Coming up the news that nobody wanted to hear, there have been even more WWE releases, we’ve
got reactions, reasons and
Hello and welcome to another cursed Friday. Every time I do the news it feels like we’re
getting another set of releases. I’m just starting to worry whether I’m cursed, like
is it my fault? Nah of course not it’s the pricks who run WWE’s fault.
So yesterday or incredibly early this morning for us in the UK PWInsider reported that WWE
had released: John Morrison, Tegan Nox, Shane Thorne, Jackson Ryker, Drake Maverick, Isaiah
Swerve Scott, Top Dolla and Ashanti Adonis.
Did somebody put a hit out on Hit Row? Because this is nuts. If this is because they decided
they don’t work as a three I’m going to have an aneurysm.
Also conspicuous among those names is Drake Maverick who as we know went through all of
this before last year, before being offered a new contract with NXT after posting a tearful
and heartfelt response to the news of his release.
Drake and the rest join the 18 wrestlers the company released earlier this month, 9 of
which were from the main roster meaning 17 people overall have been cut from Raw and
Smackdown.
PWInsider’s report noted that all of these talents were told budget cuts were the reason
they’d been let go. How much budget needs to be cut guys?
Wrestling Inc even reportedly obtained a copy of an internal email from WWE’s ace man
John Laurinaitis which read:
“Due to budgetary cuts the following WWE talent were released today, November 18, 2021.
John Morrison, Top Dolla, Ashante Adonis, Isaiah Swerve Scott, Tegan Nox, Drake Maverick,
Shane Thorne, and Jaxson Ryker. Thank you,
John Laurinaitis”
Despite how often these sorts of things are occurring now, it’s never not shocking,
especially as WWE continue to whittle things down meaning what was once a sprawling roster
of stars is now just some guys.
Andrew Zarian said that us fans aren’t the only ones shocked, he tweeted to say a source
within the company told him: “Many within the company were blindsided by this set of
releases”, before adding that he was told last week that the previous set of releases
was expected to have been the last of this year.”
However, it was anticipated that releases will be a “regular occurence” moving forward.
Don’t you have to hire some more people before you do that?
He was also told:
“Unfortunately there are a lot of all-star players who will never get a chance to get
off the bench.”
Because the coach doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing.
Despite the shock nature of the news the talent released took it with the usual grace and
good humour that you would expect from professionals.
Drake Maverick posted another heartfelt response to his release, that he then flipped on its
head, creating an entire scene where he talks to an alternate version of himself who told
him:
“You’re a success, you’ve always been a success and you’re going to carry on being
a success. You did everything you said you were going to do in life.” And that his
dream was never to be in WWE but to be a professional wrestlers. It’s well worth a watch if you’ve
got a spare five mins and it’s shocking how quickly he turned it around.
It earned him some big praise too, with BMJ himself Big Match John, John Cena quote retweeting
and saying:
“This is worth a watch. Very well done and very powerful message by a gifted performer.”
Meanwhile Shane Thorne tweeted about his own release saying: “Oi, who gave them my number?”
And “I thought I was retired”. Potentially referencing the disappearing act he pulled
when Slapjack and the rest of Retribution got pulled from screens.
Inevitably the news also brought out the sad little goblins who live in the internet like
this guy who tweeted Top Dolla saying: “good luck with your bs attitude like your punk
or something. I’d save some of them cans from your food drive.” It’s still real
to him dammit, sadly the same can’t be said for reality.
Top Dolla put him in his place saying:
“This guy took the time to tell me, a former NFL player, to save some canned food from
my drive tomorrow for the homeless in an attempt to look cool on the internet.
Embarrass him please.”
I think the thing with this is - even if you are an ultra capitalist and believe that it’s
just business, if there are cuts that need to be made, this is not the way to foster
any belief in your product from fans nor the current staff, as Jon Alba wrote on Twitter:
“Typically, back in the day, #WWE would release talent who sat on the sidelines and
weren't featured much.
But we're in territory now where the company is actively releasing talent who are consistently
on television. How can fans invest in talent knowing this routinely happens?”
Precisely, not only are fans being disincentives to invest in talent, especially newer talent
who seem more readily lined up for the chopping block, which is utterly counter intuitive
to the reported backstage direction for WWE’s talent directive, find newer, younger guys.
But it’s also creating a working environment in which talent, even if they are being featured
on a weekly basis and have strong storylines going on and good feedback, can still feel
the old sword of Damocles hanging over them at all times.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, you are creating an environment in which people
will want to get out before they are pushed.
Also, if you have a budget deficit to make up surely you’ve yaknow, counted it? So
you could use maths to work out how many people you need to release and then just release
them all in one big go? Rather than this piecemeal cycle of weekly cuts?
Don’t get me wrong on an entirely cyclical level, we get more news to cover because of
this system, but good lord I can’t imagine working inside WWE right now, just waiting
for the the grim ace to come around.
John Morrison’s wife Taya Valkyrie who herself was released earlier this month summed it
up, saying: “Stop supporting a company that has ZERO respect for their talent. You love
pro wrestling, spend your money on the hundreds of other alternatives. This is wrong. Ethically,
as employers they don’t care about us. Talent or fans.”
I’m not sure that can be true in its entirety, but perception is reality in a lot of cases
and WWE could be doing more to make fans feel listened to and talent feel wanted.
So onto other wrestling matters because I suppose we need those to round out the video,
and in another brilliant business move three days out from one of their big four pay-per-views
WWE decided to do this latest round of releases thus swallowing most of the hype for the show
- the eejits. Anyway, as Roman Reigns does the media rounds
for to hype the show and build his match against WWE Champion Big E he stopped by the Tonight
Show with Jimmy Fallon and was asked outright whether he knew if The Rock would be making
a surprise appearance. Something that has been rumoured for a long
time in the hopes of building their eventual WrestleMania bout.
Roman, consummate professional, did not just spill the beans like so much dog food, he
instead played dumb saying: “These are rumors you say? I have not heard
these rumors and I would think I’m closer than anybody at this point. That’s not what
I heard, but I also debuted at Survivor Series as well, so there’s a nice little tie-in
there.” So a double celebration is what you’re saying?
Meanwhile, WWE have had criticism from all sides, including from their old music department
as former composer Jim Johnston laid into them on the RRBG podcast saying that there
are no breakout stars in the company anymore because WWE is not putting the right combination
of factors together to create them. Believing that there is a lot of potential
in the WWE roster, Johnston said: “I feel so sorry for the current crop of
talent there. I feel like they’re being served so inadequately and so poorly. There
are no breakout stars because they’re not putting the right combination of things together
to create stars. I am sure there are stars there, I am absolutely confident. I remind
everybody before Steve broke out and became one of the biggest stars in the game, he was
The Ringmaster. He was a pretty low-card player.” Do any of those factors include not currently
having a contract Jim, because if not I think things might have got worse...
To hop the fence very quickly and update on a story from earlier in the week about Kenny
Omega, the former AEW World Champion was said to be struggling with a number of minor injuries
and issues throughout the latter part of his run with the title.
It was reported earlier this week by PWInsider that Omega would likely be undergoing surgery,
primarily on his shoulders which have been an issue for some time.
But in addition to this report, Dave Meltzer noted on the latest Wrestling Observer Radio
that Omega is in fact dealing with multiple injuries, including his knees, abdominals
and a hernia. Omega also revealed recently he’s been wrestling with vertigo for three
years. Meltzer added Omega will likely need multiple
surgeries for his various injuries, but was not able to say when these surgeries would
be, or how long they would keep him out of the ring.