John Oliver on the WWE and Vince McMahon

I have a reputation of putting up a lot of threads in regards to his work especially, but...

1. I haven't done it in MONTHS!

2. I tend to think he has well thought out pieces on many matters

3. It's one of his less political subjects (which is why it's here in OT)

And this time, he's covering the WWE and their treatment of their wrestlers, and how Vince McMahon is as unlikable in real life as he is on screen.

Man, I haven't followed wrestling in YEARS, but even I miss when other wrestling companies existed (WCW, ECW, hell, even TNA didn't last very long). And this seems to go in line with what wrestling fans have been saying for years, but it still doesn't hurt to still spread the message if it hasn't been spread enough.

Side note: On Twitter, there are a ton of people who did not take his joke on Roman Reigns well by taking it WAY out of context.

Can’t click - unfunny host.

Not watching said host but it isn't a surprise how unlikable and dickish McMahon is on or off screen. Unless you are one of the muscle bound genetic freaks, he doesn't seem to have much use for you and you are just another independent contractor.

nice you've given me enough pretext to post this

TNA is still around, it's just called impact now

Oliver is gold here.

It's all fun and games until John Oliver enters the Andre The Giant Battle Royal

@Nuck81: Oh! Shows how much I know about wrestling these days. :P

@nintendoboy16: And?...... John Oliver also doesn't know what goes on backstage. Now WWE is finally under-pressure with a new promotion called AEW, which is founded by Cody Rhodes, Goldust half-brother and son of the American Dream Dusty Rhodes. With AEW providing better healthcare as well as better pay, a long with more perks. It has forced WWE to follow suit to not lose talent.

The first 3 minutes of this video makes me want to become a fan of WWE. Driving a truck into the arena and spraying opponents with beer/milk is shit other shows just don't deliver on.

Oh shit! I almost forgot Wrestlemania 35 starts this weekend!

WWE was pretty bad about taking care of its employees, I agree, but that has changed a lot in the last couple of decades. This has been talked about by many of its current and former employees. Looking at someone like Mike Kanellis is a great example of this. He developed an addiction outside WWE, and WWE were the ones to handle it shortly after he signed a contract. Oliver's video is decades late when it comes to the concern of wrestler health. This is anything new, been known for years that WWE hires contractors with no benefits. I think even WWE admitted this when they had that WWE Confidential show back in the early 00's.

This was a real issue even a few years ago, but now the talents make good money, can purchase health insurance on the ACA exchange, work fewer dates, and WWE does a lot for them. WWE spend a lot on financial management for talents and then does even more for the women.

^This! They have a very strong wellness program now. Vince maybe an asshole, but he still does care for his hired contractors, and always leave the door open for their return after a dissatisfied run with them. Although, they have done a lot of stupid stuff lately, after going to Saudi Arabia due to the Khasshogi incident, which is claimed to be as bad as the WCW North Korea stunt formed by Eric Bischoff and former Japanese House of Councilors and Japanese Wrestling Legend, Muhammad Hussain Inoki.

AEW is on the rise, now will soon threaten the WWE's dominance, with promises of better care of their signed wrestlers including health insurance, and now Vince is willing to give his wrestlers a salary increase for now on. Hell, he's even allowing the women wreslters be the final match of WrestleMania 35. Also, gave Becky Lynch a huge payday afterwards.

Wrestlemania? Yawn. I remember the days when it was worth watching.

Anyway, has the WWE cut back on house shows? Not everyone is like Lesner who works a few days a year and gets millions. I'd bet there are quite the number of people making high five figures and very low six figures.

Interesting how much main event superstars earn over mid carders.

The ratings have taken a serious nosedive so it has to effect them financially with tv deals etc.

@Solaryellow:" Wrestlemania? Yawn. I remember the days when it was worth watching."

I think it was called WWF then.

The ratings are down and can you really blame those who choose to watch something else on Monday night or besides any of the multiple weekly WWE shows? The company is like the Atari of sports entertainment in terms of market satration. Between currently lacking viable competition, three hour programs, a ppv every months, etc.., I'm surprised the arenas are not less filled then now.

Agree I miss when WWE actually tried to put on a great show with characters not indy wrestlers that just do flips and kicks to get over. WWE is so stale and complacent and extremely out of touch the only hope is that AEW starts competing against them even though they said they wouldn't but I feel it will happen eventually WWE needs a major kick in the ass.

@volsung: Is that the original?

Don't bother posting in threads about him then.

Oliver hits the nail right on the head.

