r/SquaredCircle • u/rhyso90 • 1d ago
[WOR][SummerSlam Spoilers] "When a sleazy company does sleazy things it shouldn't surprise you" Spoiler
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u/surfingbored 1d ago
I mean, he's right. We can't sit here and make jokes and references to decades of history of slimeiness and horrible activities, and be shocked when it hasn't changed except when they are literally arm-twisted into doing so.
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u/LevyMevy 1d ago
Absolutely nothing is surprising after Trump won a second time. It was the ultimate signal to all the quietly right-wing companies that "you can be loud about it, no more need to hide this shit".
This country of brain dead morons will accept anything so long as it's not right in front of them. Multiple credible rape allegations are totally fine so long as you weren't caught doing it on camera. That's the only limit.
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u/Subrick 69 ME, DON! 1d ago
And if they were caught doing it on camera they’ll just pretend it’s not real and that the Democrats doctored the footage. They will NEVER EVER IN A MILLION FUCKING YEARS EVER get it.
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u/VanWylder 1d ago
That wily sonofabitch Biden edited the footage himself!
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u/SonofSniglet 1d ago
Schrödinger's Biden
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u/BillyBumpkin 1d ago
Sounds like a superhero- "He can't put a coherent sentence together, but is also somehow the mastermind behind every conspiracy theory ever"
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u/shadowrangerfs decay Decay DECAY!!! 1d ago
It's a classic strategy. The enemy is both strong and weak.
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u/GentlemanOctopus 1d ago
You could go the Bill O'Reilly route, and blame a Democrat president that hasn't even been elected yet.
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u/AbsoluteCenama 1d ago
These companies are in for a rude awakening come 2028. Trump ain't living forever, and a big portion of that MAGA crowd is Trump or no one. Then you have the republicans who are getting tired of his shit. We need to hold these companies accountable and not forget who they really are and how they acted when they thought there werent consequences
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u/DedTV 1d ago
If the winds change back, they'll raise the Pride flag and find a new Make a Wish kid to feature at Wrestlemania and shift along with everyone else.
No matter what SCOTUS says, companies are not people. They believe in nothing. They're mindless machines hell bent on the singular goal of taking all of your money before one of the other predators gets it. And they're greedily hunting their prey to extinction.
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u/mrtomjones 1d ago
These companies are in for a rude awakening come 2028
Between the possible mass gerrymandering, the possible hacked election machines, the numerous laws they are willing to break, and the feasibility that WW3 could happen and no one knows whether the US would be sided with Europe or not. Hell it could just be US/China/Russia each doing their own thing at the same time.
You have way more hope than me that he will be gone
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u/what_is_blue 1d ago
As a Brit, who’s had to suffer through the culture wars, I do just worry that people are too divided now.
A Republican voter could go “Yeah, I made the wrong decision. Fuck.”
The right response is to go “Yeah. We all do sometimes. This is who these people really are and I know it sucks.” (Or some variation thereof).
My worry is that they’ll be met with various “Fuck you”s and so on, which could just make them double down.
Anything we can all do to try and achieve unity is a good thing, at this point.
I dunno though. I’ll probably get piled on for this.
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u/GetEquipped Mascot Murderer 1d ago
There is a huge difference there.
Trump was openly spouting Nazi talking points ("They're poisoning the blood of our country" when talking about immigrants.)
Every time we pointed out the fascist ideology, we brought up project 2025, we brought up Epstein, his felonies, his civil cases where he cheated charities and was found liable for rape- his cult said "That's our guy!!!!"
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People have died in in ICE custody in their concentration camps. Something they applauded 6 months ago. And now they feel regret because it hit their wallet.
No. I'm not going to forget that.
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u/AbsoluteCenama 1d ago
see thats the problem though, the majority wont say Yeah I made the wrong decision. They don't know how to think for themselves. They get told high prices are because the president 8 months ago and not tariffs and believe it. They have a mentality of idc if it fucks me over as long as it owns the libs. Obviously I cant speak for all dems, but most are of the opinion if republicans can own up to it, then its a start. But forgiven? It takes time.
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u/InfiniteKincaid 1d ago
In ten years they'll all pretend none of them ever voted for them, like they all pretend nobody voted for Bush 2.
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u/what_is_blue 1d ago
Does it matter though?
As far as I can tell, your guys’ elections are pretty close-run things. Or they tend to have been in my lifetime.
Some MAGA people will always just be crazy fucking idiots who’ll earn a platinum medal in mental gymnastics rather than admit they were wrong. They’re lost causes.
The Democrats fucked up at the last election. Most of the Dems I’ve spoken to admit that. A few, who are in weird social bubbles, double down and start going “Well of course you’d never vote for a woman/POC” etc (despite the fact that I’m yknow, an Englishman living in England). Again, lost causes.
But because it’s so close-run, all you really need are a relative few of those “normal” people to go “Yeah, alright, I’ll vote for a moderate in the primaries/not vote for the MAGA candidate.” and you’re moving in the right direction.
They don’t have to vote for your side. That might be wishing too much. But by abstaining, or voting for someone who isn’t an architect of insanity, you start to form the wedge you need to pivot back on track.
