Creative shakeups coming?

[Guest Super Pissed Smark]

Anyone can see. Nothing really matters.

 

Nothing really matters.

 

To me.

 

 

Anyway the wind blows.

[Guest Loss]

And why does it have to be more wrestling or more entertainment? Why can't it be both? And I seriously doubt you watched, and said, "I love that match! It's so short!"

[AndrewTS 0]

But since Vince prefers "hollywood writers" to fit his format(mostly to impress stockholders)....

 

Well, who wouldn't be impressed with Mr. "Big Wolf on Campus" being a part of the WWE writing staff?

[Kizzo 0]

Well, who wouldn't be impressed with Mr. "Big Wolf on Campus" being a part of the WWE writing staff?

Brian Gerwitz was also employeed by MTV at one point in his short career(he's only 25 or 26 I think)...

[justcoz 0]

It's time for Vince to move Stephanie on to something else. I've mentioned it before but prepare Stephanie to be the representative of WWE to the media and public in place of Linda and Vince. Let her write a book about growing up in a male dominated industry, make an appearance on Oprah, address stockholders each quarter, etc. Market her as the woman leading WWE into the next millenium, even if Linda and Vince are still very actively involved behind the scenes. It will help disassociate Vince's roid rage from WWE and the media would flock to this attractive (in my opinion), intelligent woman being groomed to run a wrestling company. Vince will be compared to Hugh Hefner when he put day to day operations of Playboy into his daughter's hands.

 

I wholeheartedly agree with Vince putting Stephanie in a creative role to help her learn how the business operates. It's been well over three years however and I think she understands how creative operates by now.

 

In regards to creative, I would also look into bringing in Chris Kreski again and have him oversee the creative teams for each show. If Kreski is unavailable than Paul Heyman would definitely be my next choice. Perhaps if HHH would be another choice if he would agree to retire. Despite his backstage politics, I actually believe HHH is very knowledgeable of the business; he respects old school but he was also a very important part of the edgy adult oriented wrestling boom of the 90's w/ DX. I have faith in him running the company some day.

 

It would be very interesting to see Vince allow Bischoff to head up a Raw creative team and Heyman head up Smackdown. You know Raw talent would totally freak if Bischoff would be put into a position of creative influence. I just find it odd that Vince has two men who were a very instrumental part in challenging him to change his product, which of course led him to his greatest success, and he only employs both of them as on-air talent. One guy reinvented the way wrestling was presented on television and the other got a company over on adult themes, workrate and hardcore wrestling.

 

You are Vince McMahon. Would you want either Bischoff or Heyman on the opposite team as you? What type of deal does Bischoff have anyway? If he walks off as an on-air talent, could he work behind the scenes for something like TNA?

 

How about Mick Foley. His storyline is the main reason Randy Orton is over enough to be wearing the title right now.

 

The shows themselves are too formulatic. They need to change their look, change the announce teams and present a product which looks and feels different from 1998. I'd start as soon as this fall's new television season. They should actually do that every season.

 

Crash TV is dead. I think the backstage skits have run their course or should at least be used more delicately.

 

I wouldn't be against having several squash matches on each show to get new talent over and maybe two main event caliber matches with time and plenty of hype throughout the show.

 

Also, end the scripting of promos and interviews and let talent develop their own mic skills and display their own personality. Russo and Ferrarra didn't script Steve Austin, The Rock or Mick Foley's promos. Kevin Sullivan and Eric Bischoff didn't script the NWO or Flair's interviews. From footage that I saw backstage from the Russo era, creative instructed The Rock on what points he should make in his promo and made suggestions but he wasn't following a script word for word. Work on their characters and make suggestions... yes... scripted promos... no...

[Guest TheLastBoyscout]

One weakness is definitely that the new faces aren't talented enough in the ring to get themselves over. Even with an interesting gimmick they stink up the joint and bury themselves right out of the gate. After all, it's tough to get over a character when you can barely run the ropes, and I honestly don't know what new writers can do before Vince changes his narrow-minded vision of 'rasslin'.

