Official Wrestling News Thread

[StringerBell]

 

[Agent_Ro]

Some wild shit coming out right now about Vince and his racist scripts / creative. He’s about to catch another lawsuit. Meanwhile Endeavor lookin on like

Abrahams' complaint states that she was hired as a temporary employee writer for WWE Smackdown on 11/3/20 and after her work was well received by executives in the company, she was offered a full-time position in May 2021.

Abrahams "asserts that Defendants engaged and continue to engage in a pattern and practice of discrimination against black female employees, African American female employees, and employees who engage in protected conduct on behalf of themselves and other minority employees."

In the lawsuit, Abrahams noted that tt was suggested by Bruce Prichard that she write vignettes for both Raw and Smackdown. She began shadowing Chris Dunn (who is white), who was writing vignettes for Bianca Belair:

"The said scene included offensively racist and stereotypical jargon which Plaintiff found objectionable.

By way of example, according to the script, DUNN intended Ms. Belair, the said black female WWE wrestler, to say, “Uh-Uh! Don't make me take off my earrings and beat your ass!” which are lines based upon cruel, ugly stereotypes of dark-skinned, black women.
Plaintiff asserts that Ms. Belair uttering that line was, and still is, negatively stereotypical of race and gender, and Plaintiff found it offensive, and still finds it offensive.

Prior to the writing of this scene many of the WWE writers commonly complained that they didn’t know what to do with Ms. Belair.
As a result, Plaintiff undertook researching Ms. Belair’s background, and discovered a fascinating family tree, including an aunt who helped desegregate her high school in the 1960s, and an uncle whose contributions to science were world-renowned.

DUNN allowed Plaintiff to write a first draft of Ms. Belair’s scene, so Plaintiff included positive references to Ms. Belair’s rich family history and sent it to DUNN for feedback.
DUNN told Plaintiff that the draft “looks great. I’m going to make some edits and submit it to [CALLAHAN].”

However, DUNN subjected Plaintiff’s draft to substantial editing, including inserting the said racial Case. That same night, Plaintiff complained about the racially offensive and discriminatory nature of the scene to one of her WWE superiors, Defendant CALLAHAN.
Plaintiff emailed CALLAHAN and said, “I know I’m new, I’m not trying to be disrespectful or step on [DUNN]’s or anyone’s toes, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that [Ms. Belair]’s scene includes racial jargon and offensive stereotypes, particularly her go-home line.”

Plaintiff also requested clarification for protocol on moving forward with her complaint.
In conversation with Ms. Belair the following day, Ms. Belair informed Plaintiff that she told DUNN “3 DIFFERENT TIMES THAT I DON'T WANT TO SAY THAT LINE! BUT HE NEVER LISTENS TO ME! HE PUTS THAT LINE IN EVERY WEEK.”

Ms. Belair said the script’s discriminatory line(s) made her look “ghetto.”
Plaintiff relayed this information to DUNN and politely offered to edit the line(s).
However, despite Plaintiff’s complaint, Defendants failed and/or refused to take any immediate or appropriate corrective action in response.

Plaintiff never received any form of response from CALLAHAN, verbally nor via email, and CALLAHAN never spoke to Plaintiff about her email or the line(s), or the scene.
Additionally, WWE’s failure and/or refusal to address Plaintiff’s complaint emboldened WWE employees, including DUNN and CALLAHAN, to further discriminate against and to retaliate against Plaintiff in response to her protected conduct.

By way of example, WWE kept the discriminatory line in the script. Plaintiff was scheduled to shadow DUNN on two (2) scenes that day, one of which was the said scene with Ms. Belair.

However, around halfway through the day, DUNN informed Plaintiff that she would now shadow CALLAHAN.

When Plaintiff requested DUNN’s assistance, he told Plaintiff “YOU HANDLE IT. IT’S YOUR SCENE NOW.”
CALLAHAN showed up for the taping of Plaintiff’s scenes about 90 seconds before they went live, and he never once mentioned Plaintiff’s email.

Defendants switched Plaintiff’s assignment and made her shadow WWE’s lead writer, who was not present until the show filmed live.
The switch in assignment was due to Plaintiff’s race, and gender and had the purpose and effect of sabotaging Plaintiff’s career with the WWE, and to serve as a pretext for retaliatory adverse actions.

Defendants did not provide Plaintiff with any training on what needed to be done during the live broadcast.
Defendants’ actions were clearly discriminatory as similarly situated white, male WWE employees are not treated in this manner.

Defendants’ actions in this regard were clearly retaliatory, given the temporal proximity between Plaintiff’s protected conduct and WWE’s adverse employment actions.
Defendants’ actions in this regard were done to humiliate, intimidate and undermine the Plaintiff’s performance as she had never been tasked with this responsibility and had no idea of the new role’s requirements."

Abrahams alleges that after her complaint, "following Plaintiff’s complaint, Defendants increased the intensity of their discriminatory misconduct, including deliberately subjecting Plaintiff to a number of racist pitches.

