Did Anyone Else Notice

[TUFFY54]

First of all I'd like to say that I realize not every little remark made on RAW means something, or even deserves a discussion. However, Michael Cole said something tonight that I found to be very interesting.

Last week WZ had a post on the main page about JTG going on Twitter and basically saying he was tired of all the backstage politics, being held back, under utilized and all the things we hear lower card guys complain about. Tonight on RAW he got squashed by Ryback and Michael Cole had this to say after the match: "Lets see him tweet about that" (Paraphrase)

Remember, EVERYTHING the announcers say is fed to them by Vince or a producer. Therefor, you can't say it was just a passing comment. There are really only two things this could mean. Either they are working some angle where JTG is tired of being held back, or it was a shoot comment basically telling him to shut up on Twitter.

I highly doubt there doing any "rise up" angle with JTG. Therefor, you'd have to assume they were telling him to shut up and watch his tweets.

Really, this post doesn't have anything to do with JTG. It's about the fact that I believe this is the first time the WWE has acknowledged negative remarks made about the company by an employee that have nothing to do with a storyline. CSR pointed out that his tweets were most likely in reference to his feeling that he got underpaid with his WM bonus. I highly doubt WWE would do an angle based on show payouts.

Social media is a double edged sword and it seems like recently the WWE has been getting more negatives than positives out of it. Tensi had to apologize for his Tout, AW went on a rampage talking about Vince, the WWE, and Linda's campaign, and JTG bashed the company as well in a span of a couple weeks. WWE's problem lies in the fact that they can't tell wrestlers to stay off Twitter because it would hurt their social media campaign. Also, they can't tell wrestles what to Tweet because scripted, kayfabe, tweets would be so boring that people would stop following.

So was Cole's comment tonight a message to the guys in the back to watch what they say on social media, or am I just looking to far into this?

 

[HBsam31]

Just watching Raw on DVR now, and Cole was talking about the comments JTG tweeted while he walked to the ring. JTG was complaining backstage to Katilyn about not getting a match on a 3 hour RAW. My point is he talked a lot about it before his last comment of "I can wait to see what he tweets about this" was made. While it was the first time the negative comments on twitter were talked about, it does seem like they might be making a mini story about this. He may continue to complain all the while getting squashed every week. The other option is Ryback squashed him and tomorrow we will read about JTG being wished well in his future endeavors.

 

[Havoc]

During the broadcast I was actually pleasantly surprised that he was on raw and they actually acknowledged the things he tweeted last week. The only thing I don't understand are people stating that he complained and got squashed by ryback as some kind of "punishment" but IMO JTG got what he wanted which was himself on Raw. Now who knows this could lead to some kind of angle in which JTG plays a disgruntled employee or like the another poster said he could get released tomorrow........

 

[MayorMcCheese]

this pay thing is about to blow up. WWE has that hypocritcal be a star bullshit, yet they bully their own employee's. I hope these guys stand up and destroy Linda McMahons campaign, which is ruining the product once again

 

[M]

The commentators will look for literally anything to use as ammo to throw towards their microphones, so throwing a vague inside joke in there wouldn't have done any harm and filled in the required space the commentators need to pump up Ryback.

But if you want to go through the looking glass a tad more, talking about the tweets he made as he walked down the ring, just after he was previously shown backstage talking about his views surrounding the very tweets he made, COULD be actually a part of a cover up on the part of WWE. IF the tweets were real, and WWE didn't want them to be taken seriously, what better way to devalue the tweets than to acknowledge them and give them the impression that they're part of a story? Then all they'd need to do is give him a couple of weeks of T.V. and the audience, us included, would completely disregard them as fact, so the whole thing goes away.

Or everything's a work and part of an emerging storyline.

OR it's a warning, using him as an example for the other guys in the back to shut the hell up on social media because they're dumb with a keyboard.

OR they could in fact be building towards a type of "revolution" stable, like grouping all the people who don't get much T.V. time and putting them together, pretty much a successful version of the group that tried to take on undertaker and kane at raw 1000 but got destroyed

 

[VinnieSunshine]

WWE has been known to use twitter in the past to stir up or start a storyline. His rant could very well be part of that. Primo and Epico had something similar when they were coming up and AW was trying to get their business. They were pissed at not getting TV time as well.

It seems to be WWE's go-to thing. It works thought...I mean, people are talking about it.

 

[Mustang Sally]

Was JTG legitimately complaining or was the whole thing a work? That's the rub, isn't it? We never really know; it's one of the factors that makes WWE a unique form of entertainment. The closest I've seen any other TV production come to this was Boston Legal, in which the characters occasionally dropped in remarks about something the censors did.....or made a comment on the show being canceled. But what only Boston Legal dared do, WWE does all the time. You just never know when WWE is going to strike next with an incident that demonstrating life imitating art.

