Mauro and JBL

[The Thread Killer]

God damn that bullying asshole JBL for doing what every heel color commentator does and razzing the babyface announcer he's working with. If you're gonna go on this crusade please cite specific examples with exact quotes of what you think JBL said that crossed the line.

 

Let's not forget that JBL has a history with this type of stuff. Even if you want to ignore the JBL stories that have been proven as true, like the infamous Blue Meanie incident, remember that JBL thought it would be funny to relentlessly pick on Joey Styles backstage until Styles snapped and knocked JBL out cold.

 

Since Meltzer is actually friends with Mauro Ranallo, I'd think his reporting would likely be accurate on this story, never mind the fact that there is every reason to believe that JBL would bully somebody into a mental breakdown.

 

I can't even stand Mauro Ranallo, and I'm glad he's off the air, but it sounds like JBL needs to be knocked out again.

[Loss]

The Young Bucks did recently say that, "The old, carny, petty tricks of yesterday do not belong today," which probably leaves JBL feeling a bit homeless.

[El-P]

Office stooge, corporate kiss-ass and petty bully who got knocked out by Bart Gunn. And Joey Styles. That's JBL's legacy, basically.

[stro]

I'm sure that his 20+ year career in WWE will definitely be boiled down to "He got punched by Joey Styles".

[El-P]

It should.

 

Well, I did like Justin Hawk up to the Blackjack days.

 

His JBL stuff was mostly boring as fuck inside the ring. Well, he should also be remembered as the biggest piece of luggage to ever have a legit MOTYC thanks to Eddie, too.

[stro]

A lot of people the wrestling industry should be more remembered for being shitty people more than anything else, but that's rarely the case. Even killing someone doesn't always 100% ruin your reputation if you had some good fake fights. JBL is definitely not going to be remembered for being a bully or getting hit by Joey Styles.

[El-P]

You're probably right.

 

By me he will though. And that's all that matters, to me, really.

 

The opinion of a sea of sheeps and idiots, I never cared much for. (disclaimer : I'm not talking about people on this board. I mean, not most of them anyway)

 

Bi-polar disorder is a terrible thing to have. I'll just say that. No fun for you and people close to you.

[Bierschwale]

It should.

 

Well, I did like Justin Hawk up to the Blackjack days.

 

His JBL stuff was mostly boring as fuck inside the ring. Well, he should also be remembered as the biggest piece of luggage to ever have a legit MOTYC thanks to Eddie, too.

 

The Cena JD '05 match is an all-timer but hey whatever.

 

JBL IS an asshole but BPD is incredibly complicated and knowing people with it my entire life, it's not at all something from which people JUST get triggered into a breakdown. The solution, whether JBL SHOULD just be fired for a litany of reasons, isn't simply firing him and acting like that's that.

[Childs]

I do think a substantial part of JBL's rep is that he's a dickhead obsessed with protecting antiquated traditions of "the business."

 

If he were a baseball player, he surely would have said something angry and quasi-racist about Latino players celebrating during the recent WBC.

[artDDP]

Taking a scroll through Mauro's Twitter you can see he was trying to provoke JBL over the Observer award. As noted previously, Vince probably gets a real kick out of JBL bullying the guy with a mental disorder. Don't forget how much WWE hates anyone under their employ seeming like a mark.

[goc]

I'm not sure how being in WWE and bragging about your Wrestling Observer Newsletter award WOULDN'T make you seem like a mark.

[Matt D]

I'm not sure how being in WWE and bragging about your Wrestling Observer Newsletter award WOULDN'T make you seem like a mark.

 

That's more or less his gimmick though. I do think you have a point about the fact his colleagues got voted worst.

[Johnny Sorrow]

I still say the whole JBL thing is a smokescreen. What made Mauro go off the rails was having heir apparent Tom hovering over him like a handsome vulture. 😀

And looking back you can see a few things. Like at Elimination Chamber where he call ed the show the wrong name twice, and while JBL and Otunga ribbed him nicely about it, Mauro on air yells "DAMMIT!"

 

And we can drop all this " JBL is racist" bullshit. If you've seen his Legends show its very clear he isn't. He even basically pointed out to Micheal Hayes that the confederate flag is offensive and represents hatred and bigotry.

[Childs]

I still say the whole JBL thing is a smokescreen. What made Mauro go off the rails was having heir apparent Tom hovering over him like a handsome vulture. 😀

And looking back you can see a few things. Like at Elimination Chamber where he call ed the show the wrong name twice, and while JBL and Otunga ribbed him nicely about it, Mauro on air yells "DAMMIT!"

 

And we can drop all this " JBL is racist" bullshit. If you've seen his Legends show its very clear he isn't. He even basically pointed out to Micheal Hayes that the confederate flag is offensive and represents hatred and bigotry.

I don't think he's racist. But he seems--and who really knows the truth--fixated on upholding outdated traditions. That's what I meant with the baseball comment. I don't think Ian Kinsler is racist either. But he, like many, ballplayers, can't let go of a way of thinking that should have died in 1970.

