But in that case, why wouldn’t Vince want RAW to be on Fox instead of Smackdown?
“Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of this match, and new WWE Heavyweight Champion…and star of the upcoming Yet Still Even Another Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie, Bautista!”
I hadn’t considered that… Disney effectively owns Bautista now, so that’s why WWE brought him back for WM. Does everything have to have corporate ties? Does Disney own The Rock yet?
Disney doesn’t own Bautista given that his refusal to be in the next Guardians movie is one of the (quiet) reasons they brought James Gunn back…seems like HE owns THEM.
Disney buying WWE would just be hilarious though. Lucha Donald would kick some serious ass.
That depends on how badly they would want him to be in a Moana direct-to-video sequel (or even a prequel, featuring the demigod Maui), assuming they ever decide to make one.
USA’s current contract with Raw runs through 2023, and they’re easily the network’s highest-rated show so they probably get a pretty good deal from Comcast to keep it there.
Don’t tell me you wouldn’t mark out for Cena vs. Darth Vader. 
Only if Chewie comes out beforehand and breaks Cena out of a cage
I remember when before USA was owned by universal/comcast when raw left the big shot that owned it saying pretty much "we’re over this violent group of trash and their fans and they wont be missed "
And the ratings dropped off so bad that was one (if not the main )of the reasons the owners sold off the network to universal who promptly threw big cash at the wwe and raw returned (it didn’t help the management at TNN were idiots too) … it took RAW NCIS and law and order SUV to bring the ratings back up to the levels it was when wwe left …
Michael Cole being screamed at constantly by Vince in his headset, telling him to say those things…
RAW currently has five active teams
Authors of Pain
Glorious whatever (Roode & Gable)
The Revival
The Ascension
Lucha House Party
But they had Titus Worldwide, which they broke up, the Singh Bros, who don’t tag team anymore because Jinder, Fashion Police (Fandango out injured), Slater & Rhyno (they let Rhyno go), they might soon have the Losers (Ryder, Hawkins) and they’ve got a couple of others like Mojo that could be in a team. So 5 current, 1 inactive, 3 gone for various reasons and 1 just forming.
WHERE THE FUCK ARE THE AUTHORS OF PAIN???
Rhyno isn’t gone. He was there in the lumberjack schmoz right next to Slater.
Oh geez - now we have to assign Star Wars characters to WWE.
Emperor Vince MacPalpatine
Obi-Stone Coldobi
Roman Skywalker
Brock Vader
Lana Organa
Han Cena
Jabba the Bundy
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver - March 31st
WWE wrestlers die at a shockingly young age compared to the general population, and John Oliver exposes the Vince McMahon business practices that go a long way in making that so.
If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth a viewing.
We talked about it a bit upthread…interesting enough information but nothing that’s really new to fans. Biggest takeaway from me is the interview with Piper who says “I’m not gonna make 65, let’s just face facts”, and he, in fact, didn’t. That’s heartbreaking stuff.
Apparently WWE responded saying (surprise, surprise) that John Oliver was wrong but then apparently invited him to Wrestlemania?
There are about 100 different wrestlers on the WrestleMania card. That’s…astounding.
My count’s only at 81, actually.
That’s still a lot!
Yeah, using https://411mania.com/wrestling/updated-wwe-wrestlemania-35-card-pre-show-matches/ as a reference, there’s 81 there, but that doesn’t include Elias, Alexa Bliss, Cena, or Lio Rush. The Revival is not currently on there, seems likely they’d appear somewhere. Both of the Battle Royals have TBDs, the women’s one in particular is pretty thin, adding 10-15 NXT people seems pretty likely.
Here’s a great ESPN article about Kofi Kingston’s quest to become the fourth black WWE heavyweight champion (following The Rock, Booker T, and Mark Henry).
That was a good article.
Point I made elsewhere is that this only points out the terribly short sighted flaw in Vince McMahon deciding how far he thinks wrestlers can go and how far he’s willing to ALLOW them to go.
“Kofi Kingston will never be a main event player” vs. Fans demanding it.
And I don’t mean in the sense of the angle being played out, which is a repeat of the DBD scenario with DBD on the other side, but just the whole “Vince’s Vision” thing where HE decides what people’s role and highest level is regardless of fan interest.
Sad part is Vince doesn’t learn from the past. Bret Hart. Sean Michaels. Steve Austin. Chris Jericho. Mick Foley. The list goes on and on. If one isn’t on Vince’s star list, one needs to prove himself far above and beyond what someone on Vince’s star list has to prove.
Not wanting to sound like a Vince mark here, but he’s been able to turn fan pushback into his favor. DBD used to be the “fan favorite kept down by the man” himself. Now Kofi has that role, going up against DBD, who became what he used to fight against.
Fact is, Kofi had always been an upper mid carder, like Dolph Ziggler, and his career probably would have stayed stagnant if it hadn’t been for New Day. Remember how much of a negative reaction they first got because everybody thought their angle was racist? They persisted through that and charmed their way to the top echelon. Big E was originally a bodyguard with no personality, and now he’s a top face. Xavier Woods was enhancement talent, and now he’s a top face too. Like it or not, Vince gets things right in the long run.