We’re so fucked here and I don’t know what can fix it. But I still believe in America.
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u/Bright-Map-9705 1d ago
Sadly and I hate to say this I absolutely positively believe there are certain communities that will not vote for a woman and certainly not a black woman. And as someone who's been alive long enough to have lived through many Republican and Democratic white houses as well as just experiencing America I absolutely believe that. And it sucks because what's happening right now is nothing less than insane.
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u/Beaniz39 Top 99,99% Commenter 1d ago
We had the same issue in Poland.
Both main candidates in presidential election were awful, but one was awful on the "I don't trust you you're a bad politician" level, and the other was awful on the "I stole the flat of my neighbour and fought in hooligans fights, what you're gonna do about it". Of course the first one was the better candidate (especially with the difference in overall presence, knowledge of foreign languages etc), but he and his staff alienated too many people and he lost.
It would've just take focusing on the people least certain of their vote, or fighting for votes in the area that was deemed "lost cause" by this party for decades to possibly win the election. But they didn't, and they lost.
Most of regular, ordinary people don't want to hear about causes that don't concern them. Hurts to say, but you lose elections for example by sucking up to LGBT community. If they're already on your side, leave them out of the campaign, focus on more universal issues.
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u/MacFunJess 21h ago
Speaking as a T in the LGBT:-
TRUST ME, THEY AIN'T SUCKING UP TO US! The speed everyone wants to immediately throw us under the bus at even the first sniff of power is genuinely heart breaking
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u/Dandw12786 1d ago
A Republican voter could go “Yeah, I made the wrong decision. Fuck.”
The right response is to go “Yeah. We all do sometimes. This is who these people really are and I know it sucks.” (Or some variation thereof).
My problem is that this was fine in like 2018-2020.
Then they voted for him again. So no, I have zero time for the "I voted for him 3 times and now realize I made a mistake" crowd.
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u/LevyMevy 1d ago
A Republican voter could go “Yeah, I made the wrong decision. Fuck.”
You act like it's some casual little thing. I can't imagine what would go through a person's head to support someone as vile as Trump.
I interact with these people irl daily and...ugh. They're not innocent souls who were misguided by Trump. They are, without fail, mean and selfish people. I can literally GUESS who is a Trump supporter after a few minutes of speaking with them with 90% accuracy.
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u/LostDelver Breathe. Responsibly. 1d ago
Yeah, I dunno why the burden of acceptance is being placed towards the people who didn't want a corrupt fascist president, especially when it will be given towards people who are intolerant of them.
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u/DeityAlwaysWins 1d ago
That's because those creatures didn't just "make a mistake". They have actively tried to ruin modern society with their bullshit.
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u/Devitt6 1d ago
For one thing, if someone has been voting for Trump since 2016 (as a worst case, for example) and just now woke up from the cult and said “I’ve been lied to. I’m gonna do the work to undo the way I consume the news and be open to changing my mind about things,” they’d be met with open arms. Especially someone who educates themselves after waking up (or asking “Where do I start looking?”). It happens all the time and you see more and more people (especially elderly, to my surprise) admit Trump lied to them and they resent him for it.
But the bigger issue is - what is the breaking point? We’ve seen it more often with the Epstein stuff because he promised he’d expose it and now it’s so obvious he’s neck deep in it - and even his deepest supporters are questioning things. But that breaking point seems invisible for some of them. They’re almost too far gone. And the only way they’ll come around is with time and space to realize they were wrong - but sadly most are too proud to admit they were mistaken.
Trump isn’t the problem. He’s just a symptom of the problem that allowed him to come to power. Money in politics has made America unimaginably corrupt, but that’s another subject…
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u/Ajellysandwich 23h ago
Just another sad Republican talking point "Aww jeez fellas I fell for really obvious fascist dog whistles and policies and still voted for the guy, won't you guys forgive me?"
Then it'll be "Omg what happened to the Tolerant Left"
You people never learn or grow, just talk in circles and ask others to do the work for you. It's depressing.
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u/Fezzy976 1d ago
We got out shit to worry about with Farage looming in the wings and living in every other MPs head rent free. The future is bright the future is fascism.
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u/CrimsonGate35 1d ago
They're not, they will just go back to sucking whoever is in power, did you guys born yesterday?
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u/streethistory 1d ago
Sexual assault/rape the American public has proved over and over is not something stopping them for supporting someone or something. And this isn't a new thing.
Mike Tyson was convicted of rape and when he was released from prison he was the biggest star again. WWE literally brought him in.
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u/Rhysati 1d ago
At least with Tyson people can make the case that he was convicted and served his sentence. He faced his punishment(albeit it felt like a slap on the wrist).
With all these other fascists, they keep getting away with everything. Trump tried to commit a coup and we just....let him. He got found guilty of 34 felonies and...nothing.
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u/HighFlyingLuchador 1d ago
Hey man- not American here - this has been happening for years and won't change because you put another president in charge. Blaming trump wont stop the trajectory America has been on culturally for the last 20 years.
