JNLister

There's nothing wrong with doing Rock-Reigns at WrestleMania.

There's a lot wrong with putting all that effort and storyline logic into building up Rhodes-Reigns and then doing Rock-Reigns.

Just seen someone float the idea that this ends in a massive exec clear out, Paul Levesque and Nick Khan go, and the only logical solution is Jeff Jarrett running WWE.

Lovely clickbait title for a lovely Ugandan backyarder match: 

To follow up, Heart Shaped Box was used for a Beulah McGillicuddy video in ECW. I don't think she ever used it as entrance music as she either came out with Raven or was already at ringside when she did the Bill Alfonso match.

If you're dull enough to watch an 80 minute YouTube video about how to discover new elements and how somebody faked it, this is your hookup:

First new plays of the year:

Vindicated has some sort of theme that plays virtually no role in the game, which is a very smooth "move round board, get stuff, do things" mechanic. It's somewhat reminiscent of Istanbul and Yokohama in that the positioning of the tiles (which is random) and the fact you can block spaces means a lot of the game is reading the board and being ready to switch plans quickly. One of the main features is that on your turn you can take three main actions (each of which you'll virtually always want to do) and a range of bonus actions (which depend on your situation), but you can do them all in any order you like, so there's a lot of planning to optimize your turn (which overcomes the downtime between turns.) Definitely looks like a lot of replayability as what cards you pick up and when can make a big difference to your strategy.

Trial by Trolley is a very fun party game where winning is really not the point. It's based on the old philosophical question of the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolley_problem. In the game you have one player each round as the trolley operator choosing which track to send the trolley down, killing everything in its path. Everyone else is in two teams and you get three "good" cards (eg God, a taco truck, a lifeguard saving a drowning man, a talking dog) and pick one for your track to try to dissuade the trolley operator. You then pick one of three "bad" cards (eg reanimated Osama Bin Laden, a doctor who is secretly poisoning patients, the only person who saw you do the worst crime of your life) and pick one to go on the opposing track. You then get 30 seconds to argue why the driver should pick the other team's track. As said, it's really not about winning but about the comedy/arguments/surprising revelations about character that ensue.

https://archive.ph/ZF31K (paywall-busting link to Wall Street Journal piece)

Turns out Vince has been under federal criminal investigation for this since mid-2022, his phone was searched under warrant in the summer, and he was hit by a grand jury subpoena to hand over any relevant documents. At least four women who are named in the subpoena have reached settlements and some have been interviewed by prosecutor.

(Grand jury subpoena means they likely intend to prosecute, which involves presenting the evidence to a jury. They don't decide guilt but rather whether there's enough evidence to proceed to trial.)

tl;dr: This is already moving towards a criminal trial.

2 hours ago, RedRooster said:

100% this - I was thinking something similar watching the show, actually - if you took the best parts of Dynamite, Collision, Rampage and ROH on a weekly basis and merged it together into one show, you'd have an unmissable TV show. And that's obviously what AEW was when it was at its best, all of the good idea in the one place. Creatively, I think AEW would benefit from losing two out of these four shows (aside from Dynamite obviously, that would be catastrophic) - there's still a hell of a lot of great AEW content each week, it's just...very spread out. 

Which is how I went to "I watch every moment of Dynamite and Rampage" to "I only have time to pick and choose what to watch" to "I now watch less overall than I was watching to start with" to "You've cancelled my Fite+ membership and want me to manually renew? Nope, I'm checking out your YouTube channel and that's enough for me."

It's the same as UFC and WWE PPVs where people would buy every show until it got to more than one a month, they started picking and choosing, and then they were buying fewer than before. The amount of time/money you're willing to spend if it means consuming the entire product is not the amount of time/money you'll spend on watching just the "best bits".

3 hours ago, NeverYield said:

Metallica - Sad But True 

Rey Mysterio used in in ECW.

2 hours ago, Lorne Malvo said:

I've been watching Succession recently and everytime the theme song plays I always think it would make cracking heel entrance music. It would be perfect for a Robert Roode-esque heel. The part where the strings kick in is (ahem) glorious.

