Since AEW’s launch a year ago, a lot of the WWE, and more precisely Vince McMahon’s practices have come to light. There have been plenty of rumors about his business practices for years, but now that there’s an alternative, more of the skeletons have been exposed. Wrestlers like FTR (formerly the Revival) have opened up about how they were treated, and many others have shared their own experiences. While we may question some of them, the one voice we can trust is Jim Ross. JR is honest while managing not to burn bridges. So when Jim Ross speaks on the WWE banning Vicki Guerrero, it’s as good a source as can be expected.
Is the WWE scared?
The WWE can say they’re not scared of AEW all they want, but the way they’ve countered, copied, and eliminated anyone with ties to AEW says otherwise. From not allowing AEW shirts to be worn at their events, to banning former talent after they appeared on AEW programming, it’s clear McMahon is worried.
This thing is, the WWE would be fine if they allowed their talent (including the writers) to do their thing. There’s little doubt that McMahon will figure this out and the WWE will return to prominence as they always have. All they have to do is listen to the fans. Sounds simple, right?
We have seen some improvements with Drew McIntyre and Braun Strowman as the company’s top champions. They defend their titles regularly and bring back memories of the 1980s Hulk Hogan and 90s Steve Austin, the Rock, and the Undertaker. Fans love them, and both fit McMahon’s mold of what a superstar should be.
But how they treat former talent that appears on AEW is deplorable.
Mickey Mouse stuff
We’ve reported before about the WWE demanding unflinching loyalty from Diamond Dallas Page and how they ignored Vicki Guerrero (widow of WWE Legend Eddie Guerero) after she appeared on AEW programming in February.
With Vicki, it started with the WWE reportedly banning their wrestlers from appearing on her podcast, “Excuse Me”, and since then as cut all ties with her, refusing to do business with her in any endeavor.
This is where Jim Ross comes into it, as he spoke about this on his podcast, “Grilling JR”. Special thanks to sportskeeda.com for the transcript:
“How Mickey Mouse is that sh*t? You’re going to take her off for being on a YouTube show? Did she say anything disparaging regarding your brand? Not a damn word. You got to be sh*tting me. That’s incredulous to me that we are even talking about that because you would think, that can’t be true, Conrad. Vickie would not have said she had been cut off, whatever that means. What it meant was it probably she is just not going to get anymore bookings. She probably hasn’t been under contract for quite some time, but it is just childish. I’m embarrassed to even think about how that was, after all she had gone through with that company. She delivered the goods for three years. She was a significant character on television as any new talent that WWE had in a long time.”
Interesting way to treat someone who worked for the company 05-2014 for doing nothing more than appearing for the competition when not under contract to the WWE.
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