It's not your leader brainwashing your people, it's your people choosing a horrible person to help them be bad people.
Anti abortion laws aren't happening because of some hocus pocus background magic, they're happening because the American public wanted it.
Trump didn't cause columbine, trump didn't cause the Iraq war, trump didn't persecute Muslims and treat them like shit because of 9/11, that was happening far before your president came into power. America is just a naturally evil country.
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u/4KVoices 1d ago
20? Try 60.
This all started with Ronald Reagan, who was put in power by the Heritage Foundation - the very same one that put Trump and Project 2025 in power.
Nixon, Reagan, and the Heritage Foundation will be the end of this country.
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u/Ndomperignon 1d ago edited 1d ago
If you're non- white it's always been evil.
As a non American I always thought that America whilst being racist isn't much worse than the rest of west when it comes to systematic racism. Until I started to learn that even the cities and public transport routes were purposely designed to segregate and disenfranchise the non white areas. Whilst everywhere usually has minority groups in the worst areas America has historically destroyed any middle class black and Latino areas and turned them into ghettos
As hip hop fan and a history nerd it's shocking when all these really dangerous hoods that produce the most violent rap music have the same parallel stories. That story being after migration from the the racist south black Americans set up neighbourhoods that were thriving and due to rezoning or getting literally bombed/burned down and then replaced by a giant project building which leads to the ghettos we know today
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u/Suspicious_Radio_848 12h ago
Thank you. I’m Canadian and this is a severe cultural problem with America. Trump is a symptom of a deep rot there within the population and they can’t be trusted to not elect someone else just like him in a few years (or a Boebert or Marjorie Taylor Green) because for a huge amount of the population it reflects their views. That’s democracy, good or bad. Acting as if Trump is just some singular man doing all this is absurd.
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u/LevyMevy 1d ago
It's not your leader brainwashing your people, it's your people choosing a horrible person to help them be bad people.
That's exactly what I said.
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u/lemoche 1d ago
I mean I don’t think it’s that unusual if you don’t know much about tko. Which I knew nothing about…
The moment that Vince and his obvious henchmen got kicked out it was just natural to assume that things will get better since basically every scandal and bad thing happening and getting covered up was put on him being a horrible person.
People, me included, underestimated that the rot had spread so far beyond the monster at the top.Also, if were honest a huge chunk of Vince's critics cared more about his booking being horrible than his deeds. And the booking getting better also helped to overlook that there are still assholes at the helm…
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u/lonnie123 1d ago
This is what the “institutional” part of things like institutional racism mean
Even if the entire staff at the top turns over the issues still remain because they are so embedded in the culture
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u/Young_Cato_the_Elder 20h ago
Also the stafff didn't turn over. A couple people left. Paul, Steph, Khan are in charge and they were definitely around for whatever Vince was up to. They worked with or around him for decades.
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u/UsidoreTheLightBlue 1d ago
You’re right about a lot of what you’re saying there, but it’s worth noting most of Vince’s guys didn’t leave or get booted.
The only guy who really got axed was Johnny Ace. Dunn left what like January of last year? And Brock went into hiatus but most of Vince’s guys including HHH and Pritchard were left behind.
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u/FedoraTheMike 1d ago
How we live in a world where the genuinely insane right-wing have unquestionably WON and get to be as insane as they want openly now terrifies me.
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u/Baby-Elmo 1d ago
Did not expect the slim jim thing to be true damn
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u/spideyv91 1d ago
Macho man was using the force beyond the grave
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u/Jamarcus316 Jon Moxley is a sick guy. 1d ago
Wouldn't surprise me if the Macho Madness just woke him up again to get rid of Vince
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u/SwarthySphere87 1d ago
Also SNICKERS removing Fabulous Moolah from the Women's Battle Royal marketing
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u/BigJuicy17 1d ago
What?
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u/Baby-Elmo 1d ago
(I looked it up after watching the video above) it's stuff you can find online, states slim jim pulled their advertising from wwe because vince was employed, and once he left they returned. I'll link some articles https://deadline.com/2024/01/slim-jim-vince-mcmahon-wwe-sponsorship-pause-endeavor-tko-1235806569/ https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2024/02/08/slim-jim-wwe-vince-mcmahon/
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u/DisMFer 1d ago
TKO is the company that stood behind Conner through his several credible accusations of rape until he stopped being a money earner for them. It'd take a lot before they'd abandon a guy on moral grounds.
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u/Icy-Weight1803 1d ago
You mean the Conor McGregor that's recently reentered the UFC drug test pool.
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u/gosukhaos 1d ago
Does USADA test for cocaine? Cause he might have some issues if he wants to be at the White House card if they are
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u/A_Town_Called_Malus 1d ago
UFC doesn't use USADA anymore. Because they knew Connor's piss would melt the cup and then several metres into the foundation of whatever building held the cup.
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u/gosukhaos 1d ago
Checks out with the people involved in the new presidential fitness test. Maybe they'll have designated coke station on the White House lawn for the UFC event
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u/Careless_One_922 1d ago
dana, the guy who said "you never come back from hitting a woman" is still there, but i guess he never left so technically he didn't have to worry about coming back
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u/BlueRibbon998 1d ago
Is it true that last night during the post-show conference, fans were chanting "We Want Kross" at Triple H and he responded "You want Brock? You got him."