 

I'm going to venture whoever wrote Roman Reign's current music watched this show.

9 hours ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

Does this assume they're being US-specific?

I've always assumed in the streaming era, they're just using the gross figure, hence all the grand proclamations every month.

Could be. Plus they probably count YouTube clips and people posting GIFs on Twitter.

Though it sounds mental at first glance, there'd definitely be some fun in Dominic doing the Maven-Undertaker elimination on Brock, spending several weeks boasting about it, then shitting himself when Brock demands a match at WrestleMania where you do 10 minutes of shenanigans and run ins before Brock and Dominic are be alone in the ring together and Brock absolutely mullers him.

2 hours ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

Fightful reporting it was the most watched Royal Rumble in the history of the event.

So, you know, nothing matters and fuck it all.

Given 30 million Peacock subscribers could watch it at no extra cost, you'd expect it to be.

However, it probably wasn't given Rumble 88 on USA did an 8.2 cable rating, which from what I can calculate would have meant it was watched in 3.5 million homes and thus most likely more than 5 million people.

If you're an investor/stock trader, you're probably assuming at this point that Vince McMahon will be getting removed from his position as a result and that that will be enough to satisfy sponsors. So you'd probably also assume the company's revenue isn't dropping much or at all. And even if it did, it's completely overshadowed by the Netflix and other deals. In 2027, even if they don't have a single sponsor, don't sell a single piece of merch, and don't sell a single house show ticket, this company is getting a billion dollars in revenue. That's what's maintaining the stock price.

Quote

Vince McMahon Accused of Sex Trafficking by WWE Staffer He Paid to Keep Quiet

Janel Grant files lawsuit saying McMahon pressured her into sex with him and other men at WWE, raising questions about 2022 board probe into CEO’s payouts

 

Vince McMahon, shown at the NYSE this week, is executive chairman of TKO, the parent of WWE and UFC. MICHELLE FARSI/ZUFFA LLC/GETTY IMAGES

 

By Khadeeja Safdar

 

Jan. 25, 2024 11:53 am ET

A woman who received a payout from WWE boss Vince McMahon has accused McMahon, the company and a former executive of sex trafficking in a new lawsuit that raises questions about the breadth of an internal company probe conducted by a law firm last year.

Janel Grant, a former employee at WWE’s headquarters, said in a lawsuit filed Thursday that she was abused and sexually exploited by McMahon while he was chief executive. She alleged that McMahon lured her with promises of career advancement, and then he allegedly exploited her and trafficked her to other men inside the company.

Grant signed a nondisclosure agreement in 2022 in which McMahon agreed to pay $3 million for her to not discuss their relationship or to disparage him. The WWE received an anonymous tip in 2022 about the relationship and started a board investigation, which uncovered other payments by the CEO to women. Grant’s lawsuit said McMahon stopped making payments under the 2022 deal after the initial $1 million installment. The suit seeks to void the agreement and unspecified financial damages. 

Janel Grant

McMahon and his attorney, Jerry McDevitt, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday. Representatives for the WWE also didn’t immediately respond.

McDevitt said in 2022 that the woman, whose name wasn’t yet public, hadn’t made any allegations of harassment. In a statement when The Wall Street Journal first reported on McMahon’s $3 million settlement, WWE said that the relationship was consensual and that it was taking seriously the allegations McMahon had engaged in misconduct. 

McMahon briefly retired from WWE in July 2022 following reporting by the Journal that revealed payouts to multiple women who had alleged sexual misconduct. The Journal reported that the board’s independent directors had retained law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett to conduct an investigation.

 

Simpson Thacher’s investigation found $14.6 million in payments by the CEO to women who had accused him of sexual misconduct, out of roughly $20 million that should have been booked as business expenses. In November 2022, WWE said the board investigation was completed and the company restated past securities filings. McMahon repaid the company for the cost of the investigation and returned soon after. 