Of course, it could be argued the entire C.M. Punk debacle last Summer involved the company acknowledging the complaints of one of it's employees. Real life issues constantly make it onto Raw; one of the funniest I ever saw followed Ric Flair's road rage incident.....before the ink was dry in the media, Edge was wearing Flair's robe and spoofing the whole thing.

My guess on the JTG incident? It was a work. Someone who's as far down on the roster as him wouldn't get away with doing this on his own; he'd be on the next train home rather than getting himself a match on Raw. Yes, you could view JTG being "fed" to Ryback as punishment for mouthing off, but if getting a match on the flagship WWE show is punishment, I'd wager JTG will be happy to accept those consequences.

Yes, WWE let Zack Ryder get away with self-promotion to aid his career, but don't think you're going to see that kind of thing too often.

 

[Younggun4JMH]

Seems to me that WWE is using the tweets to start or prolong feuds and angles. I think AW just had his foot on the gas a little too hard....

That comment by Cole could have been a little of both, a warning of sort and/or making the WWE Universe more aware that the wrestlers are "speaking their minds" on twitter.

 

[Pedigree1]

Well my guess on the whole JTG thing it was a shoot. JTG obviously is being mistreated and probably was hugely underpaid for WM. There is alot of backstage politics that all of us dont understand. I think it was JTG's way of just letting off steam. WWE cannot tell the wrestlers what to tweat and what not too,i think WWE is wrong in this case though.

All of us,to some degree have the right to let off steam when we see fit. Social Media is a beast and can influence peoples opinion right or wrong. What JTG said on twitter was dead on IMO. I just hope WWE doesnt start scripting twitter comments they would lose all their momentum. As far as what cole said,its a warning to watch what you say as AW is a prime example of what could happen.

 

[Rayne]

Folks. Complain loudly about your employer in public in a forum that you are positive that they are going to see. Tell me what happens. Let me know if they bring you in for a meeting to assuage your concerns, boost your feelings, and send you back out the door with more money and a better benefits package. If they do, pat yourself on the back, because your employer realizes you make them more money then you cost them.

For almost everyone else in life, that's not the case. If you think that's the case with you, you're probably wrong. JTG can't go further down the depth chart in the WWE without being in TNA/IW. We keep getting dirt sheet reports about how people are afraid to "speak their mind"? If speaking your mind consists of complaining about your hours in the company that's going to pay you more than anyone else, that's a common sense move.

The WWE is not some democracy, where freedom of expression is cherished. It's a business. Piss in your bosses' face, make him look like an ass, and you should be thankful you still have a job. (Hi, AW!) If your employer wants people to keep their mouths shut and toe the company line, if your concern is drawing a paycheck, then that's what you do.

It may or may not be the best business practice going forward for the company, but that's not for their employees... er, independent contractors to decide. (THAT is a story for another day.) If you want another person to give you money, you do the job they ask of you the way they ask you do to it. (Hi, Gail Kim!) The only thing that makes professional wrestling any different is that there ARE a few guys whose bosses would rather eat their shit than lose them as an employee. JTG isn't one of them.

 

[mral82]

Well my guess on the whole JTG thing it was a shoot. JTG obviously is being mistreated and probably was hugely underpaid for WM. There is alot of backstage politics that all of us dont understand. I think it was JTG's way of just letting off steam. WWE cannot tell the wrestlers what to tweat and what not too,i think WWE is wrong in this case though.

All of us,to some degree have the right to let off steam when we see fit. Social Media is a beast and can influence peoples opinion right or wrong. What JTG said on twitter was dead on IMO. I just hope WWE doesnt start scripting twitter comments they would lose all their momentum. As far as what cole said,its a warning to watch what you say as AW is a prime example of what could happen.

I think AW will be re-hired later this year and they'll be a stable similar to the Nation Of Domination but All World will return w/ JTG, Darren Young, Titus O'Neil w/ a few others included. TNA is doing the same thing w/ the whole Bully Ray, AJ Styles, and the A's & 8's stuff. So IMHO this is all a work. Plus I'll have to check it out later.

 

[DA_Pope--92]

I think AW will be re-hired later this year and they'll be a stable similar to the Nation Of Domination but All World will return w/ JTG, Darren Young, Titus O'Neil w/ a few others included. TNA is doing the same thing w/ the whole Bully Ray, AJ Styles, and the A's & 8's stuff. So IMHO this is all a work. Plus I'll have to check it out later.

I agree with this, if JTG is on every week. JTG already worked with Darren and Titus on NXT and was Young's partner before Young was suspended for a wellness violation. I can see Xavier Woods to be in this type of stable with one other person, maybe Kofi but it would be a person that have seen t.v time but is have to be somewhat linked to this group.

 

[asiatic7]

this pay thing is about to blow up. WWE has that hypocritcal be a star bullshit, yet they bully their own employee's. I hope these guys stand up and destroy Linda McMahons campaign, which is ruining the product once again

Yes I agree. WWE bullies talent around, especially in a situation like this. Instead of firing JTG (I'm suprised he still has a spot on the roster, I thought Shad had more potential) they put him in an embarassing moment for venting his fustrations. It's typical of WWE. I read right here on WZ that they were doing the same thing to A-RY, because he broke some kind of "locker room" code by standing up to John Cena's ribbing (bullying?).