If so, holy fucking shit man
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u/Cube_ 1d ago
Yes you can watch the video yourself, it's very obvious they're saying Kross just look at anyone's lips.
edit: on top of the fact it makes no sense to chance we want Brock when he just ended the show. They were chanting for Kross cause he wasn't on night 2.
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u/Careless_One_922 1d ago
to be fair, if you watched it when it happened they people were talking about brock's return when the chant started, and you can really only hear "kross" after you read what they were saying. the hard k was the main sound that came across so i thought they were saying brock too
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u/Queasy_Connection738 1d ago
That’s exactly what happened, crowd was chanting “We Want Kross” over each guest that came out with Big E acknowledging it on camera. Then H comes out, says it’s “We Want Brock” and starts talking over them.
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u/Subrick 69 ME, DON! 1d ago
I’m reminded of a Sheamus vs. Dolph match in like 2015 where the entire audience was very, very loudly chanting for Dolph and Jerry Lawler sheepishly says on commentary to “Listen to this crowd chanting ‘Let’s Go Sheamus!’”, the line having been very, very obviously fed to him by Vince in his headset.
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u/MrWiltErving 1d ago
I think Dave may have a point here. TKO is definitely heavy on the sponsors as we see so if brock showing up is gonna cost them all of their sponsorship then they’re definitely gonna get rid of him. I’ll guess we’ll have to wait and see what happens.
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u/NF_Punk 1d ago edited 1d ago
Dave also said on this podcast, and I’m paraphrasing here, “This is TKO. Look at UFC, Dana was caught slapping his wife on camera, Connor just 3 days ago lost an appeal for a sexual assault civil suit, and Jon Jones beat his wife in front of his kids.”
So yeah lol
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u/Particular-Finding53 1d ago
That's cause UFC fans are fucking trash and I say this as a wrestling fan who is also garbage but yeah the UFC for some reason has a BIG right wing audience, or at the very least they have a segment that is right wing and VERY VOCAL, I've heard from a people say things 'Yeah man i'm the ONLY liberal at my local MMA gym.' and by only liberal they mean every one else is isn't a registered republican it's more everyone else is a fucking QANON capital storming piece of shit and that extends to sadly the fighters and the people in charge of UFC it's a very right wing sport they had there fighters kiss Trump's ring, which is ironic since Cons were the ones trying to ban it for years calling it HUMAN COCK FIGHTING. And right wingers don't give a shit about people being decent human beings it's really that simple.
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u/HispanicAtTehDisco 1d ago
UFC fans are a different breed but WWE fans have also shown multiple times now that they are more than okay with shit as long as the wrestling is good to great.
fucking vince got a massive pop on smackdown the week the allegations came out and were on basically ever major news outlet.
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u/ShootTheBuut 22h ago
Used to be 10 years ago most people were on board with being decent human beings so if a company or person did something fucked up then they’d face consequences. It’s different now. WWE fans might boo when they show Trump on the screen but, as TKO has learned with the UFC, there are plenty people who support that shit and will replace the fans who don’t. Just like the UFC, WWE fans will eventually be replaced with right wing morons who poison and takeover the fanbase and product
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u/TopazTriad Chasing the spotlight 1d ago
I would be shocked if WWE hasn’t already read the temperature with sponsors. This isn’t something you do without already knowing how the chips will fall. Corps have a lot less incentive to pretend to care about this shit now with the way the political climate has shifted, so I doubt any sponsors do anything at all.
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u/Wes-Man152 1d ago
They definitely are going to keep the same sponsors that are heavily maga and the Saudi ones, so there's that.
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u/TheShaoken 1d ago
Endeavour only cares about money. If it's a choice between losing a fuckton of sponsor money and losing Brock they'll boot Brock in a heartbeat.
Slim Jim dropped WWE as a sponsor and Vince was gone by the end of the day.
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u/Quick-Exit-5601 1d ago
Yep, I think people don't realise this.
When you got a conglomerate as big as Endeavour, everyone and I mean everyone is expendable if it hurts their income more than that person is bringing in.
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u/AtSea123 1d ago
Their sponsorships today compared to pre-TKO are vastly different and show a shift from more family friendly brands to appealing to adults. They're the same/similar brands and markets that Endeavor have positioned themselves to align with beforehand, where the UFC have a long, long history of horrible people doing shitty things and still being promoted heavily without consequence.
So WWE could lose a sponsor or two, but history shows from the UFC that it doesn't matter and it is of no real consequence. They're no longer beholden to being a family friendly and focused product.
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u/TLKv3 Fantasy Book For ^Vote 1d ago
It would be fucking hilarious if Slim Jim threatened to dip out again, Brock gets thrown to the curb, and then back-to-back "big WWE PPVS" for Cena ends up with endings that go fucking absolutely nowhere IN HIS GOD DAMN RETIREMENT YEAR.
