Stand Up for WWE

This ought to be good. Apparently the Senate Committee or whatever are saying negative things about the WWE and Vince McMahon is asking the WWE Universe to help "set the record straight". Good luck that Vince. Anyone else wish to shed their insight?

So exactly what nasty things are the senate saying? Things like "WWE abuses it relationship with its contracted employees to exploit loopholes which relieve it of any responsibilities that might be tricky. This arrangement has previously encouraged it's talent to return from injury before they were ready or take shortcuts on their rehab or treatment in order not to lose income or position in the company. The approach has also led to substance abuse among wrestlers struggling to work whilst hurt"

Cos, you know, if they were saying stuff like that, I might agree with 'em.

Reaper wrote:

So exactly what nasty things are the senate saying? Things like "WWE abuses it relationship with its contracted employees to exploit loopholes which relieve it of any responsibilities that might be tricky. This arrangement has previously encouraged it's talent to return from injury before they were ready or take shortcuts on their rehab or treatment in order not to lose income or position in the company. The approach has also led to substance abuse among wrestlers struggling to work whilst hurt"

Cos, you know, if they were saying stuff like that, I might agree with 'em.

Same here.

Plus, by asking this of the "WWE Universe", basically with their audience and demographic currently, they are pretty much asking impressionable and ignorant children to be their human shields, which is completely unfair.

If WWE is getting criticism than, they can either man up to it and take responsibility for trying to reshape their image on their own, or do something about the problems that they are being criticized for instead of asking their audience to do it for them.

EDIT: Now that I look at this.. WOW. What a load of heavy handed bullshit. Oh poor victimized us. Please everyone you have to say good things about us to stop that mean old government from saying bad things about us. Boo hoo hoo.

Tch. .....whatever. What this is, is absolutely clear to see through.

This is just a terrible line of bullshit because Vince is afraid of accepting accountability for the well being of his performers, is terrified of unions, and because he wants to make his wife look good, when she absolutely does not deserve that senate seat she's got. What a load this is.

Remember when they didn't care about a public image? When there two best performers were flipping people off or talking about poontang pie?

Whose idea was it to switch to PG anyways? The attitude era was the best time for WWE...how can you have a decent wrestling show on a PG rating?

The PG rating has come about from two directions - firstly now that wrestling isn't quite as hot as it once was, Vince needs to do more to attract corporate sponsorship and keep the TV networks happy, and on a global basis its easier to sell them a PG friendly product.

Secondly its come from Linda McMahon's wish to run for the Senate seat. They want to sell her as the success story of a woman from an ordinary background who knows what its like to succeed in America with a business her family built up. But the WWE of course has a very negative public image with the highbrows, not helped by things like the steroid trials and the Benoit deaths. So now they are very much engaged in a public relations exercise to give themselves a better image, and being able to say "Hey look, we cleaned up our act. We moved to a PG rating, we've moved on, all that negativity you throw at us around the sex and violence is in our last" etc etc all helps that.

But, in answer to your second point, I actually don't think being PG is specifically the problem. I actually think its perfectly possible to run a wrestling company, and produce good wrestling shows, with a PG restriction. They key is to have good writers who understand how to develop storylines and characters, produce character arcs, and sell the product. And then have those writers work with talent who can put together compelling matches and get that storyline over in the ring.

I don't think WWE is going through a lean patch because they are PG. I think they are doing so because they aren't paying enough attention to the quality of the writing supporting their talent.

The thing about the attitude era was that it was sort of a perfect storm for wrestling. You happened to have a large bunch of great talent come along all at the same time, and you happened to have some very talented creative writers around who could use them and who could tap into the pop culture of the period. Had the PG restrictions been in place back then, I believe you will still have got an excellent product because they'd have been better able to adapt and use what they had.

After all, there was a lot great in wrestling before 1996.

So as an update to this thing, apparently the State of Connecticut is denying the fans of WWE their right to vote. If anyone is caught wearing any WWE merchandising, they will be told to go home and change before they are allowed to vote. I actually read some of the comments on their Facebook page and caught some people didnt know what was going on, others making their jokes "We will Smackdown our vote" (I chuckled a lil) and one that just blew mind stating: "GO VINCE GO!! GO WWE SHOW THEM THE TRUTH FOR ALL US WWE FANATICS !"

