Impact wrestling thread - It's a Don West tribute thread now!

[Cannibal Man]

Fucking hell, I forgot Hogan had that mad tattoo right across his back. If he ever does have one more match hopefully he gets new extensions long enough to cover the whole fucking thing. I wouldn't mind if it was in a better font but as it stands he looks like a walking advert for a tenner in drinks free all night rock club in Warrington from 2005.

[air_raid]

Lesnar and Rock can actually work matches in addition to their name value. Surely Hogan's not that much of an egotist to not see the logic in that?

 

Ian's already mentioned that buyrate-wise Lesnar has been a bit of a disappointment, and you only have to look at Survivors 2011 to see that nobody bothered paying to see The Rock's first match in seven years. I'm not saying that the same casuals who shrug off the appearances of either of those two would necessarily stump up to see the Hulkster come home, but there's little to suggest that actually wrestling makes Lesnar or Rock a better return on investment. The power of nostalgia for "Hulk Hogan back in WWE" means people will pay to see him whether he wrestles or not. I've got mates who don't watch it, who insisted on seeing the tape when they heard "Hogan came back and him and Shawn Michaels wrestled two lads" or "Hogan was on Raw and beat up some tall bloke" and the number of friends and friends-of-friends that come to the TNA tour with me doubled when the Hulk started coming over. He's not just some bloke that was good for a bit coming back after bumming around in his new career for a few years, he's Hulk Hogan, and it doesn't matter that he probably isn't going to wrestle.

 

Rock and Lesnar turning up is nice, like seeing old friends is nice, but Hogan being at Mania 30 would be akin to having a birthday party and Elvis, Santa and Sasha Grey turn up, and Sasha wants to nosh you off.

[Onyx2]

This is probably mentioned already somewhere in this monster thread but here's a list of all the stupid stuff TNA have ever done.

 

Not to say WWE are squeaky clean but there's some shocking stuff in there. Worst of all is the repetition, doing the same dumb things many times.

[IANdrewDiceClay]

A bit of a worrying thing developing with Daffney and Scott Steiner's lawyer. He's based in Tennessee and seems quite driven to getting some money out of TNA. He posted this on his facebook.

This issue is not dead. Daffney took it to the brink and farther than any other wrestler in history has been willing and/or able to do. The courage she exhibited for over two years was simply amazing. I now have another wrestling client who intends to pick-up where Daffney left off. Should get interesting folks.

 

This was posted on Gerweck, and the bloke responded when someone called him a "scumbag lawyer" on the comments page.

To Fisha695:

 

By way of introduction, I am the “scumbag lawyer” you so eloquently refer to in your comment. Respectfully, it is quite obvious that you wholly fail to comprehend the primary issue that was involved in Daffney’s case, which continues to be the primary issue going forward, i.e. the employment classification of professional wrestlers. This issue is quite simple to understand, and I would certainly be willing to draw you a picture (with stick figures of course) if you can’t read and write at an 8th grade level. However, I assume that you can; therefore, let me now explain this issue in the simplest terms at the risk of putting a spotlight on the ignorance of your comment.

 

The issue is not whether Daffney v. TNA is dead, as your comment insinuates. Instead, the issue concerns the classification of professional wrestlers as independent contractors versus employees. To better clarify this issue for you, independent contractors are not entitled to the same benefits that employees are entitled to receive, i.e. medical benefits, workers’ compensation benefits, etc. When wrestlers like Daffney are injured in the ring, should they be precluded from receiving medical and other benefits based on the contention that they are not employees of the organizations that they wrestle for?

 

I believe that most professional wrestlers are paid per appearance, and the amount of money that they receive for these appearances is nominal at best. Despite this, however, these same wrestlers are the ones primarily responsible for making millions for organizations like TNA. Having said this, these organizations should be held accountable for payment of medical bills, etc. when its wrestlers or “talent” suffer injuries in the ring doing the very things that the organization has asked them to do or has scripted, which are coincidentally the very things that the organization profits from. Obviously, TNA didn’t think so in Daffney’s case.

 

Organizations like TNA contend that wrestlers like Daffney are not entitled to payment of medical bills or other benefits because they are independent contractors as opposed to employees. I don’t expect you to know the law, sir; but I will tell you that in defending workers’ compensation cases for almost 10 years, this contention is a gross misclassification in my opinion. Regardless of how wrestlers like Daffney are classified or identified in their contracts, irrespective of whether they are specifically identified therein as an independent contractor, they are clearly employees of the organizations they wrestle for. As the saying goes: “If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.”

 

Overall, perhaps your comment about me stems solely from your personal opinion that all lawyers are scumbags. Maybe that kid in school who kissed your girlfriend and stole your lunch money eventually became a lawyer. I don’t know; but I trust that if you take the time to apply a common sense approach to the central issue in Daffney’s case and others, you will quickly realize the motivation surrounding this issue. Having said this, it seems to me that insofar as you’re likely a professional wrestling fan, you can at least comprehend the fact that the most important individuals in the industry are the wrestlers themselves. Without them, the industry doesn’t exist or survive. They are the most valuable commodity in the industry, far more valuable than the clerk in the mailroom who receives the same employee benefits that organizations like TNA refuse to provide to its wrestlers.