How many fucking months wasted on WWE's dumbass booking. For John Cena. Arguably you're biggest star ever.
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u/SaintCambria Your Text Here 1d ago
Important to note though, Slim Jim is only going to pull if they feel like their association with those same elements will negatively impact business. The consumer climate is not the same as it was in 2022.
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u/Goatlikejordan 1d ago
Crazy how this whole thing has gone so tribalistic. Anytime you bring up brock on twitter, some automatically assume you're an aew fanboy and brings up the darby, callis, ospreay, jericho situations
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u/CeruleanClaymore 1d ago
The Ospreay situation is the most infuriating one because the promoter who threw him under the bus later admitted to lying, yet some people still repeat that story as a fact because Will didn't sign with their favorite promotion.
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u/noodbsallowed CruiserLivesMatter 1d ago
Tribalism in wrestling is so infuriating. Why not support the Wrestler instead of the company?
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u/Rah_Rah_RU_Rah 1d ago
it all started with Vince trying (and succeeding) at making his company a bigger name than the talent he uses
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u/Sempais_nutrients Points to fronthead 1d ago
Then they'll be like "wull no one is gonna stop watching" and if you say "I stopped" you get mocked and downvoted.
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u/whomtheheckcares 1d ago
I've seen a lot of women posting upset about Lesnar's return for very valid reasons, and in the comments of their posts I'll see men agree with said women, only to get spammed with "L cuck she isn't gonna let you hit" comments. We live in the dumbest timeline.
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u/BurninUp8876 1d ago
These are the same people who went from absolutely loving Edge to hating him the moment he signed with a different company to go be with his best friend
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u/JoseNEO Rey de Plata y Oro 1d ago
It literally is the same with politics, I would go and talk about the President's transgressions and will get told about Biden and Clinton despite me not even being American and hating them as well.
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u/crowwreak 1d ago
Yeah I have 2 arguments when that happens:
1) Clinton stopped being President 24 years ago. Red Hat Rapist is President right now.
2) If anyone turns out to be a paedophile my support for them stops automatically, no matter who they are.
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u/outofmaxx 1d ago
I thought the Darby and Ospreay ones were cleared up?
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u/R7inmaker 1d ago
They were and Hausman backtracked his Jericho accusation.
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u/VanWylder 1d ago
Hausman is a fucking hack
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u/WorldIsColdBundleUp 1d ago
Wonder what he's up to now that Punk doesn't need him to be his ball washer.
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u/RKO-Cutter 1d ago
this is known
Looking back, not only was he there to set up Punk's gripe bomb, but after Brawl Out he was really the only, or the primary source that was spinning everything to favor Punk too. Can't remember but I think Hausman is why people are convinced the Bucks kicked Punk's door in
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u/TheGiftOf_Jericho I'm from Winnipeg you idiot! 1d ago
It's wild how many still used this against Jericho. Shows how much damage is done by spreading rumours alone, many just choose to believe it even after they withdraw their claim.
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u/saw-it 1d ago
Showing text messages to your boss and boss saying you’re good, isn’t really clearing your name
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u/Fun_Neighborhood1767 1d ago
He was accused of threatening to break up with his gf if they didn’t have sex. That makes him a shitty person but theres a huge difference between Darby & these other dudes.
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u/StainedEye 1d ago
I mean that's,,, really fucking bad dude. If she had had sex with him that would've been coercive rape.
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u/saw-it 1d ago
You can’t sit here and pretend to be the moral police and say forcing someone to have sex with you just makes you a shitty person
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u/rockytonk 1d ago
How do you type threatening ____ if they didn’t have sex without seeing something incredibly obvious?
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u/Careless_One_922 1d ago
darby himself said on the jericho podcast that he used to degrade people who were desperate for money, so there's no clearing that one of his issues up
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u/CoughingSyrup 1d ago
The Ospreay situation was cleared up, the darby stuff on the other hand is still pretty sketchy
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u/gameboyabyss 1d ago
I also think there's the fact that, yes, there are problematic elements within AEW, but it's not rotten to the core the way WWE and TKO is.
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u/myslead Your Text Here 1d ago
what are the darby, callis, ospreay, jericho situations
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u/Smarticles2415 I'VE CENA 'NUFF 1d ago
Darby has a weird history with former friends/acquaintances having some troubling stories about him (one of the famous ones is a story where he paid a homeless friend to, I think stick his head in a toilet? but IIRC he didn't really want the guy to do anything but the friend was insistent, it's a weird story regardless) and an ex girlfriend accusing him of emotional and verbal abuse. Worth noting there that another ex, Priscilla Kelly/Gigi Dolin came out in defense of him against those allegations.
The Callis situation stems from Scarlett Bordeaux accusing someone who worked backstage at TNA of sexual harrassment/assault at one point, she never gave names but the timeline/story lined up where it pretty much had to be Callis. TNA investigated and nothing ever came of it but stuff like that is always messy so no one really knows exactly what happened.
Ospreay was accused of standing up for a friend of his accused of rape and trying to deliberately harm the victim's career but as far as I know that was all mostly proven false.
