"You can look the other way once, and it's no big deal, except it makes it easier for you to compromise the next time, and pretty soon that's all your doing; compromising, because that's the way you think things are done. You know those guys I busted? You think they were the bad guys? Because they weren't, they weren't bad guys, they were just like you and me. Except they compromised... Once." -- Jack Bauer
They brought him (and Viscera) in for an appearance during JBL's feud with The Undertaker. They signed him shortly thereafter, never put him on television, and prompty released him.
So...what was the point in hiring him again?
Other release thoughts: Mark Jindrak - I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did. Maven - He was part of a major match at Survivor Series, then pushed shortly as one of the top babyfaces on RAW and considered for a spot in Evolution. Then he turned heel and got squashed multiple times in one night by Shelton Benjamin at New Year's Revolution. Then he jobbed again...and again. Then became a proud customer of Simon Dean. Then released. All this in a span of eight months...which isn't bad, but then consider that he went from getting a babyface push and significant airtime to go-to heel jobber in the span of less than two months. Incredible. Shannon Moore - It's one less cruiserweight on the Smackdown roster, which is really a shame because this division is dead right now and they really could've used Moore to help revive it. Akio - see above. Also another case of them releasing someone who they never seemed to even try anything with (sans the goofy "Yakuza bodyguard for Tajiri" gimmick he had for all of two or three weeks). Billy Kidman - There was a lot of potential for the "this isn't ballet" character they had for him after he legitimately injured Chavo and in storyline laid out Paul London, but then they just sort of forgot about it and started jobbing him again. Can't say I'm sad to see him go, though, because nothing he's done in WWE has set my world on fire or anything.
So they bring in three good crusierweights and give them a crappy group gimmick. They move Chavo to smackdown. Rey never compete's against cruisers anymore and they release 3 decent cruisers. I'd say the CW devision is still a piece of shit to the WWE. Well I can't wait to see the next masterlock challenge.
I began this year with a rather ambitious goal, "To be the best there is at what I do and find out what exactly that is!" It aint gonna be easy....nothing worth having ever is.- Wolverine(issue #123 "Better Than Best")
Akio being released just plain sucks, and Kidman is a bit of a disappointment. I'd have gotten rid of Kenzo, Scotty 2 Hotty, Grenier, or Funaki before either of those 2 guys. Snitsky's outlived his usefulness, so I'd have chopped him too.
The rest of the releases I'm fine with, with maybe the exception of Moore.
I gotta wonder if Torrie will stand by her man and walk or suck it up and keep getting paid for doing nothing. On paper I would say Moore and Akio should have been kept, but really they were just being jobbed out anyways. They might as well show up at TNA in 90 days (Flying Elvises anyone??) They rest didn't do anything for me anyways. And as always, Heidenreich still has a job????WTF?But Mr. McMahon knows what we want more than we do ourselves.
I too thought the Mexicools were brought in to shore up the cruiserweight division. Which makes the latest round of release tougher to swallow.
Jindrak had the look, but he never connected with the crowd and didn't have it all together in the ring.
I'm sure Maven lasted this long because of his Tough Enough I connections. He never offended me in the ring as much as he has others. He even started to show some personality late in his run. I'm gonna miss his music though.
They CLEARLY had no idea what to do with Shannon Moore, as evidenced by his latest new "look." He was probably the most expendable cruiserweight.
The Akio release disappoints me. It seems like every week on Velocity, he wrestled a great match against Paul London. Probably one of their best cruiserweight wrestlers. But no mic skills, so he's gone.
I really liked Kidman in WCW, and even in WWE for a while, but his look and ring presence has just seemed uninspired for quite a while now. Plus, one could argue that he's injury prone.
There's really nor rhyme or reason to any of these, I'm convinced. I think they just put the name of all of their jobbers in a hat and randomly draw as many names as they need to release. Why would they trade Mark Jindrak only to release him less than a week later?
Anyway, I won't particularly miss any of these guys, though I think it's stupid that they released three cruiserweights right when it looked like they might be going to do something with that dead division. What's the point of even mentioning Gangrel? From what I understand, he was signed after he made that one Smackdown appearance, put in OVW, and then never used.
I wonder if this is the last of the cuts or if moer are on the way.
What? Akio's real name isn't Jimmy Yang after all? It never was Yang Time?
They've released three of the first four Tough Enough winners. Maven, Nidia and Linda Miles are all gone.
