the WWE has since released many of Triple H's signings and NXT call-ups. I keep telling you guys, he's NOT a strong evaluator of talent and the further that the Developmental Territory gets away from Dusty Rhodes's teachings, the worse that the wrestlers have been trained lately.
Authors of Pain did NOT learn how to work in NXT, period. They were trained to work as this specific hoss tag team and weren't taught the fundamentals of wrestling to work any type of in-ring scenario or how to cut a promo. They were just two large bodies that were molded into something that Vince or Creative wanted as a team. They end result is that they were dull and boring when the were rushed to the main WWE roster. Now, both mean have been terminated.
I keep telling you folks, Triple H is a weak Executive within the WWE. While he'll put in long hours, he's not replenishing talent in the WWE and his developmental system has made the RAW/Smackdown brand split look weak. You cannot blame creative for everything with a talent... But you can in this case since Triple H actually oversees the Creative Team.
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Which AEW wrestler(s) do you think that the WWE would want on their roster right now?
Yikes... Well, how about NOBODY.
See, before 2019, the WWE could have signed ANYBODY from this roster... They didn't. They could have kept Chris Jericho, Brodie Lee, Jon Moxley, FTR, Shawn Spears, and others... They didn't. They let them go. WWE cut lots of talented wrestlers this past spring that AEW could have easily signed...
Point being is that the WWE has who they want in the wrestling business right now.
In my head, I'm thinking MAYBE Cody Rhodes and Kenny Omega at minimum. Cody has blossomed since leaving the WWE while Kenny Omega was someone that they WWE tried to sign. That's it, folks... AEW has a bunch of 5'10", 180 pound guys. WWE doesn't want that size of wrestler.
And many of AEW's wrestlers had a brief stint in the WWE... They tried them and weren't impressed.
Now, if AEW were to groom a 6 footer who is receiving strong reactions, look for that BRINKS truck to appear on that wrestler's front yard.
So just chill... Until the next episode!
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