[stro]

Yeah obviously there was something going on when they had Tom at the table doing the run down spots while Mauro looked like he wanted to die whenever Tom spoke. There was certainly some kind of message being sent to Mauro just by having Tom out there. Whether that means they weren't happy with him or didn't trust him or were worried that he was going to go off the rails is anyone's guess.

 

To me, as someone with two manic depressives in the family, it seems like he's been in a manic phase for the past 2 years straight, working an insane schedule that there's no way he could keep up forever. A guy with his penchant for heavy, heavy crashes was bound to crash again when he's doing WWE, Showtime, NBC, podcast, social media even if he was working with super nice people around him all the time. I have to imagine that was taken into consideration as a possibility when he got hired considering he's missed shows for other organizations for the same reason.

[joeg]

That's Dave's writing style though. He wouldn't put anything in the newsletter, especially about someone he considers a friend, unless he was sure it was 100% correct.

 

That is his style- wild irresponsible speculation reported as fact. The way he writes citing un named sources, making wild speculation and reporting rumors as fact would get any real journalist shit canned, but he's writing about wrestling so his carny nonsense is accepted as gospel.

[PeteF3]

Wait, what? "Real journalists" don't use unnamed sources? What alternate universe am I living in?

[joeg]

Dan Rather's career ended because from using a single unreliable source and not verifing the information with an on the record source or authenticating the information that was given to him. That is essentially what Meltzer does with everything he writes- unverified, unsubstained rumors reported as proven fact.

[C.S.]

I've heard rumblings that Tom Phillips politicked his way into the Smackdown spot and is very political in general. I remember Rich Brennan's wife taking a shot at Phillips over just that after Brennan was fired.

 

 

(Screencap because she erased the tweet eventually.)

 

From Brennan himself:

 

"Tom's a good announcer. He was competitive from day 1. He was in NXT before I was. Whatever the rumors are, I don't have any issues with Tom. There are politics involved in every business, and it's not something I got involved in. I went to work, did what I was told, did the best I could and tried to elevate people around me. I never tried to tie anybody down. As far as with Tom, I don't know if Tom has the power to determine if I was there. Maybe he does, I don't know."

 

http://www.wrestlinginc.com/wi/news/2016/0712/613509/rich-brennan-on-scripted-segments/

 

As for JBL, this all feels like wild speculation. His "Bring It to the Table" rant was kind of bizarre, but it didn't feel entirely serious to me. Who knows though. Obviously, it's hard to give him the benefit of the doubt considering his past history with Meanie, Styles, Lance Storm, etc.

 

Anyway, there's a very easily solution to all of this: In the next draft, move Mauro over to Raw as Cole's replacement (since Cole has talked about wanting to step away from the booth and take on a behind-the-scenes role). Of course, I doubt Vince will ever "trust" Mauro to be the "face" of the announce table after missing WrestleMania because he was "too weak" to "conquer" his "pesky" mental health issues.

[goc]

Or Vince not really having trust in Mauro to be THE voice of WWE could be because he's not really very good and isn't what they want in their announcer as evidenced by the fact they put Tom Phillips on Smackdown to introduce all the video packages or talk about stuff on the Network or Total Divas.

[Bix]

Dan Rather's career ended because from using a single unreliable source and not verifing the information with an on the record source or authenticating the information that was given to him. That is essentially what Meltzer does with everything he writes- unverified, unsubstained rumors reported as proven fact.

JFC.

 

Let's give a recent example: Should I have not reported that TNA was getting employees to put travel costs on personal credit cards because nobody at TNA would give an on the record comment?

 

Should I have not reported that Hogan and Gawker had agreed to a settlement because nobody was giving an on the record comment for a few more hours?

 

That's literally not how this works.

 

Specific to Mauro: Even before we get to Dave, it was already pretty clear what happened based on what Bas Rutten was tweeting. Bas is Mauro's podcast co-host as well as one of his best friends, who he literally credits with SAVING HIS LIFE by getting him the Pride FC job when he was in a bad place mentally. Frank Shamrock, who is Mauro's best friend and manager, is also Dave Meltzer's best friend. Mauro and Dave have been friends for years. This is one case where it would be absolutely mind boggling to question Dave's reporting.

[PeteF3]

You know, I've been waiting for someone to stick it to those Woodward & Bernstein fucks, who clearly don't know anything about on-the-record sources being the bastion of real journalists.

[Childs]

Dave using unnamed sources is not a problem, but he is very loosey goosey about attribution in a way that would not be tolerated at most mainstream publications. I don't think it's at all fair to say he practices "wild irresponsible speculation." But he gives his critics ammunition with his sloppy presentation.

[Loss]

Right, it's rare that you actually see him quote someone anonymously, or say "according to phone calls with those in Creative" or something along those lines. I mean, we all know that, but that stuff would be mandatory at a mainstream outlet in some form. Still, I think he's highly credible and the last 30+ years have proven that time and time again.

[Log]

Reporting on wrestling is like reporting on organized crime. You have to be very careful with your sources. You out someone and you may have seriously harmed their career. Reporters in all walks have to protect sources. I'd say that's very true with Meltzer.