The lawsuit complicates the legal picture around 78-year-old McMahon. Federal prosecutors have been investigating the payouts and in July 2023 agents executed a search warrant for McMahon’s phone and served him with a grand-jury subpoena. No charges have been brought.  

“Throughout this experience, I have always denied any intentional wrongdoing and continue to do so,” McMahon said in 2023 about the federal probe. “I am confident that the government’s investigation will be resolved without any findings of wrongdoing.”

Locked office doors

The former headquarters of WWE in Stamford, Conn., shown in 2022. PHOTO: JOHNNY MILANO/BLOOMBERG NEWS

The lawsuit, filed in a Connecticut federal court, describes in graphic detail Grant’s account of interactions with the businessman and TV personality. She alleged that McMahon and another WWE executive locked her in an office in WWE’s headquarters in Stamford, Conn., on June 15, 2021, and took turns sexually assaulting her while other staff were working. 

In the middle of another workday, on June 23, 2021, McMahon locked Grant inside his private locker room at WWE’s offices and forced himself on her over a massage table, the suit said. Later that day, McMahon’s personal assistant delivered $15,000 in Bloomingdale’s gift cards to Grant in her office.

The suit also includes screenshots of explicit text messages that McMahon allegedly sent to Grant. A May 2020 message said: “i’m the only one who owns U and controls who I want to f— U.” 

 

Grant alleged that McMahon shared nude photos and explicit videos of her without consent with other WWE employees, unnamed executives and stars, and directed her to have sex with them. The suit cited a July 2020 text that said others at WWE wanted to have sex with her after seeing photos on McMahon’s phone, and the group laughed when he told them, “She may scream and try to say NO!!although it would B difficult to say anything with a c— down her throat.” 

Grant alleged that the company diverted attention away from McMahon’s abuse by focusing on the accounting for the payouts. Others at WWE knew about McMahon’s misconduct but worked to conceal the wrongdoing, according to the suit.

Simpson Thacher didn’t immediately respond Thursday to requests for comment.

McMahon, who was the controlling shareholder of WWE, returned to WWE in early 2023, elected himself to the board and replaced several directors. Upon his return, he negotiated a sale of WWE to 

Endeavor Group EDR 0.06%increase; green up pointing triangle

, owner of the UFC mixed martial-arts league. The deal gave WWE an enterprise value of $9.3 billion. 

McMahon is now executive chairman and a major shareholder of the combined company, called 

TKO Group TKO 0.36%increase; green up pointing triangle

. This week, 

Netflix

 bought the rights to “WWE Raw” and other WWE shows in a deal valued at more than $5 billion. McMahon celebrated by ringing the opening bell with other TKO executives at the NYSE.

‘Has to look legit’ 

McMahon, at a WWE event in April 2022, briefly left the company later that year and returned in early 2023. PHOTO: JOE CAMPOREALE/USA TODAY SPORTS/REUTERS

Grant’s lawsuit alleged that she met McMahon in March 2019 after an introduction from a manager in her apartment building. McMahon lived in the penthouse of the same building, and Grant was looking for a job after her parents had died. 

When they met, McMahon allegedly made promises of a job at WWE and showered Grant with gifts. During meetings that were supposed to be about the job, he greeted her in his underwear and repeatedly asked for hugs. Then, the suit said, he pressured her into sexual activities in return for employment and warned her to stay quiet about their interactions. 

Grant began working in June 2019 as an “administrator-coordinator,” a position McMahon created for her in WWE’s legal department. She said she expressed concerns that the job felt unearned, but McMahon told her that all she needed to do was not tell anyone and that “it just has to look legit.” Colleagues complained about overflowing inboxes, but Grant had little work.

 

Meanwhile, McMahon allegedly sent her sexually explicit messages and his sexual demands increased. He forcefully used sex toys on her, including dildos he named after WWE wrestlers, causing her bruising and bleeding, the suit said. Grant alleged that she complained to McMahon and made attempts to end the relationship. 

In March 2020, McMahon began sharing sexually explicit photographs and videos of Grant with other men, including other WWE executives and a former UFC heavyweight champion with whom WWE was actively trying to sign to a new contract, according to the suit. In a May 2020 encounter, McMahon defecated on her head during a threesome, the suit said.