[Fro 0]

I'm not so sure about Cornette. The last time he was head writer/booker business was not exactly on fire. I'm sure a lot of his ideas got shot down by Vince, but what he did was not exactly world breaking in 96/97. The last show he booked, the infamous "South Africa" Raw was so bad he was fired right after and Russo was promoted to head booker. And as Cornette said in his shoot interview, Vince and him have totally different viewpoints about what wrestling is and neither are willing to give an inch. It would be the same situation as Heyman. Vince has never worked well with promoters who prefer wrestling over entertainment, Watts for a cup of coffee in 95, Cornette in 96-97, and Heyman in 2002-2003. The one positive example I can think of was George Scott in the mid 80s. I believe that Scott was responsible for the booking of the Orndorff/Hogan feud that sold out the Big Event in Toronto and drew huge money nation wide. Scott was the one who convinced Vince that all that matters is the main event and the undercard is just filler. But since then, Vince has even gone further on the entertainment side, so I doubt he would ever hire a "wrestling booker", it would probably be just more Hollywood types.

A politics-free Cornette is godly... OVW has been the best wrestling show on TV for the last couple years.

 

He also got more out of the OVW guys on the WWE roster than WWE has, by far, since he knows how to mask weaknesses.

[teke184 0]

I'm not so sure about Cornette.  The last time he was head writer/booker business was not exactly on fire.  I'm sure a lot of his ideas got shot down by Vince, but what he did was not exactly world breaking in 96/97.  The last show he booked, the  infamous "South Africa" Raw was so bad he was fired right after and Russo was promoted to head booker.  And as Cornette said in his shoot interview, Vince and him have totally different viewpoints about what wrestling is and neither are willing to give an inch.  It would be the same situation as Heyman.  Vince has never worked well with promoters who prefer wrestling over entertainment, Watts for a cup of coffee in 95, Cornette in 96-97, and Heyman in 2002-2003.  The one positive example I can think of was George Scott in the mid 80s.  I believe that Scott was responsible for the booking of the Orndorff/Hogan feud that sold out the Big Event in Toronto and drew huge money nation wide.  Scott was the one who convinced Vince that all that matters is the main event and the undercard is just filler.  But since then, Vince has even gone further on the entertainment side, so I doubt he would ever hire a "wrestling booker", it would probably be just more Hollywood types.

A politics-free Cornette is godly... OVW has been the best wrestling show on TV for the last couple years.

 

He also got more out of the OVW guys on the WWE roster than WWE has, by far, since he knows how to mask weaknesses.

Agreed. Cornette combined his old-school mentality with long-term booking and booking AROUND the weaknesses of his talent to put together a show which, for the most part, is top notch.

 

 

Batista isn't very good in the ring? Have him mainly wrestle squashes against two cruisers and/or do run-ins.

 

Horshu sucks in the ring? Make him Johnny Ace's spokesperson in OVW and have him cut promos to the effect of "Anyone who goes against me will NEVER make it in the WWE".

 

Brock Lesnar has no charisma and Sheldon Benjamin looks too skinny to be taken seriously? Make them a tag team so that they cover each other's weaknesses.

[strummer 0]

I'm not so sure about Cornette.  The last time he was head writer/booker business was not exactly on fire.  I'm sure a lot of his ideas got shot down by Vince, but what he did was not exactly world breaking in 96/97.  The last show he booked, the  infamous "South Africa" Raw was so bad he was fired right after and Russo was promoted to head booker.  And as Cornette said in his shoot interview, Vince and him have totally different viewpoints about what wrestling is and neither are willing to give an inch.  It would be the same situation as Heyman.  Vince has never worked well with promoters who prefer wrestling over entertainment, Watts for a cup of coffee in 95, Cornette in 96-97, and Heyman in 2002-2003.  The one positive example I can think of was George Scott in the mid 80s.  I believe that Scott was responsible for the booking of the Orndorff/Hogan feud that sold out the Big Event in Toronto and drew huge money nation wide.  Scott was the one who convinced Vince that all that matters is the main event and the undercard is just filler.  But since then, Vince has even gone further on the entertainment side, so I doubt he would ever hire a "wrestling booker", it would probably be just more Hollywood types.

A politics-free Cornette is godly... OVW has been the best wrestling show on TV for the last couple years.

 

He also got more out of the OVW guys on the WWE roster than WWE has, by far, since he knows how to mask weaknesses.

Agreed. Cornette combined his old-school mentality with long-term booking and booking AROUND the weaknesses of his talent to put together a show which, for the most part, is top notch.

