Morrison will now push Ken Anderson for my least favorite TNA wrestler. Well not really. He's not a bad mid carder but that's about all he is imo. Isn't Samoa Joe's contract coming up soon? I wonder if he ends up in the WWE now that Punk has more clot than he had a year ago. Then again he can't get Colt Cabana his job back although Joe has far more potential than Colt does.
Originally posted by wannaberockstarThis is CLEARLY the piece of the puzzle that TNA has been missing the whole time.
Isn't the spot monkey that can't talk role already filled by Jeff Hardy (or, to a lesser extent, AJ Styles)?
I don't think AJ Styles is a spot monkey at all. Maybe early in his career, but over the last 6-7 years he's become one of the most well rounded wrestlers around. I think he's improved on the mic too over the years. I agree on Morrison though. He is a goofy bastard that cuts goofy promos who gives him seventy-five different nicknames.
Morrison suffers from IWC fatigue. Where people loved him when he was on Smackdown and even with Miz, but as soon as he came to Raw, it was lets hanging him from the rafters. I agree with Matt. Morrison could be a major star, but the WWE doesn't know how to make stars. Stars are already made for them ie Miz or the wrestlers have to go out of their way to be stars like Ryder and Punk. Morrison needed to do more viral like Ryder did after he broke up with Miz. Dirt Sheets proved he could be entertaining and more than held his own with Miz.
As for being a spot monkey, ever wrestler is one. Every wrestler has spots don't kid yourselves. Its just high flyers get labeled with it. I don't think letting Morrison go is a giant loss for them, but I can't see it helping when they just lost their other high flyer in Sinn Carra, Bourne is suspended and his rep is bad shape while we have no idea when Rey is coming back. You would think they would re-sign him for the short term.
(edited by lotjx on 23.11.11 1203) The Wee Baby Sheamus.
Twitter: @realjoecarfley its a bit more toned down there. A bit.
Here's the thing, and why I hope the story of John Morrison's career decline from 2009-2011 comes out some day, both from John Hennigan's side and WWE's side -- He has talent. He came from the Tough Enough/OVW/WWE system. He's homegrown. He SHOULD have been an example of how WWE creates stars from the ground up.
Everyone pegged him in 2008 to be well on his way to be the future Shawn Michaels. He'd spent years in a successful tag team, won titles, went solo, won the Intercontinental Title, wrestled some great matches, dazzled the crowd with spectacular moves, and he had a female valet. But what happened, really? Was it one thing or a culimination of lots of things (probably that). But what things? How did Miz and Ziggler and Truth leapfrog over him and why did management decide he was a turkey to be stuffed and quartered?
Was it Melina? That thing with Batista dating Melina? Was it the Trish thing? And what else? What the fuck happened that a man who should have been the poster boy for WWE Creating a Star From the Ground Up became so expendable?
Also: What is it with HIM? What is wrong with HIM? I don't think the state of John Morrison's career is 100% being the victim the evil, incompetent, uncaring, spiteful WWE Creative. What did HE do to incur the years long stay in the McMahon doghouse?
(edited by John Orquiola on 23.11.11 1027) @BackoftheHead
Originally posted by John OrquiolaHow did Miz and Ziggler and Truth leapfrog over him and why did management decide he was a turkey to be stuffed and quartered?
This is interesting for a few reasons:
1) The Miz is an outsider who persevered and made it to the top. All reports indicate he's an excellent ambassador for the company, and while he was WWE champ he handled the media portion of it incredibly well.
2) Ziggler is home grown, and is widely considered to be the next Curt Henning and/or Shawn Michaels. Most project he's going to be in the main event sooner rather than later.
3) Truth left the company, joined TNA, then came back to the WWE. Just main evented in a match with the Rock/Cena.
I'll add a fourth one:
4) Ryder jumped ahead of him based on initiative (although apparently he has some heat backstage because he died his hair blond without asking).
You're right; something doesn't add up here. All four of them jumped ahead, why is that? Maybe due to lack of initiative and being too passive. I mean, if it's true he just let his girlfriend sleep around with people that's pretty passive.
i understand the concept of jobbing someone out of town, but why give them a PPV payday in the process? With Morrison gone, who will they have small plans for in the future?
From what I gather, by which I mean reading reports that people glean from "news" sites, it seems to all stem from his relationship w/ Melina.
First, you've got the Melina/Batista issue. Morrison never stood up for himself, which probably made him look weak in the eyes of Vince. OTOH, Batista was a main-eventer, so if Morrison gets into it w/ Batista, Vince isn't going to look too kindly on a midcard guy scrapping w/ a top guy, so he was sort of in a no-win situation. At least if he stood up to Batista, maybe after things cool down, Vince might give him another look & some respect.
You've also got Melina going crazy on Youtube (and prob. offline, too). The company's M.O. in these types of situations when you've got both halves of the couple under contract is to punish the guy, in effect telling them "keep your woman in line". Whether Morrison didn't try to talk some sense into Melina (which might not be far offbase based on how he seemingly hasn't stood up for himself in the past), or he did & she ignored the advice, Melina kept the crazy coming, which meant Morrison kept getting buried. The WWE releasing Melina *should* have solved Morrison's problem (although Drew McIntyre might have something to say about that), but then Melina texts Nattie about legit rushing the ring, and that's probably the last straw.
It's obvious Morrison values his relationship above his career (don't get me wrong, that's great), but in the world of wrestling, you've got to know 1 of those things stands a good chance of ruining the other when both of you are in the business.
Originally posted by redsoxnationWith Morrison gone, who will they have small plans for in the future?