Her mental and physical health deteriorated so badly that McMahon sent her in November to a celebrity doctor for sessions at an alternative clinic where she never received any receipts or bills. McMahon also paid $20,000 to a surgeon on her behalf, the suit said.

McMahon recruited people to have sex with Grant as well, including WWE’s former head of talent relations, John Laurinaitis, who is named as a defendant in the suit. McMahon directed her to visit Laurinaitis at his hotel rooms where she had sex with Laurinaitis prior to the start of workdays, the suit alleged. “I’ve left that hotel feeling bad about myself every time,” Grant told McMahon.

In May 2021, McMahon allegedly told Grant that her presence in the legal department was holding up the hiring of a new general counsel for the company and thus transferred her to the talent-relations department, reporting to Laurinaitis. McMahon and Laurinaitis started her in a lower-level position but promised that she would soon be promoted to vice president, the suit said. 

McMahon controlled her professional and personal lives and subjected her to degradation, according to the suit. In the June 2021 encounter inside the WWE office, the suit said McMahon and Laurinaitis forced themselves on her and took turns restraining her for the other, while saying “No means yes” and “Take it, b—.”

Laurinaitis, a former wrestler known as Johnny Ace and a longtime WWE executive, left the company in 2022. Laurinaitis hasn’t publicly commented on his departure.

Laurinaitis didn’t immediately respond Thursday to requests for comment. 

 

WWE superstar

Brock Lesnar, a former UFC champion, is also one of WWE’s top stars. PHOTO: JOE CAMPOREALE/USA TODAY SPORTS /REUTERS

In July 2021, the suit said, McMahon instructed Grant to create personalized sexual content for a WWE superstar that he was trying to re-sign. The suit didn’t name the professional wrestler, but described him as both a UFC fighter and WWE talent. People familiar with the matter identified the wrestler as Brock Lesnar, one of WWE’s biggest names. 

Lesnar didn’t immediately respond Thursday to requests for comment. 

The suit said McMahon shared the explicit photos with the star and informed Grant that “he likes what he sees.” After the star agreed to a new WWE contract, McMahon texted Grant in August 2021 to say “that part of the deal was f—ing U.”

That December, McMahon gave Grant’s personal cellphone number to the WWE star, the lawsuit said. The wrestler asked her to send a video of herself urinating, the suit said, and after she did, he called her a “b—.” That same month, the suit said, the star expressed a desire to “set a play date,” but a snowstorm disrupted his travel plans.

In January 2022, the suit said, McMahon told Grant that his wife, Linda McMahon, had discovered the relationship and he pressured Grant to sign an NDA in exchange for payments. The CEO warned Grant of reputational ruin that included pornographic content he had of her. He paid her about $1 million in February, the suit said, and later stopped making the payments. 

Netflix bought the rights to ‘WWE Raw’ and other WWE events in a deal valued at about $5 billion. PHOTO: CHARLES KRUPA/ASSOCIATED PRESS

After Grant signed the NDA, McMahon continued the abuse, according to the suit. It alleged that he forced Grant to perform oral sex on him the last time they met and then attempted to traffic her to the WWE star in March 2022. She texted the star explicit photos as directed by McMahon, but they didn’t meet, the suit said.

The lawsuit seeks a judgment that the NDA is invalid under state and federal law and compensatory and punitive damages under other laws, including the Trafficking Victims Protection Act.

(From the Wall Street Journal)

18 minutes ago, DavidB6937 said:

Yeah there's a reason Disney and others take stuff down all the time. It's not just a free thing where you can put endless amounts of content on there without the cost increasing.

If anything I imagine it'll be like most things on Netflix and a lot of the content will be timed, disappear and then put back again and made a fuss about etc.

Same with places like Amazon and their James Bond movies, or Sky with Harry Potter etc. Hell, even something like McDonalds and their "limited" menu items. It's a very familiar practice now.