 

 

Batista isn't very good in the ring? Have him mainly wrestle squashes against two cruisers and/or do run-ins.

 

Horshu sucks in the ring? Make him Johnny Ace's spokesperson in OVW and have him cut promos to the effect of "Anyone who goes against me will NEVER make it in the WWE".

 

Brock Lesnar has no charisma and Sheldon Benjamin looks too skinny to be taken seriously? Make them a tag team so that they cover each other's weaknesses.

In all fairness, in his first few months in the company, Batista did squash cruiserweights and various midcarders all the time. He didn't get over in the slightest, I guess OVW fans and WWE fans are different. So I don't know how WWE has "exposed" Batista. He got to take out Goldberg, dominate Shawn Michaels for 10 minutes (before jobbing, but he got a lot of offense in) and was portrayed as a monster. How is that different than how Cornette booked him?

 

And Luther is starting to talk more and more on SD. I'm sure that will only increase with his program with Eddy

[teke184 0]

I'm not so sure about Cornette.  The last time he was head writer/booker business was not exactly on fire.  I'm sure a lot of his ideas got shot down by Vince, but what he did was not exactly world breaking in 96/97.  The last show he booked, the  infamous "South Africa" Raw was so bad he was fired right after and Russo was promoted to head booker.  And as Cornette said in his shoot interview, Vince and him have totally different viewpoints about what wrestling is and neither are willing to give an inch.  It would be the same situation as Heyman.  Vince has never worked well with promoters who prefer wrestling over entertainment, Watts for a cup of coffee in 95, Cornette in 96-97, and Heyman in 2002-2003.  The one positive example I can think of was George Scott in the mid 80s.  I believe that Scott was responsible for the booking of the Orndorff/Hogan feud that sold out the Big Event in Toronto and drew huge money nation wide.  Scott was the one who convinced Vince that all that matters is the main event and the undercard is just filler.  But since then, Vince has even gone further on the entertainment side, so I doubt he would ever hire a "wrestling booker", it would probably be just more Hollywood types.

A politics-free Cornette is godly... OVW has been the best wrestling show on TV for the last couple years.

 

He also got more out of the OVW guys on the WWE roster than WWE has, by far, since he knows how to mask weaknesses.

Agreed. Cornette combined his old-school mentality with long-term booking and booking AROUND the weaknesses of his talent to put together a show which, for the most part, is top notch.

 

 

Batista isn't very good in the ring? Have him mainly wrestle squashes against two cruisers and/or do run-ins.

 

Horshu sucks in the ring? Make him Johnny Ace's spokesperson in OVW and have him cut promos to the effect of "Anyone who goes against me will NEVER make it in the WWE".

 

Brock Lesnar has no charisma and Sheldon Benjamin looks too skinny to be taken seriously? Make them a tag team so that they cover each other's weaknesses.

In all fairness, in his first few months in the company, Batista did squash cruiserweights and various midcarders all the time. He didn't get over in the slightest, I guess OVW fans and WWE fans are different. So I don't know how WWE has "exposed" Batista. He got to take out Goldberg, dominate Shawn Michaels for 10 minutes (before jobbing, but he got a lot of offense in) and was portrayed as a monster. How is that different than how Cornette booked him?

 

And Luther is starting to talk more and more on SD. I'm sure that will only increase with his program with Eddy

Batista's WWE debut came as "Deacon Batista", the sidekick to a guy whose most famous quality was the ability to get a "D-Von touched me!" chant started. Not a particularly great start, no matter WHAT they did with him in the ring.

 

 

Gimmick aside, putting Batista in a suit (as he's worn for both Deacon Batista and Evolution) takes away from him, as he has a chiseled body and is heavily tattooed. Making him grow hair didn't help either, as it takes away from the "freak" image he'd cultivated.

[justcoz 0]

Gimmick aside, putting Batista in a suit (as he's worn for both Deacon Batista and Evolution) takes away from him, as he has a chiseled body and is heavily tattooed. Making him grow hair didn't help either, as it takes away from the "freak" image he'd cultivated.

 

Seriously though, how far could Vince have gone with the Leviathan gimmick? It had the potential to be nothing more than a new millenium Warlord.

