Re: The Official WWE Thread - Part 34

[Onyx]

[Onyx]

Report: WWE's Vince McMahon paid total of $12M to 4 women to quiet sexual misconduct allegations

Vince McMahon, World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) longtime leader, allegedly paid out millions in hush money to a former female wrestler with whom he had a coercive sexual relationship and who was allegedly not brought back to WWE after spurning further sexual advances from the executive, according to a report published Friday in the Wall Street Journal.

McMahon allegedly paid out $7.5 million to the former wrestler, who claimed that McMahon coerced her into giving him oral sex, demoted her and then decided not to renew her contract in 2005 after she resisted further sexual encounters with him, per the Journal report. The wrestler and her lawyer reportedly negotiated a non-disclosure agreement with McMahon in 2018.

The Journal report details a total of $12 million allegedly paid out to four women over the last 16 years to quiet allegations of the 76-year-old McMahon's sexual misconduct.

https://www.espn.co.uk/wwe/story/_/id/34212870/report-wwe-vince-mcmahon-paid-total-12m-4-women-quiet-sexual-misconduct-allegations

[Pedram]

Starting July 18th WWE Raw will have a TV-14 rating moving forward on USA Network.

The PG Era is over.#WWE #WWERAW pic.twitter.com/wQskL3IVPb

— Andrew Zarian (@AndrewZarian) July 14, 2022

[Casciavit]

Vince officially announces his retirement. Stephanie is the new chairwoman and she's co-CEO with Nick Khan. WOW.

[Casciavit]

AEW with some interesting booking decisions recently lmao

[El Gunner]

how's the Moxley-Punk feud going?

[El Gunner]

lol just watched the highlights of the match... is this their way of preparing Punk for retirement (how anti-climactic this all would have been) or does he genuinely have problems with the foot and they just wanted to get rid of the interim title.

regardless, weird stuff indeed

[Casciavit]

how's the Moxley-Punk feud going?

They're AEW's two biggest stars and they had a built-in story going for them. Punk broke his foot so Mox became the interim champion. Punk came back then they had to have a match to unify them. Although it was well done, they only really had one week of actual promo time between them which was last week. The match was supposed to be at the PPV in 3 weeks, but they rushed it to this week.

[Casciavit]

lol just watched the highlights of the match... is this their way of preparing Punk for retirement (how anti-climactic this all would have been) or does he genuinely have problems with the foot and they just wanted to get rid of the interim title.

regardless, weird stuff indeed

I have no clue. The issue is that the PPV is in 10 days, so what's the main event going to be? Is anyone interested in seeing Punk have a rematch just 10 days after getting squashed in 3 minutes?
That being said here are some of my theories:

1- Punk isn't actually 100% medically cleared to wrestle a 20 minute match so the idea was to do the squash match at the PPV. The only problem is the PPV is in Chicago so Punk getting buried in 5 minutes would lead to a shitshow from the crowd. So they decided to move the match 2 weeks in advance to circumvent that. That leaves the issue of what's going to be the PPV main event? Are they going to do a rematch? If they're trying to sell the story that Punk isn't completely fit is he magically gonna get better in 10 days?

2- Punk wants to turn heel. The ending shot was him looking back at the crowd while they were cheering for Mox. The fact the crowd booed him and cheered Mox despite him coming back from injury is easy fuel for a heel turn. Giving Mox that first win lets him legitimize his title reign and gets rid of the interim asterisk. Then you have an easy comeback/revenge story for Punk.

3- Punk got punished. Last week he went into business for himself and buried Adam Page on the mic lmao. There's heat between them backstage. This could be Tony Khan's way of saying he isn't bigger than the company.

4- Mox never jobs. It wouldn't surprise me if they agreed he could squash Punk but then drop the title at All Out so Punk gets a hometown babyface pop.

All of these theories have flaws in them though because the main storyline they're selling is that Punk is still injured. However, they don't have a PPV main event and it's in 10 days. That means they're most likely going to have a rematch. How do you build a storyline of him being injured then magically getting better in 10 days? What's the payoff then? I imagine Punk would go over. Him turning heel to win would make the most sense, but the PPV is in Chicago so it's doubtful they boo him. Does he just beat Mox clean as a babyface? Well then you waste the rub that Mox got from squashing him after 2 weeks.

It was a weird booking decision and honestly a bad one.

[M99]

Meltzer is saying Punk vs Moxley is still the main event for All Out.

[Casciavit]

This CM Punk vs Elite shoot drama ffs

[El Gunner]

the drama has to carry because his matches are pretty average lol

upon hearing about his return, i thought he was gunna go on 2000s Shawn Michaels esque run, just putting up MOTY fights, putting over new stars, but not even close

[El Gunner]

Tony Kahn always sitting their next to Punk in media scrums like he is his personal promoter and his reactions to whenever Punk says something wild is hilarious

[Casciavit]

Tony Kahn always sitting their next to Punk in media scrums like he is his personal promoter and his reactions to whenever Punk says something wild is hilarious

He was sitting there looking like a little bitch, it was a sight to see.

It led to backstage fights. Won't be too long until you hear about who got suspended from this.

[El Gunner]

So..... CM Punk really is done for it?
or is this some type of work?

you can't deny he has been a ratings darling and cash cow for AEW, so are they just waiting for him to fully heal up his foot?

[Onyx]

By far number 1 wrestler nowadays.

[El Gunner]

he's riding a nice wave now with this current storyline, but for how long it continues will just depend on whether his matches are fire

[M99]

Anyone else really enjoying the Bloodline storyline?

Best thing in WWE since Kofimania.

[McLewis]

Stephanie McMahon has resigned as Co-CEO of WWE pic.twitter.com/kmZaeXmd4B

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) January 10, 2023

I don't watch anymore, but this popped up on my feed.

[S]

Strong rumors that WWE has been sold to the Saudi's

[El Gunner]

damn Saudis taking over...
football, golf, Cronaldo, now wrestling...

plus they're planning on building the first futuristic city in the middle of the desert named The Line

[Pedram]

Best storyline conclusion since Batista's Evolution thumbdown.

[El Gunner]

so Roman finally became the new John Cena?

whatever happened to AEW and that Punk remontada?

[Onyx]

Most over guy at the moment LA Knight.

[Onyx]

Most over since Bryan, attitude era pop.

[Great Leader Sprucenuce]

Don't really watch anymore but this is really good.

Shinsuke Nakamura’s promos Hit so much harder in Japanese #WWERAW pic.twitter.com/6fU1a5k2ug

— Public Enemies Podcast (@TheEnemiesPE3) August 22, 2023

Nakamura's promos sound so much better in Japanese, feels really menacing.

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