With Netflix at least, they mainly take stuff down because they only licensed it for a set period. That's not an issue here.

From what I can gather, most of Netflix's content is hosted/delivered by Amazon Web Services. They charge a very small amount for the actual storage and then a variable fee based on how often it's accessed/transcoded/delivered. Content that nobody watches really doesn't cost that much day-to-day in the big picture.

Probably not the best example given they lose billions, but Peacock has episodes of Smack Talk (the post Smackdown studio talk show) from 2016. I can't imagine a single person has watched those since they were uploaded to Peacock. 

2 hours ago, SaitoRyo said:

Meltzer noted on WOR today that the archives will also move over to Netflix (outside of the US) beginning in 2025. 

He didn't say how much of the archive will be moving, but Netflix will be the sole source of it. 

Better start buying those Mid-South box sets up, boys...

He also specifically said the Network is closing down completely at the end of the year.

Given Netflix has paid for it, it exists in digitized form, and it's got nearly a year to handle the transition, there doesn't seem any obvious reason Netflix wouldn't put up everything that's currently on the Network/Peacock.

Rishi Sunak's personal pollster has resigned. It doesn't appear he thinks things are going well.

I believe everything from the Network archive ended up on Peacock, it just took a few months to get it up.
 

In theory at least, that process should mean any issues with music licensing and questionable content are taken care of already and they can just transfer the files over to Netflix. I can't see them being more queasy about potentially offensive stuff than Peacock was.
 

The only real reason not to have the archive on Netflix internationally (and then in the US after the Peacock deal ends) is if WWE think they can still make money from licensing it elsewhere or running it as a dedicated subscription service. The problem is I suspect the combination of cutting back on "new" archive stuff (from regular updates to weekly Hidden Gems to a monthly batch of ten 1996 Superstars episodes to nothing whatsoever) and the latest interface overhaul making finding archive stuff a hassle/borderline impossible has probably killed the goodwill of most people who'd have considered subscribing to an archive-only service. I know that if they'd said "new stuff's moving to Netflix, archive's staying here, we're cutting it to a fiver a month" I'd probably have stayed out of laziness, but I unsubscribed after 9 years a couple of months back.

5 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

There's no way Netflix aren't taking the archive as part of this deal. Last month they added about 100 1930s Swedish films to their catalogue. They have room.

Presumably there'd be no match markers/chapters or searching for individual wrestlers/matches (not that you can do that at all on Peacock or particularly well on WWE Network).

24 minutes ago, SaitoRyo said:

Netflix will just cancel Raw after a couple of seasons and everything will go back to normal. No need to worry. 

Reportedly it's a 10 year deal, but Netflix has the right to cancel after 5 years, or to extend it to 20 years.

Quote

Beginning in January 2025, Netflix will be the exclusive new home of Raw in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Latin America, among other territories, with additional countries and regions to be added over time. Likewise, as part of the agreement, Netflix will also become the home for all WWE shows and specials outside the U.S. as available, inclusive of Raw and WWE’s other weekly shows – SmackDown and NXT – as well as the company’s Premium Live Events, including WrestleMania, SummerSlam and Royal Rumble. WWE’s award-winning documentaries, original series and forthcoming projects will also be available on Netflix internationally beginning in 2025. 

To recap:

Raw in US going to Netflix. Smackdown to USA. NXT to the CW.

Rest of the World: All new programming, including all TV shows and 'PLE's going to Netflix. Network presumably dead. No word on the archive.

6 hours ago, BigJag said:

Thanks for the clarification. From what I understand. There will be another round of voting by the Lord's, on the ratifying. Ostensibly to allow more Lord's members a chance to cast their vote. Largely due to not all Lord's members being present for the first round of voting. Once this process is completed. Is it at that point that a HOC vote will take place?

The way I'm reading it, the next round of voting in the Lords is on the bill itself. It's slightly complicated as the treaty ratification process is theoretically completely separate and is what happens with all treaties (Lords can issue a recommendation, Commons makes the decision). However, the Rwanda bill includes a clause that says the law doesn't take effect until the treaty is ratified.