But with that said this is one of those things in America I will never get, sure it was fun as a kid to see Rock and Undertaker but as an adult, I just don´t get it, it´s almost as dumb as NASCAR and drinking beer.

of course not. That would be far too homoerotic for the WWE.

this is the original

The WWF had a story-line where Golddust was in love with Razor Ramon, which Scott Hall hated.

It's the only PPV I watch just to see what's new and Wrestlemania tends to be the biggest PPV anyways.

WWE still does the house shows and I don't watch it, just reading the headlines is all I'm doing so it saves me the trouble from watching WWE. Surprising though, their ratings are down and I don't see WWE recovering if this keeps this up. Lack of competition will do that to a company.

The last time I ordered a Wrestlemania ppv was XX when the Goldberg/Lesnar was an absolute snoozefest. Such performances seem to be common these days at the biggest show put on by the WWE and to me that doesn't justify the money. Years have passed since I turned on the USA Network and watched a WWE show. RAW and Smackdown come to my area every year and I would sooner use the paper currency as toilet paper than on a ticket but I digress. What I do find myself watching is an interesting channel on YT where the owner uploads all sorts of house shows (AWA, NWA, WWF), televised MSG and Spectrum shows, etc.., Before some one says it, yes, it is predetermined but back then kayfabe was still important and highly recognized.

What was the context behind Roman Reigns getting boo'd?

@Jag85: Fans just hate him and Vince keeps trying to push him.

I don't know why... all he does is spear and Superman punch.

@JustPlainLucas: That is probably why.

I relented. That host pretty much was spot on. McMahon does have a lot to answer for and it is very easy when he is portrayed as a sleeze.

@JustPlainLucas: And all what Randy Orton does is the RKO as well as John Cena with the Attitude Adjustment

I know there are other wrestlers that do the same moves over and over again, but for some reason, it just sticks out a lot more when Roman does it.

Some wrestlers are just hated. In his case I think many people feel he didn't pay his dues, isn't a good mold for a champion, etc.., yet McMahon knew best, pushed him to the moon and he still couldn't get over and quite frankly I feel he (VM) is highly over-rated when it comes to the "impact" he made in the business after buying the WWF from his old man.

After looking more into it, looks like the boo'ing clip was after Roman Reigns beat The Undertaker... Is it really so controversial for a young wrestler in his prime to beat an old wrestler in his '50s?

Problem probably is that he beat someone as popular as The Undertaker

From what I get from the few friends who watch wrestling, The Undertaker has always been a massive fan favourite.

But you bring up an interesting thing here because nowhere in the clip does it show the opponent, so it´s clearly clipped to pieces to prove a point, which makes Oliver´s "fact-checking" questionable.

@Jag85: @Jacanuk: it goes far back before the Undertaker. His match with the Undertaker was just the icing of the booes. It goes way back to Jan. 26, 2014 Royal Rumble, when CM Punk quit afterwards and fans expecting Daniel Bryan to headline Wrestlemania. That night, Reigns won and fans were very pissed

Ok, thanks for the clarification.

But it´s so funny with Wrestling because everyone knows it´s all staged and no one "wins" without prior agreement lol

@FireEmblem_Man: He still is right. Nothing said points to him being wrong.

Actually, clarifying, people cheered for Reigns because they didn't want Bautista to win the Royal Rumble to headline WrestleMania. People were for both CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. I guess the hatred for Reigns came in the next following year with the Rock having to step in and raise his arm to neutralize the negative outcome.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Rumble_(2014)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Rumble_(2015)

Not if he's over but the problem is people just don't like Reigns and I believe some of it stems from his boring performances along with the politics of what got him to where he is in the wwe.

@Solaryellow: I don't really watch WWE much anymore, but Roman is one of the more interesting WWE performers around nowadays, though not the best. He probably got to where he is because of his family heritage, hailing from the same wrestling family as The Rock, so I can see why that might rub a lot of fans the wrong way.

Unfortunately that doesn't say much these days considering the roster. I too don't watch it at least when it comes to viewing Raw and Smackdown or other programming. YT has a few people with decent channels so I'll catch the news or results or the general path of the WWE when I view their uploads and he comes across as one dimensional as a children's wading pool. McMahon is an old fart and it is clear as day when he is pushing people based on their family relations and politics rather than ability in ring and in terms of working the crowd. Reigns and that chick (she looks like a man and has a tendency or working sloppy) have their spots thanks to family and that puts off a lot of people. You think people would have learned from the Kliq.