 

Batista looks "bad ass" in a suit. It seems that he has an awesome sense of style. When he adds a pair of shades to the power suit the package is complete. I'm not a fan of the buzz cut he was sporting this past Monday. With the hair grown out he looked like Dean Martin on steroids. I think they really need to push him in a "swank pimp daddy" kind of role. It's also fitting that he has Ric Flair, custom made from head to toe, by his side.

[Guest The Winter Of My Discontent]

I enjoy the pimp daddy Bastista more than the Freak. Him being a normal person than a mindless power bombing machine will help him more in the long run.

[teke184 0]

I enjoy the pimp daddy Bastista more than the Freak. Him being a normal person than a mindless power bombing machine will help him more in the long run.

He didn't necessarily have to be Leviathan in the WWE, but covering up that body 90% of the time just makes him look like Big Bubba Rogers 2000.

 

He just looks like a generic big-man right now and, if he wasn't standing next to Ric Flair and Triple H to get "the rub", no one would give a shit about him.

[Kizzo 0]

It would be very interesting to see Vince allow Bischoff to head up a Raw creative team and Heyman head up Smackdown. You know Raw talent would totally freak if Bischoff would be put into a position of creative influence. I just find it odd that Vince has two men who were a very instrumental part in challenging him to change his product, which of course led him to his greatest success, and he only employs both of them as on-air talent. One guy reinvented the way wrestling was presented on television and the other got a company over on adult themes, workrate and hardcore wrestling.

 

This is what I don't get...

 

McMahon has two guys who once were competing against his company...and now he employs them both....wouldnt' it be wise to rebuild that fire and let them run separate creative teams to see who comes out on top.....You know Bischoff doesn't want to be out done by Heyman and vis versa.....this would be a true brand split.....and of course have someone like Chris Kreski....who is very organized....oversee both of these teams.....???

[Guest Super Pissed Smark]

I'll explain it to you: Vince is the genius who created WrestleMania. He created Monday Night RAW. Stone Cold Steve Austin. Hulkamania. Mantaur. Everything that wrestling is is all owed to Vincent K. McMahon, Jr. The only reason Bischoff ever had any success was because he used Ted Turner's money to steal the superstars that Vince McMahon created. Bischoff copied everything that ever worked for him from Vince's great ideas. All the things that didn't work were Bischoff's (and later Russo's) ideas only. Likewise, Paul Heyman copied--um, well I guess we'll have to wait for the History of ECW DVD before we fully understand how Paul lifted all his good ideas from Vince, but I assure you his intellectual property crimes are not in question. The bastard.

 

So you cannot seriously be suggesting that these two rip-off artists, who clearly pale before Vince's acknowledged genius, who lost to him, be put in charge of anything. It's right insanity.

 

And that goes double for this Kreski guy. Stephanie is the fruit of Vince's loins. She springs from the same wellspring of genius. All McMahons, excluding Shane, are infallible in all aspects of wrestling thus the idea of replacing them with a non-McMahon is the talk of a madman. You sir, are talking crazy talk and just feel lucky that Triple-H can't have you fired for it.

 

[Blade2kxx 0]

I'll explain it to you: Vince is the genius who created WrestleMania. He created Monday Night RAW. Stone Cold Steve Austin. Hulkamania. Mantaur. Everything that wrestling is is all owed to Vincent K. McMahon, Jr. The only reason Bischoff ever had any success was because he used Ted Turner's money to steal the superstars that Vince McMahon created. Bischoff copied everything that ever worked for him from Vince's great ideas. All the things that didn't work were Bischoff's (and later Russo's) ideas only. Likewise, Paul Heyman copied--um, well I guess we'll have to wait for the History of ECW DVD before we fully understand how Paul lifted all his good ideas from Vince, but I assure you his intellectual property crimes are not in question. The bastard.

 

So you cannot seriously be suggesting that these two rip-off artists, who clearly pale before Vince's acknowledged genius, who lost to him, be put in charge of anything. It's right insanity.

 

And that goes double for this Kreski guy. Stephanie is the fruit of Vince's loins. She springs from the same wellspring of genius. All McMahons, excluding Shane, are infallible in all aspects of wrestling thus the idea of replacing them with a non-McMahon is the talk of a madman. You sir, are talking crazy talk and just feel lucky that Triple-H can't have you fired for it.

 

Thank you... now, how much are you accepting under the table from Vince and where can I get some of that?