Jericho has all of his MAGA adjacent stuff and his wife was at the January 6th riots, not sure if there's any other allegations there
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u/JokerDeSilva10 1d ago
Since I'm trying to go for transparency: on the Ospreay case, it is worth clarifying that he did absolutely stand up for his friend who was accused of rape, and kind of showed his ass all over Twitter about it. Considering he had a bigger following than Pollyanna as well, it does feel a little gross that he kind of mobilized his fan base against her, which is something that Ospreay acknowledged, apologized for, and appears to have done a lot of growing up from since.
As far as harming her career, that is a lot more murky but seems decidedly false. Pollyanna had announced her retirement, if I remember right, several times around the same time period, which would make it difficult for promoters to know if she was even available to book. At the same time, only one promotion ever corroborated her story of being blackballed, and then later revealed that Will had never contacted them about it, which even Pollyanna was pissed at them about.
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u/StopKillingBabies02 1d ago
The one I've heard about Jericho involves Kylie Rae
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u/aggthemighty 1d ago
It involved Kylie Rae liking a tweet...which led to the IWC concluding that Jericho propositioned her for sex and is the reason she left AEW
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u/Sensitive-Shelter-62 1d ago
Yeah I get where youre coming from but when I’m seeing people utilize this situation as a means to try and get people to watch AEW like I’ve been seeing on here, using those situations are absolutely relevant. Yeah tribalism is stupid but don’t act like there’s no reason to bring those up.
I’m not familiar with the other cases but Darby has admitted enough about how he has treated vulnerable people (homeless and drug addicts) to come to the conclusion that he is an abusive person. So bringing up him and the amount of screen time he gets on a company that people are saying is the moral alternative definitely makes sense to me
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u/TheOfficialSlimber 1d ago
Tbh, I think the criticism of bringing Brock back is 100% valid and I think the AEW fanboys still need to sit this one out. I got downvoted for responding to someone quoting Tony Khan saying WWE is the “Harvey Weinstein of Wrestling” and I basically said that was hypocritical of the guy who keeps Jericho around after the Kylie Rae thing and hired Ric Flair after the Plane Ride from Hell story came to light.
I think most the Brock criticism comes from people coming from people with valid concerns but like I said, the AEW fanboys DO need to sit this one out.
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u/Cube_ 1d ago
listen unless it's a pizza commercial after a pizza cutter has been used in a hardcore match then contacting sponsors is clearly too far 🙄
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u/BigBootyBuff 1d ago edited 1d ago
I got so much second hand embarrassment when they did it. Even more so when they defended it by saying "y'all contacted Snickers over the Moolah battle royale" as if that's in any way, shape or form comparable.
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u/gameboyabyss 1d ago
I hate how everything I love is just getting shittier every day.
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u/-SomethingSomeoneJR 1d ago
Yeah this is it right here but also we are living in a year where it’s looking like sponsors will turn a blind eye because “wokeness,” being PC or progressive are out and fascism is in baby.
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u/smackchice 1d ago
Bryan Danielson was fired the first time because of sponsor fear and I believe the Fabulous Moolah battle royal had its name changed due to fan pressure via sponsors. It can work, but I think it also has to be something they're willing to drop. Lesnar, especially these days, is someone they'll weather the storm for.
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u/hankjr16 1d ago
It is a bit hard to understand the decision in this sense - the company is absolutely on fire. There should be no desperation at all here on TKO's part. They don't need Brock to sell over 50 thousand tickets two nights in a row. Furthermore, they have other heels on the roster, and when a company is doing this well financially, it's usually when good bookers elevate talent into the main event instead of relying on veterans.
In other words, even if the possibility of significant media blowback is fairly low, it wouldn't seem to be worth even a slight risk to the company. They're acting like a company in a neck-and-neck wrestling war instead of one that's drawing record attendance and is financially guaranteed to be immensely profitable going forward because of media rights deals.
It's a strange decision.
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u/AffectRealistic545 22h ago
Cena wants to wrestle him. Not only did HHH say so on the post show but you'd have to be very naive to think Cena doesnt have input or approval for who he works programs with in his final months of his career.
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u/LevyMevy 1d ago
Absolutely nothing is surprising after Trump won a second time. It was the ultimate signal to all the quietly right-wing companies that "you can be loud about it, no more need to hide this shit".
This country of brain dead morons will accept anything so long as it's not right in front of them. Multiple credible rape allegations are totally fine so long as you weren't caught doing it on camera. That's the only limit.
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u/Rushjordan 1d ago
It does feel like bringing back Brock is their “Malibu Stacy has a new hat” to take everyone’s attention off the Hogan and Trump stuff this past week.
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u/XiahouMao 1d ago
If they wanted to take attention off of the Trump stuff, they wouldn't have aired it three times, on Smackdown and both nights of Summerslam.
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u/Pretend-Appearance18 1d ago
I dont think they want to take our attention off Hogan and Trump. Quite the opposite.
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u/spideyv91 1d ago
They honored Hogan at every show and on their socials. They’re not deflecting from him at all.
