Controversial WWE Contracts
by Jack Windham
December 18, 2008
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All eyes are on WWE right now as many people believe that the contracts that they're offering the wrestlers are a bit controversial.
Controversial WWE Contracts
With the recent contract negotiations with wrestlers, WWE has been doing something that has raised the eyebrows of many.
Lately, WWE has been trying to get the wrestlers to sign contracts that are extremely in favor of the company.
While there's nothing illegal about what they're doing, it doesn't exactly bode too well for the wrestlers.
Locking Them In
The new approach for WWE is to lock in wrestlers so that they're not able to leave for TNA (or even MMA).
The company has been having contract negotiations with Rey Mysterio for several weeks now.
The masked superstar is hesitant to sign the contract since WWE wants him locked down for 5 years; Rey Mysterio wants a 3 year contract.
WWE also recently offered a 10 year deal to Randy Orton, hoping that he doesn't flee the company after they spent so much resources on building him up as a major player.
Neither wrestler has yet to agree to a new contract, and the belief is that they're hesistant to be locked in to such a huge deal.
Many are under the assumption that WWE has taken this new stance after seeing Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley walking away from big pushes.
WWE also notices a lot of familiar faces when they check out the weekly TNA iMPACT! television shows.
One Sided
Another thing about these contracts that WWE has been offering is that they're quite one sided.
The company is making it easy for them to get out of these contracts, but making it virtually impossible for the wrestlers to get out of the contract.
WWE is allowed to break out of a 3 year contract provided they give the wrestler a 90 day notice.
Remember Colin Delaney? He signed a 3 year deal and was released shortly thereafter.
The company wants to be able to make sure that they can get out of the contract if Rey Mysterio's injury prone body falters or if Randy Orton reverts to his immature ways.
The contracts also encourage wrestlers to work while they're injured since they lose out on quite a bit of bonus pay if they miss time.
Closing Thoughts
The wrestlers really don't have a lot of leverage in negotiations. This is what happens when there's only one big wrestling company out there.
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Back when I was a n00b, the mods used to tell stories of a magical Moderator who every Banmas season delivered the glorious gift of bans to all the lame, crappy users, so the decent interesting users could post whatever the hell they wanted on Banmas day while all the faggy losers had to deal with their banned ass accounts and read all the BBS joy.
And this was true, because every year, a special mod would change his name to Banta Claus and deliver these magical holiday bans to all the whiny bitchy boys and girls. However, one year the Admin redesigned the site, and took away the user's ability to change their names at whim, meaning Banta Claus could never return to the forums in all his hateful glory.
However, I've heard stories the n00blets tell, stories of a mysterious moderator who's name doesn't appear on the "moderated by" list that never the less bans lame users, signing his bans "Banta Claus"
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Or Banta Claus is banning you for a real long time
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He's making a list
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'Else you'll be banned 'till the second coming of Christ
Banta Claus is coming to town!
He knows when you are posting
He knows when you jack to porn
He knows when you trolling
Consider yourself warned.
He's banning your ass
He doesn't give a shit
So cover those nips when you post hot tits
Banta Claus is coming, to town!
What Next For Shawn Michaels?
Now that his feud with Chris Jericho is over, what's next for the legendary Shawn Michaels?
Moving On
For several months now, Shawn Michaels has been engaged in a great feud with Chris Jericho.
With Chris Jericho being moved into a title feud with Batista, that leaves Shawn Michaels with a void to fill.
WWE is going to have to find a good feud for Shawn Michaels to work with until they can put him back into a program with Chris Jericho.
If Shawn Michaels can remain strong in a feud or two, WWE can easily insert him back into a feud with Chris Jericho and have it be fresh again.
The two are candidates to headline Wrestlemania together in a title match.
Until then, however, they need to be kept apart for a little period of time to allow things to work itself out.
Lynching Lance Cade
After No Mercy had ended, the obvious choice for a feud with Shawn Michaels was none other than Lance Cade.
