VKM & Part-Timers: Give the Old Buzzard Some Credit

[Mustang Sally]

Whenever anyone points at Vince McMahon and accuses him of being completely resistant to change; unwilling to accepting new ideas, I find myself thinking about how he’s incorporated part-time contracts into his business operations.

When WCW went out of business in 2001, wasn’t one of the biggest reasons McMahon couldn’t get Sting to join WWE because all talents were required to work a full-time schedule? There might have been other wrestlers who felt the same way, but none as big as Sting, right?

But McMahon rolled with the punches and finally adapted to the reality of the situation. Even today, of course, we can’t really see Sting as a part-timer since we can’t reasonably expect Steve Borden to wrestle any type of schedule, yet if not for the creation of the Legends Contract, we wouldn’t have gotten to enjoy the occasional services of guys like Sting or Kevin Nash. That they will be available once in a great while to throw a couple forearms is a bonus.

But even as there are huge differences in the contract terms of the more traditional type of part-timer, one factor is common in all: if these guys weren’t offered these unique contracts, we wouldn’t see them at all.
Take the differences between Brock Lesnar and Chris Jericho. They both have the above stated provision in common; if forced to choose between working full-time or not at all, they’d both choose the latter…..and we wouldn’t have the pleasure of their company.

Personally, I like Jericho’s manner of doing business with WWE better; when he’s here, he’s all here. He’s not doing his Fozzy stuff or any other projects; he belongs to WWE and works a regular schedule. Yes, his more recent efforts have stipulated he work only house shows, but I believe he’ll be back to full-time status when a solid program is developed for him…..he’s said as much. But when he’s working his contract, plans can be made around him, whether they call for him to contend for championships…..or serve as an elite form of talent enhancement. It’s known how long he’ll be around…..and the company can count on him.

Compare this to Brock Lesnar; he’s the embodiment of a mercenary…..he works just a few dates a year and holds the world title in cold storage while he sits at home, threatening to leave WWE and go back to mixed martial arts fighting when his contract expires.

You might get the idea I don’t care for the way he’s been allowed to conduct his business dealings with WWE…..and you’d be right…….but I’ll tell you one thing; when he does deign to appear in the ring and in promos leading up to his match, you’d better believe I’m watching. The guy is a great performer, and I’m happy McMahon has altered his stance on part-timers because had he not, we wouldn’t have Brock or Y2J. Vince looked at the bottom line and came to the conclusion that he'd establish more interest in his product and make more money by bending his personnel policy.

The same principle applies to the other part-timers. There are a lot of folks who enjoy seeing Rock, Rob Van Dam and Batista…….for various reasons. Rock is a seldom-seen crowd pleaser who’s there more for public relations than wrestling ……Van Dam is a performer many folks still enjoy (especially if they’re fans of big guts on men) and Batista is a fine example of “the part-timer who couldn’t”…… and even as he continues to enjoy a decent career in movies, I wonder whether his ego was hurt in concern to the negative reception he received from the fans of an industry he thought he had conquered. Win some, lose some, I guess.

Again, though, Vince McMahon’s rolling with the punches and reversing his lifelong policy of how he does business with the folks who work from him brought us these performers……and since the choice is to have them entertaining us in this manner…..or not having them at all…..I think McMahon has done the right thing.

Do you?

 

[hollowpoint]

I think his way of thinking is just a great way to adapt to the current state of both his WWE active roster and his fan base. Guys like The Rock, SCSA, HBK, Nash, are more "in case of emergency" type guys being that they are rarely around anymore except for spots here and there. I respect what Jericho is doing because he's carrying the WWE flag where ever he goes and he only does house shows which shows how much love he has for the company and the business. I, like you, have 0 love for Brock Lesnar. He's a mercenary and he has 0 respect for the traditions which allow him to operate in a manner in which he is. Overall Vinny Mac's adjusting to the times is both a necessity, and a smart business move.

 

[Prince Vee]

Whenever anyone points at Vince McMahon and accuses him of being completely resistant to change; unwilling to accepting new ideas, I find myself thinking about how he’s incorporated part-time contracts into his business operations.

When WCW went out of business in 2001, wasn’t one of the biggest reasons McMahon couldn’t get Sting to join WWE because all talents were required to work a full-time schedule? There might have been other wrestlers who felt the same way, but none as big as Sting, right?

But McMahon rolled with the punches and finally adapted to the reality of the situation. Even today, of course, we can’t really see Sting as a part-timer since we can’t reasonably expect Steve Borden to wrestle any type of schedule, yet if not for the creation of the Legends Contract, we wouldn’t have gotten to enjoy the occasional services of guys like Sting or Kevin Nash. That they will be available once in a great while to throw a couple forearms is a bonus.