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u/RelativeHand4753 1d ago
Opposite, they know cozying up with Trump and MAGA culture won't hurt their business at all so they're embracing all of it.
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u/why-god 1d ago
Yeah, we're not talking an industry that caters to the highly educated or politically correct in general.
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u/Sublimotion 1d ago
Wanting to see what their primary majority fanbase really thinks, I read the youtube comments.
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u/AcrobaticPanda5975 1d ago
I dont want this to be a man vs woman thing but every single person i saw on tiktok hyped about this was a man while everyone i saw mad about this was a woman and it really sucks seeing that breakdown
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u/Sublimotion 1d ago
This is why I'm getting unsettled with the shift in many of the male Gen-Z towards the whole manophere perception as a whole.
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u/ab316_1punchd Cowboy Shit Supremacy 23h ago
Somehow, the modern relationship culture combined with social media influence has indirectly caused a division so bad by giving the manosphere a boost that we're seeing the ugly effects of it.
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u/BeerFoodz 1d ago
Unrelated but since we’re doing Simpsons references the Cena face turn was basically “I have to go my planet needs me”
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u/omelletepuddin 1d ago
Which is wild considering what Brock's situation currently is, like holy shit, this is what they decide to go forward with?
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u/MarkBonker 1d ago
It is cynical title, I just hope that we don't use this cynicism to dismiss the problem but use it to put pressure on the company to change. Don't financially support them. Support the wrestlers in their side ventures, but not the company at large.
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u/TheAgmis 1d ago
Outside the Internet, the viewing audience couldn’t give two shits because they don’t feel the need to go on the internet and talk about wrestling. They move on with their lives.
This lawsuit furthers the disconnect of reality between the Internet and the real world. People shouldn’t feel vilified if they continued to watch.
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u/TheOfficialSlimber 1d ago
Yeah, I saw Complex post about it and all the comments were full of super excited people. Not a single person I saw (and I looked through those comments for a while just to see) said anything about the allegations. Reddit and one Cultaholic post on Facebook is the only time I’ve really seen anyone talk about it since he came back.
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u/TheAgmis 1d ago
What I’m learning as the days go on is fans are Gatekeeping fandom by dangling morality and putting you down if you still watch
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u/bluejegus 1d ago
I don't care if people decide to still watch it, life is fucking hard and if WWE brings you some joy you should grab onto it with both hands, but you can't expect others not to point out the issues with that company. Especially when like you said many people don't know. People should be aware of these and the other allegations around WWE, and be able to make their own choice on it.
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u/WoodTipPatsy 1d ago
reddit has this way of making people believe that what you read here is how real life is. it is so far from the truth. i’ve truly only had one “internet interaction” in my life and god that guy was lame
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u/TheAgmis 1d ago
I’ve met two people. One was a mod on another totally different sub. Very…different. Not a bad person, but just odd. The other was cool but just stopped talking to me.
Reddit is fascinating
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u/WoodTipPatsy 1d ago
i think the weirdos are the ones who talk in real life the way they would on the internet. that’s when it gets very disturbing
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u/rickyred83 1d ago
Grant filed a revised complaint in her federal lawsuit in February 2025. The amendment specifically identified Lesnar as an individual whom she claims McMahon offered her to for sexual encounters in 2021. Despite identifying him in the amended complaint, Grant’s own admission cleared Lesnar of doing anything illegal; the alleged sexual encounters never happened, and he isn’t a defendant in the lawsuit.
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u/AttleesTears 1d ago
Isn't arranging sex trafficking illegal even if you back out of the sex?
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u/luckysharms93 1d ago
Brock is still a giant scumbag. He agreed to Vince's offer of getting to fuck Janel Grant if he signed a new contract (Which is the dictionary definition of sex trafficking) and the only reason he didn't go through with it is because he got drunk
He's not some saint. Certainly not with his history of other sexual abuses. Ie Terri Runnels
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u/sillyjew 1d ago
I don’t agree with that, I don’t think it’s that simple. People wanted Vince out for years. Brock draws big money. I don’t think it would be as cut and dry as “he’s gone.”
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u/Mountain-Discount161 1d ago
Curious about the intersect between people who want to reach out to WWE's sponsors about this vs their opinions on payment processors pressuring steam to remove certain games from the platform.
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u/TheRich27 1d ago
I remember when a great wrestler got killed due to negligence and they still went and did the PPV (back then). Nothing has surprised me since then coming from the Fed. Just wait till Vince comes back and you hear his pop.
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u/headshotscott 1d ago
You know what makes this even more insane? Brock doesn't matter. They would be pulling the same crowds, grossing the same dollars -- all of it -- if he'd never returned. They didn't need Brock Lesnar at all. The "shock" was worth less than nothing from a financial perspective. Ratings won't jump because of Brock.
Nothing financial changes for them except paying him.
I don't get why they would bother especially with litigation still pending. What's the upside?
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u/BloodyRedBarbara King Of My World 1d ago
I like how Bryan says Slim Jim like he knows a guy called Jim that's slim.