During the main event ladder match, Lance Cade cost Shawn Michaels the title by interfering against his former real life mentor.
That was before Monday Night Raw.
Twenty four hours after losing against Chris Jericho, Shawn Michaels was engaged in a no disqualification match against Lance Cade.
About a dozen chair shots later, and the feud is no longer necessary.
Shawn Michaels has destroyed Lance Cade.
Not only that, he may have destroyed any chances of them being able to have a good singles feud against one another.
Texas Tussle
An interesting feud for Shawn Michaels would be against the man that was feuding with the man who replaced him in the program against Chris Jericho.
Shawn Michaels can be thrown into a feud with fellow Texan, JBL.
After being destroyed by Batista in a #1 Contenders match at No Mercy, JBL needs to be kept in a good feud in order to keep his momentum going.
Since he's never feuded with Shawn Michaels before, it does seem like a good idea for JBL.
Both wrestlers are excellent on the mic, so that part of the feud should be interesting.
Shawn Michaels is also someone that's capable of carrying JBL to a very good match as well.
Closing Thoughts
The writers really should have held off and had Lance Cade feuding with Shawn Michaels until Cyber Sunday.
The No Disqualification match and the ending would have been perfect for the pay per view.
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Vladimir Kozlov Push
As hard as it is for me to write those three words, it must be just as hard for wrestling fans to read it.
That's right, folks, Vladimir Kozlov is about to receive a huge push on Smackdown.
There's even talks that he'll be utilized as the top heel on the brand and challenge for the WWE Heavyweight Championship.
Flopped Twice
Wrestling fans have been afraid of this push for a couple of months now.
Thus far, we've seen Vladimir Kozlov flopped twice already in his short WWE career.
The company tried bringing him up to the main roster once before, but they sent him back down to developmental immediately after his Raw debut.
Back then, he was shown in the audience and give a quick interview.
Vince McMahon was absolutely furious with his creative team for bringing up someone that he didn't feel was truly ready.
Vladimir Kozlov was brought back up to the main roster in April of this year, and he was given an immediate push on Smackdown.
Week after week, wrestling fans (those that actually stayed in their seats) witnessed Vladimir Kozlov dominating random local wrestlers.
Despite his inability to connect with the audience, Vladimir Kozlov is still set to be pushed.
Possible Feuds
Apparently, the audience's lack of reaction towards Vladimir Kozlov isn't enough to dissuade WWE from pushing him.
Since we can't prevent the push from happening, we'll go ahead and offer some suggestions on making Vladimir Kozlov's push somewhat decent.
The easiest way for WWE to make this work is by going the same route as they did with the Great Khali.
Vladimir Kozlov can be made to look pretty decent if he's feuding with a great ring general like Triple H.
Jeff Hardy is another possible feud for Vladimir Kozlov. He's not a great ring general, but he does have enough popularity to carry a feud with the big Russian.
Another thing that WWE can try to do to help Vladimir Kozlov get over is to give him a manager to talk for him.
They can go with someone like Armando Estrada or bring in a former foreign heel wrestler to do the job.
Closing Thoughts
WWE is going to experience the same resentment from wrestling fans
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Jeff Hardy Taken Off Airplane By Police
As Daniel reported here last night, Jeff Hardy was involved in a serious incident on Wednesday morning at Nashville International Airport. We now have new details on this developing story.
Jeff Hardy was set to depart Nashville International Airport on Wednesday morning and head back home to North Carolina along with brother Matt Hardy and Gregory Helms. All 3 men boarded the plane, however for reasons still unknown, several police officers boarded the plane before it departed and escorted Jeff Hardy off the flight.
Hardy was not handcuffed in front of the other passengers but was clearly being "escorted" off the plane. After he was back in the airport terminal, Hardy made a phone call before police took him away.
That is what we know at this point. News of Jeff Hardy's latest incident a major topic of conversation all day Wednesday at WWE headquarters in Stanford, Connecticut. With Hardy already having two Wellness strikes against him, many are worried about his job security. We'll have more on this story later today.