Take your pick: Kofi Kingston, Evan Bourne, R-Truth.
I do feel bad for Morrison, especially when you look at where he was just a year ago. He went from beating Sheamus (back when Sheamus was still a top heel) clean at Survivor Series, opening the year with a World Title match against Miz that remained a MOTY candidate for a good while, stole the show at the Rumble, and stole the show at Elimination Chamber, nearly breaking his neck about five times in the process. Then came Wrestlemania and everything went to hell for the poor guy.
I don't expect anything to get better for him in TNA, either. As has been mentioned here, they already have Jeff Hardy to play the role of the spot monkey. And I can't help but think that he'll be booked exclusively as a tandem act with Melina. He needs to have awesome one-on-one matches with the likes of Roode, Styles, and Storm, not get stuck in a black hole feud with Jeff Jarrett and Karen Jarrett.
I'd like to think we'll see Morrison back in the E someday, after a lengthy exile, ala Ron Killings and Christian. Morrison being freed from the constraints of the WWE writing staff is a plus in itself, which can only help his promos. And those matches with Roode, Storm, and Styles can only be top-notch. He'll get better and considering how close he was with Miz through his entire run, I'd like to think Miz will lobby to get his buddy back someday.
Lord of the Manor was right. The T-shirt should have been the writing on the wall.
Originally posted by El NastioThe real fun part will be to see if he gets nuked on Monday night or if they do something more low key like not even have him on the show.
I again advocate a Loser Leaves Town match where the loser actually leaves the company. Give Ziggler a nudge into significance by banishing a pretty boy.
Or have Miz take him out just a week after taking out his own partner. Miz, The Partner Killer.
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
Originally posted by El NastioThe real fun part will be to see if he gets nuked on Monday night or if they do something more low key like not even have him on the show.
I again advocate a Loser Leaves Town match where the loser actually leaves the company. Give Ziggler a nudge into significance by banishing a pretty boy.
Or have Miz take him out just a week after taking out his own partner. Miz, The Partner Killer.
The first one is a good idea, play it up as a rematch from the PPV. I was thinking Henry could destroy him while selling his injury to show how much of a badass he is.
Originally posted by Spaceman SpiffFrom what I gather, by which I mean reading reports that people glean from "news" sites, it seems to all stem from his relationship w/ Melina.
First, you've got the Melina/Batista issue. Morrison never stood up for himself, which probably made him look weak in the eyes of Vince. OTOH, Batista was a main-eventer, so if Morrison gets into it w/ Batista, Vince isn't going to look too kindly on a midcard guy scrapping w/ a top guy, so he was sort of in a no-win situation. At least if he stood up to Batista, maybe after things cool down, Vince might give him another look & some respect.
You've also got Melina going crazy on Youtube (and prob. offline, too). The company's M.O. in these types of situations when you've got both halves of the couple under contract is to punish the guy, in effect telling them "keep your woman in line". Whether Morrison didn't try to talk some sense into Melina (which might not be far offbase based on how he seemingly hasn't stood up for himself in the past), or he did & she ignored the advice, Melina kept the crazy coming, which meant Morrison kept getting buried. The WWE releasing Melina *should* have solved Morrison's problem (although Drew McIntyre might have something to say about that), but then Melina texts Nattie about legit rushing the ring, and that's probably the last straw.
It's obvious Morrison values his relationship above his career (don't get me wrong, that's great), but in the world of wrestling, you've got to know 1 of those things stands a good chance of ruining the other when both of you are in the business.
I'm not exactly sure on what the backstage code is, but it does seem like Morrison is a repeat offender. This might be his longest and deepest burial, but it is hardly his first. I'm guessing Drew McIntyre would love to get a shot at one of the many do-overs that Morrison got.
One of the most frustrating things about Morrison is that it seemed like he would blow it right about the time when he was about to cross that line from midcarder to superstar. Then he'd get buried again and we'd have to start all over.
So, I can see where the fan burn out comes from, and like John Orquiola said there has to be something about the guy that is rubbing people the wrong way this badly.
I think he returns in two or three years, unless he really falls apart ... and TNA can never have enough spot monkeys.
Yeah, Morrison seems to be the kind of guy Heyman would have made into a star back when it was his ECW. So there's probably a living to be made by John Hennigan between TNA and the indies. Maybe send him out to India for the new project there.
From what I gather, it was an accumulation of backstage mis-steps that done him in with WWE. Could be him being the first "Tough Enough" guy to really make it to the main roster put Morrison under an exceptionally high-powered microscope with the locker room.
Think of Morrison as "Cool Hand Luke", never quite fitting in, except instead of befriending Dragline after the boxing match, no one in the prison yard ends up liking him much either. In any case, Vince can make you and break you in the business now. Unless a wrestler can make him smell the money dripping out of his pores, you'd better not piss a lot of people off while you wait for a shot to move up the card.
Did anyone consider that Morrison might have seen the writing on the wall, and turned a modest contract offer down for an amicable parting of the ways here?
I actually think this move will be good for Morrison. Obviously things between Morrison and the WWE are not good, so at least this way things are open for a nice return at some point in the future. This seems similar to when Christian went to TNA, misused midcarder gets a chance to shine on a smaller level.
Also I am often against TNA's use of ex-WWE stars, but that was because they always seem to bring them in as bigger deals then there own talent. According to other sites TNA's plan is for him and Aries to feud for awhile so I'm hoping that they don't bring him in as the next huge thing that will change wrestling forever.
I thought I was actually going to get this recap done in a timely fashion, then I discovered that today is actually Thursday and my week is moving much faster than I'd realized.