It just shows the ego on Vince and his backstage cronies, that they can "script" a guy to get squashed because he spoke his mind and refused to be a puppet and keep his mouth shut.

So much for an anti-bully campaign. They fired AW for some off-color remarks, but who is there to police Vince's ego?

 

[H33LTurn]

I noticed it too. If WWE holds a meeting and asks employees if anyone is unhappy with the company and no one speaks up, then they go on a Twitter rant it looks bad on WWE's part. It seems as if they want people to act like professionals and handle their business backstage, and I dont blame them. In all honestly I dont get what JTG is whyning about, he gets paid to wrestle one or two matches out of the month.

 

[Rayne]

It just shows the ego on Vince and his backstage cronies, that they can "script" a guy to get squashed because he spoke his mind and refused to be a puppet and keep his mouth shut.

So much for an anti-bully campaign. They fired AW for some off-color remarks, but who is there to police Vince's ego?

Why should there be someone to police Vince's ego? He owns his company. It's his business. He is paying people do to a job for him. I must be missing the part of United States labor law that says your employees are allowed to say whatever they'd like about you, and you have to put up with it.

"Refused to be a puppet". Hey, great. Go to work tomorrow- better yet, post on your bosses' Facebook- that you think the job you're doing for him sucks, that you think he treats people wrongly and that you don't like the way he does business. Then, let me know how it went when you had to beg to keep your job. But you won't be a puppet!

Here's the real secret if you don't want to be a "puppet"- work for yourself. Be your own boss, and even then, if you have clients, you'll find you have to eat a whole bunch of their shit if you want them to keep buying your product. (Story of my fucking life.) So long as you take someone else's money, you're doing a job the way they want you to do it- or they stop giving you money.

With JTG's position in the company right now, he should be going to bed in the hotel every night thanking whatever God he believes in that he's not putting out feelers to ROH and TNA/IW.

 

[Daniel]

It just shows the ego on Vince and his backstage cronies, that they can "script" a guy to get squashed because he spoke his mind and refused to be a puppet and keep his mouth shut.

No. No, no, no, no, no, no. No. Fuck no.

JTG appeared on Raw. Do you have any idea how great that is for him? No. Clearly you don't. Because you clearly don't understand the business. Any wrestler would rather be on Raw than doing nothing at all. And remember, not only did he wrestle, he appeared in a backstage segment too - allowing him to show off his talking skills as well as his in-ring ability.

If anything, this is a reward for JTG. Not that he deserves it. Dude's done fuck all.

(And to avoid a spamming violation, I'll mention his tweets. Cole mentioned his tweets as he walked to the ring, meaning that the comment in question is more kayfabe than some sly dig fed to him by Vince.)

 

[asiatic7]

Why should there be someone to police Vince's ego? He owns his company. It's his business. He is paying people do to a job for him. I must be missing the part of United States labor law that says your employees are allowed to say whatever they'd like about you, and you have to put up with it.

"Refused to be a puppet". Hey, great. Go to work tomorrow- better yet, post on your bosses' Facebook- that you think the job you're doing for him sucks, that you think he treats people wrongly and that you don't like the way he does business. Then, let me know how it went when you had to beg to keep your job. But you won't be a puppet!

Here's the real secret if you don't want to be a "puppet"- work for yourself. Be your own boss, and even then, if you have clients, you'll find you have to eat a whole bunch of their shit if you want them to keep buying your product. (Story of my fucking life.) So long as you take someone else's money, you're doing a job the way they want you to do it- or they stop giving you money.

With JTG's position in the company right now, he should be going to bed in the hotel every night thanking whatever God he believes in that he's not putting out feelers to ROH and TNA/IW.

What are you? Some capitalist blood sucking advocate who hates unions and belive someone shouldn't complain if they feel they're being under paid? JTG was expressing whatever is left of the First Amendment and rightfully so. He felt he was being under paid so he spoke up about it. Just because he's still on the roster doesn't mean that he should just be "thankful" he has a job. Could he have found a better way to deal with the situation? Yes, he probably could have confronted Vince in private. But maybe, in your warped mind, he should just except the crumbs being tossed to him right?

 

[Rayne]

Oh boy, missed this. "Capitalist bloodsucker". Awesome. I've been called a flaming liberal today by someone else, so I"m on a roll.

You clearly don't understand what the First Amendment is. The First Amendment is part of our constitution which states that the government shall pass no law inhibiting the freedom of speech, assembly, religion or the press. It says absolutely nothing about private enterprise. It does not say that you have to listen to whatever someone says when you're paying them to do a specific job for you.

Again, if you think that's capitalist bloodsucking, have that talk with your boss tomorrow.

And yes, if he'd like to have the job that he does, he should keep his damned fool mouth shut, or accept the consequences of speaking out.