But even as there are huge differences in the contract terms of the more traditional type of part-timer, one factor is common in all: if these guys weren’t offered these unique contracts, we wouldn’t see them at all.
Take the differences between Brock Lesnar and Chris Jericho. They both have the above stated provision in common; if forced to choose between working full-time or not at all, they’d both choose the latter…..and we wouldn’t have the pleasure of their company.

Personally, I like Jericho’s manner of doing business with WWE better; when he’s here, he’s all here. He’s not doing his Fozzy stuff or any other projects; he belongs to WWE and works a regular schedule. Yes, his more recent efforts have stipulated he work only house shows, but I believe he’ll be back to full-time status when a solid program is developed for him…..he’s said as much. But when he’s working his contract, plans can be made around him, whether they call for him to contend for championships…..or serve as an elite form of talent enhancement. It’s known how long he’ll be around…..and the company can count on him.

Compare this to Brock Lesnar; he’s the embodiment of a mercenary…..he works just a few dates a year and holds the world title in cold storage while he sits at home, threatening to leave WWE and go back to mixed martial arts fighting when his contract expires.

You might get the idea I don’t care for the way he’s been allowed to conduct his business dealings with WWE…..and you’d be right…….but I’ll tell you one thing; when he does deign to appear in the ring and in promos leading up to his match, you’d better believe I’m watching. The guy is a great performer, and I’m happy McMahon has altered his stance on part-timers because had he not, we wouldn’t have Brock or Y2J. Vince looked at the bottom line and came to the conclusion that he'd establish more interest in his product and make more money by bending his personnel policy.

The same principle applies to the other part-timers. There are a lot of folks who enjoy seeing Rock, Rob Van Dam and Batista…….for various reasons. Rock is a seldom-seen crowd pleaser who’s there more for public relations than wrestling ……Van Dam is a performer many folks still enjoy (especially if they’re fans of big guts on men) and Batista is a fine example of “the part-timer who couldn’t”…… and even as he continues to enjoy a decent career in movies, I wonder whether his ego was hurt in concern to the negative reception he received from the fans of an industry he thought he had conquered. Win some, lose some, I guess.

Again, though, Vince McMahon’s rolling with the punches and reversing his lifelong policy of how he does business with the folks who work from him brought us these performers……and since the choice is to have them entertaining us in this manner…..or not having them at all…..I think McMahon has done the right thing.

Do you?

Yeah you seems to be pretty much correct about the Part timers and WWE. Yeah obviously we wouldn't have seen the Streak been broken or John Cena been humiliated or one of the greatest Wrestlemania if Vince made Brock to choose between Full Time contract or Leave the Company.

I appreciate that you had brought this post up. And I corroborate with all your points. I love seeing Chris Jericho and it wouldn't have been possible without Vince..

Cheers!!

 

[rbv13]

The part time or limited dates status is really nothing new. While it might be more prominent now days it has in fact existed for a while. Today's part times and legends deal are largely in part due to necessity. With a lack of star power these random appearances move the needle.

 

[gooseholla]

I like the part timers. I also like what they did with Heath Slater 3 years back where random legends returned for a match. I'd like to see more of that. I also wouldn't mind superstars turning up for one storyline only, say a few weeks or a month or two at a time. It would certainly mix things up and make it more interesting than the same old people feuding again and again.

 

[chuckmdubya]

Much more is made of this than should be. I think that smarky fans just complain about part timers because the athletes don't fit their idea of what a wrestler should be. Think of the guys that are part time, Rock, Lesnar, Jericho, Hogan, Nash, Undertaker, Batista.
These are all guys that fit McMahon's vision of what a wrestler should be. Big, tall, muscular guys with over the top gimmicks.
They don't fit in with smark favorites with the "indie vibe" like Punk, Rollins, and Ambrose. If the situations were reversed and Punk and Ambrose got part time deals, I believe the IWC would flip flop on their views of part timers.

 

[FromGlasgow]

I think one of the biggest changes ever from Vince has been the launch of the Network.
In relation of the part timers I think wrestling is a lot different now since WWE pretty much monopolised all of wrestling, He can't really steal or aquire big name talent now from rival companies like he frequently used which leaves WWE with only their training ground NXT as the only place to draw their talent from so without the ocasional part timer we would be seeing the same old matches with the same old characters every week

 

[bioshock]

I do think the part time thing is ok, only that they should have more dates and more matches. Is it really too much to get 2 or 3 more matches out of Lesnar and Sting, along with a few others. Not saying we need both on 3 more PPVS, but maybe when they do show up on Raw actually put them in a impromptu to match actually worth watching, not some crap like Lesnar vs Rollins on Raw that never actually happened. Or like those cheap MITB cash in matches. But thats my beef on that.