WWE.com has learned that SmackDown Superstar Christian has quit World Wrestling Entertainment. Be sure to stay tuned to WWE.com as more information becomes available.
He's already gone from the Smackdown superstars page.
That sucks. Totally f'n sucks.
However, there's a bright side, upon some consideration. Christian just wasn't getting his due in WWE. In fact, he was depushed after cutting some of his best promos and getting huge face pops on RAW earlier this year. If he were to go to TNA, this would actually elevate his star-status. If Rhyno can be NWA World Champion, you'd better believe Christian could easily hold that belt. In fact, someone like Christian, who is highly respected by most in the business who aren't WWE Creative, coming to TNA would be a huge attention-getter for them. Personally, I'm slowly but surely being won over by the TNA product, but if Christian were to reappear on Spike TV, I'd be even more into TNA. Christian, who has the Charisma and the workrate, could be a big fish in TNA and finally be the main eventer he always should have been.
I was a big fan of Captain Charisma. I had hoped that when he moved over to Smackdown he was going to move up in the card, but I guess he was tired of sitting around doing the Peep Show. =\
"Before you could take Animal Crossing to a different village. Now, with Wi-Fi, you can take it around the world." -Satoru Iwata on Animal Crossing DS
It could be a work. But it certainly is an angle out of nowhere if it is. Then again, it seems out of nowhere if it is not a work as well.
(edited by ges7184 on 31.10.05 1208) The Bored are already here. Idle hands are the devil's workshop. And no... we won't kill dolphins. But koalas are fair game.
This sucks, because there goes one of my top reasons for watching Smackdown. But on the other hand, he was totally getting screwed over despite the amount of work he was putting into the company, so I'm not surprised he got tired of it. Here's hoping he's happier where he winds up.
For those who skip SmackDown spoilers, his usage for this Friday night's show is consisent with someone who's making his last appearance.
Assuming it's for real...
You could understand him being unhappy and wanting out. If his contract has run out (or is about to), I don't think even WWE would be surprised if he wanted to find some place where he'd actually be rewarded for his efforts.
However, I think there are going to be hard feelings from WWE for choosing to leave when he's scheduled to be part of a PPV show Tuesday. No one expected him to make the match (though NOW, I expect people to start voting for him just to see what they'd do - probably just skip to the next person), but they still expected him to be there.
I wonder if this has anything to do with the Captian Charisma name issue? Just grasping for reasoning.
If he goes to TNA (and why not), it's going to be hard to get used to him not being called Christian any more.
Edit: You still can vote for him for Taboo Tuesday at the moment. I don't know how difficult it is for him to be removed.
Jay Reso's final match in WWE was last night at the TV tapings in Los Angeles. While the WWE web site reported him quitting, which was accurate, what happened was a week ago in San Francisco, he was given a new contract, as his old one expired, and told to sign on the spot. He didn't sign. He did come back to work and do another job last night when he quit.
What a shame. After top guys like HHH/Austin/Taker saying you have to make your breaks, and earn your push, and that nothing is given to you, Christian went out over the course of the year & got himself pretty damn over, over enough to get himself a respectable push. And what did it get him? Job Squad. Guess he finally had enough of the politics.
I think the Captain Charisma thing had something to do with it anyway, because that was the gimmick he was getting over with (not saying necessarily that he couldn't get over without it, but that's where all his packaging and merchandising were). When WWE lost that, any momentum that he still had built up from before the draft lottery stopped completely, and he basically became their go-to Jobber to the Stars, which has got to hurt considering he was well on his way to near main-event status.
That coupled with the fact that he'd probably rather be the biggest star in TNA than lost in the crowd in WWE at this point, probably led to him being shown the door. It kind of makes me wonder if Batista's recent pimping of Tian wasn't a ploy to try to get him to stay (it probably wasn't).
EDIT: Also that new contract thing probably didn't help.
(edited by Excalibur05 on 31.10.05 1230) Tonight I wanna ruin my life, I wanna throw it all away, In a spectacular way
And just to put it in perspective, another board I belong to is keeping a running television win/loss total for everyone.
Christian's record? 6 wins & 32 losses. Guys like Snitsky, Simon Dean, Funaki, Val Venis, Nunzio, Tomko, Jordan, Rosey, Hurricane, Paul London, & Tajiri all have more wins than Christian.
I'm pretty sure all the wrestlers at WWE have no-compete clauses that go into effect with their contracts expire.
Actually, after Russo & Ferrara jumped ship in 2000(?), didnt Vince start adding no-compete clauses to ALL of his employees (and independent contractors) contracts?
Originally posted by Spaceman SpiffAnd just to put it in perspective, another board I belong to is keeping a running television win/loss total for everyone.
Christian's record? 6 wins & 32 losses. Guys like Snitsky, Simon Dean, Funaki, Val Venis, Nunzio, Tomko, Jordan, Rosey, Hurricane, Paul London, & Tajiri all have more wins than Christian.
To put THAT into perspective, Tian was given promo time almost every week to "get his heat back." So it's not like he needed to win all the time because he'll just as easily make you forget the next week.
Guys like London or Tomko need to win once in a while to remind you they exist, because otherwise they'll get lost even further into the shuffle.
Tonight I wanna ruin my life, I wanna throw it all away, In a spectacular way
Well, this sucks. I just logged on to WWE.com and read the news. And then cried a manly cry.
I sure hope he winds up in TNA or something, because I can not imagine a world without Christian. He'd become one of my personal favorites over the last couple of years.
Good luck, Captain Charisma.
The answer to WWE's financial problems...
Never 'Wiener of the Day', and is actually quite bitter about it.
All the wrestlers at least have a clause were WWE can give you a 90 notice they're letting you go. You can choose to forfeit all money still owed to you and work elsewhere (which Raven's done - in Christian's case, he'd be giving up the PPV money he's owed for the Jericho/Cena threeway among other things.) <--- I'm making an assumption this still applies; I'd think they'd make him sign the new contract before his last 90 days so they could still enforce this clause and wouldn't have him be on TV to the deadline.
90 days from either Tuesday or Sunday means late 01/06. Which may be around the next TNA 2 hour special.
Originally posted by Spaceman SpiffAnd just to put it in perspective, another board I belong to is keeping a running television win/loss total for everyone.
Christian's record? 6 wins & 32 losses. Guys like Snitsky, Simon Dean, Funaki, Val Venis, Nunzio, Tomko, Jordan, Rosey, Hurricane, Paul London, & Tajiri all have more wins than Christian.
To put THAT into perspective, Tian was given promo time almost every week to "get his heat back." So it's not like he needed to win all the time because he'll just as easily make you forget the next week.
Guys like London or Tomko need to win once in a while to remind you they exist, because otherwise they'll get lost even further into the shuffle.
All the promo time in the world isn't going to make people forget that you've got 6 lousy wins (1 of them on internet Velocity) spread over the course of 10 months.
Originally posted by Spaceman SpiffAll the promo time in the world isn't going to make people forget that you've got 6 lousy wins (1 of them on internet Velocity) spread over the course of 10 months.
I think that's the Foley Law.
"To be the man, you gotta beat demands." -- The Lovely Mrs. Tracker
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Dolph Ziggler vs Daniel Bryan is extremely simple to build. Bryan comes out, states that he deserves a title shot since he never actually lost the belt in the first place, then talks about how The Authority has screwed him over time and time again.