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HBK vs Y2J at wrestlemania 25 ?
After a brutal match against Chris Jericho at the Unforgiven pay per view, Shawn Michaels will now head home.
Going Home
Before some of you freak out, allow me to inform you that Shawn Michaels isn't retiring.
That's not what I meant when I say that he's going home.
There were some speculations that Shawn Michaels was going to retire from the wrestling business when it was first revealed that he had suffered an injury.
However, after further examinations showed that he wasn't nearly as injured as previously thought, most people were aware that he would be back in a few weeks.
The "going home" part is now a storyline where Shawn Michaels will head back home to his family after destroying Chris Jericho.
Maintaining Momentum
WWE knew full well that they were on the brink of losing their hottest storyline on Raw.
They had to scramble to come up with a way to keep the momentum going despite Shawn Michaels' injury.
What they did was come up with a way to keep both Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels strong whiel the two take a break from one another.
Shawn Michaels was made to look strong by the way he destroyed Chris Jericho during their match at Unforgiven.
Chris Jericho was made to look strong by stealing the World Heavyweight Championship at the end of the night.
WWE managed to come up with something creative that kept both guys' momentum running high.
Wrestlemania Headliner
Based on the strength of the storyline, WWE has themselves a headline match for Wrestlemania now.
For the next few months, they can have Chris Jericho fighting off challenges from Batista, CM Punk, and Rey Mysterio.
WWE can then bring back Shawn Michaels and have him win one more Royal Rumble match.
That would set up the main event for Wrestlemania.
With long term planning, the main event title match between these two could become one of the most hyped matches of all time.
In fact, it has the potential to be the best Wrestlemania match of all time.
Closing Thoughts
The storyline between Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels keeps getting better and better.
If this feud isn't voted the top feud of 2008, then I don't really know what else there is to say.
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Jericho wins world champion!
In a shocking move, Chris Jericho ends up walking out of the Unforgiven pay per view with the World Heavyweight Championship.
Last Minute Addition
Those that paid to see Chris Jericho at Unforgiven did so to see him face off against Shawn Michaels.
They received an unexpected treat at the end of the night as the King of the World ended up walking away as the brand new World Heavyweight Champion.
Originally, WWE had advertised a championship scramble match involving CM Punk, Batista, Kane, Rey Mysterio, and JBL.
Since the company wanted to surprise the fans, they did a backstage segment where CM Punk was injured by Randy Orton and his new stable.
That enabled Raw general manager Mike Adamle to name a replacement in the match.
That fifth and final spot ended up going to Chris Jericho.
Monster Momentum
The decision to put the World Heavyweight Championship on Chris Jericho may have surprised most people, but it shouldn't have come as a complete shock.
When Chris Jericho returned to WWE after a 2 year hiatus, he had a little bit of momentum, but then that was sapped by lackluster feuds.
Once WWE started having Chris Jericho feuding with Shawn Michaels, he started picking up momentum.
With the storyline becoming extremely entertaining, Chris Jericho worked his way into becoming the top heel on the Raw brand.
Since he is the top heel on the brand, it makes all the sense in the world to put the title on him in hopes of capitalizing on his momentum.
Potential Feuds
Now that Chris Jericho is the World Heavyweight Champion, who will he feud with?
Obviously, he's going to have to eventually face CM Punk for the title, but for now the Straight Edge Superstar seems headed towards a feud with Randy Orton.
Since he feuded with Batista earlier in the year, another feud would make sense, especially if the World title is involved.
A feud that most wrestling fans have been wanting to see is the one between Chris Jericho and Rey Mysterio.
If WWE plays this right for the next few weeks, then they'll have themselves a Wrestlemania main event title match between Chris Jericho and Shawn Michaels that fans would be begging to see.
Closing Thoughts
I said that WWE needed to create a buzz at Unforgiven to bring interest back to the product. They delivered