Or how they literally changed the Drug Policy so that they wouldn't have to fire Randy Orton after he got his 3rd strike. Some people get a million chances and others are lucky to get one.
This is a big thing I'm surprised not more people mention, even if Randy is cool now, they literally changed the policy (that was already pretty spotty if you believe Scott Steiner about HHH and the steroid tests) but Randy basically rushed through his busts and they instead replied by changing how the policy worked
Stevie Richards has said on multiple occasions, in an almost confused manner, that WWE was making him take drug tests on practically a weekly basis during that timeframe. The comment section filled in the last few blanks by saying that WWE could lie by omission about their wellness policy that way.
"Over the past month, we conducted X drug tests that all came back negative!"
can really mean
"Over the past month, we conducted X tests on the guys who we know aren't on steroids and they all came back negative!"
There's probably a term for it that's escaping me at the moment.
In polling and statistics it sounds like selection bias. Not sure if this is identical, but close enough to the concept that I think the term would apply.
Both of Orton's strikes weren't bad though, looking back. The first time, he was caught smoking weed backstage by Michael Hayes. Second time, he tested positive for weed once again. Even going back to the 90s, you had wrestlers like Bret Hart asking the company to look the other way for weed because it was a much healthier alternative to alcohol, which ruined so many people's lives.
Segue: But, one of the things I loved about Bret's book was him revealing that he's a big pothead and had friends in many of the cities who sold him weed.
Well, to be fair, the Usos were a decent merch seller and draw after their day one-ish gimmick in 2016, which wasn't laughably long after their main roster debut. People liked them and watched them.
I think this applies more to Roman, though I would say half a decade in his case.
They were also basically the aces of the tag division for like 3 years before that (when they still had the war-dancing in entrance thing) and its not like they weren't popular in that role
That was a brief time period where WWE put some actual emphasis on the tag division. They had like six teams and more feuding simultaneously for the belts. They rebranded the Puerto Rican tag team into Spanish matadores with El Torito.
It eventually fell apart due to booking malpractice but for a time I was actually somewhat engaged in that scene despite gradually drifting to only watching ROH and NJPW.
That’s literally what everyone is saying everytime this convo comes up and they immediately ignore what’s actually being stated and react with “My family draws”. Yes, we know that you now draw…AFTER MANY PASSES THAT OTHERS WHO COULD POTENTIALLY DRAW DID NOT GET. You guys (who has multiple fuck-ups a piece) got pushed consistently in an era where a sick old man would derail you if you smiled at him funny.
Edit: Randy’s the only guy who’s like “yes I got a million fucking chances that i should not have gotten so I’m pretty lucky and favored, I know”
Literally that’s it. Nobody saying you gotta plead your case everyday but good lord man have some self awareness. Especially Jey, with his consistent ranting on socials about how “we don’t deserve to watch his family wrestle”. Brother, you’re in a blessed position (due to family ties) where you’ve been able to mess up consistently in-ring on live TV for 3-4 years now and the most you’ll get is a “cmon Jey” when you get back to gorilla. Just to get another chance the following week.
It's like Jack Quaid. Jack Quaid is obviously a nepo baby, both of his parents are famous and successful actors. He is also very talented and, from everything ive hear, a really chill and professional guy while working and fully acknowledges his advantages due to nepotism and knows he got put on base just by being born. It's really that easy.
Most wrestlers period take years to be a true draw. I think people are conflating being over with the crowd and actually drawing ticket sales & what not.
Serena Deen got fired right in the middle of the Straight Edge Society storyline because she was seen getting drunk at a bar and it was seen as her breaking kayfabe. Let's not pretend every wrestler there is on the same playing field.
So being able to draw only counts if you immediately draw? If you don't immediately sell tickets, if doesn't count for anything when you DO sell tickets? Roman was god awful for years and figured out. Does his run from then on, not count?
What does google trends IN THE US have to do with anything?? CMLL has been selling out Arena Mexico 2 days a week for a year now, so yea.... Mistico is a huge draw
Fun fact, if you check Mistico in Mexico vs Roman in the US it’s considerably more comparable than checking both in the US when one primarily works for a non-US company.
So instead of typing biggest draw in wrestling OP should have just clarified biggest draw in Mexico. You can’t call someone the biggest draw in wrestling and not include one of the biggest countries in the world.