And if they fired Kidman, does that mean they also fired Kidman's ring jacket? I would imagine given what I've read about how Torrie has grown to dislike traveling that no longer being able to travel with her husband will affect how she feels about her job. Torrie probably has a time limit now on how much longer she'll be with the company.
Yeah, Maven was the only one of that group that's really shocking to me. Earlier this year, I thought he finally had found a niche as an annoying heel. I don't necessarily agree that he wasn't "trying hard enough to get himself over" or whatever McMahon's rationale was, but of course, its not my decision.
Kidman is another unfortunate one, though certainly it was probably a long time in coming.
Wow, I hate AND love them getting rid of Billy Kidman. I hate it because I've had a soft spot for the itchy bastard ever since he escaped the Flock. His feud with London after the botched SSP angle worked really well, but the WWE abandoned that pretty quickly.
I love the release of Billy Kidman because I just might get to see him tear up the independent circuit. He would also probably fit well in TNA.
I wonder how long the No Compete clause is for all these workers.
For all your CZW and Nickels Trivia information. There will be a huge Survivor Series match at Nickels in-between the big IWS/CZW Double Show on July 9'th!
Some interesting names on that list. I feel bad for guys like Kidman & Shannon Moore. I really dug the Kidman & London team & always thought that it should have ran a longer course.
London&Kidman were good but the best team I've ever seen anywhere were London&Spanky. They headlined Velocity week after week with action that made the British Bulldogs look like Bullshit(ZING!). Of Course the only reason they didn't become the next great tag team in the E is because the were to small and young. After a while the WWE decided to job them week after week on velocity to the then and now defunct FBI.
But hey Small guys never have had drawing power. Just look at WM XX last year it was the biggest PPV in wrestling history simply because the main event was won by Chris Benoit who must be at 6'6 275 lb.
I began this year with a rather ambitious goal, "To be the best there is at what I do and find out what exactly that is!" It aint gonna be easy....nothing worth having ever is.- Wolverine(issue #123 "Better Than Best")
You know, I'm kind of a fan of a few of those guys, not nearly enough to be terribly upset about any of their releases - if this was late 90s Kidman getting cut, I'd be a bit more down - but I can't express how fucking thrilled I am that I don't have to sit through failed Jindrak push #117 on RAW that I was sure we were getting after the trades.
Maven being cut says to me "there will not be a Tough Enough 5", which is pretty good news as well after the abomination they gave us last year.
"That's my problem - I'm too frank. That's why my mother shoved me down the stairs. But then she is fat."
Originally posted by TheCaptainOfEvilThey headlined Velocity week after week with action that made the British Bulldogs look like Bullshit(ZING!).
You must be joking, surely?
Originally posted by TheCaptainOfEvilJust look at WM XX last year it was the biggest PPV in wrestling history simply because the main event was won by Chris Benoit
No, really. You MUST be joking?
As for the releases, no big loss I say.
None of them were really doing much or were ever likely to do much other than make up the numbers on the weekend shows. Plus Mark Jindrak deserved to be released more than anyone in history. I can't think of anyone who's gotten by solely on having great abs for as long as he has. 5 years he's been around and he hasn't shown one scratch of improvement in any area.
So Fertig supposedly had a confrontation with Jim Cornette that helped lead to Cornette "vacation" from OVW. Seven's (Fertig's) last match was basically a job to Blaster Lashley at Six Flags back in June (the week before Cornette came back). Now he's been released.
Just interesting.
Gangrel was used a few times in OVW since first turning up in May. His Six Flags match from June was pretty terrible thanks to him just going through the motions and missing a couple of easy spots.
I'm surprised to see Maven go. That means both winners from Season One are gone, with one winner left from Season Two just hanging around in the background (and when was the last time Jackie really had any time on television besides just hanging around in the background?).
Originally posted by Kane Is UglyPoor Spike Dudley. He is injured, and gets the axe. With the Dudley's doing nothing for months now, I wonder how much longer they will stick around.
WWE would be fools to not bring back the Dudley Boyz. If for nothing more than the fact that I'll be Melina can bump through a table like a champ.
I feel for Spike. I loved his "The Boss" character and thought he played it terrific. He's one of those guys that you kinda wonder if he's done in the wrestling business.
Thread ahead: Tasteless in the extreme... (SD! SPOILER WARNING!) Next thread: Who created the Muscle Buster? Previous thread: Cornette in the doghouse (again)
The problem is that no one in the wrestling business has ever walked away. Its like some bastard child of the mob and the Hotel California. Even people who think they've walked away end up coming back (I'm looking at YOU Mick Foley).
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