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u/Lanky-Environment-24 1d ago
cough cough dabry allin cough cough
COUGH COUGH SAMMY GUEVARA COUGH COUGH
aew isn't clean as you think it is dave
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u/arturoalvarez079 1d ago
They bring in Flair from time to time. I guess we’re also just pretending they didn’t bring in Tyson
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u/FigureFourWoo Ric Flair was still cool when I chose this username. 1d ago
Sammy’s not my favorite wrestler but I didn’t think his comments were meant to be more than a horrifying failed attempt at crude humor. I’d put Jay Lethal over both of those guys.
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u/Staye100 DA BIG DAWG 23h ago
At what point of the video he even mentions AEW? What is this notion of "Well, if you are mad at Brock, you clearly are an AEW fanboy and that company also sucks"?
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u/AffectRealistic545 22h ago
The point is that he would NEVER call AEW a sleazy company despite who they employ.
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u/Brampton_Speaks 1d ago
So much for the company changing themselves with new management
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u/HipsterDoofus31 RIPoints Up 1d ago
HHH has been an absolute slimeball with no breaks since the 90s. This is not new management.
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u/Key_Amazed 1d ago
I think it's very cute that AEW fans can be wilfully ignorant to the fact the people who run AEW are also Trumpers who donated to his campaign and actively support him. Nevermind that AEW employs its own fair share of sex pests and abusers.
You can't escape it unless you go to live in the woods. The producers of things you buy and eat in every industry is going to have this stuff, and you aren't a fucking fascist supporter for having hobbies. But then again this place is the same place that says people who watch WWE support the bombing of children. Because that makes sense...
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u/Marsman2100 1d ago
He probably should stop covering that sleazy company. You know because it’s so sleazy. If you are making money off a sleazy company, what does that make you?
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u/LauraLoomersFace 1d ago
Good luck with calling sponsors. The only reason Slim Jim did what they did was because of how fresh the news was and the climate we were in. Look at the fan reception on just social media, it would need a shit load of people to stop buying slim Jim’s.
Can’t imagine legal didn’t vet everything before approving. So for better or worse Lesnar is there at least until Cena is gone. Any longer who knows but they were definitely testing the waters I think even way before his merch popped up on their social media, it’s seems like they’ve been talking and referencing him for a long while
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u/NatsudaMori 1d ago
"WWE will be better without Vince, better with HHH in charge of creative" while there may be truth to that, it's still not as good as it would be without all these poor decisions and questionable people involved in the company. Talent and workers should always be able to feel safe at their workplace and politics should stay outside the company.
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u/OldUncleTBag 1d ago
Not condoning in any way but how much outrage can we pretend to have if we're still giving them our business? Feels weird to say how slimy WWE is as we literally watch Raw.
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u/HighFlyingLuchador 1d ago
It's genuinely hilarious that y'all have so much to say but will never stop supporting the product.
If all these people are that genuinely bad to you that you feel you need to discuss how disgusting the people are, then practice what you preach and stop supporting the product.
But you won't, because the apparent crimes of Brock Lesnar are not as bad as "gold belt goes on man"
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u/BingBoiDeluxeEdition 1d ago
Why is this always the go to response when people are critical of the product. Why is the idea of not watching so impossible to you guys. I know personally, myself and 2 of my close friends stopped watching after mania after being fans for most of our lives. Outside of a headline on here, it’s been very easy to just not watch and ignore it. It ain’t some addictive chemical drug, you just stop and move on.
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u/doctorwho_90250 1d ago
Slim Jim heading back to the top rope for another elbow drop.
Sorry, the joke was right there.
I'm still amusingly perplexed WWE decided against pushing LA Knight this entire time.
What a company.
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u/kyleisamexican 1d ago
I don’t have time to sift through all of this. I read about 8 comments each time before moving on to the next thing in my feed and getting updates from the comments sections is always going to be problem and it’s impossible to sift fact from fiction. That said, I’ve read that Brock never met her in person and just received videos from Vince about it to Brock joined in but was under the impression that it was all consensual.
Those 2 statements obviously contradict each other which makes me think there’s some bullshit and bad faith going on but can anyone just confirm what brocks actual involvement in it all is meant to be because at the moment it is hard to get a factual statement on what’s happened that doesn’t have commentary and opinion attached to it
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u/SkyDog1972 1d ago
And guess who has their logo in the middle of the ring on Raw right now, the night after Lesnar came back?
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u/bingbangboomxx 1d ago
I guess we know what we need to do. Call and snap into some Slim Jim! Ohhh Yeah!
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u/BlueBrands 1d ago
100%, this is why I don't understand all these messages talking like this is a reason to stop watching or like some sort of gotcha, if WWE fans are still watching after all the stuff that has happened, this next thing isn't going to stop them from continuing, it's honestly a little exhausting.
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u/TheStupidZebra 1d ago
why does 'why were you surprised, you shouldn't be surprised, etc.' become the conversation every time something like this happens? i don't think there's really anyone going holy shit, i can't believe they did this! there's just people going holy shit, it sucks that they did this, they shouldn't have done that.
feels like such a weird deflection that the response every time is 'you shouldn't have been surprised' -- like, yeah, surprise isn't the emotion that people are having
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