For context, this is apparently in response to a claim Andrade made about the Anoa’i repeatedly getting opportunities in WWE. Someone will pull up the full quote.
it makes sense why they'd take a shot at him for that but at the same time Andrade literally just spoke a fact
like it's an observable, measurable aspect of WWE. if you're an Anoa'i, you're gonna get way more opportunities than someone else regardless of your talent
I can get people questioning whether or not Andrade or Escobar (who he was originally talking about) deserved more in WWE, but I don't understand how people can act like this isn't happening with the releases of people like MCMG and Ilja after giving them nothing to work with or them asking the New Day to take a pay cut after doing nothing with their heel turn.
While the headlines are making it a Mexican Vs Samoan thing, the reality is that in context Andrade's point was that in general if WWE feels like they want to make a star they will keep trying for years and years. On the flip side, if they don't want to make you a star you won't get a chance to get over. It doesn't matter if you're talented. It doesn't matter if you fail in the chances they've given you. The only thing that matters is if they like you enough.
That is the story of the Uso's 16+ year WWE career. Periods of not being over. Periods of outside the ring turmoil. Period of not producing at a high level. They always got another chance.
Really well stated. It’s not an issue of race or even family.
It’s that WWE picks their favorites and then they do everything they can to confirm their own bias.
Like an NFL or NBA team who keeps playing a high draft pick even when it’s obvious it’s not working out. ‘Being right’ becomes more important than being successful.
But the Usos where over before the Bloodline was a thing.
Like we can argue all day about Roman having been pushed until he was finally over, but Jimmy and Jey where over as a tag team before Roman turned heel.
So tell me, if you make Usos vs. Theory/Paul the main event of a house show in MSG, does anyone think that building would be any more than a third full? Would anyone buy a ticket to see just The Usos?
Well, it would be more than that I think just because of the name recognition of WWE, but I agree with the idea of your point. They would not sell out a show like other wrestlers would
Took them a line from deez nuts era of the internet to have some pop and a basic gunshot hand gesture that definitely isn't overshadowed by Bullet Club
Interesting to bring up racism here when Jey was caught saying the N word a few days ago, Jacob Fatu said it too a few years ago and the Usos entire schtick was taken from black culture.
People can get mad about it but they're not wrong.
Even without the Bloodline story, they were six time tag-team Champions.
Even Alberto Del Rio was more over than Andrade in WWE, and i'm not talking about NXT. No one cared about Andrade in WWE. Yes, Andrade is a better wrestler but the Usos ain't wrong.
Was ADR a draw though? Like I can push you to the moon doesn’t mean you’ll be a draw. If you took some of these guy, put them in North East Wrestling and tried to draw a crowd on their name how many tickets do you think they’d sell?
That's due to the difference in booking, not talent. Basically proving Andrade's point. You don't think a proper push would make any of the people Andrade mentioned more marketable?
Look at Fenix 3 months ago and look at him now. Funny how a guy with talent starts to get over when given opportunities and talentless catchphrase wrestlers had to be shoved down people's throats (triple h terminology) for over a decade to get over.
Fenix isn't half as over as either of the usos nor will he ever be. Crowds aren't paying to come and watch a fenix match, they are paying to see the bloodline as the main attraction on raw.
"Been featured on the main roster for over a decade" versus "been in the company for a year and a half and only started being given regular matches 5 months ago"
It’s the iwc, they just choose someone to hate every month. Right now it’s the usos next month they might go back to hating on Sami. At the end of the day it’s just a vocal minority shit doesn’t reflect reality lmao
LOLL it's really crazy when you look at these threads month to month. Sami was "overexposed and overpushed" at the start of this year, so many people calling it go away heat, told a whole story around that with Trick, putting over a new act and then when the whole "win then lose belt to Punk" thing happened you'd think he was being booked like 2015 Ziggler for how people were talking about him
It’s a lot easier to become a draw when the company will relentlessly push you for a decade+ (and bend over backwards to ignore your mess ups as well).
I do enjoy the genre of comment from the arm chair financial business partners in here and on twitter "yeah! That's right! Tell him how much money we making uce!" It's very funny to me.
Clip of an interview w Andrade that said something to the effect of some guys (particularly the Uso's and Roman) getting tons of chances and special treatment in WWE where other guys lile Santos Escobar get little to none. And he isn't exactly wrong there considering the Uso's and their DUIs and Roman's historically awful babyface run under Vince.
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