[The Czech Republic 0]

A politics-free Cornette is godly... OVW has been the best wrestling show on TV for the last couple years.

 

He also got more out of the OVW guys on the WWE roster than WWE has, by far, since he knows how to mask weaknesses.

Why is booking around weaknesses becoming a lost art like it is? It's not a real difficult tactic to execute, it's COMMON SENSE. Paul Heyman was a master of this too. Give this team 911, and they have him as a guy who wears a paramedic uniform and has the catchphrase "it's not fun!...to mess with 9..1..1. GRR!", which he would say in his promos before he wrestled a guy using restholds, so as to "tell a story." Luther Reigns is supposed to be a great talker, notwithstanding "there's no business like Shu business," but he's wrestling and standing around silently instead. And to top it all off, this is the company that once had LITA do color commentary. LITA!

 

Edit: Even better than creative shake-ups, would be lemon shake-ups. Ever had one of those at a fair or festival, with a corn dog? Mm, boy.

[TheFranchise 0]

Mantaur??

 

Edit

And i wasted my 2800th post on that?!?

[Promoter 0]

A Creative Team Proposal

Memo: Vincent Kennedy Mcmahon

 

Vince Mcmahon it has come to my knowledge that you have realized the weaknesses of the creative team. That since September of 2000 the ratings and attendance for the business has been falling. I ask you this? Who became the head of creative in this timeframe? Stephanie Mcmahon. She must be under scrutiny like other employees under your watch. I will give credit where it's all due as well. She was responsible for the fantastic WrestleMania X-7 ppv event. However, this could just be due to the fact that the wrestlers and build up were intermingled with the hype of the wwf purchasing wcw, Rock and Steve Austin's WM rematch that was anticipated for 2 years, UT and HHH going at it where the outcome was unpredictable, and Angle facing Chris Benoit(with horrible build up). The creative team got away with the weak build up for some of these matches because the wresters were very over at the time.

 

Vince Mcmahon I ask you to look at things post Mania 17 until the present and evaluate what could have been with what was. The creative team has failed you. Vince Mcmahon I think you have also failed yourself. The fire and taking the competition by its throat and squeezing it has long disappeared in your heart. Right now, you are trying to head a sinking ship that should not be sinking. The problem starts from the crowned czar of sports entertainment.

 

I believe Vince Mcmahon IS the best man for the job of creative team editor, but the main problem is Vince Mcmahon wanting to hear and see what he wants instead of having faith in the people he hires. Vince Mcmahon also has to gain more respect for actual professional wrestling and remember that his product is one that puts pro wrestling on television and not have it be a television show about wrestling. The wwe loses its unique feel when done in this manner. It worked in 1999-2001 because there was competition and alternatives where the fans would not get tired of the same formula over and over again.

 

Vince Mcmahon you also have Eric Bischoff and Paul Heyman under your watch and paying them money for what they did not do best while in competition with you. You need to put them on the creative team and put some ideas into the brands. You must remember that Vince Mcmahon does not always have the answer and that you are indeed fallible with 1993-1997 as proof, while the competition rose to compete with you. You once needed Paul Heyman's organization to fend off the ratings monster that Eric Bischoff created. The same Eric Bischoff that once called you the Verne Gagne of the 90's. Yes, Bischoff did use Ted Turner's money to gain the superstars of the 80's, but also take note that these were the men you felt were no longer valuable. He made guys like Scott Hall and Kevin Nash much bigger stars than you ever did with the new generation campaign. Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage were made into a running joke that came back to bite you on the ass. Bischoff was also responsible for creating a strong undercard/midcard with guys like Jericho and Benoit who you turned away in the mid 90's.

 

Vince Mcmahon your company needs a makeover and as someone stated in an earlier thread maybe it is time you had Stephanie Mcmahon and Shane Mcmahon take the lead(although you and your wife would still run things)by showing up on media outlets giving a new perspective on the Mmchaon family name instead of the negative image you created since the early 90's. I believe you need to give your creative team time off every six months and alternate where the people who are off use their time off to recoup and create storylines and characters for when they return to the table. This way you don't burn out your top talent and have them leave. Most important of all have faith in the people you put on the team which means hire COMPETENT writers and hire COMPETENT bookers for the matches. Cut out the politics of certain employees and also cut out the nepotism. Hire former wrestlers to add a wrestler's perspective to the creative team. Not people like Tommy Dreamer either who never drew a dime or was apart of any classic matches. I'm talking about men like Mick Foley, Ric Flair(who should do a retirement match and call it quits since he is not helping getting anyone over and just stealing the heat from younger guys), and wrestlers who are injured.