I really wanted to throw a boot at this person, thats just reallllllly stupid. What the state is doing is wrong, very wrong, but idiotic people wearing WWE merchandise to go vote, especially while all of this is going on is spitting in the face of the government. Which the hippies of today love doing that. Thats like someone wearing a tshirt that has the World Trade Center on it saying "Where'd it go?" while visiting Ground Zero. The face that this is getting so much press, Vince is eating it up helping his wife out wit hthe crap. Here is a nice quote from Vinny boy: “Denying our fans the right to vote, denying them their First Amendment rights, regardless if they are Democrat, Republican or Independent, is un-American, unconstitutional and blatantly discriminatory,”

Here's my take on the situation that i posted on their facebook site, most likely im expecting it to get deleted and Vine gets the Big Boss Man to come to my house and "take care of me"

Vince and the WWE having to hide behind children because the big bad government is saying bad things about us is really sick and pathetic. And I say children because those of us who have watched wrestling since the 80s and 90s KNOW that the things WWE is getting blamed for ARE TRUE!!!! Stand Up for WWE is a mockery and Vince and the WWE need to pull up their britches and act like men and just deal with the truth. Now of course I love wrestling, everything in its form. i play the games, i catch the shows, I go to the events. Even though im a fan, doesnt mean im going to sit by and just let this crap go on. Linda running the Congress, good for her and good luck, Vince changing the WWE to WWE-PG, not so cool, but I understand it from a business stand point and a political one.

State of Conn., you have people wanting to go vote wearing WWE merchandising, you are telling them to go home you say? I agree and disagree. I agree that these can be construed as "campaigning" and yes they need to go home and change. But I disagree cause will you allow someone to where a button with the runner's name on it? It's called being fair and equal to everyone. Now in my mind that i can imagine that these "people" wearing the WWE stuff will probably make a scene by screaming or making gestures that the wrestlers do. i can also see someone doing the "U Can't See Me" thing Cena does on occasion. Those people, yes, you shouldnt vote because you are ignorant and you arent apparently looking at the facts when voting, you just see "hey its Vince's wife, she use to run the WWE, I'll vote for her". Sadly most voting in the US are a popularity vote so most likely the recent rant is null and void.

People, read the facts before making a decision to back someone up when the facts are actually true. Hulk has said it, Ric Flair, Ultimate Warrior. Look at all the old guys and Im telling you, more was done to them than just getting beaten up in the ring. Chris Norwinksi has made it his personal mission to make sure the WWE is following their Wellness program and researching injuries from head concussions.

There are a lot of things going on that we dont see but you can look it up and make your own choice. For me, Stand Up for WWE is a farce and a weak program for Vince to hide behind making everyone that watches the show his human shield.

Milk it up Vince, lets remember this IS the guy hiding behind freaking tweens and people who havent watched wrestling since it was cool and really controversial from back in the 80s and 90s

Yeah this is getting ridiculous.

So basically wrestling fans can't vote because there fans of wrestling? Is every wrestling fan that uneducated that were just going to vote for Linda because we use to see her on Raw? Is that why Jesse Ventura became Governor of Minnesota?

Did they send home anybody with a Terminator shirt when Arnold was running?

I don't pretend to know whats going on with this whole Linda running for senate thing. Politics isn't really my cup of tea. But it seems like the people making decisions just assume Linda will do a bad job and they are doing everything they can to stop her from winning just because she had something to do with wrestling.

I'm just opposed to Linda running for senate because she has ZERO political experence in the world of such. I don't care if she managed a wrestling show, a window manafacturer, a software developer or a hot dog stand.

I think that's the main point that politicians are trying to make, but the sending wrestling fans off is the wrong way to go about it.

I still agree with the governments general feeling, but this is the wrong way to go about it. They might not agree with it and everyone voting for Linda McMahon may be a fucking idiot, but it's still the choice of the people to vote for who they want, even if they are fucking idiots.

That's why I believe as a nation, I came to agree that we deserve it when we get bad presidents like Bush. Because it's reflective of our people.

But the WWE is also pathetic, hiding behind children and their fans, instead of taking some initiative and responsibility for criticism they get.

As Linda McMahon resigned her position with WWE before she embarked on her political campaign and has no official corporate ties to the company other than historical ones, I can't see how the State has any legal powers whatsoever to prevent someone from voting because of what they are wearing. Wearing a John Cena t-shirt is not direct campaigning because she's no longer WWE CEO.

If Nike sponsors the Democratic party, would they ban anyone showing up in a Nike T-shirt?

Even if WWE chooses to act as a corporate sponsor to her campaign, I'm not sure how you can stop someone from voting simply because they have the logo of the corporate sponsor on their clothing.

To me, this smacks of a procedural irregularity in the voting through denying people the right to vote without good cause, and I think if Linda loses by a slim margin, she's got very good grounds to challenge the result due to her supporters being unfairly denied the chance to vote.

The power of a personality to win an election over any political experience or policies is nothing new. John F Kennedy is widely believed to have won the election over Nixon because of their relative performance on a TV debate. More of a direct comparison is that Jesse Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger won their election to governor because of who they were and their fans voting.

TBH, I have no problem whatsoever with someone with no political experience running for office. I think it does no harm to inject fresh blood and a fresh perspective into things to stir up career politicians, who have very blinkered and narrow views. Elections are about representation of who the people want to make decisions on their behalf, and if the people in the State decide they want Linda McMahon, then so be it. You can't have a democratic voting principle where everyone has a say, but then try to side-step it when you don't like who they choose.