 

In closing, I wish to apologize for being the scumbag lawyer who intends to fight damn hard to protect my clients’ rights where their entitlement to benefits is concerned. The cost of these benefits is modest to say the least, especially when considering the nominal payment they receive per appearance. In fact, the amount of money you last paid to see your favorite wrestler(s), whether for a ticket or for pay-per-view, was likely far more than what they were paid to entertain you.

 

Sincerely,

 

The Scumbag Lawyer

 

And finally:

The comments are interesting to say the least. Although not a die-hard professional wrestling fan, I highly respect wrestlers as athletes. This is an important issue concerning their entitlement to benefits for injuries suffered in the ring, benefits that I think they are clearly entitled to receive, and I intend to fight hard to secure their rights to these benefits. Social media has been very influential in this regard, and I appreciate the support not only from Daffney’s fans; but also from those in the industry who truly understand the importance of this issue and advocate for the individuals who put their bodies on the line to make millions for the organizations they wrestler for. Sadly, however, the mailroom clerks for these organizations likely receive far more benefits than the wrestlers who are the lifeblood of the industry. Without wrestlers, the sport ceases to exist. For those who oppose the issue and contend that wrestlers are independent contractors: “You can put lipstick on a pig; but it’s still a pig.” I sincerely hope that change is on the horizon.

 

It brought up the debate in other places I've read, does anyone see WWE buying TNA just to shelve it? It was said the last time that if Daffney decided to take it further, they could have looked into that independent contractor stuff and exposed it, leading to WWE shelling out massive money to ex-employees.

 

I hope for TNA's sake the person the lawyer is referring to in the first quote isn't Jesse Sorenson. Imagine how badly that could go. His mother went bankrupt nursing him back to health and then they sacked him. If it is Sorenson, TNA could be in a right pickle there.

Edited October 15, 2013 by IANdrewDiceClay

[Arch Stanton]

If it is Sorensen, TNA are up Shit Creek. Does he hold a grudge over the way things went down? I know that he has every right to, but he doesn't seem to be a bitter person.

Edited October 15, 2013 by Arch Stanton

[IANdrewDiceClay]

he doesn't seem to be a bitter person.

[Arch Stanton]

Hahaha. I haven't seen that, obviously! What are his feelings about TNA then? I was judging his personality on his recent Tweets, which indicate him being in a pretty good place right now.

[LWOLeN]

[Slapnut]

During Chris Sabin's feud with Jerry Lynn over the X-Division title, he came to the ring wearing a diaper to illustrate how old Lynn was.

 

Fucking hell

[King Pitcos]

Organizations like TNA contend that wrestlers like Daffney are not entitled to payment of medical bills or other benefits because they are independent contractors as opposed to employees.

 

Which other organizations is he on about? WWE pays medical bills and he surely doesn't consider every bumfuck indie promotion to contract wrestlers as employees anyway. Is "organizations like TNA" a legally safer phrase than "TNA"?

[Seismic]

This is probably mentioned already somewhere in this monster thread but here's a list of all the stupid stuff TNA have ever done.

 

Not to say WWE are squeaky clean but there's some shocking stuff in there. Worst of all is the repetition, doing the same dumb things many times.

 

Cheers for that, taken a good portion of my evening to read but worth it. I know the WWE has screwed up in the past and made some piss poor decisions but reading that makes those decisions look pretty damn awesome.

[Ant]

I too spent ages reading the TNA stuff. Some of it you just couldn't make up.

[Loki]

Looking back, I think Fluff Dupp might be one of the greatest names for a female valet in the history of wrestling, especially if you consider she was their cousin AND girlfriend.

 

The wrestlecrap is what we all end up remembering most fondly - it wouldn't be wrestling without it.

[UK Kat Von D]

If TNA goes under they need to collect footage of everything on that LOL TNA history and make a boxset. It would probably outsell every DVD they have ever released combined and provide days of entertainment

[Duke]

The power of nostalgia for "Hulk Hogan back in WWE" means people will pay to see him whether he wrestles or not.

 

Rock and Lesnar turning up is nice, like seeing old friends is nice, but Hogan being at Mania 30 would be akin to having a birthday party and Elvis, Santa and Sasha Grey turn up, and Sasha wants to nosh you off.

I'm really not sure that that's true anymore though. I don't think people pay to see Hulk Hogan on TV anymore, if only because they know he's 60 and who cares? He's not really been around much on wwe tv since 2006 (maybe some appearances between now and then, but not much) and if The Rock isn't moving numbers, I can't believe Hogan will, as the Rock is a much bigger deal these days than Hogan is. The kind of people who would get incredibly excited to see Hogan are the kind who would buy Mania anyway, and I don't think anyone will part with their cash to see him these days.

 

I'm 25 now. I missed basically everythin Hogan did pre nwo, (and I was 7 when that happened) although I did know who he was. People my age and younger just weren't around for when Hogan was part of the zeitgeist, and so I don't think he'd move any money now.