 

I would also take advice from guys who disagree with your philosophy such as Bruno Sammartino, Bret Hart, Steve Austin, and Hulk Hogan. It's ironic that none of these men are around to help give ideas and they were the men who were apart of the legendary feuds and matches in your history. They might have an idea on what the hell is wrong. It's good to have a mixture of very old school, old school, and new school. You are the company that basically runs the past, present, and future of the business. Represent this. Actually, start a competition between your brands for their own good. I'm pretty positive that you would not allow one to completely destroy the other because this is not a situation where you don't want competition to further the business in fear that your entity would be the one to fall to the wayside. Until these suggestions are taken with some real thought and you put the gigantic ego aside(which is somewhat merited due to being the last man standing, but don't forget you were also on your back a short lucky 7 years ago) then the annual shake-ups would not do anything to improve the product. Fix the creative staff and allow them to run with their ideas until the Royal Rumble. See how much damage or see how much improvement they can do within half a year. If any adjustments need to be made you can do so in February just in time for WrestleMania. If anything when and if you return the leader will be back with a refreshed mind and can be seen as the saviour. As Russo once claimed wcw's biggest problem was not allowing him time to re-direct the company within a time period. You have to give the creative staff the faith and chance of turning things around and then step in.

 

PS: I will wait for my cheque in the mail if this advice is taken by No Way Out and hopefully get the big WM bonus.

[Kizzo 0]

^^^Great points...and a great post....

 

September 2000 is where it all began....when will this era end?

[Guest Loss]

I don't think we'll see another boom until HHH is no longer a top guy. He's associated with the Attitude era and he's still the most prominent wrestler in the company. That said, he'll probably wrestle until he's 60 years old, so get comfy.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

Ric Flair(who should do a retirement match and call it quits since he is not helping getting anyone over and just stealing the heat from younger guys)

Who is Flair stealing heat from? If anything, Batista has benefited from hanging around with Flair/Evo, and I don't see anyone else being hurt by Flair.

[Lil' Bitch 0]

Who knows? With these creative shake-ups happening, No Mercy this year might actually turn out to be a good PPV.

[Promoter 0]

Ric Flair(who should do a retirement match and call it quits since he is not helping getting anyone over and just stealing the heat from younger guys)

Who is Flair stealing heat from? If anything, Batista has benefited from hanging around with Flair/Evo, and I don't see anyone else being hurt by Flair.

Flair being Flair is taking away heat. Not purposely mind you, but he is. Flair doing jobs is worthless now. I'm not saying to have Flair completely disappear from the tv screen, but if they want Evolution to really evolve Flair will have to bow out as the past. Everyone knows this is just a cheap version of the 4 Horsemen. It's similar to Hulk Hogan. He appears and gets the biggest pops out of anyone, but he doesn't actually help anything. The same with The Rock at the moment, but at least he is still young and can return anytime soon. Vince Mcmahon took a hint by not taking up all the heat of his General Managers. He plays the role much better than Bischoff or Long, but he stays out of their way. How about those wooos we always hear? It's like Austin during his co-gm days and the crowd chanting what. It's just a distraction for what really needs to be focused on. If the company was doing fine in creating and multiplying their new talent then no problem, but they are having problems in getting the new crop over.

[Spaceman Spiff 0]

There's a difference between Austin & Flair - Austin was made to look better than every heel he went up against as GM, even though he wasn't an active wrestler, thus killing the heat of all the midcard heels. Flair is still an active guy, and takes his share of beatings in the ring, and thus can give back to the faces, which is what Austin couldn't/didn't do for the heels.

 

Having Flair around isn't hurting the making of new stars. The focus being on the ME guys, while basically ignoring the undercard, is what hurts the making of new stars. No heel being able to look better than HHH is hurting the making of new stars. The super push of Orton, while ignoring all other faces, is what is hurting the making of new stars. Flair getting "WOOO"'s in his matches is the least of the problems.

 

Does he have much of a rub to give? Probably not, but until they make him look like superman (like they did GM Austin), his hanging around isn't hurting anyone right now.