There’s a lot more of this on this link:

FORMER WWE WRITER SUES COMPANY, VINCE MCMAHON & MORE FOR RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AND WRONGFUL TERMINATION, ALLEGING 'OFFENSIVELY RACIST' CREATIVE SCRIPTS & PITCHES FOR BLACK PERFORMERS | PWInsider.com

www.pwinsider.com

 

[willhustle]

 

[willhustle]

WWE's Current Planning Process For Split Brand Pay-Per-Views

WWE is preparing for another Draft, which will get started on the April 28th episode of SmackDown and finish up on the May 1st episode of Monday Night

www.ringsidenews.com

 

[Chi-Town B]

I can't even blame these networks for wanting their own wrestlers, never made sense that they do drafts and then performers still popping up on the other show

 

[Griffith]

He has to pay for the Nigerian Drum Fight match. I haven't hated anything so much ever in my life.

 

[Black_Samson]

Safe topics

 

[IP360]

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Something me and a few others have said.

Me personally I like the talent crossing into each other's brands. But...I can definitely understand both networks wanting their own superstars, on their own brands. They paid a billi...so yes...I'd want my own champion too

 

[Agent_Ro]

And the brands having their own PLE is fine by me as long as it’s not twice a month like they did from 2016-2019 I think

 

[TonyDubbz]

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WWE's Current Planning Process For Split Brand Pay-Per-Views

WWE is preparing for another Draft, which will get started on the April 28th episode of SmackDown and finish up on the May 1st episode of Monday Night

www.ringsidenews.com

One thing I hate is when the PPVs are separated.

SD always got the B PPVs or either their shows just weren't as stacked/good as RAWs

Hopefully it doesn't happen this time around but idk

 

[TonyDubbz]

And the brands having their own PLE is fine by me as long as it’s not twice a month like they did from 2016-2019 I think

THIS was a major part of the issue too and was probably the main cause for one shows PPVs feeling weaker than the others.

 

[Chi-Town B]

Those brand only ppv's will get more talent on them so that's good for them getting that ppv money

 

[Chi-Town B]

Roman and Cody gotta be on the same show and Seth need to be separated from them

 

[Agent_Ro]

Those brand only ppv's will get more talent on them so that's good for them getting that ppv money

That was one of the benefits of the brand extension, getting guys like cena, Orton, Batista, etc on camera more to get more exposure and experience and it worked for the most part

 

[Iceberg_Taylor]

Roman and Cody gotta be on the same show and Seth need to be separated from them

Seth stays on Raw and Roman on Smackdown?

Cause if Roman heads to Raw than Monday Nights are back to square 1 since he’ll hardly ever be around and I’m guessing they brought a new belt out for this exact reason.

 

[Chi-Town B]

Seth stays on Raw and Roman on Smackdown?

Cause if Roman heads to Raw than Monday Nights are back to square 1 since he’ll hardly ever be around and I’m guessing they brought a new belt out for this exact reason.

If the rumors are true that USA want the bloodline they don't care about the title being there every week which is dumb since they was crying about not having a champion months back

 

[Iceberg_Taylor]

If the rumors are true that USA want the bloodline they don't care about the title being there every week which is dumb since they was crying about not having a champion months back

I seen that too. I think they just want The Bloodline and the prospects of Roman period. Ironically enough if they lose this rematch comin up then we’re heading to a full blown bloodline break up at some point so USA not being smart

 

[IP360]

And the brands having their own PLE is fine by me as long as it’s not twice a month like they did from 2016-2019 I think

Oh gawd no. Last thing I need to see is a Fast Lane...In Your House...Xtreme Rules type of ppv.

 

[TonyDubbz]

They to pussy to sign em tho. Wel maybe Trips not.. but Vince passed on him a long time ago cause he did time and had a temper supposedly



At the same time him and Solo pretty much the same character but Jacob just a lil more menacing, not by much tho.

 

[Agent_Ro]

Things are progressing towards a CM Punk return to All Elite Wrestling.

Fightful Select had reported recently that plans were in place for CM Punk to return to AEW in June, with the launch of a new Saturday show (reported to be on TNT at 8 PM by Andrew Zarian, titled Collision). Even more, a man that he’s had issues with in the past in Chris Jericho was pitched as an early program for him, if not set in stone.

We’d reported that Jericho and Punk were set to meet and speak with one another, and we’ve learned that happened over the last week. Those familiar with the situation said that the meeting was relatively uneventful all things considered, and especially when taken into consideration the issues the two have had.

When Punk first joined AEW, we’re told that Jericho approached Punk to establish that bygones were bygones, and Punk had replied in kind, as long as there were no reason to have issues going forward. Jericho was have said to have shouted at Punk after Brawl Out, and Punk called Jericho a stooge during a recent Instagram stories post.

Sources familiar with the situation also claimed that it seemed as if the two could end up working together without issue, but also pointed towards Punk’s recent history, as well as Jericho’s long-term history of welcoming confrontation.